I'm in a bit of a bind with my Ubuntu installation. I think I might have messed things up while making changes, but I didn't keep a log of what I did. The main issue I'm facing is that GNOME fails to start. Sometimes it works, but then when I try switching sessions, I get a message saying the system can't be repaired and my only option is to exit the login screen. I'm currently at an auto mechanic and can't access my computer, but I suspect I either accidentally installed a new desktop environment or maybe an incorrect GPU driver for my AMD graphics card. I've tried to remove the AMD driver, but I'm having trouble getting rid of all the third-party ones. Can anyone offer advice on how to fix this?
5 Answers
Have you checked if your login manager and X server are starting correctly? Look at the logs in /var/log to see any specific errors. Also, when you say 'sometimes it starts', what exactly does that depend on? It could give more clues!
Thanks for clarifying! That does give more insight. It's definitely a frustrating issue but hang in there!
You might want to try booting into recovery mode. When you get into that console session, run these commands: 1. `sudo apt update`, 2. `sudo apt upgrade`, 3. `sudo apt autoremove`, 4. `sudo apt remove ubuntu-desktop`, and finally, `sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop`. After that, reboot and see if GNOME starts up normally!
You should definitely have a backup routine in place! If you're able to access it later, you can also use a live USB to mount your drive and save important files from your user folder before taking further steps. It's great that you've managed to back up most of your personal files, though!
Exactly! Always better to have backups just in case. You never know when things might go sideways!
And yes, for the future, maybe look into automated backup solutions. They can really save your day!
Accidentally installing a desktop environment is a bit tricky unless you’re running commands that install multiple packages. Just double-check what you’re installing next time!
Good luck with that! I had a similar experience once, and using recovery mode and reinstalling desktop packages helped me out. Hope it works for you too!
I get what you mean. Sometimes it just boots to a terminal log instead of the GUI. Even when it says GNOME started, I still get a recovery error if I try to use startx.