SOLVED What just happened with the last Ubuntu update?

[MR ZenWiz]

On Tue, Feb 21, 2017 at 9:42 AM, MR ZenWiz <mrzenwiz at gmail.com> wrote:
> I just ran my command line version of the software updater (because it
> doesn't work on my desktop), and when the system reboots, it freezes -
> hangs up everything - if I try to log in on the normal desktop.
>
> I can log in on one of the consoles in text mode, but as soon as I try
> to use the X login, it freezes and nothing brings it back.  I can't
> even power it down with the normal power switch, although the restart
> switch works.
>
> I tried backing down to the previous kernel (4.4.0-62), but that does
> the same thing, so I'm guessing it's something in the latest Xorg or
> windows manager that broke.
>
> I'm running Xubuntu 16.04.2 LTS with the following hardware configuration:
>
> M/B: ASRock Z97 Pro4 S/N: 56M0XE052919
> CPU: Intel i7-4790K 4GHz S/N: 35447259A3160
> ram: 16GB EVGA DDR3 2400MHz (PC3-19200) 2x8G
> K/b: Dell DP/N 0U4730 USB PID LZ03778D0AFH
> Mou: Logitech MX3000 Cordless Desktop (laser mouse)
> sds: /dev/sda Hitachi 1TB SATA-3 S/N: HQ3UNXEB
>         /dev/sdb    Patriot Spark SATA-6 256GB SSD S/N: 7D4B076718DF00267932
>         /dev/sdc Toshiba 2TB SATA-6 S/N: Y2P4ZHHAS TZ5
>         /dev/sdd    Western Digital 2TB SATA-6 WDBGKN0020HNC-NRSN S/N:
> WCC4M6VJAY0H
> dvd: /dev/sr0 LG HL-DT-ST BD-RE WH14NS40 S/N: K9BDAM70413
>        /dev/sr1 LG HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NSB0 S/N:
> vid: on-board (Xeon E3 1200 v3, i915 driver)
> nic: 10/100/1G on-board
> f/w: AMI BIOS P2.20 5/12/2015
>
> Kind of urgent, since that is my main compuer and had all my goodies
> on it (I have a backup, but it's not the same power and speed...).
>
> Any suggestions or clues?
>
> Thanks.

SOLVED:

My Netis WF2116 USB wifi adapter apparently clobbered everything as
oon as it tried to connect.

Darn.  I liked that thing.  Fortunately I have a Patriot backup that
works well enough when on top of my monitor (not so well plugged
directly into the front or back panels down below).

Just another speed bump of many these days....