Ubuntu 12.04 stuck on log-in screen after updating OpenTTD

Question

I had updated OpenTTD to the latest version however the update crashed in Software Center half-way through.

I restarted my laptop but when I get to the log-in screen and after entering my password, a black screen is displayed with some text, which appears too quickly to read and then it takes me back to the log-in screen.

This is repeated over and over and I cannot log in. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Instead of reinstalling ubuntu-desktop there is some alternative solutions that may work

1. If it's not a problem related to drivers from your video card, it could be a problem with gnome or gdm:

   Open the non-graphical login screen with Ctrl + Alt + F1

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install gnome-shell
   sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool gnome-terminal file-roller
   sudo service gdm start
   

   If gdm doesn't start, try:

   sudo update-rc.d install gdm defaults
   

   and them

   sudo service gdm start
   

   If it start, just login normally and shutdown your computer via terminal (probably if you try to shutdown pressing the button it will just return to the login screen you just launched)

   sudo shutdown now

   Now it should be working as expected

2. The second possibility is when the problem is with the drivers of your video card:

   Open the non-graphical login screen with Ctrl+Alt+F1

   Try to download your proper drivers, for example, if it's a card from NVIDIA

   sudo apt-get install nvidia-current
   

3. There is one other option, changing the default gdm

   sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm
   

   Change to gdm instead of lightgdm

   If the command doesn't open a option box, try

   sudo apt-get install gdm
   

4. If nothing work, just install ubuntu-desktop again, as suggested, cause it will probably take less time then looking for a solution

   sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop
   

   or

   sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
   

Answer 2

Go to a login screen on a non-graphical virtual console, by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1. Log in by entering your username and password as prompted. You won't see any placeholder characters (like *) as you enter your password--that's OK. Just type it in and press Enter.

You'll be installing software over the Internet, so you may want to check your network connection first. You can use the ifconfig and/or ping commands for this.

Then run these commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

You can press Alt+F7 to switch back to the graphical user interface, but if this is going to work, you may well have to reboot first. You can do that from the non-graphical virtual console by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete or by running the command:

sudo reboot