Ubuntu 12.04 changed itself to xubuntu and stopped working

[Bret Busby]

On 02/08/2015, Kevin O'Gorman <kogorman at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 1, 2015 at 1:06 AM, Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On 31/07/2015, Petter Adsen <petter at synth.no> wrote:
>> > On Fri, 31 Jul 2015 03:08:21 +0800
>> > Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >> On 31/07/2015, Petter Adsen <petter at synth.no> wrote:
>> >> > On Fri, 31 Jul 2015 01:22:44 +0800
>> >> > Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> >> > An idea of exactly what has hung would be very helpful to know where
>> to
>> >> > go from here.
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >> How would I find what has hung?
>> >
>> > Well, my first suspects would be that either the X server or the video
>> > driver kernel module has died, or maybe lightdm. If the X server,
>> > there should be clues in /var/log/Xorg.0.log, if the kernel module
>> > then /var/log/dmesg and/or /var/log/kern.log would be a good place to
>> > start.
>> >
>> > Determining exactly what has happened would depend on what you find in
>> > those files. In Xorg.0.log errors will be marked (EE) and warnings
>> > (WW). Any error messages in dmesg are typically pretty obvious if you
>> > take a little time to look through them, paying special attention to
>> > anything that seems related to your GPU.
>> >
>> > If none of those seem to contain anything interesting, then look
>> > under /var/log/lightdm (if you are indeed running lightdm, I've got no
>> > idea what display manager 12.04 used by default). The files lightdm.log
>> > and x-0.log in that directory might be helpful.
>> >
>> > There are any number of things that could have gone wrong, but if the
>> > display is hung then these are the places where I would start.
>> >
>> > Petter
>> >
>>
>> I have replied; the reply is awaiting moderator approval.
>>
>>
>>
> I'm a moderator, and I don't see such a posting.  If I did, it would
> probably be because it's too big, and I would not approve it.  Instead, I
> would reject it with a message like this:
> "If you need to post long logs please use an online hosting service like
> Google docs and link to them to reduce the size of your email."
>


Due to the message not having appeared and the delay involved, I
reinstalled Ubuntu 12.04.

After the several hours that it took to install Ubuntu 12.04, I now am
trying to get it working, so that I can again install mate and other
packages.

I keep getting an error relating to unfixable broken packages, which
may be due to held packages.

And, the last time that I rebooted, a few minutes ago, to get back to
a working installation (which is Unbutu 14.04), after the last updates
and package additions, the GRUB menu has reverted to the Debian GRUB
menu.

-- 
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
 Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
 "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
 A Trilogy In Four Parts",
 written by Douglas Adams,
 published by Pan Books, 1992

....................................................