No Desktop

[TimB48]

I have just upgraded from 11.10 to 12.04.1, following the upgrade I can log on but following that no top or side tool bars are visible.
I did a clean install (with Format) but the result was the same. I can right click on the desktop and look at settings, I can also shell out to a terminal.
Other posts I have read suggest this may be a graphics driver issue ( card is Nvidia 9600GT). Tried updating the driver but with negative result.
There are 3 other operating systems on this PC all of which function fine. My previous incarnation of Ubuntu also ran without apparent problems.
Can anyone shed anly light on this problem.
12.04 runs ok directly from live cd.

[Bashing-om]

TimB48; Hi ! Welcome to the forum.

Maybe a graphics card situation, maybe just that the GUI is not loading.
what results from the terminal command:

sudo service lightdm start

warm regards <==BDQ

[TimB48]

Result for running 'sudo service lightdm start' was the following.

Start: Job is already running: lightdm

Forgot to mention in my original post that the top and side bars appear briefly during startup and dissappear leaving me with just the desktop background with no visible icons.


Regards,


TimB48

[Bashing-om]

looking like to me the desktop manager might have problems, But lets see if it is graphics driver related:

When booting hold the shift key after the bios screen clears -> grub menu
choose to boot with the "recovery mode" kernel//

do you now have a desk top ?

regards <==BDQ

[TimB48]

Initial attempt to enter recovery mode failed apparently linked to the nvidia graphics. The following lines were the last few before the recovery boot stopped.

[4.985757] nvidia:module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel
[4.985804] Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint
[5.300064] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level,low)-> IRQ 16
[5.300127] vggarb: device changed decodes: PCI : 000:01:00.0, old decodes = io+mem, decodes = nonewns = io+mem
[5.300371] NVRM : loading NVIDIA UNIX X86 kernel module 295.49 Mon Apr 30 23:30:07 PDT 2012

As a ubuntu novice the above lines mean very little to me but suggest that there is some sort of problem with the graphics.

A second attempt to enter recovery mode got me to the recovery menu but I was able to do very little from there.

There is a newer Nvidia driver available (not the 295.47 listed above) which I have downloaded but am unable to install it.

Regards,

TimB48

[PowerBarry43]

This may be a silly suggestion but have you tried running

startx

you could also try reinstalling unity by running

sudo apt-get remove ubuntu-desktop
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

hope this helps!

Barry

[TimB48]

Running 'startx' only produced the following messages.
Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock and start again


ddxSigGiveUp: closing log
X10: fatal 10 error 11 (resource temporarily unavailable) on X server ":0"
after 7 requests (7 known processed) with 0 events remaining


Removing Ubuntu desktop and installing it had no apparent effect.

Any further ideas anyone?

Regards,

TimB48

[jerrrys]

Could it be nomodeset?

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2056136

[TimB48]

I have successfully reinstalled 12.04 using the 'nomodeset' option mentioned in your link.
The desktop appears normal now but the mouse function is peculiar in that the pointer dissapears when you move it over an icon. I have not updated the nvidia driver because I am not able to access the alternative drivers icon, clicking on it has no effect.
I tried updating the nvidia driver from terminal but all that did was trash the install so it wouldnt run at all resulting in another re-install.
So apparently curing one problem creates another. The original problem is obviously caused by the nvidia drivers but I havew not as yet achieved a full result.

Anymore suggestions anyone?

Regards,


TimB48

[jerrrys]

You say that you have reinstalled, have you updated?

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade