I have a dual boot Lenovo laptop (Windows 8 / Ubuntu 14.04) which worked just fine. Until today. When I log in to Ubuntu I type my password as usual and select for example 'Ubuntu' as the environment. After that, I only see the background image and a mouse pointer I can move, but nothing else. No menu, no bar, nothing! Also when I choose GNOME Flashback (Compiz) or GNOME Flashback (Metacity) the same happens. When I choose KDE I am able to see some bars and menus, but unable to click anything!!
How can I at least start in a terminal mode to save all data and reinstall Ubuntu from scratch)?
To start again I always need to power off the laptop by force (i.e. pressing the power button).
Addendum:
- I tried to start in recovery mode with failsafe graphics mode. Here also nothing starts, even after waiting for minutes.
- I have not changed any hardware.
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Yesterday I tried to connect the laptop to an external monitor via HDMI without success. I did not change any xorg configuration.
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Attempts to fix this problem made it only worse. I backup all data and re-install Ubuntu 14.04 from scratch.
Best Answer
If you have access to a terminal ( Ctrl+Alt+F1 ) , you could check the logs. Logs should be the first place you look at to find out what went wrong. do a
to see the log and see what happened.