Can't boot after install/upgrade

[Troberg]

When I try any of the following, I get the same result:

* Upgrade from Lucid Lynx, then reboot.
* Install from Live-CD (on boot from CD).
* Run Live-CD (on boot from CD).
* Run Test CD on live CD.
* Run Mem test on live CD.
* Install from alternate CD, then reboot.

What happens is that when I boot, a few seconds after the grub menu, I get a black screen with a blinking cursor. A few seconds later, the cursor stops blinking, and the computer does not respond to anything but a powerdown, not even the caps lock light works. No error message, in fact no message at all.

The machine worked like a charm with Lucid (except for some problems getting it to recognize that it has three graphics cards installed), so there shouldn't be any major problem with the machine.

The CD's has been checked OK. Mem test on alternate CD checks out OK. I've cleared all previous partitions on the hard disks using a Lucid live-CD.

My gut feeling tells me it's something with the graphics that does not work as it should, as the alternate installer works (even if the installed OS does not work).

I'm completely stumped. What's going on, and how do I fix it

[zenarcher]

Re: Can't boot after install/upgrade

Your problem sounds pretty much like the same experience I've had with Kubuntu 10.10. It worked well through the RC, but doing a fresh install with the Final Release was a total disappointment. I think you can resolve the issue you're having if you read through this thread.....

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1594623

There are suggestions for working around the issue if you have ATI, Nvidia or Intel graphics adapters. In my case, I have Nvidia and get the same thing you do. It seems to me that ever since we've had the crippled nouveau driver as mandatory default, Kubuntu has become a total headache. Kernel updates or whatever become a total annoyance. This was the final straw for me and I've moved my systems back over to Debian Squeeze for the time being, where it's not an issue, but that's just my own opinion on the matter.

I hope the suggestions in the thread above will help get you going.

Cheers,
zenarcher

[Troberg]

Re: Can't boot after install/upgrade

Thanks, that somewhat helped. I managed to boot, but I never got away from the need to use nomodeset.

For the moment, I'm going back to Lucid. Still got problems with my setup, though, as I have six monitors connected on three cards (nVidia, nVidia and ATI). I've managed to get to a point where I can't boot and need to reinstall three times, so far...

Any suggestions for good topics for odd multimonitor configs?