Ubuntu 8.04, suddenly why does logging back in cause black screen?

[Rudy Bartel]

I ran into a similar problem with my machine that has integrated Intel 845G video.  When I first installed 8.04, it was fine, but after some time (possibly weeks) Ubuntu would freeze at bootup with a black screen after the logo/progress stage but before the login stage.  It seemed that one of the automatic updates to the Linux kernel had introduced the problem.  The work-around that I used to allow me to boot relatively normally was:

- initiate bootup of the machine
- at the start of the bootup process, press the ESC key to show the list of Linux kernel options
- select one of the previous kernel versions (i.e. not the one at the top of the list)
- continue to bootup normally

However, unlike yours, my problem seemed to have been resolved after I upgraded to 8.10, and so far 9.04 seems to be ok too.

-- 
Rudy.


On Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:09:04 -0700, geo <yaktur at yahoo.com> wrote:

> History:
>
> Dell Optiplex GX260, 2 gig RAM, Pentium 4 2.5GHz, On-board Intel 82845  
> video chipset, 64 meg video RAM.
>
> I tried running 8.10 but had this problem where the screen would go  
> black when logging in, and 915resolution isn't supported! The epitome of  
> uselessness! So I went back - BACK - to 8.04 which had run well enough  
> previously.
>
> The only difference this time? Now I have "Normal releases" enabled in  
> the Update manager - as opposed to previously where I only had "Long  
> Term support releases".
>
> Now this dumb black screen issue has come up under this installation of  
> 8.04 using "Normal releases". I don't know why.
>
> When it does occur (daily), I hit Ctrl+Alt+F1 and login to the text DOS  
> looking screen. The message on the screen says "No resume image",  
> whatever that means. I cannot get the display manager to run. When I  
> type StartX it comes back saying:
>
> "Fatal Server error: Server is already active for display 0
> If the server is no longer running, remove /tmp/XO.lock and start again
>
> Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 keygiving up
>
> xinit: Resource temporarily unavailable (errno 11): unable to connect to  
> X server.
> xinit: No such process (errno 3): server error"
>
> What's going on? How do I solve this so it logs back into the normal  
> desktop screen?
>
> Do I have to wipe the drive and reinstall 8.04 again? (I really hate  
> doing that, such a waste of my time).
>
> PS: At command line I figured out that I can reboot the machine by  
> typing sudo reboot, then entering my password. Rebooting ALWAYS solves  
> this problem, but it shouldn't be necessary!
>
> Thanks.