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View Full Version : Gnome doesn't come up on 19-10



7-webmaster
April 1st, 2020, 10:57 PM
I got nowhere with a previous thread https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2436558 so I am trying again.

I purchased a slightly-used Dell Optiplex 9020 and installed Ubuntu 19-10 on it. It ran for a while but then after installing regular updates the startup didn't complete because Gnome never initialized. I do not know why Gnome wouldn't come up because I do not understand any of the messages in the log. Then for a while the system suddenly started working again until again a regular update caused a repetition of the Gnome startup failure. I tried rebooting multiple times. For a couple of days I got fed up and instead ran the system by booting from my Ubuntu 19-10 install USB. But while that provided some service I could not, for example, access my e-mail because Thunderbird on the USB refused to load the profile, complaining that it was for a newer version of Thunderbird even after I applied all outstanding updates to the USB.

So I tried to boot the system into recovery mode. I have the system set for BIOS boot so I held down the shift key. No change: the system booted up as before, with no pause to display the GRUB menu, and Gnome did not come up. So I tried holding down the ESC key. I still didn't get the GRUB menu but this time the system came up! WTF?

I would really like to understand what is going on so I can fix it once and for all. If Gnome doesn't come up what do I look for in the log to see WHY it didn't complete?