Latest software update broke my Kubuntu 17.04

[Bashing-om]

BenginM; Hey hey;

Hiya Bashing-om , so you're thinkin' it could be a user permissions issue..!

Well, no, not permissions per se - as then I would expect a login loop to happen .
Here I look for broken configs for the DE . But with KDE I will really be struggling as I have not seen KDE in years .

A know it all

I am not

[BenginM]

Good answer , Yes , and am not familiar with KDE either ..

[user_of_gnomes]

I find that when there are graphical problems in Ubuntu or Lubuntu, bootinmgt into 'recovery mode' by holding down the left shift button and then choosing the recovery mode often allows me to get back into Ubuntu with minimal graphics so that I don't have to fix things solely through the terminal.

Of course, this is Kubuntu and I've never seen that before but I am assuming it works the same way.

[BenginM]

user_of_gnomes , true ..
merar13 , you could try fixing packages with dpkg like this http://imgur.com/a/jwHrB

[marer13]

marer13; Well, surprise, surprise .

The hardware is Intel, and the correct driver is loaded . A driver is not at fault !

So we look at this now as a config issue in your user account.

At the login screen what results when you boot with the guest account ?

sometimes I do wonder

I tried loging in with my account and second account on this machine and what's happening is that now I can see the desktop but nothing works, there's no taskbar and can't click on anything...

[marer13]

I find that when there are graphical problems in Ubuntu or Lubuntu, bootinmgt into 'recovery mode' by holding down the left shift button and then choosing the recovery mode often allows me to get back into Ubuntu with minimal graphics so that I don't have to fix things solely through the terminal.

Of course, this is Kubuntu and I've never seen that before but I am assuming it works the same way.

I tried booting into Recovery Mode (there's an option for that in Grub, but it's the same situation...

[marer13]

user_of_gnomes , true ..
merar13 , you could try fixing packages with dpkg like this http://imgur.com/a/jwHrB

I've just tried it and it asked me to download a new package, which I did.

And then restarted and... it's back to black screen...

[BenginM]

I tried loging in with my account and second account on this machine and what's happening is that now I can see the desktop but nothing works, there's no taskbar and can't click on anything...

....

I've just tried it and it asked me to download a new package, which I did.

And then restarted and... it's back to black screen...

This tells me , the Desktop entertainment is BROKEN , or missing some packages .. am on my phone atm , and am not sure which KDE packages we ned to assure are installed for KDE desktop .. could you please /join #kubuntu & #ubuntu on freenode IRC network , usin freenode web-interface , https://webchat.freenode.net/ and ask someone whois using KDE .. you may want to point them to this thread so they may have an idea on what's going on and what you've tried so far!

[Bashing-om]

marer13; Well ;

Continuing on our merry way .
We now know that the problem is lower than the X layer .
So what does X have to say about the matter ?
Post back:

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log
cat /var/log/gpu-manager.log

see what

tale gets told