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View Full Version : [ubuntu] 9.04 to 9.1 upgrade, GUI replaced with strobing terminal login



drewcoon
October 31st, 2009, 02:50 PM
So I tried testing my luck with upgrading my distro again (Going to 9.04 worked fine), and now my Ubuntu boot is completely FUBAR :-?

Basically, when I boot up Ubuntu I see the new glowy ubuntu logo image (very pretty, by the way), and after that, the GUI login fails to happen and I get dropped to a terminal login screen.

This is far different then your normal terminal login screen though, because the font on the screen strobes like it's rapidly turning on and off. So far I have been unable to login because there's about a 1:3 chance of it registering your keystroke when you press a key (makes it tricky to type in a password). I'm guessing this is related to keypress timing with the crazy strobing.

I have no idea about how to go about fixing this. So far I've tried older kernels (same problem), and I've tried to login as myself in recovery mode and install my video card drivers (didn't work).

Anybody have any ideas? I've spent the last hour or so postponing system updates because I'm stuck with my Vista boot that I haven't used in about six months. I'm losing my mind! 8-[


EDIT I just noticed another thread with the same problem, maybe I'll go hang out there.

tquinn
November 9th, 2009, 10:09 PM
So I tried testing my luck with upgrading my distro again (Going to 9.04 worked fine), and now my Ubuntu boot is completely FUBAR :-?

Basically, when I boot up Ubuntu I see the new glowy ubuntu logo image (very pretty, by the way), and after that, the GUI login fails to happen and I get dropped to a terminal login screen.

This is far different then your normal terminal login screen though, because the font on the screen strobes like it's rapidly turning on and off. So far I have been unable to login because there's about a 1:3 chance of it registering your keystroke when you press a key (makes it tricky to type in a password). I'm guessing this is related to keypress timing with the crazy strobing.

I have no idea about how to go about fixing this. So far I've tried older kernels (same problem), and I've tried to login as myself in recovery mode and install my video card drivers (didn't work).

Anybody have any ideas? I've spent the last hour or so postponing system updates because I'm stuck with my Vista boot that I haven't used in about six months. I'm losing my mind! 8-[


EDIT I just noticed another thread with the same problem, maybe I'll go hang out there.
I am having the same problem but cannot find the other thread... could you post it please?

ibexslam
November 9th, 2009, 10:14 PM
Perhaps you're referring to mine:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8276306#post8276306

...which reads as follows:

9.10 on USB HD boot fails on laptop; OK on desktop computer
I installed the Koala onto an external USB hard drive so I could boot up from several different computers (not at the same time). Works beautifully on several different desktop computers I've tried it on, but I'm having a problem when I try to boot up using a new Acer laptop.

The screen with the small white Ubuntu logo comes up, then there's a text screen that reads

Starting init crypto disks...

Ubuntu 9.10 [name of computer] tty1

[name of computer] login:

...and the screen flickers like crazy and can't really accept typed input -- it only captures some of the keypresses, as if it's extremely preoccupied with something else.

I tried hitting Alt-Prt Scr-R, then E, and the flickering stopped. It then prompted for a login again, so I tried that, and my login was accepted. A few more lines of text showed up:

Last login: (etc.)
Linux [name of computer] 2.6.31-14-generic (etc.)

To access official Ubuntu documentation, (etc.)

0 packages can be updated.
0 updates are security updates.

[username]@[name of computer]:~$ (blinking prompt)

If I enter "exit", it takes me back to the login.

Any idea how to get past this stuff and get on with the boot? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I.

ibexslam
November 10th, 2009, 06:03 AM
I now see that my post couldn't be the one that drewcoon was referring to; mine's from yesterday, and his was a week ago. I've been hunting around here for hours without luck. Any ideas, folks? A hint?

I.

RogerTX
November 27th, 2009, 08:20 PM
I now see that my post couldn't be the one that drewcoon was referring to; mine's from yesterday, and his was a week ago. I've been hunting around here for hours without luck. Any ideas, folks? A hint?


I had the same problem; I had been running NVidia's driver for my graphics card. When I did the upgrade to 9.1, I had the same problem you describe.

Previously, the kernels used to have support for nvidia cards, but it looks like (maybe because I was running NVidia's driver), the new kernel didn't have any support.

Anyway, I had to boot in recovery mode, drop to the single user (root) mode, change to run level 3 (telinit 3), and then run nvidia's driver update. That fixed my problems.

PMahoney
November 28th, 2009, 05:54 PM
Had a similar problem with an ATI graphics card...required me to manually update the ATI driver.

Don't know if this is the appropriate way, but I booted in safe mode, dropped to root, and CD'd into /etc/X11. I replaced the xorg.config file with one of the safe backups (choose one that will allow X to load properly). Once in, I manually downloaded and installed an ATI driver following the instructions on AMD/ATI's website...then setup up the config file with the settings I wanted.