[SOLVED] Ubuntu 9.04 blank screen after login

[Wolvenreign]

Hello all at the linux forums!

I'm trying very, very hard not to scream at the next penguin I see. You see, I'm a semi-new Ubuntu Linux user, and I've been using 32-bit Ubuntu on my laptop for a good two months now. I've just started learning some shell commands and so forth.

Anyway, I thought it would be a good idea to install the 64 bit Ubuntu over the 32 bit Ubuntu. since my laptop has the AMD64 architecture. So I run the installation, everything goes great. I restart the computer, and what do you know? After I login, I get a white cursor with a black backscreen.

I tried Google searching for the solution and both the suggestions that worked for one person in these forums. (It won't let me link to it since I'm a newbie. Raaah.)

None of them worked. Here, I'll even post what I said in the official Ubuntu forums.

Hey everyone!

Well, I recently freed up about 8 gigs of space on my laptop so I can play all my good Steam stuff on Linux. I had also recently learned that I installed the wrong version of Ubuntu the first time around, as it seems my good ol' lappy has AMD64 architecture.

So, I ran the Ubuntu AMD 64 live Cd, and overwrote my previous partition as well as the newly freed space. However, when I restarted the computer, (and after logging in, with the log in screen displaying perfectly), I was greeted with a screen that was completely black, save for the lone mouse cursor.

Anyway to fix this to make it display the ordinary Ubuntu screen?

Help greatly appreciated!

It seems like this is something that needs to be solved in shell prompt in recovery mode (if I have the terminology correct).

Is this right, and if so, what commands do I use? From what it seems, installing the proper Nvidia drivers should solve the problem, bit I can't get past the black screen to get the internet working.

Mind you, I HAD installed Ubuntu once before on this very same computer. It was 32-bit, which I realized was a mistake. At the same time, however, I didn't have to go through this the last time.

Once again, help much appreciated.

Well, after uninstalling GNOME and instead installing KDE as one google result said to do, I tried to log in to Kubuntu (still AMD64) and I was no longer greeted by a blank screen with a mouse pointer. Instead, I am greeted by a series of process notes, such as "Starting network connection manager NetworkManager" and so on.

However, it seems to freeze after a pair of twin messages that say "Advanced Power Management level to 0xfe (254). The only difference between the two is that the first says "sda" and the other says "sdb" above their respective messages.

Oh! This is new. After about 10 minutes hanging there, the computer switches display to two orange stars, both on the upper left corner of the screen, though one orange asterisk sits about five RETURNs under the other, still sticking closely to the left side of the screen.

So, what now, folks? I'm in desperate need of some help, and I truly hope there's some mighty Linux user out there up for the challenge.

You can see some steps I took there as well. I wrapped it in code tags because it is pretty long. At any rate, can anyone help me with this? It would be appreciated, if that means anything to you.

Sincerely,

Wolvenreign

[devils casper]

Press Alt+Ctrl+F2. Does it drop you at Command Line Login Prompt? If yes, then login there and execute this

sudo lspci | grep -i vga
grep -i driver /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Post output here.

Press Alt+Ctrl+F7 to switch back to GUI.

[Wolvenreign]

Erm...forgive my noobishness, but how to I insert that special character that looks like a straight line after lspci and before grep? It's on a pc104 keyboard.

Edit: Silly me, it was shift+backslash. Anyway, the result of the first line is...

00:12.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 7150M (rev a2)

As for the second line, I input it and it does nothing. It is as if I just pressed enter without any input, as it goes to the next blank prompt.

[devils casper]

You have Nvidia Graphics Card and you have to install its Proprietary Driver. Use "vesa" driver to fix Display problem. You can install Nvidia driver later on easily.

Execute this

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

* Its Capital X in X11.


Add this code in the file :

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Configured Video Device"
    Driver        "vesa"
EndSection

Press Ctrl+X, Y and hit Enter key to save file.

Reboot machine. Check if display works fine.

[Wolvenreign]

Hmm...well, I just did that. I even took out the line that says "Option: 'UseFBDev" "true". It's still doing the same thing, however.

There wasn't a line that mentioned a driver under "Section 'Device'". I wonder what that means?

Should I add that section even though there's already a "Section: Device"? All I did just now was modify it.

[devils casper]

What is in the section Device?

Could you post all the contents of xorg.conf file here?

[Wolvenreign]

Well, aside from the miscellaneous stuff above the sections, the original Xorg.conf file says...

 * Reloading Common Unix Printing System: cupsd
Section "Device"
                        Identifier     "configured Video Device"
                        Option           "UseFBDev"                     "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
             Identifier     "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
             Identifier      "Default Screen"
             Monitor         "Configured Monitor"
             Device           "Configured Video Device"
En * Reloading system log daemon...                                                                     _

Thanks for all your help, Casper. I know this must have felt thankless for you so far, but if it's any condolence, you're helping someone who wishes to contribute to Linux in a big way in the future...after thorough study, of course.

[devils casper]

Edit xorg.conf file.

Section "Device"
             Identifier     "configured Video Device"
             Driver          "vesa"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
             Identifier     "Configured Monitor"
             HorizSync    30-71
             VertRefresh    50-160  
EndSection

Save file and reboot machine.

[Wolvenreign]

Hmm...it did seem to up my screen's resolution a bit.

However, the issue remains the same.

I suppose I should let you in on a few things I noticed. Before I edited xorg.conf, I reinstalled so it would reverse any experimentation I've tried. When I did, I noticed that after the install, a huge list of I/0 errors shows up, though the installation acts as though everything went according to plan. Is that just part of halting the system?

When I tried to run kubuntu-deskktop instead, it would ask me to log in 3 to five times before hanging at a scren that said something about Power Management switching to 00xFE for both sda and adb. However, in Gnome, I only have to log in once to see the blank screen with the mouse cursor.

Once again, Casper, I thank you for your hassle. I pray that you'll stick through with me to the end. Though I must say, I'm surprised that I'm the only one with this problem, and that you're the only one trying to help.

[devils casper]

I suppose I should let you in on a few things I noticed. Before I edited xorg.conf, I reinstalled so it would reverse any experimentation I've tried. When I did, I noticed that after the install, a huge list of I/0 errors shows up, though the installation acts as though everything went according to plan. Is that just part of halting the system?

I could be a problem. How did you install both Desktop Environments? Are you switching DEs through command line?

First of all, install Nvidia proprietary driver through Hardware Drivers option in Gnome.

System - Administration -- Hardware Drivers

It will detect your Graphics Card and install correct driver. Reboot machine.