[SOLVED] HELP! Lost OS user interface

I just lost the Zorin User interface. When the laptop boots up now, the Zorin splash screen appears, then it goes directly to a command line (which I can log into), but no desktop. I did not change any settings.
This laptop has a dual-boot setup with Win XP, which works fine.
I just need to know if I can restore the Zorin desktop from this command line, and any possible reasons this may have happened.

A bit more info: I tried startx from the command line, and received a fatal server error: no screens found.

I am not able to attach log files, Xorg.0.log or Xorg.1.log, but they may contain clues. If I can get permission to add attachments, then I will submit them also.

Thanks for any info...

First of all, I might not be the best person for this as I have not updated my system yet but there are a few options that may help.

Easy one first:
Have you tried to press ALT + CTRL + F7 and see if that works (while at command prompt)?

Next you could try (if that did not work):
edit the file /etc/inittab (I know you know how to do this but someone else following this thread may not):

Code:

sudo gedit /etc/inittab

and look for this line:

Code:

id:3:initdefault:

change it to this:

Code:

id:5:initdefault:

reboot and see if that helps

Next you could try:
group install both X and gnome ...

Code:

yum groupinstall "GNOME Desktop Environment" "X Window System"

reboot and see if that helps.

If not then let us know and then I (or someone else) may have a better idea.

The first suggestion would be the one I would suggest as well (ctrl+Alt+F7).

A few comments though.
1)"gedit" will not work in terminal environment. You better change this to "nano".
2)Yum is the install command for fedora. Zorin is debian based so it should be "apt-get" instead of yum.


After login in in terminal mode, I would also try

sudo lightdm restart
or
sudo service-lightdm restart

madvinegar wrote:2)Yum is the install command for fedora. Zorin is debian based so it should be "apt-get" instead of yum.

That explains why I cant get yum to work. A case of RTFM may be?

Here is link to a section of the Xorg.0.log that contains the error:

http://pastebin.com/vsgMN9P5

current status: Cntrl-Alt-F7 resulted in a locked screen with the last line reading: LightDM Display Manager - FAILED
Checked for etc/inittab - file does not exist here.
Next steps: try restart LightDM- all lines reported OK, however still did not resolve issue.

apt-get does not work with the desktops as described. Doesn't recognize "GNOME Desktop Environment" nor " X Windows System"

Question: log file refers to NVIDIA kernel modules failing. Would this possibly be resolved by re-installing NVIDIA drivers?
Current NVIDIA card: GeForce Go 6400. this card doesn't seem to be in any support lists for drivers, but I believe it is using the version 304 driver.

Here is partial info from Startx command ( for some reason I cannot capture the output so manually typing it in)
(==) Using config file : "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(==) Using system config directory: "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
NVIDIA: API mismatch: the NVIDIA kernel module has version 173.14.39, but this NVIDIA driver component has version 304.116. Please make sure that the kernel module and all NVIDIA driver components have the same version.

Fatal server error:
no screens found.

Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.
xinit: giving up
xinit: unable to connect to x server: no such file or directory
xinit: Server error

Why not completely remove the proprietary nvidia driver and revert to the open source one, at least to see your desktop again and then decide what to do (reinstall nvidia etc).

sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia-*
sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf

and restart.

YES - that worked! Thanks so much for the suggestion.
Question: since it seems to be working fine as is, what is the advantage of re-installing NVIDIA drivers? I'm assuming it would just allow some better graphic options?

Glad I helped.
As you said, proprietary drivers can boost your GPU' performace needed when you play a demanding game etc.
If you don't need to play heavy games and your PC works just fine as it is, there is no real need to install the proprietary drivers.

Proprietary drivers some times cause problems (like the ones you faced) especially after system updates.
The choise is yours.

Just out of curiosity can you please advise how you installed the Nvidia drivers (and which drivers you installed?)

Also can I see the result of the following commands:

Code:

lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 vga
lspci -nn

Looks like I spoke too soon. Chromium presents a black screen now, and only way to close is to close from the task bar.
Nvidia drivers were installed as part of the original OS install. I did not install anything separately.
Got results of your commands, just having trouble getting them onto the post.

http://pastebin.com/TVFWA9Cb

Above are results

FYI: I had to remove Chromium and install FireFox, just so I could have a browser to work with...

My question was, how did you install the closed source drivers in the first place. Was it via additional drivers or you downloaded them from the website of Nvidia?

I did not download any drivers from Nvidia website.

Then how?
The proper way is to open update manager > then go to settings (button down-left) > then go to the last tab named "additional drivers" > and finally choose and install the recommended proprietary driver. Then restart. You need internet connection for this procedure.
Would you like to try that?

Another 120 blue jewels to madvinegar! Will mark as [SOLVED]

I will keep it as an option - but currently, everything is working fine, including using FireFox. I guess I'm a bit leary as to why this happened in the first place, and could it happen again, if I reload the NVIDIA drivers?

If you do it like I explain above, hopefully you will not get any problems. At least this is the recommended way of doing it.