After Ubuntu crash & restart no GUI appears

[nss000]

Gents:

Running U12.04 on AMD965:

My system hung at the end of a UTUBE video ... I used CTRL-ALT-F1 to reach the command-line. START-X failed to produce a GUI. I then closed out with the SHUTDOWN command.

Upon restart I get MSI splash/Ubuntu splash ... and various brief / scrambled text messages and then a CLI LOGIN screen. STARTX fails with long messages ending with :

" NVIDIA: API mismatch. NVIDIA kernel module has version 173.14.35 but this NVIDIA driver component has version 304.116"

ddxSigGiveUp: closing log
Server terminated with error (1)
xinit: giving up
xinit: unable to connent to X server
xinit: server error"

The new NV-304 driver was installed a day before and was listed on the NVidia tool window. I'm left at the login command prompt. How do I attack this fail?

 

[Ijack]

Revert to the previous driver.

 

[nss000]

I have never reverted NVIdia drivers, and never changed drivers from the command-line. Please advise on method.

Revert to the previous driver.

 

[Ijack]

http://askubuntu.com/questions/75289/can-i-revert-an-nvidia-driver

If you still can't get the NVidia drivers to work you could always just use the standard VGA driver. It'll be slower but it will get you a GUI back.

 

[nss000]

*NEW*: And this is very amusing... at CLI I try:

nvidia-xconfig

... and get the error message:

"Validation error: data incomplete in file /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Undefined Device "(NULL)" referenced by Screen "default Screen"
ERROR: Unable to write to directory /etc/X11"

What sort of "SMASH" did that UTUBE video (violent al-Nusra agitprop) put onto my system ?

I imagine that would be: apt-get remove nvidia-current

On Ubuntu sites I'm seeing suggestions for reconfiguring the xserver. Are there command-line tests I can perform to give me a handle on the current status of my graphics sub-system?

 

[nss000]

IJACK:

Not really revert to previous driver. Rather kill.all NVIDIA reverting to nou* the built.in Linux vid driver. Then reinstall NVIDIA-current: Stupid me I've been down this path before.

sudo apt-get remove nvidia-*
///reboot///
sudo apt-get install nvidia-current-updates
///reboot///

Funny item 'eh .. posters at ASK-UBUNTU were especially amused (Andre Desnoy et al.) that you must first wipe the NV slate clean, then suck back everything. Like discovering your true love soulmate is an ex-girlfriend boyo will you grovel .....

 

[Aristotelian]

I had something similar happen. I had a refurb ssd and apparently a sector containing the graphics driver got corrupted and I could not get into gui. The only solution I could figure out was to reinstall the system.

 

[nss000]

Yes I feared a similar DEEP mess, especially considering the video that "prompted" the lockup. If I would have done a lusrland HARD-REBOOT out of the lock I never would have seen an issue, but I had to be smarty-pantz and try CTRL-ALT-F1 ! Leason learned ... peasants should tend their crops .....

I had something similar happen. I had a refurb ssd and apparently a sector containing the graphics driver got corrupted and I could not get into gui. The only solution I could figure out was to reinstall the system.

 

[Aristotelian]

It may have been already broken probably when youtube crashed. I can't magine ctr-alt-f1 made it worse. I suspect hardware issue with your hdd. Its not the peasant's fault.

 

[nss000]

Hummmm .. my "system-files" HDD DOES report defective blocks. This legacy AMD965 is the dumping ground for fringe & unwanted/unloved computer pieces including HDDs. I have assumed the OS indentifies, marks & justs routes-around the issue.

It may have been already broken probably when youtube crashed. I can't magine ctr-alt-f1 made it worse. I suspect hardware issue with your hdd. Its not the peasant's fault.

 

[Aristotelian]

If it fried something that is stopping it from booting there is no way for it to do the repair on its own. See if you can boot with a Live USB system, get to your GUI and either reinstall or repair the damage.

 

[nss000]

BigA:

It's running now. I first **removed** ALL NVidia programs. Then I **restored** all NVidia programs. The CLI text is given in a previous post in this topic. Lucky I had the external source advice.

While writing some code, & being a fluent J6Pk computer lusr, I admit to being at the ragged_edge of personal ability & interest adminning my personal stash of two Ubuntu and one WinXP boxes.

I've wondered for years if some-one could produce a modestly ambitious ($60) heuristic/AI 'bill.the.butler' HW_card with always-on ROOT access to the system AND the lusr. The universal helper card. As an independent plug-in PCI + SOC it would always be available to provide usrland help. I mean are there 20,000 or 500,000 common desktop computer **fluxxes?** that such a card could address trivially ... and a few moments "thought" + system_scan prolly increases that solution set by x100 ! Such a card would be every lusrs friend.in.the.business.

If it fried something that is stopping it from booting there is no way for it to do the repair on its own. See if you can boot with a Live USB system, get to your GUI and either reinstall or repair the damage.