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I had installed several updates and now Ubuntu 12.04 will not boot at all. It brings me to the login screen. I login and the screen goes blank. Help...

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This might have to do with the update of your display driver among the updates you installed. – saji89 May 24 '12 at 18:37
What happens when you try nomodeset? What is the make and model of your computer (or, if inapplicable, of your motherboard), and the make and model of your video card? On about what date did you do the updates? Please provide this (and any other requested information) by editing your question (as though you had included it originally). – Eliah Kagan May 28 '12 at 18:44
You should be able to log in nongraphically by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 and entering your username and password. (You won't see anything on the screen as you enter your password, that's OK.) Then run sudo apt-get install pastebinit. Use script and pastebinit to send the output of sudo lshw -C video and cat /var/log/dpkg.log to paste.ubuntu.com and post a link in your question. – Eliah Kagan May 28 '12 at 18:45
i am having almost the same problem. after the latest updates, well, from a week ago to now, i always get a black screen on boot. but i can't even get to login. Some update must had messed up with our graphics card. it only happens when i am using the intel hd3000 card. When i am using the ati hd5000 series, i am not having this problem.And this wasn't happening before. – Celso Apr 11 at 20:34
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closed as off topic by Jorge Castro, green7, bcbc, Nathan Osman, psusi Apr 20 at 20:46

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3 Answers

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I found this blog helpful in the same situation so I thought I'd pass it along.

http://lkubuntu.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/quick-and-easy-way-to-fix-x11-issues/

I could boot up to Stopping System V Init Process, which meant all of the services had started and the only thing left is the gui. I tried dpkg-reconfigure and booting to a older kernel in grub and none of that helped. I could start a VM headless so virtualbox was working. I use xfce4 and its much better than the default desktop.

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Also, try to boot previous kernels by selecting Previous Linux versions from grub..

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First thing I did. Ubuntu needs to work on recovery tools to rescue a system. Simple updates mess up a perfectly running OS with no recourse except to re-install. Not good. – chazdg May 24 '12 at 20:43
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The default Unity and its companion compiz really stretch what graphics software and hardware can do. Even if you had an earlier version of Unity working, it might be worthwhile to try Unity 2D, or one of the gnome shells.

At the login screen, before you enter your password, click on the icon there next to the userid you are signing on as. Click Unity 2d and then enter your password. Unity 2d is, in effect, a backup mode for when there are problems.

Even if you would like to run the full Unity, doing this might help determine if advanced composition and rendering are involved in getting the blank screen.

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