17.2 KDE blank screen (mdm) but sound works

[Zalbor]

Hello,

This is on a computer I've not used for almost a year. It's an ASUS N55S, with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 635M chip.

I turned the computer on after almost a year of not using it. It booted correctly. Then I installed all available updates, and that's when the problem started.

Normally, I'd expect to see the MDM login prompt. This time there's just a blank screen. I can switch to another terminal with Ctrl+Alt+Fx and that works with no issues.

I tried to upgrade the nvidia drivers from the command line, by installing nvidia-375 (which is the highest compatible with my card, according to nvidia.com) and removing the previous version (nvidia-331-updates). I also reconfigured bumblebee to use the new driver, by editing bumblebee.conf.

It didn't work, so I still get a blank screen. I can't think of anything else to check… Any advice?

[kukamuumuka]

Can you login from tty console?

Code: Select all

startx -- :2

[Zalbor]

Can you login from tty console?

Code: Select all

startx -- :2

Thanks for the reply.

I did try to just stop mdm (sudo service mdm stop) and then just "startx" earlier, and that didn't work. I tried your version now and it didn't either, but I noticed something that might be relevant in the output:

Code: Select all

…
Loading extension GLX
Loading extension NV-GLX
Loading extension NV-CONTROL
[dix] couldn't enable device 13

As I was typing this, I heard my login sound play, but I can't find any terminal that shows a desktop. tty8 and tty9 both just show blank screens.

[Zalbor]

I tried to remove bumblebee entirely and install nvidia-prime. That didn't fix the issue. But then I used prime-select to switch to the intel driver, and that worked.

I wouldn't call this solved (got to figure out why bumblebee and nvidia don't work) but at least I have a desktop.

I'm still interested in any ideas anyone may have.
(Note: The problem began while the older driver version was installed, so I don't think it's about which drivers I've installed)