[solved] Black screen after upgrading to testing

[alete]

Hello everyone. I'm starting in this wonderful linux world, with debian, off course. But I already screwed it up.

what I had:
-a debian stable version with MATE working like a charm.

what I did:
- replaced "stable" or "Jessie" with "testing" in /etc/apt/sources.list
- sudo apt-get update
- sudo apt-get upgrade
something like 235MB were downloaded and a lot of packages updated, I went AFK for a while and when I got back:

this happened. A black screen, but when I moved the mouse or pressed a key, the image came out for an instant.
I waited a while and then just turn the machine off from the case button.

the result:
now, when debian boots, the user login prompt appears, it looks just fine, but after I enter my credentials, nothing happens, just black screen and pointer. ctrl+alt+f1 takes me to tty, system is working, but I have no clue how to fix (or even what did I break)

* as a side note, grub now looks awfull, it had a nice splash and graphics, now it's blue and white (like non-graphical debian installation).

Any advice will be appreciated.

[milomak]

so to help you on your journey, do you realise that you left out the most important information about your problem?

i would guess that even under windows, you wouldn't expect all graphics cards to behave the same?

[arochester]

You might look here: https://journalxtra.com/linux/desktop-r ... ktop-back/

Scroll down to: Solution Seven: switch to a basic graphics driver

If you get things back you can maybe install your proprietary graphics driver again.

[alete]

so to help you on your journey, do you realise that you left out the most important information about your problem?

i would guess that even under windows, you wouldn't expect all graphics cards to behave the same?

No, I didn't realize, other way I would provided it. I actually wasn't sure that the problem is with graphical drivers since I can see the MATE login window without any problem.

Windows never gave me a black screen after an update (luckiest man in the world, maybe?)

[alete]

You might look here: https://journalxtra.com/linux/desktop-r ... ktop-back/

Scroll down to: Solution Seven: switch to a basic graphics driver

If you get things back you can maybe install your proprietary graphics driver again.

Excelent guide, thank you very much!

But I still have a question. What exactly happened? how is that updating packages broke something (what exactly?)

Thank you again.

[stevepusser]

Did you upgrade the kernel? That won't happen with the command you gave--it's a different package from the stock Jessie kernel, not an upgrade. (unless you have the kernel metapackage installed).

This can make a big difference, since the free xorg graphics drivers have one part built into the kernel, and the other part outside.

Even more things can go wrong with the proprietary drivers.

[milomak]

But I still have a question. What exactly happened? how is that updating packages broke something (what exactly?)

Thank you again.

you switched from stable to testing

if you do not know what you are doing with such a switch, things can and will break

[alete]

you switched from stable to testing
if you do not know what you are doing with such a switch, things can and will break

Very helpful, that explains it all. I couldn't have realized it alone. Thank you.

[alete]

Did you upgrade the kernel? That won't happen with the command you gave--it's a different package from the stock Jessie kernel, not an upgrade. (unless you have the kernel metapackage installed).

This can make a big difference, since the free xorg graphics drivers have one part built into the kernel, and the other part outside.

Even more things can go wrong with the proprietary drivers.

Not that I'm aware. I don't even know how to update the kernel.

[dcihon]

I would like to chime in here:
A certain level of knowledge is expected here if you decide to use debian "testing".
Please read the following:
https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ch-choosing.en.html

[alete]

I would like to chime in here:
A certain level of knowledge is expected here if you decide to use debian "testing".
Please read the following:
https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ch-choosing.en.html

Good call. Actually I decided to switch to testing because I read somewhere that it wasn't a big deal, and I was trying to apt-get install something that apparently is available in testing and not in stable. Off course that I regret now.

Anyway, I won't be around that PC until monday, I hope I can revert the process somehow.

Thanks for your time and replies.

[debiman]

reverting the process is practically impossible, esp. for a user with your level of expertise.

but maybe testing can be ok for you.

you should

- upgrade the kernel as was suggested. inform yourself what is considered the standard kernel for debian testing.

- fix your graphics (it runs in 2 modes - 1 when you boot the system, 2 when you start a gui). let's start by providing the output of this command:

Code: Select all

lspci -k | grep -iEA5 'vga|3d|display'

[alete]

Good news, everybody.
Today I turned the PC on, logged into debian, then I started a tty and ran sudo apt-get update and system said that some packages were uncompleted or something like that, I can't remember, but it suggested to do dpkg --configure -a , so I did. It finished well, and then I ran sudo apt-get dist-upgrade. It downloaded 800mb, installed for a while (like 20 min) and after that, system boot normally.

Thank you all for your help

[stevepusser]

Yes, I should have caught that that 235 MB do was far too small for a complete upgrade. What kernel are you now running?

Code: Select all

uname -r

Stretch has a 4.9 series kernel.

Steve (having trouble building Debian Nvidia drivers on a freakin' 4.11 Liquorix kernel) (Edit: Fixed it! No duct tape, either)

[alete]

Yes, I should have caught that that 235 MB do was far too small for a complete upgrade. What kernel are you now running?

Code: Select all

uname -r

Stretch has a 4.9 series kernel.

Steve (having trouble building Debian Nvidia drivers on a freakin' 4.11 Liquorix kernel) (Edit: Fixed it! No duct tape, either)

Hi, sorry for the delay.
Currently running: 4.9.0-3-amd64