[SOLVED] no GUI after update?

[dibl]

Re: no GUI after update?

That plymouth screen comes up before kdm starts, so that is some kind of fluke (I hope) and not related to any change in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. It also may be running fsck - on 10.10 it tries to sneak in fsck in the background on mine.

Try pressing "s" and see if it continues the boot. If it truly seems stuck (no disk activity, etc.), then you can press Alt-SysRq and while holding those down R S E I U B and it should reboot.

[sarahschmara]

Re: no GUI after update?

pressing "s" had no result so I rebooted as you directed. I'm getting the same result--still stuck at the plymouth screen. hmmmm.

[dibl]

Re: no GUI after update?

You really need to know what's going on "behind" the plymouth splash. Reboot again with the Alt-SysRq method, and this time press "e" and delete the word "splash" from the kernel boot options, and then either "b" or Ctrl-X should boot it. Then pay attention to the messages -- it will halt or hesitate at a point, and that's what you need to see. Probably it's fsck, but you can let us know.

[sarahschmara]

Re: no GUI after update?

I'm a little confused.

I rebooted with alt+sysrq then r s e i u b

but I don't get to a point where pressing e has an effect and I don't see "splash" anywhere.

I'm not sure that I understand the instructions.

[dibl]

Re: no GUI after update?

Oops, I assumed you had a boot menu at startup -- my bad. You do have a boot menu, but since you only have one OS on the computer, it doesn't show itself, I guess.

OK, you press the power switch, and in a couple of seconds the BIOS flashes a screen that invites you to press F2 or F12 or something if you want to change the settings, right? And if you don't touch it, it blinks out and then your disk drive access light flashes a time or two, and then pretty soon you see the blue plymouth splash screen.

So, what you need to do, to temporarily disable the plymouth splash, is immediately when the BIOS screen goes away, you hold down the shift key. Pretty quickly you should see a text "menu" that shows your *buntu kernels and has the top one highlighted. As soon as you see that, let up the shift key and hit "e". This will put you in editing mode. Now cursor down to the line that starts "linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35.blahblahblah. Cursor to the right on that line, until you come to the words "quiet" and "splash" at the end of that line (it may wrap but it is all one line). Cursor to the right end of the word "splash", and then backspace to erase that word. When it is gone, press "Ctrl-X" and it will boot. Don't press the "Enter" key at any point during this little maneuver -- that would add a carriage return and you don't want that.

Now you should see it boot with lots of text messages, and when it stops with the messages, you want to observe what is going on.

Try it and let us know how it goes and what you see.

[sarahschmara]

Re: no GUI after update?

for me, the only option I'm given is to press "esc" to enter the GRUB kernel. I'm gonna go ahead and assume we're talking about the same thing since, when I push "esc" I do get a little menu (v. primitive, kinda like dosshell if that doesn't date me too much)

the first line is highlighted and I can navigate using the arrow keys:

Ubuntu 10.04.01 LTS, kernel 2.6.32-25-generic
Ubuntu 10.04.01 LTS, kernel 2.6.32-25-generic (recovery mode)
Ubuntu 10.04.01 LTS, kernel 2.6.31-20-generic
Ubuntu 10.04.01 LTS, kernel 2.6.31-20-generic (recovery mode)
Ubuntu 10.04.01 LTS, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
Ubuntu 10.04.01 LTS, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode)
Ubuntu 10.04.01 LTS, kernel 2.6.27-11-generic
Ubuntu 10.04.01 LTS, kernel 2.6.27-11-generic (recovery mode)
Ubuntu 10.04.01 LTS, memtest86+

For fun, I highlighted the third line (2.6.31-20) and it does bypass the plymouth screen and "pop" me back into the terminal (which is an improvement on the stalled plymouth screen)

does this make sense?

PS thank you so much for devoting so much time and energy to my problem--I really do want to learn things for myself and not rely so much on others and I appreciate your (and the rest of this community's) patience with me.

[dibl]

Re: no GUI after update?

Yes, that's the Grub menu. Hmmm, I think maybe you still have the "legacy" version of Grub -- no problem. Was that system originally a previous version (before 9.10)?

So, there are no further options on those boot lines -- it doesn't actually say

Ubuntu 10.04.01 LTS, kernel 2.6.32-25-generic quiet splash

Try booting the second line "Recovery Mode", and watch the boot messages. You should not see the plymouth splash when you boot that one.

And that Princeton Graphics monitor did work correctly when it was ver. 9.10? Or have I lost the thread of this story? :P

Is there any chance of the old/working /etc/X11/xorg.conf file laying around with an old backup date on it? Because I'm pretty sure that, aside from this little "hangs on boot" excursion, the actual problem is the monitor is not being detected and accommodated by the Nvidia card/driver.

[sarahschmara]

Re: no GUI after update?

Yes, think you are correct.

My computer is a frankenstein's monster of a box given to me (and built) by my father a couple of years ago when I decided I "needed" a personal computer (I installed some extra ram, a wireless card, and the nvidia graphics card, and also the trackball mouse!) I think it was running "hardy" at the time. Incidentally, I run Kubuntu vs. Ubuntu solely on the advice of my father "you'll like Kubuntu better"

Since then, I've upgraded a couple of times, much to the dismay of my old roommate who has had to fix this or a similar problem each time.

Unfortunately, he has since moved far, far away to work at a real job and, as such, is no longer able to take my computer into his room for three days to fix it. I was hoping his text file would provide more insight than it actually did. My father has his japanese overlords in town and doesn't have time to help either.

You, Kubuntu forum member, are my only hope.


I tried the recovery mode you suggested and am given a menu with the following options:

resume resume normal boot
clean try to make free space
dpkg repair broken packages
failsafeX run in failsafe graphic mode
grub update grub bootloader
netroot drop to root shell with networking
root drop to root shell prompt


I'm so sorry if I should have clarified earlier--I am a computer nerd's daughter and, as such, talk a pretty good fight, but my skills are intermediate/advanced and not expert.

[dibl]

Re: no GUI after update?

You, Kubuntu forum member, are my only hope.

Oh, geez -- you have no hope!

OK, I'd say give that "Failsafe X" option a shot. If we can get you any kind of GUI desktop, that's going to at least let you have access to more familiar tools. That may be the only way, for the moment, to get your old monitor and graphics card playing nicely together.

So, you run the Failsafe X option, and I do believe you will need to reboot normally when it is done. I'd like to see you run filesystem check on your filesystem too -- do you have a Live CD and any idea how to do that?

I'm headed off to dreamland -- I'll cross my fingers, and have a look in the morning to see what happened.

[Snowhog]

Re: no GUI after update?

"Help us Obi Wan Ka-dibl. You're our only hope!" (I just could not resist)

[sarahschmara]

Re: no GUI after update?

ok, tried failsafeX;

it went all "text-y" and then black before I could register what was happening.

[sarahschmara]

Re: no GUI after update?

"Help us Obi Wan Ka-dibl. You're our only hope!" (I just could not resist)

yes, I blame my father for this problem... not only did he take me to see "The Empire Strikes Back" in the theatre, he also built this computer (although I installed the nvidia graphics card, it was using the skills he taught me installing a modem in the '90s--using a philip's head screwdriver and shoving it wherever it fits). I think its fair to say its his fault.

[dibl]

Re: no GUI after update?

Obi agrees -- it's your father's fault!

Seriously, even though Linux is famous for extending the life of older hardware, there's a phenomenon of "old hardware trying to run new software" that becomes increasingly unfeasible. Probably Dapper Drake and KDE 3 would install and run pretty nicely on that combination, although the monitor settings would still need twiddled (which your father obviously figured out).

Honestly, I'd have to make a study of that Princeton Graphics monitor, plus brush up on the idiosyncracies of that particular model of Nvidia card, to ever figure out what, if any, combination of settings would enable a reasonable video display under Kubuntu 10.04. I did work with the sourceforge modeline calculator, but I cannot find anywhere on the Internet a spec for the dot clock for that monitor. Does a 10.04 Live CD give you a GUI -- did you try that? If yes, maybe an alternative approach would be to spend $15 on a nice Sandisk USB stick (if that computer has a USB connector) and install 10.04 there, boot that.

If you can get your hands on a newer monitor, of a more popular brand, there's a good chance it could be made to work. That GeForce 6200 is a reasonable graphics chip, even though it's not the latest. Which reminds me -- just for fun, from the console login, or in Recovery Mode, after choosing "drop to root prompt" try this:

sudo service kdm stop

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install nvidia-legacy

sudo nvidia-xconfig

sudo service kdm start

It's a desperation move, and unlikely to help, but it's worth the try. Sorry, I think we're about of gas here.

[dibl]

Re: no GUI after update?

OK, here is a brief tutorial on setting "modeline" options, for your xorg.conf file:

1. In your Xorg.0.log output that you PM'd me, I found the maximum "dot clock" speed for your Princeton Graphics VL1716 monitor:

(II) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): NVIDIA GPU GeForce 6200 (NV44) at PCI:1:0:0 (GPU-0)
(--) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): Memory: 262144 kBytes
(--) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): VideoBIOS: 05.44.a2.10.81
(II) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): Detected AGP rate: 8X
(--) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): Interlaced video modes are supported on this GPU
(--) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): Connected display device(s) on GeForce 6200 at PCI:1:0:0:
(--) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): Princeton Graphics Systems VL 1716 (CRT-0)
(--) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): Princeton Graphics Systems VL 1716 (CRT-0): 400.0 MHz maximum
(--) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): pixel clock

I also observed a series of "Warning" messages, beginning with (WW), informing us that the 1152x864 mode ain't gonna work:

(WW) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): The EDID for Princeton Graphics Systems VL 1716 (CRT-0)
(WW) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): contradicts itself: mode "1152x864" is specified in the
(WW) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): EDID; however, the EDID's valid HorizSync range
(WW) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): (31.000-64.000 kHz) would exclude this mode's HorizSync
(WW) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): (67.5 kHz); ignoring HorizSync check for mode "1152x864".
(WW) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): The EDID for Princeton Graphics Systems VL 1716 (CRT-0)
(WW) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): contradicts itself: mode "1152x864" is specified in the
(WW) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): EDID; however, the EDID's valid VertRefresh range (60.000
(WW) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): Hz) would exclude this mode's VertRefresh (75.0 Hz);
(WW) Oct 19 14:01:56 NVIDIA(0): ignoring VertRefresh check for mode "1152x864".

2. I turned up the rest of the specs for that monitor here: http://wize.com/monitors/p67586-prin...l-vl1716-black on the "Specs and Description" tab. So, H Sync is 24 - 82 KHz, and V Sync is 55 - 76 KHz.

3. I used these values in the modeline calculator found here: http://xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl

not bothering with 1152x864, and it gave me these modelines:

Modeline "1280x960" 145.45 1280 1312 1864 1896 960 978 990 1009
Modeline "1024x768" 87.01 1024 1056 1384 1416 768 782 792 807
Modeline "800x600" 50.67 800 832 1024 1056 600 611 619 631

I attempted to set 1280x1024, since that is in the specs for that monitor, but the calculator gave me a warning that the horizontal refresh rate was actually out of spec, so I don't recommend using that one.

I didn't bother with 640x480 mode -- that is left as an exercise for the student, if she wants that mode on a 17" monitor, for some reason.


So, what you need to do, after installing the "nvidia-current" driver (Nvidia says it supports the 6xxx-series of cards), and running nvidia-xconfig to produce an xorg.conf file, is to open the xorg.conf file with a text editor (vi, vim, or nano, for example) in super-user mode, and insert the 3 modelines shown above in the "Monitor" stanza, and then save the file*.

Here's an example of what it should look like, from an oshunluvr post: http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...9415#msg229415

You can add the "+HSync +Vsync" options at the end of the modelines listed above -- it's been a long time since I needed a modeline and I can't say whether that is needed or not. I also don't know whether your monitor would work better with the "UseEdidDpi" "False" option, and/or the "Dpi" "100x100" option -- it might, so I would encourage you to try those, one at a time, if merely adding the modelines doesn't seem to be sufficient.

And of course, upon implementing each and every change of the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file (which you need to do one at a time), a restart of the X server (but not a computer reboot!) is required, to test whether the edit has fixed the display.

*So, here's your procedure:

- boot Recovery Console
- choose "drop to root prompt"
- as root

 apt-get update && apt-get install nano

(if you haven't done that already)

- still as root,

nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

- make your edits, Ctrl-O and "Enter" to save them, and Ctrl-X to exit nano

- still as root,

service kdm start

to start the X server
- pray for the KDM login greeter to show up and let you log in
- if no go, then still as root

service kdm stop

- still as root

nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

- rinse and repeat

[sarahschmara]

Re: no GUI after update?

It's fixed!

I wish I could say that I did it myself, but the sad truth is that I cried and took it to visit someone much smarter than me. Which I would totally be OK with if I'd actually tried the suggestions he sent my way. Apparently they worked just fine.

Here they are if you're interested:

sudo apt-get install subversion linux-kernel-headers build-essential

Will probably get the linux kernel headers installed, at which point the nvidia drivers may install.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-display-ia32-260.19.12-driver.html

That seems to be the download page for the nvidia drivers that should work on your system, please note the 'may' 'should' 'probably' and 'might' clauses attached to all advice attached herein.

sudo sh ./NVIDIA_whatever_file_downloaded_from_that_page.sh

would run the installer, once you have it downloaded.

Google gave me this page. may help you, may not.

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/howto-inst...ucid-lynx.html


If nothing else, at least my problem is preserved here for posterity and I'll have a handy reference if it happens again. I hope next time I'll be a better person and not give up so soon.