Ubuntu – Just ran some updates, broke system and stuck in Unity 2d

compizhybrid-graphicsunityupdates

I just installed 25 updates. In them were the raring graphics stack and kernel 3.5.25. I rebooted back and noticed I was now in Unity 2d. This behaves much slower than 3d did and when I tried to log out to lightdm the screen went blank blue. I force restarted the computer and am back in fallback.
I tried unity –restart however it says it is a deprecated.

With the computer in the current state, returning to the log in screen results in a blank screen that matches the color unity inherits from the background. I also noticed gnome control center crashes when trying to enter "display settings". I wanted to enter display, because for some reason ubuntu's default resolution is set to have an extra 6 pixels horizontally. I notice the screen shift when my mouse touches either edge of the screen. The recommended resolution (with 6 pixels less horizontally) is available right below in the drop down that is now inaccessible.

mikey@mikey-Lenovo-U410:~$ unity –version

unity 6.12.0

mikey@mikey-Lenovo-U410:~$ uname -r

3.5.0-25-generic

mikey@mikey-Lenovo-U410:~$

When typing 'unity' into terminal I get this output, the terminal never completes the command and I have to ctrl+c to get control back.
I also noticed the mouse cursor will only show if my finger is on the touchpad and moving. I assume this is a result of Unity fallback.

I'm using the default PPAs. I only added steam and Google Chrome stable ppa to the system
other than the defaults.

After the update I noticed it now registers a name for the graphics devices. I'm also using the default video drivers. I've only installed steam, chrome and powertop
http://i.imgur.com/3Nwx60z.png

$lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev c4)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev c4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev c4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM77 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 05)
04:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 2200 (rev c4)  

$lspci -nnk | grep -A3 VGA

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller [8086:0166] (rev 09)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3977]
Kernel modules: i915
00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller [8086:1e31] (rev 04)
mikey@mikey-Lenovo-U410:~$ 

Best Answer

After some fiddling with the system, I fixed it. The last thing I did before everything went back to normal was update grub $sudo update-grub once done I rebooted and grub came up, instead of directly booting the latest kernel. I shut down the computer instead of booting, and disabled optimus again in the bios (I had enabled it again in attempts to fix the system). When I rebooted I noticed: 1) Remote login was back 2) The Mouse cursor was responsive again 3) Unity 3d is up and running 4) Display doesn't crash anymore when accessing it from gnome control center.

It's really odd, could updating grub have fixed the problem or could Ubuntu have randomly clicked into place after a few reboots?

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