Snapper Rollback Use

4.4.46-11-default OpenSuse Leap 42.2

Currently running AMD RX460 gpu along with amdgpu-pro drivers.

A while back I ran into problems after updating the system. Leap 42.2 would not boot, and I was presented with a blank screen, with no prompt. After a lot of experimenting I found that booting to an earlier kernel (in boot options) enabled a full desktop once again. I continued to install updates over recent weeks until the blank screen reappeared, and boot froze. Using snapper and booting many snapshots, I found a workable system from late February, that reliably booted.

With the snapper rollback feature, this snapshot is now default. Any ideas on how to proceed from here? Should I continue to update? Can I retain this snapshot and experiment with the newer (kernels) and (updates).

The phrase “updating the system” is good English, but does not reveal what you did in computer terms. YaST online Update, zypper patch, …?

Updates were mostly from the Packagekit notifier in the kde Panel.

Be sure all repos are from 42.2. These problems are mostly due to mixed repos

Ok - just checked this. Also suspect the amd-gpu is not able to deal with kernel and or software upgrades.

Just to conclude… I have resolved to wait until we have better amdgpu software. The driver is installed and working, but any attempt to update my system causes a boot failure (blank screen). No command line is available. Being able to install security patches would be nice but I am wary of breaking my system and the large amount of time required to restore it. Snapper has been good during this process. I commend the Suse team for implementing this valuable tool. Being able to select previous snapshots and boot into them has been invaluable.
Just for practice I have renamed my working snapshot for easy identification in the snapper boot options.

One thing I found with my installation of snapper. Any attempt to use snapper on the command line was met with this error
“Failed to set locale. Fix your system”

I had to use the command “export LANG=en_US” to overcome this. Yast2 seemed to have all the required country and language settings - so not sure why this error occurred.