Another user ran into the same problem. Here are excerpts from the e-mail stream:
Using Lubuntu 14.04. After a software update/reboot yesterday could not access my desktop. Can still access the GRUB menu. How can I get my desktop back? I want to back up my files before anything else unexpected happens! I'm guessing that I got a blank screen after updating software and it automatically upgraded my 14.04 to 14.10 at the same time. Only a guess that the new version doesn't recognize my Intel graphics driver (I've got a Dell Dimension 3100 that I've been planning to replace after 10 years this month and then this happened). So I've tried to boot from a USB with 14.10 but computer wouldn't recognize for some reason. Tried burning a CD but apparently not enough space to burn the Standard Image Disc Version. Now I'm trying to load a USB with the SID version and then try booting off that. I had created a USB boot when I originally installed 14.04 and it did work recently when I tried to access my files. But it only accessed old files, not the ones that I've created/added to over the past six months. Don't understand that at all. On Thu, Nov 20, 2014 at 4:14 PM, Aere Greenway <Aere@dvorak- keyboards.com> wrote: On 11/20/2014 11:54 AM, Adrian Blake wrote: > Did exactly as you said to restore my system but didn't work. I get a > basic Lubuntu desktop, not my old one. I did manage to copy over my files to > an external HD. All I need now is to retrieve my Firefox and Thunderbird > profiles. Only problem is that all I can find is a FF profile that appears to > have been created yesterday (when I installed the new 14.04) Does that mean > I've lost all my bookmarks (and email)? Adrian: I'm sorry that didn't work for you. I tend to forget that a lot of people on this list do a lot of custom configuration. I tend to assume people just use the system the way it comes, and given those assumptions, the numbered steps ought to have worked. Of course, you would get a Lubuntu desktop without custom configuration changes. But simple changes, such as changing the desktop 'wallpaper' could easily be done again. The big thing the numbered steps were to achieve, was that after installing your Lubuntu 14.04 system, and applying updates, the system would no longer boot to a blank screen. Did it at least achieve that goal? The Firefox bookmarks are probably saved in 'hidden' (.dot) files - which files I don't know. Because of this, before upgrading to a new system level, I export my Firefox bookmarks to a file, which I can later import. Knowing which files, you could copy those hidden files to your new system. Where your system booted to a blank screen on a normal update, you obviously didn't have the opportunity to export your bookmarks. Usually, system updates just work without problems, but unfortunately, this update was catastrophic. * * * * * Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Got the desktop back AND backed up all my files AND found/saved my .firefox and .thunderbird files! So appears that no data was lost. Was pretty stressed out for a few days - I'm a newbie with Linux - but all worth the experience and results. Really appreciate your assistance with this Aere. Hope you have a great day and keep up the good work! -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to xserver-xorg-video-intel in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1389904 Title: With the recent update to xserver-xorg-video-intel, system boots to a black screen Status in “xserver-xorg-video-intel” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete Bug description: The latest system updates for Lubuntu 14.04 includes an update to the i915 display driver, which this machine uses. After applying updates and rebooting, at the end of the boot process, where normally the login screen appears, the screen remains blank (with a black background color). That change has rendered my Lubuntu 14.04 partition completely unusable, even when booting earlier versions of the kernel. Regardless the kernel level booted, the system now boots to a blank screen. Because of this, I had to report the error on my UbuntuStudio 14.04 partition, to which I have not yet applied updates. So the level of the Intel i915 driver package in this error report is the version prior to the updated version that (probably) caused the problem. 1. The release of ubuntu with the problem is Lubuntu 14.04.1, with a kernel version ending in ".39". 2. The last working version of xserver-xorg-video-intel is 2:2.99.910-0ubuntu1 I can't boot by Lubuntu partition anymore to tell you the version number that fails, but it is later than the indicated version. 3. Prior to installing system updates, my Lubuntu 14.04.01 system worked fine, and I was able to boot it and perform my suite of tests (it's a test system). After applying updates, it boots to a blank screen, and I cannot do anything with it. I expected the login screen to appear, but it doesn't, and there is no error message. 4. After applying system updates I expected my system to reboot normally, allowing me to login. Instead, a blank screen is displayed, with no error message, and the login screen does not appear after many minutes of waiting. If I hit the power button, it initiates shutdown. Hitting several keyboard characters (or typing my password to the blank screen) had no effect. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04 Package: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.910-0ubuntu1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-32.57-lowlatency 3.13.11.4 Uname: Linux 3.13.0-32-lowlatency i686 ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.2 Architecture: i386 CurrentDesktop: XFCE Date: Wed Nov 5 16:13:54 2014 InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-04-28 (191 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Studio 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release i386 (20140416.3) SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-video-intel UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/1389904/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp