Mint 18.3, Cinnamon, kernel 4.13.0.38 running in a VM under VMWare on a Windows 10 host.
The following has now happened twice in a week on different machines with different VMs (both 18.3). Have run dozens of VMs over last several years and never had this problem. So thinking it is not bad luck.
I updated mint which included kernel 4.13.0.38. I left the machine to download and update. Unfortunately just after, Windows did an auto reboot on some updates (8 pm) so the VM was not closed down.
Later restarted VM. The LM logo appears, followed by login prompt for a few seconds but instead of a login screen, I eventually get a blank screen with blinking cursor. Using ctl-alt-f5, I can get a login prompt and so logon but though the mouse gives focus, there is no cursor or highlighting. Changed grub in /etc/default so that menu appeared (shift never works for me), updated and booted off of -37 (and later 36) kernels but same problem. The earliest kernels are 4.8.0-53 and 4.10.0-38. They also do not fix the problem.
I have a back up but there are a few things I would like to recover but mounting a network disk is failing. I can ping the NAS, But now the network is unreachable. Not showing up on list of addresses on router so network is now not starting!
The key thing is I would like to know why this is happening. As I mentioned, this is the second time this has happened on different machines. Both involved kernel 4.13.0.38 and mint 18.3. Is there a problem with these?
And being able to recover would be nice rather than restoring backup and catching up manually.
Regards,
John
Just to add, startx is not on my path.
Blank screen on startup, no mouse, no login GUI [SOLVED]
Forum rules
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
-
jan
Blank screen on startup, no mouse, no login GUI [SOLVED]
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 3 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
-
kukamuumuka
Re: Blank screen on startup, no mouse, no login GUI
Mint boots into Blackscreen [SOLVED] -> viewtopic.php?f=46&t=267058&p=1453894#p1453894
-
jan
Re: Blank screen on startup, no mouse, no login GUI
Thanks for this. I had to change networking on the VM from Bridged to NAT. Then I had networking.
Can ping the NAS but not mount a disk - says host is down. (?)
Anyway, I run through the commands pointed to which were now run properly as I had networking. Rebooted and same result - no GUI, no login screen.
So do you know why this is happening? Is it a kernel problem? An underlying windows (host) problem for VMs? An 18.3 problem?
Changing to an earlier kernel does not work either.
Can ping the NAS but not mount a disk - says host is down. (?)
Anyway, I run through the commands pointed to which were now run properly as I had networking. Rebooted and same result - no GUI, no login screen.
So do you know why this is happening? Is it a kernel problem? An underlying windows (host) problem for VMs? An 18.3 problem?
Changing to an earlier kernel does not work either.
-
jan
Re: Blank screen on startup, no mouse, no login GUI [SOLVED]
There are two solution to my problem.
1) Use a different distribution or rebuild with mint 17.3.
2) the problem is virtualbox. I had one VM (under VMware) of mint 18.3 that I had not upgraded so I backed it up, updated except for kernel 4.13.0-38 and the rebooted. Blank screen. So nothing to do with kernel, hence booting from a previous did nothing.
Restored VM. Updated each in turn, rebooted between each update. Virtualbox was the culprit.
Using ctl-alt-f5, I logged in and run
sudo apt-get remove virtualbox-*
The rebooted
shutdown -r now
And there is the login screen. Update will then install a new mint updater followed by the previously installed updates, including kernel 38.
Rebooted and still working.
So the lesson of the story is that if you are running mint 18.3 in a VMware VM, before you update, remove virtualbox, especially if you are not using it. If you are using it then do not update it.
1) Use a different distribution or rebuild with mint 17.3.
2) the problem is virtualbox. I had one VM (under VMware) of mint 18.3 that I had not upgraded so I backed it up, updated except for kernel 4.13.0-38 and the rebooted. Blank screen. So nothing to do with kernel, hence booting from a previous did nothing.
Restored VM. Updated each in turn, rebooted between each update. Virtualbox was the culprit.
Using ctl-alt-f5, I logged in and run
sudo apt-get remove virtualbox-*
The rebooted
shutdown -r now
And there is the login screen. Update will then install a new mint updater followed by the previously installed updates, including kernel 38.
Rebooted and still working.
So the lesson of the story is that if you are running mint 18.3 in a VMware VM, before you update, remove virtualbox, especially if you are not using it. If you are using it then do not update it.