0

I have an old machine, dual core intel HP, that I was running 22.04 with Lubuntu desktop. I decided to upgrade to 23.04, and there were problems during the upgrade, broken files and whatnot. The software upgrade offered me to do a "partial upgrade" and I said yes. The upgrade failed, but I managed to do a full upgrade inside Muon that seemed to fix everything. Tried software update and told me all was up to date. After reboot the screen was unrecognizable, but I figured it was a matter of logging out and back in and choosing the lubuntu desktop. Unfortunately, there was no lubuntu among the options, but the first option mentioned lxqt, and I assumed that meant lubuntu. After logging in I recognized my normal desktop and was relieved. The only problem was that applications did not have top bars and so they did not have the [X] icon at the top right, and could only be closed from File -> Exit. But anyways, I had managed to upgrade to 23.04. I should have stopped there...

I tried a sudo apt-upgrade -d, and it offered me I could upgrade to 23.10, and I said yes. The upgrade went perfectly well, but after rebooting my desktop was again unrecognizable, clearly not Lubuntu, but to make things worse, I do not have a bar at the bottom of the screen, or anywhere for that matter, no main menu, networking is disabled, so I can't access the internet; but I can ctrl-alt-t to get a command window, and I can double-click a folder icon on the desktop and go to Applications on the left pane, to access some apps. However, without internet, synaptic won't do much for me; and the Applications in file explorer do not include things like suspend, shutdown, logout... The only way I know I can shutdown is with the power switch. I can edit files, though, by calling featherpad filename from command line. Is there a way to edit some file to bring back the Lubuntu desktop after reboot? And any idea why networking might be disabled, or how to try and enable it? TIA

DanW58
  • 197
  • It's unclear what you actually did; you mention for example "decided to upgrade to 23.04, and there were problems during the upgrade, broken files and whatnot" but gave no details as to commands used etc. nor specifics as to problem packages. I'd have assumed your system was broken at that point rather than try & continue, as subsequent 'upgrades' or 'movements' will be to your correctly installed packages & not what you had earlier (ie. your initial Lubuntu system won't be treated as Lubuntu anymore, but part of Lubuntu). – guiverc Aug 05 '23 at 04:04
  • 1
    You mention power button which you should never need to use except for kernel panic (ie. linux kernel crash) though I suspect you've not experienced this. You should be able to login to text terminal OR issue SysRq commands direct to kernel (bypassing any UI/GUI issues if you have any) thus cleanly shutdown/reboot your system not potentially add more file-system breakage etc. I don't know your issue (lack of clear details), but in your case i'd consider a Install using existing partition to correct (https://discourse.lubuntu.me/t/testing-checklist-understanding-the-testcases/2743) – guiverc Aug 05 '23 at 04:08
  • 1
    Many things are unclear in what you describe.. but Lubuntu installs with a number of sessions; Lubuntu = the full Lubuntu experience; LXQt = closer to upstream LXQt experience without some Lubuntu unique features; Openbox = the WM alone. As LXQt is WM agnostic; Lubuntu uses openbox which can be run on it's own; thus the openbox session is what allows that. To provide specifics on fixing where you are; I'd need to know where you exactly are - and that is very unclear (to me anyway). – guiverc Aug 05 '23 at 04:11
  • Ubuntu 23.10 (mantic) doesn't yet exist; it's currently the development release Ubuntu mantic and remains that until it reaches RC state which isn't expected until after 5 October 2023, and isn't on-topic here until release on 13 October 2023. https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/mantic-minotaur-release-schedule/34989 Please refer https://askubuntu.com/help/on-topic. For support issues with Ubuntu mantic you'll need to use a #ubuntu-next or #ubuntu+1 site (IRC, UF etc – guiverc Aug 05 '23 at 04:13
  • The moment you used the do-release-upgrade -d and moved to Ubuntu mantic, you put yourself off-topic on this & many other support sites, as you're no longer using a stable system that is supported; but a development system that is intended for experienced users who can thus discover & report bugs. That system is currently still in alpha and thus off-topic here. Your issue doesn't relate to mantic I suspect - but your system isn't supported here sorry. – guiverc Aug 05 '23 at 04:15
  • If you wish to report bugs, firstly thank you for helping test the release, but please see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs and use a #ubuntu+1 site such as IRC, https://ubuntuforums.org/ etc. This site isn't tracked for ubuntu+1 or #ubuntu-next issues Please note: I'm not encouraging you to report any issues; your issue is a support issue I'm 99% sure of (even if I don't understand it due to lack of specific detail), but mantic issues on this site are to be encouraged to report as bugs (ie. site specific response). Your issue is user-procedural as I see it. – guiverc Aug 05 '23 at 04:17
  • 1
    the easiest thing to try would likely be a sudo apt install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop (closely matching your initial request), but if it was me I'd explore your apt logs and re-read the messages you ignore & go from there... which was many steps before where you are now.... thus the re-install option I alluded to earlier (upgrade using existing partition) maybe safer if you don't want to review & adjust for your circumstances (which as stated I don't understand due to lack of detail). – guiverc Aug 05 '23 at 04:22
  • 1
    the above would be easier to read written as an 'answer', but posted this way ^ as the question is off-topic due to being now a Ubuntu mantic question.... thus many comments. – guiverc Aug 05 '23 at 04:30
  • 2
    Try sudo apt install lubuntu-desktop^ – Archisman Panigrahi Aug 05 '23 at 05:49
  • 1
    yeah sorry; my sudo apt install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop was meant to say sudo apt install --reinstall lubuntu-desktop :( – guiverc Aug 05 '23 at 05:51
  • I apollogize for the lack of details; I should have been writing notes as things happened, but adrenaline doesn't help rational behavior, and what I describe is as much as I remember at each stage of this shipwreck. I tried sudo apt install --reinstall lubuntu-desktop, and it tried to do it, but without internet working it failed to reach us.archive.ubuntu.com. Looks like a reinstaller at this point. Unless there is a way to 1) re-enable networking, and 2a) reinstalling lubuntu, or 2b) reverting to 23.04. – DanW58 Aug 05 '23 at 12:14
  • As already stated; by moving yourself to Ubuntu mantic (sorry I'm using Lubuntu now; but I still consider it a Ubuntu system, thus my wording) you've put yourself off-topic on this site in the move to 23.10 so we can't help with fixing internet here (only supported releases are on-topic). I've already said what I'd do anyway, though https://askubuntu.com/questions/446102/how-to-reinstall-ubuntu-in-the-easiest-way/1451533#1451533 maybe easier to follow (ie. same detail presented in another way.. where as the Lubuntu specific instruction was intended for QA-testers & not end-users) – guiverc Aug 05 '23 at 12:48
  • 1
    Being specific with details really helps, eg. sudo apt-upgrade -d you specifically mention should only result in a "command not found" error.. but I took your command as being sudo do-release-upgrade -d which is very different as that'll upgrade a 23.04 or lunar system that is on-topic here, to mantic or what will become 23.10 in October and will only become on-topic on this site on 12-October-2023 here. If you can login you can view history using history; view apt logs with view /var/log/apt/history.log (scroll using POSIX commands etc) – guiverc Aug 05 '23 at 12:53

0 Answers0