Blank screen after log in - Toshiba Satelite c660 AMD64

[madwoollything]

Help ....

I've been reading through the 'LMDE breakages posting' and trying to figure out if my problem has already been found and if there is a solution. Have tried deleting the xorg.conf file but there is no xorg.conf file on my system!

The problem ..... I get the usual log in screen, type in my password, get the log in sound and then the screen goes blank.
I have an AMD64 processor with ATI graphics card and did a system update yesterday. Wished I hadn't!

Any suggestions much appreciated as there is not much I can do with my very broken system.

Another thought ..... Is there a way of undoing the kernel changes from the recent update? In Ubuntu I'd be able to select an older kernel from the grub menu but LMDE doesn't give you the option.

[nunol]

Every time I update LMDE or Debian testing I get the old kernel as an option. Don't you see the Grub2 menu? Press Shift when booting.

[madwoollything]

Every time I update LMDE or Debian testing I get the old kernel as an option. Don't you see the Grub2 menu? Press Shift when booting.

I just have one choice, the kernel I installed as part of the original build. I just don't understand what in the last updates has trashed my system so I end up with a blank screen. It can't be a kernel upgrade then ....but what to try next??

[cecar]

When the screen locks. Have you tried Ctrl/Alt/F1 to come to a textterminal?

[madwoollything]

When the screen locks. Have you tried Ctrl/Alt/F1 to come to a textterminal?

yes and unfortunately nothing happens, the machine seems to be completely locked up.

[cecar]

I dont know if this works but i found this..

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions ... le-700786/

[nunol]

You could try a bootoption: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

The option "acpi=off" helps with some Toshiba.

[madwoollything]

The problem seems to be the proprietary ATI driver that I think I was using on my LMDE install. I think this is what broke my system during some updates in April.

I installed Mint 10 in place of LMDE and also the ATI driver which then refused to boot in the same way with the flashing cursor on the screen. A fresh re-install of Mint 10 WITHOUT the ATI driver seems to be fine ..... so far. If this continues to work fine, then I might put LMDE back on this machine again.

I guess there isn't much that can be done except - don't use the proprietary ATI driver with LMDE and Mint 10 if you are running a Toshiba C660.

[nunol]

ATI has some problems with it's closed source driver.

[dune_runner]

This helped me get from a non-responsive black screen back to a normal boot. The problem was with my ATI HD video card and the proprietary drivers I installed.
http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Maverick_Installation_Guide#Removing_Catalyst.2Ffglrx

I tried reinstalling the newest drivers from amd's site:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

and it works fine now, though I am wary of running apt-get update/upgrade, cause that's what been breaking my machine.