boot issues after todays update.

[john newbuntu]

Just about 4 hours ago, I updated ubuntu software using the update manager in Gnome. I primarily use Gnome but I also have the kde-desktop installed. But after todays update, I am unable to log back into Linux. First of, I am missing windows OS in the GRUB, which means the grub has been updated somehow and removed windows OS. Also, when I boot into Linux, I get a wierd looking screen in which nothing is decipherable - absolute garbage. None of the keys respond after that. The update today included the following:
x11-common, sreadahead, gdm 2.28.1-0ubuntu1, liblancelot0 4:4.3.2-0ubuntu5 , plasma-widget-addons, plasma-dataengines-addons, xserver-xorg-video-all, xerver-xorg-input-all

Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

e2fsck looks good. memory is also good and I do not have Nvidia or any other
graphics card- just the internal Intel card. I have had karmic for over 2 weeks with several shutdowns and have had no problem so far. Nothing extraordinary in the logs.

[5BallJuggler]

Just about 4 hours ago, I updated ubuntu software using the update manager in Gnome. I primarily use Gnome but I also have the kde-desktop installed. But after todays update, I am unable to log back into Linux. First of, I am missing windows OS in the GRUB, which means the grub has been updated somehow and removed windows OS. Also, when I boot into Linux, I get a wierd looking screen in which nothing is decipherable - absolute garbage. None of the keys respond after that. The update today included the following:
x11-common, sreadahead, gdm 2.28.1-0ubuntu1, liblancelot0 4:4.3.2-0ubuntu5 , plasma-widget-addons, plasma-dataengines-addons, xserver-xorg-video-all, xerver-xorg-input-all

Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

e2fsck looks good. memory is also good and I do not have Nvidia or any other
graphics card- just the internal Intel card. I have had karmic for over 2 weeks with several shutdowns and have had no problem so far. Nothing extraordinary in the logs.

I had the problem a couple of days ago, I was convinced that it was something to with kdm,
the day before I installed a load of kubuntu programs from the repository, when I rebooted i was asked if i wanted to change to kdm permamently, and of course I selected "yes".

when I next rebooted I had the same thing as you are descibing, it took me a while to sort it out.

1. shutdown the PC and reboot, when prompted to selected boot options press escape, you need to select the earliest kernal of linux that you can find.
2. select this kernel, in repair mode/safe mode/debug mode (I can't remember what it is called)
3. when you boot up, you will be told that your display drivers are no good, click OK,
4. you should then get the option to boot in low graphics mode. select this
5. at this point I then removed kde from my system in the synaptic package manager. when I rebooted, my system was OK.

I hope this helps
Phil.

[5BallJuggler]

just a little more info.

today's update also include linux-firmware.

and after the updates, I rebooted with no problems.

[philinux]

Just about 4 hours ago, I updated ubuntu software using the update manager in Gnome. I primarily use Gnome but I also have the kde-desktop installed. But after todays update, I am unable to log back into Linux. First of, I am missing windows OS in the GRUB, which means the grub has been updated somehow and removed windows OS. Also, when I boot into Linux, I get a wierd looking screen in which nothing is decipherable - absolute garbage. None of the keys respond after that. The update today included the following:
x11-common, sreadahead, gdm 2.28.1-0ubuntu1, liblancelot0 4:4.3.2-0ubuntu5 , plasma-widget-addons, plasma-dataengines-addons, xserver-xorg-video-all, xerver-xorg-input-all

Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

e2fsck looks good. memory is also good and I do not have Nvidia or any other
graphics card- just the internal Intel card. I have had karmic for over 2 weeks with several shutdowns and have had no problem so far. Nothing extraordinary in the logs.

Try running

sudo update-grub

from recovery mode

[john newbuntu]

Thanks Phil and Phil.
The only 2 kernels I have in the boot menu is 2.6.31-15-generic and recovery. Choosing either modes takes me to that same garbled screen which is not humanly decipherable. After hitting enter (or tab and enter), it takes me to a blank screen. No combination of key presses get me a prompt, which means that the kernel (or initramfs) never gets loaded.

However, I can, by using a live cd mount my partitions one by one and read the data. On carefully observing the logs, I see these messages:

kdm main process ended, respawning
kdm respawning too fast, stopped
init: gdm main process terminated with status 1
kdm: failed to start X server. Starting failsafe X server.
kdm: X server died during startup
kdm: X server for display :0 cannot be started, session disabled
kernel: mtrr: no MTRR for c0000000,7b0000 found

Without getting to a shell, I would be unable to do any updates I assume, unless there is a way to do this using liveCD.


WAIT A SECOND!
Something serendipitous just happened. As I was about to submit this, I decided to give it one last try. So, after choosing the regular 2.6.31-15-generic option and booting, I hit the following keys in rapid succession(delay probably half a second between each): escape, Ctrl+F1, Ctrl+F2, Ctrl+F3. Lo and behold the boot went like just any another normal boot and everything looks fine now. All the files, hardware and networking devices worked normally. A sudo update-grub2 identified the Windows partition and hopefully fixed it. I also tried doing an update but there was nothing to update.

So, is there some key sequence that allows the kernel to be brought up and kdm to start the X server normally?

[Altayr2]

Hello!

i have exactly the same problem after xorg yesterday's update.
1. X server was starting in low graphics mode
2. After regenerating configuration still starting in low graphics mode
3. Randomly about every second system restart X was starting correctly
4. In daemon.log I see:
Dec 2 11:53:10 localhost init: gdm main process (1459) terminated with status 1
Dec 2 11:53:11 localhost kdm[1460]: X server died during startup
Dec 2 11:53:11 localhost kdm[1460]: Failed to start X server. Starting failsafe X server.
Dec 2 11:53:32 localhost kdm_greet[1773]: Cannot load /usr/share/kde4/apps/kdm/faces/.default.face: No such file or directory

From here I tried:
dpkg-reconfigure nvidia-185-kernel-source
and this (re?)created /lib/modules/2.6.31-15-generic/updates/dkms/nvidia.ko

I can confirm that I have working xorg.conf, the problem somewhere else.

Still after every reboot I get:
Ubuntu is starting in low graphics mode

but if I pres Esc, failsafe mode configurator disapears, I see tty1 login prompt.
Just wait 5 seconds and eventually normal KDM login screen appears!!!
I am writting from normal accelerated graphical session now, but if I restart computer this story start over again.

One more interesting thing, that Ctrl+Alt+F1 till F6 shows normal console login tty's,
and F7 shows blinking cursor! F8 shows garbage on screen, and F9 is this normal working X session which I am working now!

If somebody could help with fix please write here!

Also this is kdm.log from start (I rotated logs before reboot):
ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log

Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock
and start again.


Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
at http://wiki.x.org
for help.

ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log
Warning: Failsafe mode was already attempted within 30 seconds.
Warning: Falling back to gdm to report the issue.

X.Org X Server 1.6.4
Release Date: 2009-9-27
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.24-23-server i686 Ubuntu


... normal load continues..

[tarator]

Hello I have the same problemns after the last upgrade.
But i now can't get to a login-shell (as mentioned by john above) (Strg+Alt+F2 etc. doesn't work)
I just get a blank screen. Can anybody tell me how to solve this problem?
If i could login to the console it would be great!

I tried any of the options (Run in low praphics mode, reconfigere, troubleshoot, go to login console) but with no effect. The screen stays black....
So I can't type any command....

Can anybody help me?

[john newbuntu]

One thing you could try is to bring up the window manager from a single user mode. So when you boot the computer, at the grub menu, hit escape. Choose your normal linux kernel option and hit "e" for edit. Go to the end of the line. Remove the quiet and splash keywords and replace them with "S" without quotes. Hit enter and b.
Now it should take you to a console (cross fingers). Login as root and type kdm or /etc/init.d/kdm.