Can't Choose Desktop Manager on Login

[DeborahSu]

I'm getting a bit frustrated. I really really really dislike the Unity desktop and want to use the classic Gnome instead. When I go to log in, I have NO choice of desktop manager at all. Gnome is of course installed, since it's the base for Unity.

Background: I've been using Ubuntu for years now. I updated to 14.04, but it wouldn't load even so far as the login screen. I read somewhere that it is probably because my older motherboard doesn't support some protocol that I can't remember now, so I reinstalled 12.04. It didn't give me the choice for advanced and wound up overwriting everything, so all of my old data is gone. This made me pretty unhappy, of course, but that was my fault. I've installed & updated so many times without issue that I didn't bother backing anything up, and I have a hunch that I was running 32 bit before, and installed 64 bit .... Now, I seem to be stuck with Unity. Help, please?

[deadflowr]

Install gnome-panel.
Try this
When you get to the login screen, press ctrl + alt + F2
enter your username and password.
Then try
First make sure the system is fully up-to-date

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
The install the gnome panel

sudo apt-get install gnome-panel
Let it in install the packages.
When it finishes install gnome panel, enter

sudo service lightdm restart
you should now see the login screen and in the username password box if you toggle the little box in the right corner, you should now have entries for gnome (I can't remeber if they will be fallback or flashback, but you should have two new entries, one for effect and one for no effects)

For the record, Ubuntu is gnome based, that does not mean it'll have the gnome interface.
Unity is Ubuntu's interface in place of the standard/normal gnome interface.
As posted, to get the gnome interface, or variants thereof, you need to install it.

Hope this helps.

[DeborahSu]

Install gnome-panel.
Try this
When you get to the login screen, press ctrl + alt + F2
enter your username and password.
Then try
First make sure the system is fully up-to-date

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade


Won't that try to upgrade me to 14.04, which doesn't work on my computer?

[deadflowr]

No, to upgrade versions you run the command do-release-upgrade.
dist-upgrade is completely within the current version.

[DeborahSu]

I tried it ... no update or upgrade available, and neither was gnome-panel. I searched gnome-panel in the software program and it said it couldn't access "universal" source, which is really weird. I seem to recall that I installed the 32-bit to begin with because 64-bit was pretty buggy ... guess I'll try going back to it and see if that works better.

Thanks for your help!

[deadflowr]

Well, my initial propose to log into ctrl+alt+F2 was to avoid unity, but I guess there is no choice.
Try logging in normally, into unity, and rerun the commands in a terminal and copy the output, and paste them here, in this thread.

You might also look to see if somehow universe was disabled.
In a terminal run

software-properties-gtk
In the page that opens the sceond entry should say community-supported something (universe)
Make sure it has a check in the box.
If no check, then check it(mark it and it'll add a check)
Then close the window, and if it does not ask to reload, then re run the update commands again...

[DeborahSu]

Universe has not been disabled--there is a checkmark next to it. This is my output:


deborah@deborah-GA-890GPA-UD3H:~$ software-properties-gtk
gpg: /tmp/tmpr2wb70/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created
deborah@deborah-GA-890GPA-UD3H:~$ sudo apt-get update
[sudo] password for deborah:
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal InRelease
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security InRelease
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates InRelease
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security Release.gpg
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports InRelease
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security Release
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal Release.gpg
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates Release.gpg
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports Release.gpg
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal Release
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates Release
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports Release
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com quantal InRelease
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com quantal Release.gpg
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com quantal Release
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com quantal/main Sources
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com quantal/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com quantal/main i386 Packages
Err http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/main Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Err http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/restricted Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Err http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/universe Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Err http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/multiverse Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Err http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/main amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Err http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/restricted amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Err http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/universe amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Err http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/multiverse amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Err http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/main i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Err http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/restricted i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Err http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/universe i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Err http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/multiverse i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/main Translation-en
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/multiverse Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/multiverse Translation-en
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/restricted Translation-en
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com quantal-security/universe Translation-en
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com quantal/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com quantal/main Translation-en
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/main Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/restricted Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/universe Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/multiverse Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/main amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/restricted amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/universe amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/multiverse amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/main i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/restricted i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/universe i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/multiverse i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/main Translation-en
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/multiverse Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/multiverse Translation-en
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/restricted Translation-en
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal/universe Translation-en
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/main Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/restricted Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/universe Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/multiverse Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/main amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/restricted amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/universe amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/multiverse amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/main i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/restricted i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/universe i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/multiverse i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/main Translation-en
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/multiverse Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/multiverse Translation-en
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/restricted Translation-en
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-updates/universe Translation-en
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/main Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/restricted Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/universe Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/multiverse Sources
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/main amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/restricted amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/universe amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/multiverse amd64 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/main i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/restricted i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/universe i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/multiverse i386 Packages
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/main Translation-en
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/multiverse Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/multiverse Translation-en
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/restricted Translation-en
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com quantal-backports/universe Translation-en
W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/main/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/restricted/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/universe/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/multiverse/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/restricted/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/universe/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/multiverse/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/restricted/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/universe/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/multiverse/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/main/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/restricted/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/universe/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/multiverse/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/restricted/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/universe/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/multiverse/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/restricted/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/universe/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/multiverse/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/main/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/restricted/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/universe/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/multiverse/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/restricted/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/universe/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/multiverse/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/restricted/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/universe/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/multiverse/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/main/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/restricted/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/universe/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/multiverse/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/restricted/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/universe/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/multiverse/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/restricted/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/universe/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/multiverse/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]

E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
deborah@deborah-GA-890GPA-UD3H:~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
deborah@deborah-GA-890GPA-UD3H:~$ dist-upgrade
dist-upgrade: command not found
deborah@deborah-GA-890GPA-UD3H:~$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
deborah@deborah-GA-890GPA-UD3H:~$ sudo apt-get install gnome-panel
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package gnome-panel is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'gnome-panel' has no installation candidate

[deadflowr]

Now everything makes sense.

You are not running 12.04, but 12.10.(quantal)
Ubuntu 12.10 is no longer supported, and as such no packages are available anymore.

Unfortunately, you'll need to reinstall again.
Look here for 12.04
http://releases.ubuntu.com/12.04/

If you need a version of precise/12.04 that used the original kernel versiom(version 3.2) look at this page
http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/12.04.1/
Scroll down the page to see the list of versions
You want the iso file marked
ubuntu-12.04-desktop-amd64.iso 25-Apr-2012 16:13 698M Desktop CD for 64-bit PC (AMD64) computers (standard download)
For 64-bit version
or
ubuntu-12.04-desktop-i386.iso 23-Apr-2012 12:27 701M Desktop CD for PC (Intel x86) computers (standard download)
for 32-bit version

This is a fully supported version, and after installation, an update will be needed to bring it up-to-date.

The reason to install the 12.04 version over the 12.04.5 version is because the 12.04 version has ann older hardware stack that should work on your system.
The 12.04.5 version has an updated hardware stack. The 12.04.5 hardstack is based on the hardware stack used in 14.04, so it is possible that that stack might not work well, since you already know that 14.04 does not work well.

Hope this helps

[DeborahSu]

Thank you!!! Hopefully, that'll get me back up & running. I'll let you know!

[DeborahSu]

It took me a little while, since my dvd drive decided to bite the dust. I got a flash drive, got it installed, did the commands as instructed, and I'm back up & running! Thank you SOOOOO much!!!