[Solved] Cannot start Linuxmint after upgrade?

[kayeng]

Hi guys.

I was going to install vivaldi browser and I followed the instructions here:

https://www.addictivetips.com/ubuntu-li ... -on-linux/

As the tutorial suggests, I did the following first:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

...then I was able to successfully install vivaldi browser. (previous vivaldi installation attempts, without executing the above two commads first, were failures)

However, when I tried to log in Linuxmint the next day, I could not get past the log in screen, and it had a window that says,

Your session only lasted less than 10 seconds. If you have not logged out yourself, this could mean that there is some installation problem or that you may be out of diskspace. Try logging in with one of the failsafe sessions to see if you can fix this problem.
View details (~/.xsession-errors file)
initctl: Unable to connect to Upstart: Failed to connect to ....(sorry the rest of the text was out of screen)

If it matters, this laptop is triple boot: Windows 7, Linuxmint, and Lubuntu. I can boot and start Windows 7 and Lubuntu with no problems, only Linuxmint.

Also, I believe that during the process "sudo apt upgrade -y" , I chose not to update the grub (?).

Help please.
Thank you!

[Arch_Enemy]

Can you log into the failsafe session? If you do, do you get a GUI desktop or command-line only?

Does it say anything about not being able to start the X server?

Most of the time I have had this issue it's because I updated the kernel without checking the video driver (in my case, nVidia) was updated as well.

[kayeng]

Thank you for responding. I don't know what a failsafe session is and how to log into it, but if it's the same as Recovery Mode, it doesn't work. I get the GUI desktop (somewhat distorted appearance, like wrong resolution), but the same error message appears. (see my original post).

I don't think it says anything about an X server.

How should I proceed? Any ideas?

Thank you.

[Arch_Enemy]

Thank you for responding. I don't know what a failsafe session is and how to log into it, but if it's the same as Recovery Mode, it doesn't work. I get the GUI desktop (somewhat distorted appearance, like wrong resolution), but the same error message appears. (see my original post).

I don't think it says anything about an X server.

How should I proceed? Any ideas?

Thank you.

Did you load any proprietary video driver, or load the driver first and then install a new kernel?

If you installed a new kernel, I think (from feeble memory) you want to wait until you see GRUB loading and hold down the left shift key, and grub will present you with a menu. From that select the lowest numbered kernel and see if it starts normally.

[kayeng]

Thank you for responding. I don't know what a failsafe session is and how to log into it, but if it's the same as Recovery Mode, it doesn't work. I get the GUI desktop (somewhat distorted appearance, like wrong resolution), but the same error message appears. (see my original post).

I don't think it says anything about an X server.

How should I proceed? Any ideas?

Thank you.

Did you load any proprietary video driver, or load the driver first and then install a new kernel?

If you installed a new kernel, I think (from feeble memory) you want to wait until you see GRUB loading and hold down the left shift key, and grub will present you with a menu. From that select the lowest numbered kernel and see if it starts normally.

I've never done anything like loading a proprietary video driver. I'll come back here if I find a solution. Thank you.

[kayeng]

Holding down the left shift key on the grub screen did not work. The countdown kept going. Am I doing it wrong?

[Arch_Enemy]

Holding down the left shift key on the grub screen did not work. The countdown kept going. Am I doing it wrong?

As soon as your BIOS clears, quite rapidly, hgold the left shift key. It should bring up the GRUB menu.

[kayeng]

Holding down the left shift key on the grub screen did not work. The countdown kept going. Am I doing it wrong?

As soon as your BIOS clears, quite rapidly, hgold the left shift key. It should bring up the GRUB menu.

Sorry if I was unclear. There's no problem reaching the GRUB menu. The problem starts after I have entered my linuxmint username and password; instead of showing the desktop screen, an error message appears (see original post).

ANYWAY, THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN SOLVED. Here's what I did:

Upon getting the error message, I opened terminal by pressing Ctrl Alt F1. I entered my username and password, then executed the following commands:

Code: Select all

sudo apt remove virtualbox-guest*

Code: Select all

shutdown -r now

Thanks very much guys.

[Arch_Enemy]

Holding down the left shift key on the grub screen did not work. The countdown kept going. Am I doing it wrong?

As soon as your BIOS clears, quite rapidly, hgold the left shift key. It should bring up the GRUB menu.

Sorry if I was unclear. There's no problem reaching the GRUB menu. The problem starts after I have entered my linuxmint username and password; instead of showing the desktop screen, an error message appears (see original post).

ANYWAY, THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN SOLVED. Here's what I did:

Upon getting the error message, I opened terminal by pressing Ctrl Alt F1. I entered my username and password, then executed the following commands:

Code: Select all

sudo apt remove virtualbox-guest*

Code: Select all

shutdown -r now

Thanks very much guys.

Ah. Yes. Sorry, since I do not run VB on my machines, I keep forgetting about this. It has been well documented, and apparently VB doesn't play well with the Meltdown and Spectre fixes.

Glad you were able to resolve it, however!