12.04 Upgrade failed

[TMSpack]

I just tried upgrading my gateway laptop from11.10 to 12.04. Everything seemed to go smoothly until the end when it rebooted. The login screen looks the same, but it is black. The background still says 11.10. The password box does not show stars as I type. It looks like it is showing white text on a white background - the cursor seems to move, but you can't see anything. It accepts the password, but nothing looks right. It looks black, and windows will flash on the screen when I mouse over them. Clicking turns the bacground purple. Basically, you can't see anything.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[carl4926]

Have you tried adding 'nomodeset' to the boot argument? This might help if it's graphics related. But it does sound like things went south a little.

Or, once logged in, Ctrl+Alt+F1
And try running 'upgrade' again

[TMSpack]

Thanks for the quick help, Carl. nomodeset didn't help. Ctrl-Alt-F1 allowed me to log on, but apparently the network is also hosed, because it couldn't connect to anything. I can work on that, but maybe it's easier to re-install 11.10. Can that be done without killing my drivers and files?

Thanks!

[cortman]

Thanks for the quick help, Carl. nomodeset didn't help. Ctrl-Alt-F1 allowed me to log on, but apparently the network is also hosed, because it couldn't connect to anything. I can work on that, but maybe it's easier to re-install 11.10. Can that be done without killing my drivers and files?

Thanks!

You DID back up all your stuff before upgrading, right?
If not... You should copy your stuff off the HDD using a live CD.
I think a clean installation of 12.04 would work fine for you. The upgrade process can get pretty convoluted.
At this point, that's probably your best option.

[carl4926]

Thanks for the quick help, Carl. nomodeset didn't help. Ctrl-Alt-F1 allowed me to log on, but apparently the network is also hosed, because it couldn't connect to anything. I can work on that, but maybe it's easier to re-install 11.10. Can that be done without killing my drivers and files?

Thanks!

Assuming you have a separate /home partition, your files will be safe so long as that is not formatted. But ubuntu doesn't default to have a separate /home, you would have to have set that up originally.

Otherwise, use a Live CD to get the files you need off your current install. You can put them on a windows partiton if you have one, or a Flash drive or external HD.....
Then install 12.04 would be your best bet.

[TMSpack]

Thanks, all!

Yes, my important files are safely in the cloud. It's finding printer drivers and the like that will take some time. So a clean install it is. On the bright side, I get rid of all the junky software I downloaded just to take a look. Thanks for all the help!