Kubuntu 12.10 does not boot past boot-splash screen after Muon Software Update.

[SteveRiley]

That's...unexpected. Take a pic, lemme see.

[judedawson]

Hi Steve,

Screen-shot attached as requested.

Thanks.

From,
Jude

[SteveRiley]

Well, click that button. If you get plopped back to text mode, try:

sudo service lightdm start

If clicking the button does nothing, then press Ctrl+Alt+F2. This switches you to another console. Log in. Run:

sudo reboot

When the reboot finishes, log in and try the same lightdm command.

[judedawson]

Hi Steve,

Command

sudo service lightdm start

gave the following output:

plymouthhd: ply-terminal.c:611 ply_terminal_open: Assertion 'terminal != ((void *)0)' failed
plymouthhd: ply-terminal.c:611 ply_terminal_open: Assertion 'terminal != ((void *)0)' failed

Switching to another console <CRTL>+<ALT>+2 and repeating the process after a reboot yields the same error message.

From,
Jude

[SteveRiley]

Something's screwed up with the way your machine is trying to start the X windowing system.

What's the output of

ls -l /etc/alternatives/x-session-manager

cat /etc/lightdm.conf

I also need to see the contents of every file in /var/log/lightdm. I'm assuming you have Internet access on this broken machine. Boot back into a fresh text mode and run

sudo apt-get install pastebinit

This handy utility hoovers the contents of a file into a Ubuntu's pastebin website and returns the URL. After it installs, run:

for i in /var/log/lightdm/*; do echo -n "$i - "; sudo pastebinit $i; done

When that command script finishes, include in your reply here each of the lines the script put on the screen. Each line has a filename and the URL to a page that contains the contents of that file so I can examine them.

Turning in now, let's resume tomorrow. Sorry for the extended debugging -- I want to see if it's possible to determine the root cause of your problem, rather than just blindly start reinstalling stuff.

[SteveRiley]

Oh, one more thing. Lemme see the output of:

ls -l ~/.Xauthority

Do this before you do the stuff in my previous post.

[judedawson]

Hi Steve,

Thank you so much for working on this with me. I know this has shaped up to be a formidable challenge but I am confident that we will fix this.

As an engineer, I do appreciate your methodical and detailed approach to this problem

I am learning SO much

I, too have to take a break from troubleshooting & return to the real-world now...it's 1700hrs on a bright & hot Saturday evening...

Thanks, again.

I'll update you with my findings tomorrow once I've carried out the tasks in Item #51.

Best Regards,
Jude

[judedawson]

Hi Steve,

A busy Sunday for me again....

OK, as per Item#51,
Command

ls -l ~/.Xauthority

shows output:

-rw-------1 judedawson judedawson 116 Feb 2 16:17 /home/judedawson/ .Xauthority

Am going to work on Item#50 now.

From,
Jude

[judedawson]

1. Command

ls -l /etc/alternatives/x-session-manager

shows outupt:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 May 27 2012 /etc/alternatives/x-session-manager -> /usr/bin/gnome-session

2. Command

cat /etc/lightdm.conf

shows output:

cat: /etc/lightdm.conf: No such file or directory

[SteveRiley]

OK, your display manager appears not to be installed and your session manager is wrong. More checking of stuff. Need to see the outputs of:

dpkg -l | grep -i display | grep -i manager

update-alternatives --display x-session-manager

sudo updatedb && locate startkde

[judedawson]

Hi Steve

I'm getting the outputs for Item#55 now & will attach a screenshot shortly.

Thanks.

From,
Jude

[judedawson]

Hi Steve,

Screenshot for Item#55 attached.

Thanks.

From,
Jude

[SteveRiley]

Wow. That you are missing startkde is very unusual -- this is the all-important script that does the heavy lifting of placing the KDE desktop on-screen. KDM, the older display manager for KDE, is no longer installed, but its configuration files remain. Given that your session manager has changed to GNOME and that you have the newer cross-platform LightDM (but unconfigured), something has gone horribly wrong with your computer.

I'm close to a suggestion for a fix. One more diagnostic command, please:

dpkg -l | egrep -i 'kde|kubuntu'

This will tell me just how much KDE and Kubuntu actually remains on your system.

[judedawson]

Hi Steve,

Hope you're having a great Sunday morning (it's evening here BTW)

I'm surprised (and upset with myself) that so much has happened after that totally unnecessary update which had caused all of this... nevermind - this is a good lesson learned.

Command

dpkg -l | egrep -i 'kde|kubuntu'

outputs a whole lotta text (attached is the screen-shot - it's a little blurry, sorry )

[judedawson]

<Phew!> What a day...

Time to retire for the day. Will continue tomorrow.

I can feel it - almost there...