Update Helena: black screen after login

[tonosam]

I have upgraded to Helena (console method) and everything seems to go OK but, after login, wallpaper changed to black screen and I can not change it. I can see the task bar, I can launch applications but, etc. After screensaver, only the mouse works at the screen (although I can change to other screen).

Thank you in advance. Happy new year to everybody.

[Fornhamfred]

Hi

Happy New Year. You say you upgraded to Helena. Did you upgrade fro 7 or is this a fresh install of Helen (8)?

[tonosam]

Thank you for your quick attention, Fornhamfred. I ugraded from Gloria (7) with the console method.

Regards.

[Fornhamfred]

The upgrade path is not recommended. It is far cleaner to download 8 and do a fresh install. Remember to backup your home directory before doing this including hidden files.

[tonosam]

Well, this is the last solution I would like to take ... but it seems that I don't have much more alternatives. It's a pity because, although I'm not a Linux expert, it seems there is a problem with some graphical service (GDM?) because I can see everything works correctly during the login and logout screens (I can see the wallpaper, etc.).

Any idea?

Thank you again, Fornhamfred.

[Fornhamfred]

Sorry I cannot be of more help. It looks as though there is something not quite right in the upgrade. It is always worth looking on the Ubuntu website to see if anyone has had a similar problem - the only thread I could find is this : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... reen+login

I don't know whether you looked at the blog regarding upgrading but this is the link: http://www.linuxmint.com/blog/?p=1144

Hope it helps.

[richyrich]

Another thing to try, since you can use the Menu, go into the Control Center and lower your screen resolution . .

[tonosam]

Heeey: I've tried to lower my resolution ... and it worked (thank you, richyrich)! I could see the wallpaper and the icons of my desktop. Anyway this seemed a little strange to me because I know that the original resolution (1280x1024) is supported by my HP monitor. Then I tried to login with Gnome a prueba de fallos (I'm sorry but I don't know the english translation; something like Gnome against errors and it works with the original resolution (1280x1024)! Why not with the normal Gnome session?

This opens new possibilities that I will explore in the forum about graphical issues (also in Ubuntu forums; thank you, Fornhamfred). Any idea will be welcome.

Regards.

[tonosam]

SOLVED! I've found out that one of the differences between normal Gnome session and failsafe Gnome session is that visual desktop effects are inactive in the last configuration. I did login in normal Gnome session and switched off the visual effects and everything works properly now. My ATI card seems to be a bit old. New year ... new graphic card? May be.

It seems that the Helena upgrade swtiched on the visual desktop effects automatically and this was the problem.

Thank you for your nice (and quick!) sugestions. Best regards and Happy New Year.