[RESOLVED] Problem after software updates

I was running 12.2 lite fine on 3 different machines for the last year. Today I ran the software updater on all 3 then rebooted them and 2 came out fine but this one I am working on had a hiccup. It boots to the log in screen fine. I enter my credentials and the desktop background shows up then a quick black screen flash and back to the desktop background but no further. If I just drop to a terminal and immediately return to the gui all is well. Any ideas on how to fix this? I ran the updater again and it says everything is up to date. I looked in the xorg.log file but no errors (EE) were reported. I can stop and start lightdm in terminal with no problem.

My specs are as follows:

System: Host: ZorinMGmbp Kernel: 4.13.0-39-generic i686 (32 bit)
Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 Distro: Zorin 12 xenial
Machine: System: Apple (portable) product: MacBookPro1 1 v: 1.0
Mobo: Apple model: Mac-F425BEC8 v: PVT
Bios: Apple v: MBP11.88Z.0055.B08.0610121325 date: 10/12/06
CPU: Dual core Intel T2500 (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB
clock speeds: max: 2000 MHz 1: 1690 MHz 2: 1690 MHz
Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RV530/M56-P [Mobility Radeon X1600]
Display Server: X.Org 1.19.5 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1280x800@59.96hz
GLX Renderer: ATI RV530 GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 17.2.8
Audio: Card Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio Controller
driver: snd_hda_intel
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.13.0-39-generic
Network: Card-1: Marvell 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller
driver: sky2
IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: 00:16:cb:87:35:06
Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
driver: ath5k
IF: wls1 state: up mac: 00:16:cb:04:f1:d0
Drives: HDD Total Size: 250.1GB (6.8% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD2500BEVS size: 250.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 50G used: 7.7G (17%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
ID-2: /home size: 176G used: 5.9G (4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda6
ID-3: swap-1 size: 2.62GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda4
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 75.0C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 184 Uptime: 1:05 Memory: 760.9/1997.4MB
Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.2.35
Thanks in advance for any help. I do have a backup image I can restore to but I am sure this is a simple fix so thought I would ask first.

Can you press left shift at boot time, choose the second menu item (to boot from earlier kernel) - it could be the latest kernel that is causing you issues, but we need to test this theory.

Thanks. I have tried pressing left shift and right shift at boot with no luck. I see the blue frame but no amount of pressing or holding either before during or after will bring up the recovery console. Any other suggestions?

Done some more searching and found this gem:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/16042/h ... -boot-time

What happens when you press the 'Esc' ape key when you see the blue border?

Thanks. Esc at blinking cursor before border is what finally worked. I tried booting from the two previous kernels with the same results. I can get into recovery if that helps. There is also an upstart option as well for each kernel.

See what happens when you go to recovery, make sure that you have a connection to the internet beforehand, and run DPKG that looks for any missing packages. If it does, let it installl then after completion, DON'T continue but shut down and reboot.

Will recovery detect wireless settings used previously or must I be attached via wired network? If I drop to command line I cannot ping by host name or IP address. If I run network it tries to start network manager but still no ping. If I run Dpkg it reports up to date and only offers to remove 28 packages but I am not sure it is accurate at this stage.

I have successfully enabled wired network access while in recovery mode and confirmed that I could ping an internet connected device outside of my network by ip and host name with no problem. When I run DPKG it still says no updates available but my firewall only shows two udp connections for the device and no tcp connections so I am still not convinced it is reaching the necessary servers.

Is 'Main Server' set for your updates?

Yes it is set to Main server in Zorin under software updater. I assume this setting is used by DPKG as well?

Yes, it will pick up the settings in Software Updater. Wondering if it is anything to do with hardware recognition, as you stated it is on the Mac. Did you prep the Mac with rEFInd?

I believe I have fixed the problem. The timing of the problem, right as the screen resolution is set before the xfce4 desktop and panel is loaded, led me to believe it was a graphics driver issue. Looking closer at the specs returned above I noticed two graphics drivers were being loaded, ati and radeon. As I searched for the correct drivers for this graphics card I ran across this post and followed the suggestions to remove the ati conf file so that driver doesn't load and added the 20-radeon conf file. After a reboot all seems well now. Thanks for trying to help.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/794865/ ... flickering

Not sure why this cropped up after a normal software update but at least it is fixed now.

Hey glad you got it sorted and many thanks for sharing solution.