I’m happily using openSUSE 11.0 for 9 months already.
Today I consumed several package upgrades (non of them Compiz related), which resulted in WHITE SCREEN OF DEATH.
I’m completely blind, can’t see any fonts, icons, bars, buttons… (By the way, this white cube of death still rotates properly.)
Why is this happening?
How can I fix this madness?
How to protect myself from such upgrades from hell in future?
Try rebooting and when you get the login menu, type 3 in the extra command settings.
This will allow you to login as root from a termail and run sax2 to reconfigure the display.
Thanks, but it does not work since I’m using auto-login feature that gets me past the login screen.
However, I managed to get into the command prompt by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F5, where I disabled the following option in /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "on"
EndSection
That gave me back my desktop.
Then I discovered that following packages were installed from the ATI repository (which were no there before).
ati-fglrxG01-kmp-default
x11-video-fglrxG01
After removing these two packages, my happy little cube is spinning again.
The rule is:
If you use the ATI repo drivers, you don’t need to reinstall them with each kernel change.
If you use the ATI propriety drivers, you must reinstall every time the kernel changes.
I’m surprised that typing 3 at the grub boot didn’t take you to run level 3 and ask for a login.
As an aside, the ATI download site lists a chane log. Have a read as it gives some tips on how to set up the drivers for when things go wrong.
Sorry, I did not understand it was the “grub boot” you were referring to. I thought you meant user login.
Anyway, the issue is solved now.
By the way I have disabled the ATI repository. It’s best to stay away from it, i.e. don’t fix it if it’s not broken. 
Thanks for the help!
Glad you got it fixed. Like you say, If it anin’t broke, don’t fix it!