Ubuntu release upgrade from 13.10 to 14.04 fails - log-in fails

Question

Upgrading Ubuntu

To upgrade from Ubuntu 13.10. to 14.04. I ran sudo do-release-upgrade. The first attempt failed and I found the following message in the error log:

/var/log/dist-upgrade/20140724-1529/main.log:

ERROR Dist-upgrade failed: 'The package 'postgresql-9.3-postgis-2.1' is marked 
for removal but it is in the removal blacklist.'

After I successfully uninstalled the package I re-ran the upgrade.

The initial problem

I restarted the computer and then it stops booting with the following screen output:

* Starting nginx nginx
speech-dispatcher disabled; edit /etc/default/speech-dispatcher
Starting VirtualBox kernel modules ...done.
saned disabled; edit /etc/default/saned
 * Restoring resolver state
 * Starting web server apache2
 *

Trying to start the UI

From the console I tried to launch the UI running: sudo service lightdm start which fails with the message:

Job failed to start

Looking into /var/log/lightdm/ I found the following errors:

x-0-greeter.log:

WARNING: Cannot open pixbuf loader module file '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gdk-pixbuf-2.0 \
  /2.10.0/loaders.cache': Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden.
This likely means that your installation is broken
Try running the command
gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders > /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders.cache \
  to make thinks work again for the time being
WARNING: Error loading image 'file:///usr/share/themes/Ambiance/gtk-3.0/assets/entry.png':
  Format der Bilddatei unbekannt
WARNING: Error loading image 'file:///usr/share/themes/Ambiance/gtk-3.0/assets/ \
  entry-disabled.png': Format der Bilddatei unbekannt
/usr/sbin/unity-greeter: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgdk-3.so.0: 
  undefined symbol: cairo_surface_set_device_scale
** (gnome-settings-daemon:2614): WARNING **: Could not open X display

..

x-0.log:

Loading extension GLX
modprobe: ERROR: ../libkmod/libkmod-module.c:809 kmod_module_insert_module() could 
  not find module by name='nvidia_311'
modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'nvidia_331': Function not implemented
error setting MTRR (base = 0xf3000000, size = 0x00e00000, type = 1) Invalid argument (22)

Graphics driver

Some weeks ago I switched to another graphics driver as described here.
As suggested here I downloaded the current NVidia driver for my graphics card from their website and run the following and run:

sudo ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-331.79.run

However, the setup stops with the following message:

The distribution-provides pre-install script failed! Continue installation anyway? [YES] [NO]

I have chose NO for now.

Running apt-get

Next I decided to run sudo apt-get -f install.

In the middle of something it stopped with the following message:

Setting up nvidia-331 (331.38-0ubuntu7) ...

Configuration file '/etc/init/nvidia-persistenced.conf'
 ==> Deleted (by you or by a script) since installation.
 ==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version.
   What would you like to do about it ? Your options are:
    Y or I  : install the package maintainer's version
    N or O  : keep your currently-installed version
      D     : show the differences between the versions
      Z     : start a shell to examine the situation
 The default action is to keep your current version.
 *** nvidia-persistenced,conf (Y/I/N/O/D/Z) [default=N] ?

I chosen Y since I wasn't lucky with what was installed as you might guess..

Partial success

Rebooting the system the UI launched!
However, when I enter my password to the log-in field nothing happens. Also the log-in field looks somewhat odd - the user name is barely readable - as if the background graphic is missing (see screen foto).

Then I run sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-session and restarted one again. Now I can log-in.

The problem which remains: the window manager seems to be broken. I cannot see the Unity dash, window menu bars, ...

Graphics driver nightmare second part

Meanwhile, I decided to install the driver mentioned before regardless of the warnings:

sudo ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-331.79.run

Now, the system boots: I can see the shell login prompt for a second but no UI and the screen stays black. When I press the power button the system shuts down (I can see the routines). I can no longer access the shell via Ctrl+Alt+F1. Seems as if I messed it up :(

Recovered to the previous state (no menu bars) by adding the attribute text to the kernel parameters as suggested by bain.

Errors or warnings in /var/log/syslog

/var/log/syslog:

Jul 30 09:28:23 E6500 kernel: [  186.883606] traps: compiz[2666] trap int3 ip:7f97c4279c13 sp:7fff48a43bf0 error:0
Jul 30 09:28:25 E6500 gnome-session[2560]: WARNING: Application 'compiz.desktop' killed by signal 5
Jul 30 09:28:25 E6500 gnome-session[2560]: WARNING: App 'compiz.desktop' respawning too quickly
Jul 30 09:28:25 E6500 gnome-session[2560]: CRITICAL: We failed, but the fail whale is dead. Sorry....
Jul 30 09:28:26 E6500 kernel: [  189.550661] traps: compiz[3059] trap int3 ip:7fb39f46ec13 sp:7fff38ee5170 error:0
Jul 30 09:28:26 E6500 gnome-session[2560]: WARNING: App 'compiz.desktop' respawning too quickly
Jul 30 09:28:26 E6500 gnome-session[2560]: WARNING: Application 'compiz.desktop' killed by signal 5
Jul 30 09:28:26 E6500 gnome-session[2560]: WARNING: App 'compiz.desktop' respawning too quickly

Answer 1

This is a bug (#1336467 compiz trap int3) that was fixed in an update.

(If you can not access a virtual terminal with ctrl-alt-f1, then boot with text in the kernel parameters and login to the text terminal)

In a terminal do:

sudo apt-get purge --remove nvidia*
sudo apt-get update && sudo dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install nvidia-current

Answer 2

The problem is the propriatary NVIDIA driver.

When you are at the login screen press Ctrl+Alt+F1 and log in.

Then execute the following command:

sudo apt-get purge nvidia* && sudo apt-get -y autoremove sudo apt-get install -y nvidia-331 && sudo apt-get shutdown -r now

This will remove everything from NVIDIA and install the latest NVIDIA driver that comes from Ubuntu.