Log in to black screen and cursor (not locked)

[okie2003]

At the end of April (I think it was after an upgrade) I could log in, get a screen that said Plasma by KDE, then a black screen. I could see and move my cursor. When I run my cursor to the top left corner I get a "No Windows" message, the screen turns a lighter gray, and a search box appears at the top. I have tried booting to an older kernel with the same results. Ctrl+Alt+F1, Alt+F2, and Ctrl+Alt+T all have no effect. If the screen is left long enough I get a "Screen Locker Broken" message, but Ctrl+Alt+F2 has no effect and I have to power off.

I have other boot options which I have used since this started, but I would like to resurrect this install because it was/is my primary work install.

Any ideas? I did notice on the forum that there were similar problems about the end of April, but the solutions didn't work.

[Schwarzer Kater]

This is your HP desktop (you didn't tell)?
Nvidia drivers are up-to-date and installed from the *Ubuntu repositories?

[okie2003]

Sorry. Yes, it is the HP desktop and the Nvidia drivers were up to date... unless that is what changed on the update. The problem is that I cannot get any response other than the cursor moving and what I described. I am not knowledgeable enough to know what keystrokes to use to get to a terminal other than Ctrl-Alt-T.

[claydoh]

On the black desktop, can you access Krunner via alt-space or alt-f2? This is that 'search box' you mention, I think.
If so you can launch desktop applications from there, and even run some commands that *might* help.

Such as plasmashell --replace, which will try to (re)start Plasmashell (your desktop)

The broken lock screen should mention instruction on how to fix it, but if you can't access a tty (ctrl-alt-Fx) it isn't very useful. Have you tried ctrl-alt-f3, f4, and so on?

I will wager that both of these things are related, but I have no idea what is actually broken for you.

[okie2003]

I wondered if it was Krunner, but it does not look exactly like Krunner. It is just a box with a magnifying glass and the words "Filter windows...". Alt-F2 does not start Krunner and as I mentioned in the first post other key combinations didn't seem to do anything. However, Alt-Space does bring Krunner up. It is clearly a different box.
I typed in "plasmashell --replace" and ran it. My log-in background flashed up and then I got a black screen with a Plasma crash handler box.

BTW, the keystrokes mentioned in the Broken Screen Locker don't do anything either. (I have had that in the past.)

Ctrl-Alt-F(1-12) does nothing.

Hummm... I clicked on the link to report the Plasma crash (expecting nothing) and a Chrome browser window opened to kde.org.

Alt-Tab will switch between the crash box and Chrome, so something is working.

I have gotten Konsole by using Krunner. I just don't know what to do next.

[okie2003]

startx in konsole seems to have done the trick. THANKS!

[okie2003]

Oooops... ran an update & now the log-in screen locks after I enter my password. So not fixed after all