Blank screen with cursor after login since applying the latest updates.

[SteveTaylor]

I am running 12.04 64 bit on an AMD system. It has been running fine until I did some updates today. Now it comes up to the login screen, but after I login, all I get is a black screen with the cursor on it. I can move the cursor around but that is all. I can get to a terminal (Cntrl-Alt-F1) and I tried doing an apt-get update and upgrade again and then reboot again but no change. How can I find out what's broken? And how to fix it?
Thanks,
Steve

[Guest]

I have the same problem. I installed updates last night and shut down. Now when I enter my login password all I get is a black screen with a mouse cursor.

[GreyGeek]

From the Gentoo forum:

This was a nasty one,

Akonadi crashed every now and then. So in an effort to make it quiet, I configured KDE to disable akonadictl to start. In the haste I also disabled Plasma Desktop Workspace.

System settings → System Administration → Startup and Shutdown → Autostart
(right panel) Desktop File → /usr/bin/akonadictl start disabe
Plasma Desktop Workspace plasma desktop disable

All of this is done in the KDE Systems Settings. But since I never got KDE up after the next reboot I could not reach System Settings from the KDE menu to resore the settings.

Luckily Nepomuk crashed as I had my black KDE screen up. It started a window where I could click an URL. Suddenlty I had Konqueror up. And in Konqeror there is a drop down menu Settings with a choice Show Terminal Emulator. I enabled it and suddenly I had a terminal while KDE was running but not showing its Application Launch Menu (or anything besides my windows that had popped up).

Then I typed krunner at the terminal prompt and got KDE's application launcher up. Typing systemsettings in the KDE application launcher and hitting return gave me the KDE System Settings Window. Now I could enable aconadictl and Plamsa Desktop Workspace again. At the next reboot I had KDE back again.

You can also use ALT+F2 and run
plasma-desktop

or, if that doesn't work,
sudo dpkg --configure -a

or, you can hold down the shift key during the boot process to display the grub menu, and take the second option to repair your system.

[SteveTaylor]

I have now tried both plasma-desktop and the sudo dpkg --configure -a recommendations and neither did anything and my system is still broken.
Thanks,
Steve

[vinnywright]

what GPU do you have ?
if you got a new kernel and you were running a driver from a website and don’t have dkms you may half to reinstall your driver !!

VINNY

[Dave B]

I also am running Kubuntu 12.04 /AMD 64 on my desktop and getting a blank screen after logging in after an update I installed last week. Have tried above ie grub menu ideas.. Now I can't even logon it won't accept my password. Any Ideas?

[Guest]

Let me tell what happened on my system in case it's of use to someone else.

I'm running a desktop system with an Intel i5 2500K cpu using the integrated HD 3000 graphics. After installing the last round of updates I also got the black screen with mouse cursor after restarting and entering my password.

I was able to get a terminal with Ctrl-Alt-F2 and log in with my user name and password. I tried the suggestions above as well as some things on this thread. Nothing seemed to help.

At one point I tried the command "startkde". I got a message saying I didn't have that command on my system but it provided the apt-get command for installing the necessary package. I installed the package (sorry, I didn't note the package name). I then ran startkde and it opened a default desktop like you see after a new install. This desktop now comes up when I restart the computer. All my files and programs are there, but my settings are lost or misplaced.

[Edit] - I figured out that my settings were gone because I tried the "mv ~/,kde ~/kde_old" command suggested in the other thread. Once I renamed .kde_old back to .kde and restarted I had my old desktop back.

[Snowhog]

Might be kubuntu-desktop.

[SteveTaylor]

Continuing, I tried starting with a couple of the previously installed kernels from the GRUB menu and none worked. I have booted from a Kubuntu 11.10 CD and found out I have an ATi 760G Radeon 3000 graphics system. I don't remember ever installing any special video drivers for it. The 11.10 CD works fine as is. I am driving a 1920x1080 LCD using DVI. I have tried "startx" at the terminal but it gives errors. I'll try the "startkde" command to see what happens.

[vinnywright]

try loging in to a console/TTY and installing kubuntu-desktop like this thread http://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthr...-latest-update

VINNY

[SteveTaylor]

I just tried the "startkde" command and got the invitation to install it with "apt-get." I did the install and then tried "startkde again and there was still nothing. Then I rebooted and after I logged in my desktop came up just as it had been before. I am now back in business.
Thanks,
Steve

[vinnywright]

nice now we know the fix for any one else that gets struck with this bug .........wunder why it dose not effect everyone though ?

VINNY

[jlittle]

wunder why it dose not effect everyone though?

Bad mirror, maybe?
Regards, John Little

[Dave B]

Mine is finally working using the plasma-worktop, many thanks

[Guest]

I just tried the "startkde" command and got the invitation to install it with "apt-get." I did the install and then tried "startkde again and there was still nothing. Then I rebooted and after I logged in my desktop came up just as it had been before. I am now back in business.
Thanks,
Steve

There are several causes to this. Your's is probably one.

Two others that I know of are: 1) the .cache folder contains a .ksycocoa5 file that isn't owned by you (ownership has changed to root). 2) The video card driver or video card isn't up to snuff.

EDIT:

I'm pretty sure there are more. Most of the problems exhibiting this behavior are strictly due to a system upgrade. I've had one account work and another not, then the second account stopped working. In the end I just wiped the whole thing and started over. On my crucial systems I haven't done the upgrade. I use them too much to encounter such a nasty problem and not be able to completely resolve it every time.

Just today I found another cause. All the above mentioned requirements (by me) were met. I chose to boot and select from the grub menu the advanced boot options and selected upstart. After that I got past the black desktop with mouse cursor to the regular kubuntu desktop.