black screen after command line shutdown and restart fails to launch plasma desktop; nothing works so far

[pwrcul]

When I try to boot my computer now the boot process looks normal but plasma desktop is not loaded. I get a black screen and a white arrow cursor I can move with my mouse.

Ctrl+Alt+F(1-12) does nothing, Ctrl+Alt+T and Alt-F2 are not useful.

What I recall led to this: Last night when I was unable to do a restart or a normal shutdown of my Neon desktop, I went to the console and entered "shutdown -hP now" and was surprised that it did not say to use "sudo". (I am not sure what caused the initial problem with commands.)
The computer shut down. After a pause II pressed the start button and briefly saw the ASUS motherboard "Tuf Gaming" logo and let the boot take place, but no plasma desktop appeared.
That is the pattern that persists.

I can press the DEL key at the start of booting and reach the motherboard BIOS setup options. I don't recall how but one time I left the BIOS and dropped into GRUB (I did not know what to do so I chose "reboot" and got the black screen and the white arrow cursor).

What do you suggest?

[Snowhog]

From the Grub menu select Advanced options and select the first (recovery mode) entry to boot from. When you are presented with the Recovery Menu, down-arrow to root and tab to <Ok> and press Enter, and Enter again. You will be at a root prompt (~#).

Type: apt update and press Enter
When that finishes, type: apt full-upgrade and when presented with "Do you want to continue? [Y/n] type Y and press Enter.

Note any errors (E:). Warnings (W:) can be ignored. If no errors, then at the prompt (~#) type exit and press Enter.

At the Recovery Menu, tab to <Ok> and press Enter and on the next screen, press Enter again. Booting will resume and you'll be presented with your normal login screen (unless you have configured auto login).

[pwrcul]

Thanks, Snowhog.
I wish I could do what you suggest.
Maybe there is a way....

I don't get the Grub menu we are used to, and I was unable to find a way to make it get displayed.
I tried holding down the Shift key and later the e key (RedHat does that) but they did not pause the boot process.

Only the Del key put me into the BIOS.
By accident once there in the BIOS interface I dropped into the Grub command line which prints out a list of all the Grub commands.
I don't recall if it included Advanced Options, but I suspect it does not.

I have to run an errand and will be back in about 80 minutes.

[claydoh]

The esc key at the right moment will bring the grub menu, if you stab it just right,sometimes, or offer the correct incantations and sacrifices to the Gnu spirits. I usually fail at least twice myself.

The shift key is for old MBR systems.

[Schwarzer Kater]

To display the GRUB boot menu either press [Shift] or [Esc] (depending whether your computer uses BIOS or UEFI boot) after the firmware has loaded.

I mostly put a timeout of 1 second into my /etc/default/grub (don't forget to sudo update-grub afterwards), so I don't have to bother with any key presses to get the GRUB menu…

PS:

GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
GRUB_TIMEOUT=1​

[pwrcul]

Thanks.
I will start my guest to grab Grub at the right moment.

[GreyGeek]

IF you get your system back (or if you have to re-install) this experience should prompt you to invest in a backup & recovery process that allows you to restore an archive in minutes and avoid spending hours or days putzing around in the innards.

[pwrcul]

I get part way through Snowhog's instructions, but when I press Enter twice I do not get the prompt (~#).
Instead the message on the lower left of the screen is "Press Enter for maintenance". The background color has switched to purple.
More presses of Enter do not change things.
So I have not done apt update, etc.
I can break out and resume the process again with Ctrl+Alt+Del, but the results are the same.

Suggestions?

[pwrcul]

Do you have any suggestions on my plans here?
I assume my unbootable system should be replaced.
(Or should I try using Advanced Options to fix it?)
I think I can copy my Documents, Pictures, etc. and save them eventualllly in the new system.
I would like to follow GreyGeek's suggestion (above) of creating a backup archive.


Is it worthwhile to have rescue software for retrieving my data or is a live Neon DVD good enough?

I am not a Linux "plumber" but I can hack away if I know the tools to use.
I found my m.2 card by viewing fdisk -l output data by using a booted live Neon distro.
I assume I can mount the right partition of the M.2 hard drive card and read a file inside my downloads folder with info on my backup of my system that now I can't boot. I hope that will get me access to a backup. (I hope that is true.)

(After trouble booting a live USB stick with Neon on it, I switched to an older portable DVD burner also with a live copy of a previous version of KDE Neon. Apparently my Asus X570 motherboard has had the USB boot issue awhile. I got help from a tech at Asus but they could not come up with a fix for USB sticks not being recognized by the BIOS.)

Thanks in advance.

[Schwarzer Kater]

If Snowhog 's suggestion does not work, you could boot a Kubuntu system from a live USB stick and chroot into your broken system to repair it (an example for chroot : https://bartsimons.me/ubuntu-linux-chroot-guide/).

Or you could use something like the rescue mode of the Debian 12 installation DVD-1 ISO from an USB stick to chroot in a GUI (https://www.debian.org/releases/stab...n.html#idm1204).

[pwrcul]

Thanks again for suggestions and good wishes.

I will persist in seeking to understand PGP as a way of authenticating the latest Neon User edition. My intuition has been off the mark so far.
I just want it to work (as I learn of PGP's creator, Phillip Zimmerman and his tool.)

I downloaded and burned a bootable DVD with Debian 12.

I hope to charoot to my damaged Neon OS Downloads file so I can retrieve a backup key for my files on a cloud server.

I am more interested in replacing my old system with a fresh one if I can get back documents, photos, etc.

If I can I would like to "invest in a backup & recovery process that allows you to restore an archive in minutes and avoid spending hours or days putzing around in the innards."