Gnome desktop locks up, no keyboard or mouse clicks

Question

Just updated the Nvidia driver and now when reboot the login works but then Gnome just locks up (freezes).

Mouse can move across screen but no clicks work neither does keyboard commands like CTRL+ALT+T for terminal. How do I access if I can not even get to a terminal to try and re-install Nvidia driver manually or un-install it.

Answer 1

Best way to access your system is to boot to recovery mode. You will boot to a command line only interface, but should be sufficient to remove the nvidia driver.

Answer 2

When you arrive at the login screen press the keys Ctrl+Alt+F1 to switch to TTY1, there you will be able to login and remove the Nvidia drivers.

I have to also say this problem comes because you have a multiple monitor setup and you can still use gnome-shell by removing the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf (sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf), running nvidia-xconfig (sudo nvidia-xconfig) and rebooting will make your system boot and gnome-shell will work with 1 screen enabled.

Start by following the steps to boot up with 1 monitor only and once in gnome-shell you can think about what to do next (try a new xorg.conf setup or remove the drivers your installed).

Follow these steps:

• Switch to TTY1
  
  Ctrl+Alt+F1
• Make a backup of your xorg.conf file with a different name
  
  sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup
• Let Nvidia create a new xorg.conf file
  
  sudo nvidia-xconfig
• Reboot
  
  sudo reboot

You should boot and be able to run gnome-shell now.