Installed Ubuntu over Zorin, no video

Hello,

I got a prompt from the software updater in version 8 to upgrade my version of Ubuntu. I was doing about 5 other things at the time and didn't think this through very well. My ver 8 Zorin was working perfectly and there was not any compelling reason to update anything.

So, I ran the upgrade to Ubuntu 57 (?) and now when I try to boot, it errors out on "low graphics mode" and I have tried everything to get it back but so far have been unsuccessful.

The dialog to change the video settings doesn't let me open anything to change the video settings. When I tell it to run one session in low graphics mode it just hangs. I am not sure whether it is mounting the fie system. I can get to a terminal and it does take sudo commands but what I found online to fix the the graphics problem didn't work... it may be that the file system is mounted read only, or perhaps the eth0 interface is not up. I have tried stopping and starting it but it doesn't tell me whether I'm connected.

The instructions I found at Ubuntu Canonical were to link to a repository that has Intel drivers in it and then try rebooting. The problems are that it tells me there is no suitable temp file to write to (maybe because they're mounted read only?) and further, when I try to ping http://www.google;.com I get a message that the web address can't be resolved.

I was wondering what might happen if I I tried re-installing Zorin 8 over this? Will I lose everything? I have a bootable disk that I think may allow me to backup my home folder onto a DVD but I am not sure about that, I might have to do something else.

If I do something else, what would that be? Any suggestions?

JD

If you reinstall Zorin 8 you would have issues of no security updates 1, and GHOST security issue - 2:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9267

You need to get yourself Zorin 9 at your earliest convenience!

Hey, Swarfendor,

Thanks for the reply!

Do I understand correctly that I can install Z9 over whatever monster is in the box now and retain my data? Or should I try to run a bootable OS first and try to burn my data to a DVD?

I realize that the latter would be the best practice, but hey, I'm obviously no stranger to reckless abandon.

I'm still not sure why I had the software updater prompting me to upgrade Ubuntu to the latest version...

Wolfman wrote a useful guide within Post Install Guide:

Section headed: Upgrading your installed system:

I would always advise backing up your '/home' folder for safety purposes or any data files on any OS. Just remember to press Ctrl+ H to show your hidden files in '/home' - these will contain settings for the Applications that you may wish to keep once you have 9 installed.

Keep us posted!

Thanks again for the information!

I will find some time over the holiday to backup and upgrade... And post the results.

Cheers!

JD

Glad to help where I can friend!

Hello again.... I just tried posting this in quick reply and it seemed to disappear... so if this is a duplicate post, forgiveness, please.

I created a Knoppix bootable disc and am now running the machine.

The problem is that everything I want to save is on sda1 in the home directory, which is not visible to me, even if I log in as root. I tried changing permissions for the whole drive but it only changed those that it could "see", which does not include my protected files.

So, the question is... how do I make my home directory visible? Is it possible? If it is, does it mean that anyone with a live Linux disc can break into your computer?

Any thoughts on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

JD

OK, so this indicates you encrypted your '/home' folder which you did not inform in your initial posting!

Encryption means you cannot access them unless you can boot into the system which you encrypted them with!

I await your confirmation or otherwise.

Hello again.... Thanks again for your reply.

Yes, it is encrypted.

I think I smell the loss of data... Is that what I smell?

Is there any way to create a bootable Zorin 8 disk that would help here, or can I reinstall Zorin on sdb1 and then access data on sda1? Or has my luck simply run over the cliff?

Thanks!

JD

Decrypt View via ZOS8 Live : http://sourceforge.net/projects/zorin-os/files/8/
Look at the bottom of the page for reference : http://www.howtogeek.com/116297/how-to- ... on-ubuntu/

Cheers for the input Gizmuntu!

Thank you for the replies!

I will make time today to get busy on fixing this. It has been very busy around here for the last couple of days...

Best to all,

JD