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I tried to install the Nvidia graphics drivers via System Settings → Software & Updates → Additional Drivers. However got several error messages and ended up with corrupted drivers as it seems.

I rebooted and landed in a login loop, which I fixed by going into Ctrl+Alt+F1 menu, removed all nvidia related drivers via purge nvidia*.

Then reinstalled the xorg stuff with some autoremove I guess and sudo apt-get install lightdm xserver-xorg-core and something else like… xorg-id-19.

I just wanted to use my external screen as second screen and I ended up with this total mess. My idea now was to somehow uninstall all the xorg related stuff and lightdm and reinstall it somehow. However it appears to be rather difficult because I can't use any command as soon as Ubuntu booted.

I use Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

David Foerster
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Greg
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  • Edit: it does boot to my normal desktop but i can neither use the keyboard nor the mouse (or touchpad). the screen is not just frozen, i can see the wifi signal change the number of bars. – Greg Apr 10 '18 at 16:51
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    My mistake. You can boot into text mode to investigate or fix the installation. I recommend that for a start you remove the packages nvidia* and lightdm and install the ubuntu-desktop meta-package ( together sudo apt-get install -f ubuntu-desktop lightdm- nvidia\*-). You can also reset the X.org configuration by (re-)moving /etc/X11/xorg.conf. – David Foerster Apr 10 '18 at 18:18
  • @DavidFoerster If that becomes an answer, ping me in chat and I'll come back and upvote. – Fabby Apr 10 '18 at 19:49
  • @DavidFoerster when i try to enter the text mode the way it is described in your link, i end up in the BusyBox where i can't use any commands like sudo apt-get install etc.. How can I enter a terminal with established network connection to remove and download the stuff you specified? – Greg Apr 11 '18 at 08:10
  • Did you somehow remove Systemd and replaced it with a different Init daemon while you tried to fix the graphics driver issue? Can you try the “traditional” method instead and add text to the end of the linux command in Grub? – David Foerster Apr 11 '18 at 09:18
  • @DavidFoerster as far as i can remember I did nothing alike. I tried the "traditional" method as well, however I just end up at the same BusyBox. Is there a method to (re)install the ubuntu-desktop either with a LiveUSB or just the recovery menu itself? I tried the recovery menu but couldn't install ubuntu-desktop because I had no network connection there, so i tried to get a network connection, however it says "grep: /etc/resolv.conf no such file or directory". – Greg Apr 11 '18 at 09:35
  • @DavidFoerster Okay I gave it up, I'll just reinstall Ubuntu. I guess it takes less time than to fix this issue and i have a Backup of my important stuff. Still thanks though for your help. – Greg Apr 11 '18 at 09:56
  • That may be the better choice here since you can access neither the graphical nor text mode. – David Foerster Apr 11 '18 at 10:11

2 Answers2

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I also had the same problem. Just reinstall your desktop environment and it'll be solved. sudo apt-get install <Your Desktop Environment name>

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I had installed some nvidia and cuda drivers and ran into the same problem, where my keyboard and touchpad won't work after booting. The following steps brought it back. (Read the last paragraph first)

  1. Start ubuntu in recovery mode. To do that press esc key while booting (or some other key depending on your pc), go to advanced options and select recovery mode.

  2. Start the root shell and try the follwing commands.

  3. Try sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall. If this gives an unmet dependencies error, remove all the unmet dependencies in one command. That is go on adding it to the statement sudo apt remove unmet_dependency_1 unmet_dependency_2 ... unmet_dependency_n till that command finally works.

  4. Now exit the root shell and select dpkg Repair broken packages. NOTE: You will require an internet connection as this will install some packages.

  5. After that reboot and your keyboard and touchpad will be working.

Aside : For me after doing above steps and rebooting, when I was logging in for the first time after entering the password it would just come back to the user screen and not log in. So from the settings button I selected 'Ubuntu in wayland' and logged in, and it worked. I'm still not sure whether above steps worked or it was just because of 'Ubuntu in Wayland', anyway you can first try logging in, in ubuntu in wayland and see if that works.