[SOLVED] HELP! Frozen login screen

[AbeFreeman]

I did an "apt-get update" and "apt-get upgrade" and now the login screen is completely frozen (even mouse doesn't move, and ctrl alt del does nothing). There used to be 2 user names (in green) under the computer name, and you could log into one, but now these don't even appear. I'd REALLY like to be able to use my computer again soon, so if someone has a solution it'd be much appreciated.

Details: Using Mint 10. Ubuntu forums explained how to add a PPA (pmcenery), and then update and upgrade, in order for Rhythmbox to talk to an ipad (bookmarked the url, but now I can't boot into Mint to get it). I've never done an update since installation, and thought it was time anyway, so proceeded. Everything worked just fine before the update. After the update tomboy notes wouldn't open, and then a usb drive wouldn't mount. So I thought I'd better reboot and these problems would probably clear up. Instead, I've got a completely frozen computer. Got onto mint help chat and was told to try adding "nomodeset" to a line in the grub menu. Did that, but still frozen.
Connecting to the ipad was as a favour to a friend who wanted some of my music to listen to on his trip home, so if I can somehow roll back to the way things were before the update (ie. can't mount an ipad) that'd be just fine.

[SimonTS]

Hi Abe,

Can you press <CTRL>+<ALT>+<F1> to get to a console login?
Can you boot successfully in 'Compatibility Mode'?
'nomodeset' is a graphics option normally related to the old BSOD, and as your system was running perfectly before I wouldn't expect it to do anything. It sounds like something you have just installed has caused Mint to lock up (stating the obvious I know), so if you can get to a console then you should be able to uninstall using apt-get on the relevant packages.

[AbeFreeman]

ctrl alt F1 does nothing, either in regular or recovery mode (there isn't a "compatibility" mode). In recovery mode, though, ctrl alt del will restart the computer. That's all that works.

Problem is, I didn't install anything new, just updated and upgraded everything:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pmcenery/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade


So I now have no idea how to find which program is the offending one. Is there an "apt-get downgrade" command? Maybe I just misunderstood what I was reading about how to fix grub problems, but somehow booting from a live CD and using the "chroot" command seems like it could get me to a place where I could uninstall (or downgrade, or whatever). If I could just somehow roll-back the works I'd be happy (and never dare do an update again).
Thoughts?

[SimonTS]

Sorry, I meant 'Recovery' mode - 'Compatibility' is from the LiveCD. My mistake, too early and not enough coffee

I would suggest that you may want to have a look at the Ubuntu Community page for LiveCdRecovery;-
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCdRecovery

This may well help you. If you use this procedure to get into your 'dead' system you should be able to remove the unwanted repository from it and carry out another update and upgrade. I cannot guarantee this will work of course - the first stage is to actually get to a command line which allows you to actually do anything.

[AbeFreeman]

Thanks Simon. Your link pointed me in the right direction, but then when I actually tried to DO anything (like install ppa-purge, update, upgrade) there were errors about /proc not being mounted. (and nothing worked) Once following the instructions on this link: http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.p ... 56240.html the chroot command gave me full functionality, and I could repair everything in the system. I am now up and running again. Halleluyah!