Can no longer log in after update

[TheHow7zer]

I am having a problem with the latest update of lucid ubuntu. I was on 10.04 for the longest time but decided to update while I was out doing errands. When I got back the logon screen was made up of blue and gray windows on a completely black background and the mouse and keyboard wouldn't work!

I found that if I unplugged and then replugged my mouse that I could get it working, but not all the options work properly. When you try to close a menu it just stays up, but it isn't there at the same time. Also, the shutdown/restart options don't work along with the physical power button on my computer, I have to remove the battery and power cord to shut it down.

I am currently dual booting ubuntu and windows 7 on my gateway NV59 laptop.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

~Jacob

[runeh76]

Hi

I dunno what have went wrong, but u should use another account. Not only that what came after Ubuntu installation.

Now u could boot to recovery-mode (reboot and hit esc or shift, so u can choose recovery mode--> ROOT terminal and add new user-account


useradd test

passwd test

edit login settings, so "test" login is automatic

gksudo gedit /etc/gdm/custom.conf
at least u should now can login to "test" account.

[TheHow7zer]

yeah, I already tried recovery mode but the keyboard doesn't work there either.

I have important stuff on my ubuntu account that I need to recover, Help!

[runeh76]

Use LiveCD

[colintivy]

Hi folks!

I have a similar problem in that I have upgraded 9.10 using the facility in Update Manager. This appeared to go well(eventually) but when I get to Log-in it accepts my username and password (as used in 9.10, no authenticate faiure), there is some disk activity but it then goes back to the log-in page. Using the Gnome Failsafe option I have looked into the custom.config file but there is nothing in it. 10.04.2 sort of works but, because of the means of not requiring logging-in, it is sluggish (Just like Safe mode in Windows). Clearly there is bug somewhere in the loading software that returns mw to the log-in page instead of finishing the loading. I have posted this earlier but found this as a likely alternative source of guidance.

[runeh76]

Hi colintivy :)

I have seen lots of these upgrade problems, and i think its better just make a nice clean install with LiveCD. Backup stuff and enjoy ur new clean OS. :)

[TheHow7zer]

Use LiveCD
is there any way for me to use my liveCD to login to my account on ubuntu?

[colintivy]

Hi runeh76!

Advice taken, Ordered a 10.04 Desktop CD, our download speed a bit dodgy these days and extra GBs a bit expensive. I hope to be able to report that all is well soon. I had not heard of Gnome failsafe facility before but It sure got me out of a hole. Has it been written up somewhere? It seems to work OK but I have not explored its limitations. I do know about Windows Safe Mode and used it (washes mouth out!!) Will change my profile asap!

:D :D

[runeh76]

I do know about Windows Safe Mode and used it (washes mouth out!!)
:D :D

:lolflag:

[TheHow7zer]

I am able to access everything in all of my partitions accept for my user folder (which I have been told is encrypted), is there a way to access it from the livecd? If so I could use that to save my information, right?

[xx58]

:rolleyes: p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }h2 { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }h3 { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { } Recover Grub 2 via LiveCD



First, grab a copy of the latest Ubuntu LiveCD (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download) and boot it.
Open a terminal and type

$ sudo fdisk -l


Now, you need to remember which device listed is your linux distribution, for reference, /dev/sda1 will be used. Now we need to mount the filesystem to /mnt

$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt


If you have /boot on a separate partition, that need's to be mounted aswell. For reference, /dev/sda2 will be used.

$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot Make sure you don't mix these up, pay attention to the output of FDISK


Now mount the rest of your devices

$ sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev


Now chroot into your system

$ sudo chroot /mnt
You should be chroot'd into your system as root, you can now run commands as root, without the need for sudo.


Now you need to edit the /etc/default/grub file to fit your system

$ nano /etc/default/grub


When that is done you need to run update-grub to create the configuration file.

$ update-grub


To install GRUB 2 to the MBR, next you need to run grub-install /dev/sda

$ grub-install /dev/sda


If you encounter any errors, try grub-install --recheck /dev/sda

$ grub-install --recheck /dev/sda


Press Ctrl+D to exit out of the chroot.
Once you exit back to your regular console, undo all the mounting, first the /dev

$ sudo umount /mnt/dev


Now you can unmount the root system

$ sudo umount /mnt


And you should be free to restart your system right into GRUB 2 and then into your system installation.

Errors

Where did my Grub2 boot menu go!?!?!

According to an email that was sent out today Monday, August 10, 2009 with the newest Grub2 update, the boot menu is hidden by default now. It's easy to get it back, just edit /etc/default/grub and comment out GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT
$ sudo nano /etc/default/grub Make your timeout line look like this...
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=3 GRUB_TIMEOUT=XXX <---Make sure you put in a timeout value here. Save the file and exit, then run...
$ sudo update-grub