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I think I broke linux.

Heres what happened:

I installed Ubuntu as a dual boot with windows 10 on my desktop.

I initially had some trouble with it, but after figuring out how to boot my live USB with UEFI I figured it out.

I use 2 monitors, and for some reason, the displays were really wacky. at first, my cursor would appear on one display and click on the other, fixed only when I disconnected the other display and reconnected, but it didn't stay fixed on bootup. I entered display settings to fix this and was screwing around with it, checking out Mirror displays, and seeing how it will preview it for you for 20 seconds before reverting back with a little menu pop up. Now I'm on mirrored displays and when I attempt to switch to joined displays the screen greys out but no menu appears, meaning I cannot confirm the change.

I went to a forum, asked some questions, and someone suggested that I needed drivers for my Nvidia graphics card or I should instal arandr.

I installed arandr cause I didn't read correctly at first, but that's fine, I found some command line prompts to install NVidia drivers. it didn't work, so just assumed I needed to reboot.

upon reboot I got stuck in a login loop, I would enter my password correctly and be sent back to the user select. Again, after some googling, it seemed to be some Nvidia driver things.

Ubuntu gets stuck in a login loop

this is the thread I was referencing

I run these lines:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

sudo apt update

sudo apt install nvidia-340

but it gets stuck on a broken install and I have to run

sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite /var/cache/apt/archives/nvidia-340_340.108-0ubuntu2~gpu18.04.1_amd64.deb

at this point, I assume the correct driver has been installed and i run

sudo reboot

Now I cannot access the normal login screen, I cannot access the terminal (it disappears after like 3 seconds after I do ctr-alt-f3) and I've restarted it multiple times. I'm at a complete loss, do I just need to wipe and reinstall Ubuntu?

edit: I'll try and post a video of exactly what the bootup for Linux looks like right now.

Casey Ford
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    I'm having trouble even counting the number of issues you've brought up -- do you think it's worth the time to diagnose and fix each one - or could it be better to just reinstall the OS? Are you sure you did that correctly to begin with? Is the installation media valid and has it passed integrity checks? – Nmath Jul 15 '20 at 19:38
  • That's what Im considering. I still have the Live stick, but will erasing that partition be dangerous? – Casey Ford Jul 15 '20 at 19:48
  • "that partition" - which? "dangerous" - what do you mean? It's a new install right? You're not going to destroy hardware, but you should already have your data sufficiently backed up, because the chance of data loss is never zero, especially when manipulating partition tables or installing operating systems. You have more than one problem and you seem lost, so I'd suggest a reinstall. You might want to start from the beginning, including reflashing the installation media - but first you should verify integrity/checksums of the downloaded ISO to make sure it's not corrupted. – Nmath Jul 15 '20 at 19:53
  • Sounds like a plan. so I'll re-create the live boot, clear the partition I was using for linux since I Dual-booted, and make sure I download the Nvidia drivers as well. It was a bit of a crash and burn first attempt but the few hours I had on Linux were really nice, so i'd to get back there. Thanks! – Casey Ford Jul 15 '20 at 19:55
  • Good luck! If you encounter issues try to document them throughly and share the details with us. It will help diagnose the problem if we can see exactly where things got derailed. Also there should be an option now to install the Nvidia drivers during installation instead of after the fact. Make sure you enable proprietary non free sources – Nmath Jul 15 '20 at 20:35
  • I've re-installed, and I think I understand why/how I crashed my OG boot. I believe I failed to fully install some graphic driver, and believing it had been installed and fixed my login, I rebooted, and nothing worked. I'm currently on my new boot of Ubuntu. I have been able to restart and log in at least once on this boot, and unlike in my other boot, I can see .Xauthority and it has proper ownership. In the Software and Updates I have the NVIDIA driver metapackage from nvidia-driver-440 under the "Additional Drivers" tab. These, I believe, were the missing links in my previous boot. – Casey Ford Jul 16 '20 at 21:41
  • If you think you've identified the solution, please consider posting an answer below. This will help future visitors who might have the same issue! – Nmath Jul 16 '20 at 22:00
  • I'll confirm that it's still working tomorrow and post my solution then, thanks! – Casey Ford Jul 16 '20 at 22:12

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