[SOLVED] HELP! Linux Mint Cinnamon stuck on black screen after installing nvidia drivers

[ruinedcentipede]

A new Linux user here.
I was trying to fix something related to Android Studio, which needed for me to install the latest nvidia graphics driver (nvidia-460)
After this, I reboot my system and as soon as I select "Linux Mint 20.1 Cinnamon" from the Grub menu, it shows a black screen.

I also tried pressing "e" and replacing "quiet splash" with "nomodeset", "nvidia.modeset=0", "nouveau.modeset=0", "nouveau.noaccel=1" and many other commands that were shown on the internet forums, but the problem still persisted and nothing changed.

I also tried pressing "ctrl-alt-Fx" and "ctrl-fn-alt-fx" because apparently, it loads a terminal, but that didn't make any difference at all.

My laptop is still stuck on a black screen.

I'm sure it's related to the driver I installed, but I have no idea how to proceed now.

Please please help me out

PS: My Linux mint is installed on an external HDD, and it's dual-booted with Windows 10.
Fast boot is disabled.

Edit: out of curiosity, I tried typing my password on the black screen and after a few seconds, it played the unlock sound, which means that everything is working. Everything except the display.

Edit 2: I forgot to mention that the recovery mode also shows a black screen when I try to boot into it. So trying to use the recovery mode is out of question. It just doesn't open. Everything shows a black screen.

[sleeper12]

Maybe Timeshift in a live session of Mint?

[ruinedcentipede]

Maybe Timeshift in a live session of Mint?

I'm sorry, do you mind explaining how exactly it's done? I only read about Timeshift while I was trying to look for ways to fix this issue.
I have a USB drive with an installation (burnt ISO file) of Linux Mint Cinnamon in it, if that helps.

[sleeper12]

Did you have Timeshift set up before this happened? If not, then it won't help you.

[sleeper12]

If you do have a Timeshift snapshot from before this happened, just go to Timeshift from your USB media & install it.

[ruinedcentipede]

Did you have Timeshift set up before this happened? If not, then it won't help you.

No I'm sorry, I did not have Timeshift.
Is there no other way I could fix the driver issue? Everything except the display is clearly intact and working.

[sleeper12]

Except for reinstalling Mint, I don't know another way. But, someone else might have an idea.

[SMG]

A new Linux user here.
I was trying to fix something related to Android Studio, which needed for me to install the latest nvidia graphics driver (nvidia-460)
After this, I reboot my system and as soon as I select "Linux Mint 20.1 Cinnamon" from the Grub menu, it shows a black screen.

Did you have an Nvidia driver installed before you did this?

Is this the same computer as in your other thread [SOLVED] Linux mInt Cinnamon boots to a screen saying "Press Enter to continue (or press ctrl-D)"?

[SMG]

Additional question: Did you install the Nvidia-460 driver using Driver Manager? If not, let us know how you installed it.

[ruinedcentipede]

Did you have an Nvidia driver installed before you did this?

I probably did, but I can't confirm. My GPU is Nvidia GTX 1060, and my software manager said that everything was updated.

Is this the same computer as in your other thread?

Yes it's the same one.

[ruinedcentipede]

Additional question: Did you install the Nvidia-460 driver using Driver Manager? If not, let us know how you installed it.

I typed this:

Code: Select all

sudo apt install nvidia-driver-460

And then

Code: Select all

sudo reboot

The issue began from that point on

[SMG]

Did you have an Nvidia driver installed before you did this?

I probably did, but I can't confirm. My GPU is Nvidia GTX 1060, and my software manager said that everything was updated.

In the other thread, you had the default nouveau (open-source) driver installed.

Did you run Update Manager to get your system up to date before installing the Nvidia driver? If not, that may be part of the reason for the black screen since files related to laptops with dual graphics like yours had some bugs which were fixed in recent updates.

I'm trying to determine how to get the Nvidia driver removed given you seem to not be able to get into Recovery Mode or to a tty.

[ruinedcentipede]

Did you run Update Manager to get your system up to date before installing the Nvidia driver?

I did not run the manager to update anything. That definitely might be an issue.

I'm trying to determine how to get the Nvidia driver removed given you seem to not be able to get into Recovery Mode or to a tty.

I tried everything I could find (ctrl-alt-Fx key combinations, etc), but if you still think I should give something else a try, please let me know.

[SMG]

I just checked your data again and it does not have dual graphics (my error). It just has the Nvidia card, but I believe there were updates which could affect this situation.

So you are able to boot to grub. And you can select Advanced Options. And when you select the kernel version with (recovery mode) after it you get a black screen?

Using Recovery Mode should disable the graphics drivers and get you into the system using software rendering mode. I am not sure why that is not working, so I do not know the best way to work around it.

By chance, do you have an external monitor that you could connect with an HDMI connection? I'm helping someone in another thread and it seems there are issues with the latest Nvidia drivers and DisplayPort connections. Most laptop screens are a type of DisplayPort connection. I do not know if that is the issue here or something else might be a factor.

[ruinedcentipede]

So you are able to boot to grub. And you can select Advanced Options. And when you select the kernel version with (recovery mode) after it you get a black screen?

Yes I get a black screen with my fans whirring loudly even in the recovery mode.

By chance, do you have an external monitor that you could connect with an HDMI connection?

Yes, do you think I should try connecting to this and see if the display works? If I do, should I boot into normal mode or recovery mode?

[SMG]

By chance, do you have an external monitor that you could connect with an HDMI connection?

Yes, do you think I should try connecting to this and see if the display works? If I do, should I boot into normal mode or recovery mode?

It's possible only the external display may work. However, if you can get a display for either one, you should be able to get in to remove the Nvidia driver. You should be able to do that in normal mode or recovery mode.

(This is just a guess on my part based on what happened in the other thread, but keeping my fingers crossed it works.)

[ruinedcentipede]

Alright!
I'll try this first thing in the morning and update here. Thank you!

[ruinedcentipede]

It's possible only the external display may work. However, if you can get a display for either one, you should be able to get in to remove the Nvidia driver. You should be able to do that in normal mode or recovery mode.

Okay so quick update: I tried connecting to an external display through HDMI, but no luck. The display isn't even showing a signal, let alone a black screen.

[ruinedcentipede]

Update 2:
I was able to access a command line after pressing "e" in the grub menu and adding "init=/bin/bash" at the end of the line that starts with "linux ..."

Now the terminal shows this:

Code: Select all

root@(none):/#    

Is there a way I could reset my graphics drivers from here?

[ruinedcentipede]

Update 3:
I almost solved the issue.
In the command line from my previous reply, I typed:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get purge nvidia*

Because removing the driver individually wasn't working.

After this, I rebooted and I'm now able to boot into my laptop normally.

Before I mark this issue as solved, could you please tell me if there's anything I should check and/or update? Because at this point, I'm scared to reboot my system.