Lost Desktop - 12.3 Gnome 64 bit Boots to Command Line

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1

My installation of OpenSUSE 12.3 Gnome 64 bit Boots to the Command Line.

How can I recover my installation? (Everything was working fine).

(I think this may have happened before but don’t recall the means to recover).

Thanks in advance.

2

On Mon 03 Jun 2013 09:16:01 PM CDT, d hinds wrote:

My installation of OpenSUSE 12.3 Gnome 64 bit Boots to the Command Line.

How can I recover my installation? (Everything was working fine).

(I think this may have happened before but don’t recall the means to
recover).

Thanks in advance.

Hi
Sounds like a kernel update and you need to rebuild, I would assume the
nvidia driver for the new kernel…

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.11-desktop
up 0:43, 3 users, load average: 0.40, 0.17, 0.15
CPU AMD Athlon™ II P360@2.30GHz | GPU Mobility Radeon HD 4200

3

[QUOTE=malcolmlewis;2562445]Hi
Sounds like a kernel update and you need to rebuild, I would assume the
nvidia driver for the new kernel…
/QUOTE]

The question is HOW? Also, the Command Line is never the less visible over the openSUSE graphical desktop, so I’m not sure the problem is related to the nvidia driver. In any case, what I need is the code required to rebuild whatever I lost.

Thanks for the effort, though.

4

On Tue 04 Jun 2013 01:16:01 AM CDT, d hinds wrote:

malcolmlewis;2562445 Wrote:
> Hi
> Sounds like a kernel update and you need to rebuild, I would assume
> the nvidia driver for the new kernel…
> /QUOTE]
>
> The question is HOW? Also, the Command Line is never the less visible
> over the openSUSE graphical desktop, so I’m not sure the problem is
> related to the nvidia driver. In any case, what I need is the code
> required to rebuild whatever I lost.
>
> Thanks for the effort, though.

Hi
So you do have an Nvidia card? That depends on how it was installed
originally, just follow the same route so it updates. How was it
installed originally, repo, manually?

This should help;
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.11-desktop
up 3:43, 3 users, load average: 0.08, 0.11, 0.19
CPU AMD Athlon™ II P360@2.30GHz | GPU Mobility Radeon HD 4200

5

Yep. A Gigabyte NVidia GeForce GTS250 Graphics Adapter.

I don’t recall exactly, it may have been recognized automatically during the installment (a net install) or I may have chosen an option (if one was offered), in any case, there was no problem.

And the point as I see it is the fact that when openSUSE boots, I get a command line interface. That is all I have to work with (unless I try to do a repair installation), and therefore, I assume that placing the right command in that interface would either define or repair the damage.

So- I was hoping that someone more knowledgeable than I (like you, malcom lewis) would provide me the right code. Can you do that (or tell me where I can find it)?

Because as things stand, my openSUSE installation is unusable and since I have other linux distros installed, I was forced to boot to SolosOS (in this case). And in order to return to openSUSE I have to either reinstall it or do something via the command line interface. Can I open Yast from there? Or is there a command that would diagnose this problem for me?

Once again: Whatever I do has to begin with a command or else, boot from a CD / DVD and try a repair installation, which I assume is more dangerous and not required, anyway.

Thanks in advance.

6

Did you try booting the previous kernel? In the GRUB2 boot menu, pick the Advanced options. You should see a list of installed kernels. Try the previous one.

If you want to reinstall the NVIDIA driver, you can run Yast by logging in with your username and password, then do:


su -c yast

You’ll get the ncurses interface, navigation can be done by arrow and TAB keys.

7

That makes sense. I’ll give those options a try. An update could have caused the change, so I’ll try rolling back a notch, first. Knowing how to run Yast from the command line is also helpful.

Thanks to both Knurpht and malcomlewis for your efforts. I’ll report back regarding the results, after I run through those potentially corrective measures.

8

I’ve attempted to boot into an earlier kernel using both normal and repair loading, with no luck.

I’ve also gotten into yast (but neglected the -c command, just “su yast”) but wasn’t able to regain my normal desktop or get much of anything thing to work.

How can I re-install my desktop using a command (apt-get install doesn’t work for opensuse)?

The problem may or may not be related to the NVidia drivers. How can I determine whether that is the case?

Time’s going by and I’ve been unable to use my opensuse 12.3 installation, which was performing well - better than the rest, which had more problems with printing and particularly, recovering from being suspended.

I suppose I could attempt a repair installation but I consider that to be riskier and the same thing could very well reoccur.

TIA

9

Try to boot in recovery/failsafe mode. You can select that in the bootmenu under “Advanced Options”.
Do you get a desktop then?

If yes, please post the file /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old .
If no, you should find a clue why it is not working in /var/log/Xorg.0.log …

10

I tried that a number of times, for each of the two kernals. I never-the-less wind up at the command line. (I would think that recovery mode would search for missing resources and dependencies and provide a warning, but that is evidently not the case.

I’ll take a look at that log file and post anything that seems relevant here.

We WILL get to the bottom of this. (The main problem is, I’m using the computer for a project that must be finished soon, so there’s little opportunity to work on fixing this, although the other operating systems won’t recover after suspending, overnight. OSUSE doesn’t have that problem, so I hope to get it running again, soon. Also, the forums seem better).

Thanks for the rapid response.

11

The next time I selected oSUSE from my boot menu an option for repair appeared and after choosing it and updating, things returned to normal (except the computer won’t recover after being suspended) and I am now using my updated v. 12.3 Gnome 64 bit installation with reasonable success.

Once again: I did nothing to fix the problem - osuse just seemed to grow out of it. (Life can be strange, occasionally), and the speed, functionality and stability of osuse is allowing me to get jobs done. Thanks to all those that offered solutions, for their effort.

12

So it seems some update wasn’t applied completely.
After you installed the missing parts, all is well again.

But I have no idea which “option for repair” you are talking about.
Was it in the boot menu, or where exactly did that option appear?