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I think the screenshot explains it better than I can. I'd like to post a helpful bug report on Launchpad, but how do I even explain this?

Broken Desktop Screenshot

This seems to have come on as a result of a failed update - the desktop was in this condition after I restarted. Mouse events in the launcher or menu bar on the small desktop updates the graphics on both the small desktop and the large (Note this is a single laptop screen.)

The greeter looks and behaves fine, but entering a password and pressing Enter brings up the broken desktop as seen above.

I tried these from command-line mode, and received the same result every time.

sudo unity --reset

sudo lightdm restart

sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop

sudo apt-get install cinnamon (Note that Cinnamon had very similar problems)

I'm currently using the 3.13.0-32-generic kernel, which works perfectly fine.

How do I even begin to debug this? Should I just reinstall? The computer is only about a year old, so I'm not averse to that. Will running updates on the older kernel fix the problem?

EDIT: Actually, I do recall choosing a different driver (under the Additional Drivers application) as an attempt to squeak out better gaming FPS - is that a probable cause?

muru
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CoderMe
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  • That looks like the unknown display issue.. http://askubuntu.com/questions/504705/nonexistent-display-unknown-display-messing-things-up – iffy Aug 19 '14 at 03:03

1 Answers1

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That seems to be the Unknown Display issue. I've tackled that one myself and I left a link as a comment to your question on how I resolved it.

Let's first make sure this is the case: Go to Settings > Displays and see if you can see an Unknown Display overlapping with your normal display. You may not see it because it`s behind your display so try dragging things around and see if you can spot it.

If you do see it, move it to the side and disable it.. this should fix your issue on nouveau. If you need go deeper into this issue with installing an nvidia driver, check the link I posted in the comment of your post.

iffy
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  • Thanks for the reply. I tried changing my graphics driver, and it seemed slightly better. I changed it again, and at that point Ubuntu would boot to a black screen. I reinstalled drivers using this answer, and now my system now seems to be stuck on login - greeter accepts password, then shows wallpaper and nothing else.

    Is there a command-line-equivalent to the Display settings? I will point out that I've had the Unknown Display disabled for months - otherwise I get the cursor flickering other users have mentioned.

     – CoderMe Aug 20 '14 at 03:44