[SOLVED] A Fix to mesa update freeze screen before login

[E Furlan]

Kubuntu 20.04.3 installed ok, but after the first apt upgrade the screen freezes before login. The problem is similar to the one described in the message "[Bug 1958242] [NEW] table update freeze/crash screen before login" in ubuntu-bugs.

The laptop is an MSI S420 with a Radeon Xpress 200M, and after countless trials and errors, the workaround I'm using is:

sudo apt-mark hold libglapi-mesa=21.0.3-0ubuntu0.3~20.04.1

right after installing Kubuntu 20.04.3, and before any updates. This fixed the problem and everything works now.

This problem also affects Kubuntu 21.10 and KDE neon, but in this case besides boot needing nomodeset, I couldn't find a way to downgrade the packages to 21.0.3-0ubuntu0.3~20.04.1.

I hope it can be useful to someone.

[GreyGeek]

5.14.0-1029-oemThanks, E, for posting your solution.
I have an Intel IRIS Xe GPU on this new laptop I got for Xmas.
The Xe was recognized by the kernel and worked great. However, subsequent updates removed the GUI parts of the driver, the parts that were displayed by the "Info" graphic, and replaced them with terminal type listings. The driver appears to work OK against Minecraft and Steam games.

The kernel that I first used was 5.14.0-1026-oem and now its 5.14.0-1031-oem
Somewhere between 1026 and 1029 the Info display reverted to a terminal appearance.