Ubuntu 12.04 changed itself to xubuntu and stopped working

[Bret Busby]

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:
>
>> On 31/07/2015, Colin Law <clanlaw at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > On 30 July 2015 at 16:37, Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> On 30/07/2015, Colin Law <clanlaw at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>> On 30 July 2015 at 11:11, Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>> Hello.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> I have an Acer V3-772G laptop computer, which has an Intel i-7
>> >>>> 4702MQ
>> >>>> Haskell CPU/graphics controller and an nVidia GEForce GT-750M
>> >>>> graphics
>> >>>> thing.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> I have on the system, Debian 7, Debian 6, Ubuntu 14.04, and, what
>> >>>> was
>> >>>> Ubuntu 12.04, installed.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> After two yars of trying to get the computer working, I have found
>> >>>> that, of those operating systems, only the two Ubuntu systems have
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> necessary drivers.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> To get the interrface that I wanted, I installed the mate desktop
>> >>>> environment, along with a number of other desktop environments, and
>> >>>> have been using the mate desktop environment as the preferred
>> >>>> desktop
>> >>>> environment, on both of the Ubuntu installations.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> In the last week, the Ubuntu 12.04 installation changed the boot
>> >>>> splashscreen, to a blue one, and, after the blue splashscreen, the
>> >>>> screens (I use an external monitor) go blank, and nothing else is
>> >>>> displayed auntil I do a crash/reboot, using the power switch
>> >>>> (holding
>> >>>> it down until the system stops breathing).
>> >>>>
>> >>>> I have found that the blue screen displays "xubuntu", and in
>> >>>> searching
>> >>>> for that, I have found that xubuntu is an xfce version of Ubuntu.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> I had not wittingly switched the system from being Ubuntu, to
>> >>>> xubuntu.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> In using the recovery mode booting, and getting to a root shell
>> >>>> prompt, I tried to use apt-get remove xfce, in the hope that that
>> >>>> would get rid of the switch from Ubuntu to xubuntu, and it reurned
>> >>>> "xfce not found".
>> >>>
>> >>> Did you have autologin enabled?  If so then first try disabling it so
>> >>> that it should take you to a login screen where you can choose which
>> >>> ui to use.
>> >>
>> >> That is how it was set up, before it changed itself to xubuntu, and,
>> >> after I had logged in to the mate desktop environment, it had
>> >> defaulted to that login - the environment was still selectable, but,
>> >> unless I changed it at the login screen, it defaulted to the mate
>> >> desktop environment.
>> >>
>> >> I do not remember exactly what had happend the last time that I have
>> >> logged in to it - I have been uding Ubuntu 14.04, for a while (a week
>> >> or so, or a couple of weeks) now, but, it may have been that I tried
>> >> the xfce desktop when I logged in, and it decided "stuff this, get rid
>> >> of ubuntu, and switch to ubuntu".
>> >
>> > So have you tried disabling auto login as I suggested?  If it is
>> > enabled that is.
>> >
>>
>> Okay; this is the answer.
>>
>> 1. At the top of the Recovery mode menu, is
>>
>> "Recovery menu filesystem state readonly"
>>
>>  or something like that.
>>
>> 2.
>>
>> The file lightdm.con, in the specified path, exists.
>>
>> Using
>> vi /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
>> I get
>>
>> [SeatDefaults]
>> greeter-session=unity-greeter
>> user-session=ubuntu
>> display-setup-script=/sbin/prime-offload
>> display-stopped-script=/sbin/prime-switch
>> ~
>> ~
>> ...
>> "etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf" [readonly] 5L, 148C 1.1 All
>>
>> So it appears that, even if the autologin line was there, I would not
>> be able to do anything to change it.
>
> See the answer that Nick gave you below for how to remount your root
> filesystem in rw mode. Then you will be able to alter files normally.
>

I haven't sen any response from anyone named Nick, and I haven't sen
any information regarding how to remount the system in rw mode.


> When you attempt to boot normally and the screen goes blank, are you
> able to switch to a virtual console? Have you got the option of trying
> to access the system via the network to see if the rest of the system
> is alive and only the console or X is dead?
>

Trying to access th system via a console, had not occured to me.

I will try that and then log back into this installation.

I have tried to ftp to another computer on this LAN, but was unable,
so I believe that, apart from accessing the Internet gateway to go
out, I am not able to have access between this computer and others
within the LAN.


> 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?

> Petter
>
> --
> "I'm ionized"
> "Are you sure?"
> "I'm positive."
>


-- 
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

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