Black screen instead of terminal

[Don]

I'm at my wits' end (although that's not a really long trip). I have done a fresh install of 14.04, but whenever I try to stop the graphical desktop, it goes to a completely black screen--no login prompt, no blinking cursor, nothing. I really need to login without the kdm desktop so I can install the NVidia drivers for my card. What should be my next step? Thanks.

[anika200]

If you already have kubuntu installed you can select the recovery mode from the grub menu.
Do you get a grub menu?

Select recovery mode and then you have to select the start network options and that will mount all the drives.
Then select root prompt (i think that is what the menu reads) and you will get a prompt you can install the drivers from.

[Don]

Wow, that was fast. Unfortunately, I cannot even get to the grub menu by holding <Shift> down during the reboot process; it goes back to the graphical logon screen anyway. I can always re-reinstall, but, as Einstein is at least credited with saying, insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.

[anika200]

@Don, sorry I can not quote your post for some reason
@Don "Wow, that was fast." -- yes I agree, I am not busy.

Can you log into the desktop?

You can change the grub timeout time by editing this file

/etc/default/grub

you need to be sudo to edit the file.
Please change the line

GRUB_TIMEOUT=5

to something like 5-10 seconds.

I am unsure what the default is really because I always change it right away.... Maybe someone who knows will chime in

[vinnywright]

at the log in screen ,,,,,,press ctrl+alt+F6 ,,,,,you will get a TTY log in and do as you wish.

VINNY

[Don]

I have managed to get into recovery mode, which avoids the black screen and means that lightdm is not running. I should then be able to install my video card's drivers. I have mounted the drive that contains the driver file, but I don't know how to get to it from the root prompt in recovery mode. I can see the drive when I cd to /dev and input ls. The drive is sda1. But how to I enter a command to put me into that drive so that I can install the driver?
Thanks in advance.

I'd like to try this way before I try Vinny's suggestion of <Ctrl><Alt><F6>. I have not tried the F6 variant that Vinny suggests, but I had tried F1 and F2, both of which produced the black screen, forcing a reboot.

[anika200]

@ Don, Did you follow my instructions above?

Reboot and at grub prompt (you have to hit escape right when grub loads to get advanced options) then select advancded options and then boot with recovery mode.
After recovery mode loads select the Start Network options and this will mount all your file systems for you in the right place. It will tell you so after you select this option.
When that is done select Root option and you will be given root prompt.

You can now change directory into your own home with normal commands

cd /home/yourusername

and navigate as normal.

When you are finished with the driver install type "exit" and follow the instructions.

[Don]

Anika,
I did indeed follow your instructions, and I may almost be there. Even after selecting the Start Network option, I was unable to navigate to the hard drive that contained the driver file I wanted to install. However, I have finally figured out how to get the driver file to where I can run it from the Root option to which you directed me. Then I just have to see whether the driver will work with Lightdm. I previously tried installing kdm and making that the default, but then I would get to the login screen, log in appropriately, and the screen would go black and then pop up again with the login screen. I couldn't find a way out of that loop. So I'll see whether my driver is fatallly incompatible with lightdm.
Many thanks for your time and patience.

[Don]

The black-screen problem is still with me, but I found a solution to installing NVIDIA drivers under lightdm. For anyone else wrestling with that problem, take a look at this:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/52623...with-windows-7
and try Solution 1. Following the steps there, I was able after a reboot to rotate the screen, which was the original object of this whole exercise.
Thanks to all for the time and patience. If I ever stumble upon ('cause that's what it will have to be) a solution to the black screen problem, I'll post it here. I haven't yet tried to stop lightdm with the new installation; perhaps it will have fixed that as well, but I don't have time this evening to do that.