What to do if you can't login to Linux Mint 18.x

[max32]

Still having terrible trouble with my keyboard the capitals stay locked on sometimes and the keyboard itself has become erratic. The capitals occasionally are not releasing. I use very long mixed keys!

Capt. Max ppl

Still having problems with the keyboard keys In the fail safe mode. Its left me high and dry i'm not playing around. Was an original mac user in the 80's with the green space invaders!!
Theres two people relying on the mint PC. I just simply updated everything up to level 2 as a security update.

Thought Mint had got past a full PC lock out!

Hi i have to take back the full lockout that was frustration i was using capital locks key instead of the shift key! When i got past the passwords oh joy i used your commands and removed virtualbox-guest then purged it. Used autoremove command after that then clean and everything is back up and working, great - thanks for your patience.

[Offbeatmatt]

I had this issue (on 18.1), and this resolved it. Thank you xenopeek.

[shermanrl]

System: Host: asus Kernel: 4.13.0-37-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3) dm: mdm
Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Trinity [Radeon HD 7660D]
bus-ID: 00:01.0 chip-ID: 1002:9901
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1440x900@59.89hz, 1920x1080@60.00hz
GLX Renderer: AMD ARUBA (DRM 2.50.0 / 4.13.0-37-generic, LLVM 5.0.0)
GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.8 Direct Rendering: Yes

Thanks!

[Douglas Bondurant]

Hi all, not particularly savvy, so please bear with me.

18.3 64 Cinnamon
System: Host:xxxxx-Aspire-V3-472 Kernel: 4.4.0-53-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3) dm: mdm
Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Graphics: Card: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller
bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0a16
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1366x768@60.06hz, 1920x1080@60.00hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.8, 256 bits)
GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0 Direct Rendering: Yes

I updated the virtualbox-guest packages yesterday, dealt with the login-in issues, uninstalled virtualbox*, was able to log in, and ever since it seems like my GPU isn't functioning properly. Everything graphics - related is lagging, video from file, streaming video, os animations, even text input. I expect you all will need more info than I've given, so have at it. I'm trying to get this fixed up quickly because the baseball season starts Thursday and the only way I have to watch my team is through streaming... plus, you know, it's generally annoying.

I did upgrade from 18.1 to 18.3 and have vbox again as well as the update to fix the issues that was released yesterday after the one that screwed everything up.

Thanks in advance,

DB

[AZgl1800]

it seems like my GPU isn't functioning properly. Everything graphics - related is lagging, video from file, streaming video, os animations, even text input.

Have you fully powered the PC off and restarted it?

That has fixed a lot of minor issues for me at times.

[smurphos]

GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe

There's a few people on Cinnamon posting this in their results - Cinnamon is running in software rendering mode after uninstalling the virtualbox packages......

[hayjw]

Hello,
Used this, viewtopic.php?f=90&t=266478, and it worked a dream on my HP 8560w.
Excellent feedback.
Many thanks.
JWH

[Nimrod]

Hello,
I am one of the "lucky" who downloaded the virtualbox update Monday and could not log in to Linux.
Thanks to you all here at the forum I was able to do a live boot with a flash drive and with Timeshift
set my system back to the 25th of March.
Because of the inability to login on the 26th, Timeshift did not run on that day (the 26th).
Prior to the VB update, there were 2 (I think) previous updates that I also installed on the 26th, before I installed the VB one.
Question #1: How do I get the updates reinstalled that Timeshift did not have on the 25th?
Question# 2: Since I do not have the VB update, should I nevertheless install mintupdate 5.3.2.1?
I hope that I am expressing myself clearly!

[xenopeek]

You should always install updates for mintupdate. In this case that will remove the virtualbox-guest* packages from your system so that you won't get the broken upgrade for them again. After that other updates your system still need will be show. mintupdate must always be updated first before other updates are shown again.

[Nimrod]

Thank you It worked perfectly; after installing mintupdate 4 updates showed up to be installed.
I remember 3 of them from Monday. They installed with no problems and a reboot also worked perfectly.

Happy Easter !! Frohe Ostern !!

[spawes]

1. You can manually do the same thing that Update Manager would have done for you with these steps:
   1. From the login screen press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to go to a virtual console (full screen terminal);
   2. Login as yourself (you get no visual feedback as you type passwords, just type it and press Enter);
   3. Then run this command:
      apt remove virtualbox-guest*
   4. After the command completes you can return to the login screen by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F7 or F8 and then reboot your system.

Thank you a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You saved my nervs!

System: Host: spawes-lx Kernel: 4.8.0-58-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3) dm: mdm
Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Cape Verde PRO [Radeon HD 7750/8740 / R7 250E]
bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:683f
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1680x1050@59.95hz, 1600x1200@60.00hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.8, 128 bits)
GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0 Direct Rendering: Yes

[Bara-Bus]

Just to report no problems here as a Novice user.

[riki]

I can't get passed "b". It says "incorrect password".

[Moem]

I can't get passed "b". It says "incorrect password".

Some possibilities:

Are you giving it the username first, and then the password? I've sometimes had trouble logging in because the system gave my username and I thought that meant I did not need to enter the username.
Is your caps lock on?
Does your password rely on special characters and are you using a non-standard keyboard setting?
Is the password in fact incorrect?

[riki]

Many thanks Moem. I did what you say a few times and it didn't work. Just tried a few hours later and it worked! Strange. Thanks again for coming in. From now on I will only update levels 1 and 2.

[karlchen]

From now on I will only update levels 1 and 2.

See my reply to this conclusion here please: Re: Sylvia 18.3 desaster

[riki]

From now on I will only update levels 1 and 2.

See my reply to this conclusion here please: Re: Sylvia 18.3 desaster

Get your point karlchen. Thanks, level 3 reinstated.

[colossus75]

Hi there,

I tried this fix and it worked..sort of.

this is my info :
RELEASE=18
CODENAME=sarah
EDITION="Cinnamon 64-bit"
DESCRIPTION="Linux Mint 18 Sarah"
DESKTOP=Gnome
TOOLKIT=GTK
NEW_FEATURES_URL=http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_sarah_cinn ... atsnew.php
RELEASE_NOTES_URL=http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_sarah_cinnamon.php
USER_GUIDE_URL=help:linuxmint
GRUB_TITLE=Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon 64-bit

the "sort of" I speak of is that after removing that VirtualBox Guest*, is that I noticed a visual performance slow down. The GUI seems to lag..when typing, moving/dragging windows around, clicking on the Icons to launch apps (icons to the right of the Mint Menu), the icon animation is not as smooth.

Has anyone else noticed this? I only have 1 mint 18 machine in use, and I have 4 PCs running Mint 17.3 and none of those machines are experiencing this performance delay in the GUI.

the system I have Mint 18 on is :
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33 GHz
4GB Ram
Intel 82Q35 Express Integrated Graphics Controller

Any thoughts appreciated.

Update : I read a bit backwards in the the thread and found others had a similar issue, and it was due to Cinnamon being in software rendering mode. Solved my own query hehe.

[Kmint49]

Clem,
Thanks for your post and instructions. Those original updates bricked two of my Dell Laptops and I was not a happy camper. Your instructions brought both of them back to life again!

Thanks!!

Bricked my Dell too did the nuke opt....Mint easy to reinstall always back up my file....

[ddmiller42]

When I enter Ctrl Alt F1 I get a blinking cursor in the upper left hand corner of the screen and nothing happens. Now what?

You can try Ctrl+Alt+F2 as well. I think it will give you the same result.

If you have Timeshift installed and configured on your system I'd suggest you boot from the Linux Mint installation DVD or USB thumb drive, and run Timeshift from there to roll back your operating system to a snapshot from before March 26th. That should get you back in your system.

If you don't have Timeshift you may try to use the recovery mode root console. For this you must know your root password. In the GRUB boot menu (if you only have Linux Mint on this computer hold down left shift key after turning the computer on, until the GRUB boot menu appears) select recovery mode and then drop to a root console. You may be asked to provide root's password to continue. After you are on the command line run this command to make changes possible:
mount -o remount,rw /
After that you can run the apt remove virtualbox-guest* command. Once that is finished run sync and then reboot.

Thanks! This worked great for me.