10.10 upgrade boot problem

[LordAro]

OK, here's the story so far:



Started upgrade manager
Saw that 10.10 was available, but decided to install the 10.04 updates first anyway
Those dates were fine
Rebooted computer, everything fine
Started 10.10 install VIA upgrade manager
Took ages, but seemed to be successfully installed
On reboot, computer will not get past the splash screen (5 dots, all red)
Rebooted couple of times
Next day (today), left it running all day to see if it was installing something, nothing changed (splash screen)
Downloaded 10.10 iso and burned to disc (struggled with CD version of ubuntu 10.04)
NO REPAIR OPTION
Gives up and posts here


Any ideas?
I'd prefer not to have to do a clean install if possible

[sikander3786]

At the Splash Screen with blinking dots, press Esc and post the text. It might help understanding at what point it actually stucks.

[tommcd]

Save yourself from (possibly) endless grief and do a clean install of Ubuntu 10.10. I always do clean installs of Ubuntu; and I never have these problems.

[LordAro]

At the Splash Screen with blinking dots, press Esc and post the text. It might help understanding at what point it actually stucks.
Can't, nothing happens

I'll explain the splash screen a little more:


Usually all 5 dots go red and stay like that
Sometimes, 1 or 2 light up normally, then all 5 go red


Pressing ESC does nothing, just sits there with 5 red dots :(


Save yourself from (possibly) endless grief and do a clean install of Ubuntu 10.10. I always do clean installs of Ubuntu; and I never have these problems.
That's exactly what i don't want to do and, since i haven't backed up my data, I'll have to work from a live CD and they are SO slow! I don't think I can cope with them ](*,)
Also, when I could (just about) cope with them, when i tried to access my folder on the hard drive, it said access denied (but don't get bogged down with this, answer the other problem! :p)

[mjh_ca]

Can't, nothing happens

I'll explain the splash screen a little more:


Usually all 5 dots go red and stay like that
Sometimes, 1 or 2 light up normally, then all 5 go red



Press ESC earlier in the process - the machine is probably frozen by then due to some kind of driver problem (probably video driver). Press ESC as soon as you see the Ubuntu splash screen appear - don't wait for the dots to start changing. Hopefully it will allow you to see an error message.

[LordAro]

Good News!

Not sure how, but i've managed to get a terminal opened (text only, no graphics or anything)

Anything I can do?

I couldn't get any output, as it went to quickly...

[tommcd]

That's exactly what i don't want to do and, since i haven't backed up my data, I'll have to work from a live CD and they are SO slow! I don't think I can cope with them ](*,)
You should make a separate home partition, then your data would be safe during a reinstall. If you ever do decide to do a clean install of Ubuntu, that would be a good time to create a separate home partition.


Also, when I could (just about) cope with them, when i tried to access my folder on the hard drive, it said access denied ...
You could try a Parted Magic live CD, or a Slax live CD. These are much faster than an Ubuntu live CD. If you have a decent amount of memory the Parted Magic live CD can run entirely in memory and you can remove the CD from the drive. This allows you to use a DVD-R to back up your data while Parted Magic is running. Parted Magic will also allow you to repartition your hard drive to add a separate home partition.


Not sure how, but i've managed to get a terminal opened (text only, no graphics or anything)
Anything I can do?
Are you able to boot to recovery mode? If so, then try this:


sudo dpkg --configure -a

If it returns errors, try:


sudo dpkg --clear-avail && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo reboot

If that does not work then boot to recovery mode again and run:


sudo apt-get install -f
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get update
Sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo reboot

This is sort of the generic approach to fixing these dist-upgrade problems.

[pconroy]

I posted a similar woe - after an upgrade, my system won't go past the splash screen.

I putty'd in and saw plymouthd taking most of the CPU resources, not much 5% or so - but it was at the top on "top".


In order to get my machine alive, I hit left arrow, then logged in at the $ prompt.
From there I did "xinit" and "gnome-session" to bring me at least halfway back alive.

I'm still wondering what the real fix is?
This box was running Ubuntu 8 and 9 reliably for years.

[victorhqc]

Good news LordAro, I had the same problem when I Upgraded from 10.04 to 10.10

Apparently it was a video driver problem so I started in recovery mode (from grub option) and started a safe X session, then downloaded the ati proprietary driver wich was the 10.10 for my HD radeon 3xxx (I'm using a hp dv5 notebook). Then I installed using:

$ sudo sh 'driver.run'

And when I rebooted the pc everything was smooth and perfect :D

[LordAro]

thanks for answers guys, will try them out shortly...
however, i don't think i am able to boot in recovery mode - i have seen several times that recovery mode is not available, or something similar...
could you list the possible ways to boot into recovery mode? keep in mind that i have a functional (i think) live cd of 10.10

[tommcd]

i don't think i am able to boot in recovery mode - i have seen several times that recovery mode is not available, or something similar...
could you list the possible ways to boot into recovery mode?
When the grub menu comes up on the screen, there should be a recovery mode option for each Ubuntu kernel. If you do not see the grub menu when the computer boots, then hold down the shift key as you boot the computer and the grub menu should appear.


Not sure how, but i've managed to get a terminal opened (text only, no graphics or anything)
Anything I can do?
If you can at least boot to a terminal, you should be able to run any commands there.

[LordAro]

i think i may have found the problem:


xinit
..........
(EE) Failed to load /usr/lib/xorg/extra/modules/nvidia_drv.so
(EE) Failed to load module "nvidia" (loader failed, 7)
(EE) No drivers available

Fatal server error
no screens foundand

gnome-session
** (gnome-session:2900): WARNING **: Cannot open displaythe number increases every time you do it, so i presume that's just system time or something :lol:

[LordAro]

OK, have just seen the post above my previous...

Have now booted into recovery mode properly



Are you able to boot to recovery mode? If so, then try this:


sudo dpkg --configure -a

If it returns errors, try:


sudo dpkg --clear-avail && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo reboot

If that does not work then boot to recovery mode again and run:


sudo apt-get install -f
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get update
Sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo reboot

This is sort of the generic approach to fixing these dist-upgrade problems.

tried all of them, none of them worked :(

however, i think i need a new graphics driver (see above post)


EDIT: Since booting into recovery mode, and Additional Drivers, I have installed v173 of the nVidia graphics driver, and it almost works. Except now, it automatically boots into tty1, instead of whatever else it's supposed to. How to change this?

[LordAro]

Apologies for the consecutive posting, but I have fixed the problem!

I did a lot of things, but I suspect the thing that did it was uninstalling the proprietary drivers from nVidia. True, I now don't get any special graphical effects but I can live with that :)

That said, is there a driver out there that will work properly?
My graphics card is an ancient AGP nVidia GeForce FX 5500

Also,


That's exactly what i don't want to do and, since i haven't backed up my data, I'll have to work from a live CD and they are SO slow! I don't think I can cope with them
You should make a separate home partition, then your data would be safe during a reinstall. If you ever do decide to do a clean install of Ubuntu, that would be a good time to create a separate home partition.
How to do this? Just a link to a guide would be fine :)

[tommcd]

I did a lot of things, but I suspect the thing that did it was uninstalling the proprietary drivers from nVidia. True, I now don't get any special graphical effects but I can live with that ...
If you had installed the driver from nvidia.com on 10.04, then it was not reinstalled when you upgraded to 10.10. This was likely the source of the problem. When you install the nvidia driver from the Ubuntu repos it is automagically reinstalled when there is a kernel update for Ubuntu, or when you do a dist-upgrade to a new Ubuntu version. When you install the driver from nvidia.com you are responsible for reinstalling it.


That said, is there a driver out there that will work properly?
My graphics card is an ancient AGP nVidia GeForce FX 5500
The nvidia-173 driver in the Ubuntu repos supports the GForce 5 series graphics cards:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/maverick/nvidia-173
Lets see what nvidia stuff you currently have installed before we go further. What is your output of
aptitude search nvidia A "p" before a package name means it is purged (i.e., not installed). An "i" before a package means it is installed. A "B" means a package has broken dependencies. An "A" before a package means it was automatically installed, usually as a dependency for another package.


How to do this [separate home partition]? Just a link to a guide would be fine
Here is a good guide to creating a separate home partition when you install Ubuntu. You have to use manual partitioning to create a separate home partition:
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/installseparatehome
It is possible to create a separate home partition after Ubuntu is already installed. It is more complicated though:
http://psychocats.net/ubuntu/separatehome
Note that that tutorial is no longer maintained. It is not that old though, so it should work. Ideally you should create a separate home partition when you install Ubuntu.

[LordAro]

here you go...

the_overlord@Toby-Linux:~$ aptitude search nvidia
c nvidia-173 - NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module a
p nvidia-173-dev - NVIDIA binary Xorg driver development file
pB nvidia-173-kernel-source - Transitional package for nvidia-glx-173-ke
i nvidia-173-modaliases - Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org dri
p nvidia-180-kernel-source - Transitional package for nvidia-glx-185-ke
p nvidia-180-libvdpau - Transitional package for nvidia-185-libvdp
p nvidia-180-libvdpau-dev - Transitional package for nvidia-185-libvdp
p nvidia-180-modaliases - Transitional package for nvidia-185-modali
p nvidia-185-kernel-source - Transitional package for nvidia-glx-185-ke
p nvidia-185-libvdpau - Transitional package for nvidia-185-libvdp
p nvidia-185-libvdpau-dev - Transitional package for nvidia-185-libvdp
i nvidia-185-modaliases - Transitional package for nvidia-185-modali
c nvidia-96 - NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module a
p nvidia-96-dev - NVIDIA binary Xorg driver development file
p nvidia-96-kernel-source - Transitional package for nvidia-glx-96-ker
i nvidia-96-modaliases - Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org dri
p nvidia-cg-toolkit - Cg Toolkit - GPU Shader Authoring Language
i nvidia-common - Find obsolete NVIDIA drivers
i A nvidia-current - NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module a
p nvidia-current-dev - NVIDIA binary Xorg driver development file
i A nvidia-current-modaliases - Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org dri
pB nvidia-glx-173 - Transitional package for nvidia-glx-173
p nvidia-glx-173-dev - Transitional package for nvidia-glx-173-de
p nvidia-glx-180 - Transitional package for nvidia-glx-185
p nvidia-glx-180-dev - Transitional package for nvidia-glx-185-de
p nvidia-glx-185 - Transitional package for nvidia-glx-185
p nvidia-glx-185-dev - Transitional package for nvidia-glx-185-de
p nvidia-glx-96 - Transitional package for nvidia-glx-96
p nvidia-glx-96-dev - Transitional package for nvidia-glx-96-dev
p nvidia-kernel-common - NVIDIA binary kernel module common files
pi nvidia-settings - Tool of configuring the NVIDIA graphics dr
v nvidia-va-driver -

i have also noticed an error message that pops up on login. I don't know exactly what it says, but it's something like:
"...You will have to configure [something] yourself"

And I can't access the X server settings - has gone from the System -> Administration bar

[tommcd]

It appears that you had nvidia-173 installed at one time:


c nvidia-173 - NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module a
p nvidia-173-dev - NVIDIA binary Xorg driver development file
pB nvidia-173-kernel-source - Transitional package for nvidia-glx-173-ke

The "c" before nvidia-173 indicates that you have configuration files for it on your system. This generally happens when you install, and then remove, a package. Also, the "pB" before nvidia-173-kernel-source means that you have some broken dependencies somewhere.
You also have nvidia-current installed:

i A nvidia-current - NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module a

The nvidia-current driver only supports nvidia GForce 6 series and up.
To have any chance of getting the 173 driver running, you should purge all nvidia packages, and then install nvidia-173. Then run: "sudo nvidia-xconfig" and then reboot. Hopefully it should work.
You have made a bit of a mess with these nvidia drivers somehow.

[LordAro]

Umm, purge all nvidia packages? How? :lol:

Also, where do i install the 173 driver from? Additional Drivers, Synaptic Package Manager, or something else...

[tommcd]

Umm, purge all nvidia packages? How?
To purge the nvidia packages, just run:

sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia*
If the wild card (nvidia*) does not work, then just purge each nvidia package that has an "i" in front of it when you run:

aptitude search nvidia
You could also remove them using synaptic package manager if you prefer. Just mark them for complete removal in synaptic.


Also, where do i install the 173 driver from? Additional Drivers, Synaptic Package Manager, or something else...
You could use the Additional Drivers Manager, Synaptic, or the terminal:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-173 nvidia-settings mesa-utils
Then to enable the driver:

sudo nvidia-xconfig
Then reboot and you should (hopefully) be good.