Linux mint 17.3 | killed it yester day

Hello guys! [My linux skill 1/5]
So yesterday(2016 june 08) i saw that it where a new update waiting to be updated in the updated manager.
Checked it out, and my first reaction was "wft" and then i installed it(as u do....)
So to day, my mint linux didnt work anymore!

"Problem is":
Promts

" The X server is now disabled. Restart MDM when is configured correctly. "

" [KMS] drm report modesetting isn't supported. "

Bonus{ (EE)
Fatal server error:
(EE) Caught signal 11 (Segmenation fault).
Please consult the The x.org... }

Havent really find anything help full on the internetz.
Hard to do when iam not sure what to look for, so then i thought teksyndicate!

So my first question, what to do?/what can i do? How to repair/reconfigurate X server?

Second is, i tried to find a logfile for the update manager, to see/find out what messed up my mint linux.
Is there a way to do that?

Best regards

So, because I get a 403 error when typing commands in this comment field I'll redirect you to this post about how to see the update history logs.

BTW: When using less and zless hit q to exit.

Hello! Thanks for the reply!

I dont think that will help me? I mean isnt that just logging the updates i do with apt? and not the updatemanager?

I'll try grep < "\ install\ " /var/log/dpkg.log >
But help me out here, isnt dpkg another apt? Can i still use dpkg?

Gonna check this out later(dont have time now)

best regards

apt actually wraps around dpkg in a sense. You are using dpkg when using apt. The update manager basically does the same thing, just not manually from the terminal.

Can you give us a few more details? What kind of update was that? what level in the update manager (1-5)? Was it a security or normal update. Also do you have an AMD,Intel or an Nvidia GPU?

I am not sure actually, but yes I do think it's different. I'm also just a 1/5 linux user ;)

My history log shows both apt-get and synaptic, I think the update manager is using synaptic because there is a lot of that in my log and I never use it manually in the CLI, only apt-get.

Here is a section of my log for someone to confirm if it's synaptic. The first and last I did manually, that's why it's apt-get.

Start-Date: 2016-06-08  11:28:05
Commandline: apt-get install tmux
Install: tmux:amd64 (1.8-5)
End-Date: 2016-06-08  11:28:06

Start-Date: 2016-06-08  14:48:17
Commandline: /usr/sbin/synaptic --hide-main-window --non-interactive --parent-window-id 48234535 -o Synaptic::closeZvt=true --progress-str Please wait, this can take some time --finish-str Update is complete --set-selections-file /tmp/tmpOLEkQd
Upgrade: python-libxml2:amd64 (2.9.1+dfsg1-3ubuntu4.7, 2.9.1+dfsg1-3ubuntu4.8), libxml2:amd64 (2.9.1+dfsg1-3ubuntu4.7, 2.9.1+dfsg1-3ubuntu4.8), libxml2:i386 (2.9.1+dfsg1-3ubuntu4.7, 2.9.1+dfsg1-3ubuntu4.8)
End-Date: 2016-06-08  14:48:18

Start-Date: 2016-06-09  13:16:55
Commandline: apt-get upgrade
Upgrade: xserver-xorg-core-lts-vivid:amd64 (1.17.1-0ubuntu3.1~trusty1, 1.17.1-0ubuntu3.1~trusty1.1), linux-libc-dev:amd64 (3.13.0-86.131, 3.13.0-87.133)
End-Date: 2016-06-09  13:16:56
1 Like

Hello! Thanks for that, nice learning something here, quote
"apt actually wraps around dpkg in a sense. You are using dpkg when using apt."

I will shoot from the hip(for now), it was maybe a "3", not "secure" i belvie it was a normal.
PC; amd 8350 and 7950...

3 should be fine. If you have not changed any setting then the update manager should only install 1-2-3 by default. But xserver updates can be tricky on AMD hardware. The drivers are a bit iffy. Are you using the proprietary drivers and if yes which ones??

You might need to purge the AMD proprietary drivers and reinstall them.

[AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 15.12 Proprietary Linux x86 Display Driver]

Gonna reboot and see if i can find someting to add later on!
Thanks for the help!

ill be back!

Ok so these are the driver from the AMD site.

First try with setting radeon.nomodeset = 0 in grub before you boot.

basically like this:

Either add "radeon.nomodeset = 0" or "nomodeset"

Which ever works. I cannot really remember

Try reinstalling the xorg server if the nomodeset trick didn't work.

sudo apt-get install --reinstall xserver-xorg

@spidernet @turin231 @Zumps

Did this ,less /var/log/apt/history.log

and this /var/log/dpkg.log

Just wanted to share it with ya all!
I see now u have add some things to do, should i do that still or do ou guys have any better ideas now, after this info i just posted?

PS its funny that it actually were xserver i had updated, LOL ?!

best regards!

Yeah it's the same as I just did. from 1.17.1-0ubuntu3.1~trusty1 to 1.17.1-0ubuntu3.1~trusty1.1

Maybe it's possible to roll back, but try the things the others have said first.

1 Like

What does this really do? Feels like iam gonna break more stuff hehe
quote "First try with setting radeon.nomodeset = 0 in grub before you boot. "

I tryd this and it didnt help sadly (purge it and installed it).

Maybe i should reinstall my gpu driver?
Should i just purge amd and/or how do i uninstall my gpu drivers?

thanks!

The answer to your question

No it will not break a thing. Try it before anything else...

Then if this does not work purge the GPU driver and try to install the default fgrlx driver (not the fgrlx-updates)

Mind posting the content of /var/log/Xorg.0.log if it's not there look at ~/.local/share/xorg. If setting modeset to 0 doesn't work we need to purge the drivers.

While we're at it post the output of inxi -Fx.

This is an unrelated question, but this log could be quite long, especially in photographs.

Is there a way to copy/paste it? I'm thinking SSH'ing into the machine?

SSH is possible, or he could redirect the output to a file, mount an USB stick or whatever via CLI so he could transfer the file to a working PC and paste it here.

1 Like

Hello again @spidernet @turin231 @Zumps !!
A small update:
Ive check the settings in bootloader as u told me to do, everything was fine there..
[it was already set to "quiet splash $vt_handoff"]

Even tryd the other tips in the same thread:
"sudo nano /etc/default/grub" and then add nomodeset to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT:

Ive tryd to purge the amd driver and installed it again, that didnt work either sadly.
But i think iam doing something wrong so, please wright exactly step by step to purge and install the GPU driver again.

Parts of the Xorg.0.log:

and inxi -Fx ?