Can't boot Lucid after upgrade from Karmic

[Tony Pursell]

On 22 May 2010 at 12:28, NoOp wrote:
> 
> On 05/22/2010 09:12 AM, Tony Pursell wrote:
> > Hi All
> > 
> > Since I upgraded my desktop from Karmic to Lucid I cannot boot into Ubuntu. I 
> > have been trying all sorts of things without any success. I have a bug [1] that 
> > has not received any attention. I now know that it boots only to a point where 
> > no log files have been written. You can see from my photo of the console screen 
> > that there is a sort of error message at the point it gives up. This is the 
> > subject of another bug [2] but I don't think it is the primary cause as I know 
> > you can still boot after this report is produced.
> > 
> > What I can do is boot into Lucid from a USB stick, so there can't be a 
> > fundamental problem with my desktop PC. I can also boot into my remaining Karmic 
> > kernel using the recovery option and get myself logged into a console. So I can 
> > tweak config files, if required. But with this kernel I can't run anything 
> > graphical (either through the normal boot or by running startx) because mouse 
> > and keyboard don't work.
> > 
> > One thing I have explored a lot is the possibility that it could be due to 
> > Kernel Mode Setting (which is the norm in Lucid), but disabling that in the boot 
> > parameters just results in my monitor complaining about the resolution settings 
> > and going to sleep. So if it does boot, I can't see it! Anyway, the fact that I 
> > can boot from the USB sort of rules KMS out as the cause.
> > 
> > So what is different about my desktop PC's Ubuntu installation that might set it 
> > aside from other installations that have been successfully upgraded (including 
> > my Acer Aspire Revo). Two things come to mind. First, it is a fully partitioned 
> > installation with separate root, usr, tmp, var and home partitions. Secondly, it 
> > has Xubuntu installed alongside the standard Ubuntu. This has the effect that it 
> > starts booting with the Xubuntu splash screen (it did the same after my Karmic 
> > upgrade, although it ran Gnome after login).
> > 
> > Can anyone think of why I cant boot Lucid? I would be grateful of any suggestions.
> > 
> > My PC is a HP Pavilion t3510.uk with 1GB ram, onboard ATI Radeon
> > Xpress 200 graphics and a HP vs17x flat screen monitor. Ubuntu dual boots with XP.
> > 
> > Tony
> > 
> > 
> > 1] https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/573776
> > 2] https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/562843
> 
> Just a thought: could this be the KMS issue with ATI's raising it's head?
> 
> <https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/+source/linux/+bug/509273?comments=all>
> <https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/+source/linux/+bug/509273/comments/48>
> 
> Try turning off KMS:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/KernelModeSetting
> 
> Also:
> <http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&complete=0&q=ubuntu+%2Bforcing+to+32M+GART+size&btnG=Search>
> I see your bug report participation, but some of the Ubuntu forums might
> have a soluton.
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1475045
> (or not - but might be worth a look)
> and:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Lubuntu/ReleaseNotes/LucidLynx
> [Window corruption with older ATI graphics cards]
> maybe?
> 

Thanks for your suggestions.  I don't think KMS is the root cause, 
although it possibly does not help.  Video settings have always been a 
bit of a problem for me. Around about Intrepid, the move to Xorg 
doing all the detection left me with a blank screen on boot, hence I 
have vga=791 (and splash) in my boot string.  Now it seems detection 
has been pushed back into the kernel (probably to improve the boot 
screen appearance/experience).  If you can give me a recipe that you 
know for sure will disable KMS and should leave me with some sort of 
boot screen, I will try it, and so prove whether it is KMS or not.

I have tried things like nomodeset and radeon.modeset=0, but my 
monitor doesn't like this.  It gives an error message about settings and 
goes to sleep (like it did back in the Intrepid days) so I cannot see 
what is going on. 

Most of the bugs that you mention do not result in a catastrophic 
failure to boot, that is why I don't think they are the whole story.  Also 
remember I can boot a live system from USB with no problem so I 
don't think there is anything basically wrong with the ATI graphics 
(even if they are not the worlds best).

I am becoming resigned to having to re-install, but this is not a good 
thing for an operating system that aspires to replace Windows. Users 
should be able to update to the latest LTS (at least) without this 
happening.  So for the sake of Ubuntu's future, I would like to get to 
the bottom of this.  I will hang on for a while, before I re-install, to 
preserve the evidence, in case someone wants to look at it further.

Tony