Skip to content

askmeaboutlinux

Knowledge not shared benefits no one.

  • Home
  • About Ask Me About Linux

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS displays blank screen on boot after latest update

Geetu R. Vaswani Computer, Hardware, Linux, Shell, Ubuntu, X Server November 7, 2016 1 Minute

After updating the packages on the laptop on November 6, 2016, the laptop was not displaying the login screen to continue further work.

On the other hand, pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 took me to a terminal prompt from where I could at least login through the command line interface. So, all is not lost.

Being able to get to the command line means that there is an issue with the XServer configuration on the laptop. The last upgrade rolled out updated the nvidia drivers on the laptop. Since my laptop using NVidia Optimus, it could be that the issue was the Xorg configuration.

To confirm, I entered the following command.
$ cd /etc/X11 <enter>
$ cat xorg.conf <enter>

Section “ServerLayout”
Identifier “layout”
Inactive “intel”
Screen 0 “nvidia”
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “intel”
Driver “modesetting”
BusID “PCI:0@0:2:0”
Option “AccelMethod” “None”
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “intel”
Device “intel”
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “nvidia”
Driver “nvidia”
BusID “PCI:1@0:0:0”
Option “ConstrainCursor” “off”
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “nvidia”
Device “nvidia”
Option “AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration” “on”
Option “IgnoreDisplayDevices” “CRT”
EndSection

The 3rd line above stated Inactive “intel”. This means that the default became nvidia. To fix it, here is what to do:
$ sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup <enter>
This creates a backup of the current xorg.conf file.

$ sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf <enter>
In the 3rd and 4th lines, change from (shown in Red below):
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout"
Inactive "intel"
Screen 0 "nvidia"
EndSection

to that shown in Green below:
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout"
Inactive "nvidia"
Screen 0 "intel"
EndSection

:wq
Save the file.

$ reboot <enter>

And the login screen re-appears.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

  • Tagged
  • display
  • fedora
  • login
  • ubuntu
  • X
  • xserver
  • xubuntu

Published by Geetu R. Vaswani

View all posts by Geetu R. Vaswani

Published November 7, 2016

Post navigation

Previous Post Superb applications for graphics or photo processing darktable and rawtherapee
Next Post Mind mapping software for Linux and Android

@askmeaboutlinux

Tags

adb android android apps android emulator android studio applications Apps apt-get audio boot cross-platform cryptography desktop eclipse email email client encryption error evolution fedora Fedora 15 fedora 16 firefox firmware Gnome Gnome 3 gnucash gnupg GNU Privacy Guard google google drive gpg hardware install installation internet java java GUI java program key pair keyring Linux linuxmint linux mint Linux Shell mobile multimedia network openwrt package Package Manager packages privacy private key program programming public key router security services shell shell prompt software sony xperia zr swing terminal thunderbird ubuntu upgrade virtualbox windows wireless router wordpress XFCE xubuntu
Website Powered by WordPress.com.
  • Follow Following
    • askmeaboutlinux
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • askmeaboutlinux
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: