Blank screen after boot

[creamx]

up front i will admit to being a total linux noob.

i installed Kubuntu tonite on my dell 700m laptop, loaded network-manager to get wpa to work, installed automatrix...all went perfect.

i then used synaptic manager to update to firefox and a couple other things, also ran the updates that were suggested. again all worked fine until all of a sudden while these things were unpacking and installing, the screen went blank.

now when i reload, i get to the desktop for only a few secs before it flickers once or twice and then goes completely blank (black) and doesnt respond to anything except shutdown via powerbutton.

i have searched here and on google but to no avail.....

[askrieger]

Re: Blank screen after boot

I have a couple of questions: If you can remember, what were the other things that you updated/installed? One of them might be the culprit.

When you say you get to the desktop, does that mean that you can login at the graphical login screen and go through the entire KDE startup before the system crashes? Or, is it going blank as soon as the login screen comes up? The login is controlled by a program called KDM, which then starts KDE, so it's not obvious where the problem is from the information I've got so far.

Does it go COMPLETELY blank, or is there a one line prompt and a blinking cursor? That would imply, that the xserver (the graphical software) died but the operating system kernel stayed up.

[creamx]

Re: Blank screen after boot

i can get right to the KDE desktop, ie i can see the wallpaper pic , icons etc but only for a couple of secs then it goes completely blank.

[askrieger]

Re: Blank screen after boot

I still don't have a clue as to what is causing the problem, but at least we know that everything works until KDE finishes booting and then something associated with KDE crashes.

Next question: When the system is in that state, (black screen) can you start an alternate, full screen console by hitting Ctl-Alt-F1? If so, login and then run the command "startx", hopefully, you'll get an error message we can work with.

The other thing, I wonder about is whether this has something to do with the fact that your machine is a laptop. Are you running on wall current, or battery? Can you see whether the same happens when you run the other way? Did you get a chance to use the System Settings "Laptops & Power" controls? Could it be that the system is suspending as soon as it comes up? As you can see, I'm flailing about, without enough information.