After login in the desktop remains blank

Question

I have installed Ubuntu 10 last night and finished all upgrading stuff, in the time when updates are applied I downloaded a torrent file. As soon as download is finished I rebooted my system. As usual at start up it asked my login and I did the same.

After a successful login It should show me the desktop, or show an error message in case anything has gone wrong. But what I had is only a cursor and a blank wall paper.

Can anybody tell me what is the problem and how to resolve this?

Thanks

Answer 1

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+F1

2. Login

3. Type

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop
   sudo reboot
   

Answer 2

Did you fill up your root-partition?

Ctrl+Shift+F2, login and issue: df -h, if that's zero for your rootdevice you'd get the symptons you describe.

It would be helpful to get some logging.

Answer 3

I had (have) the same problem on a Dell D630 and NVIDIA chip and ubuntu 10.10. It only happens if i use ANY of the following:

• NVIDIA proprietary drivers version 280 something. if i revert to 170 something, it is fine
• If i use an updated kernel from the kernel.ubuntu.com site pass 2.39. if i use any 2.38, it works fine.

weird huh?

Try the following,

• Boot into recovery mode (hold on shift while restarting)
• choose to run in failsafe graphics mode for this session only.
• Go to hardware adapters and choose the nvidia 170 something (assuming you use nvidia)
• Go to http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/ and download the 2.6.38.8-natty kernel files
• To install:
  • Open command line and install the all headers file, then the headers for your architecture (x86, or x64), then the image file for your architecture, by using sudo dpkg -i filename.deb
  • OR, double click on the .deb files on the order mentioned above and install them. they should open with gDebi or ubuntu Software center, both which will allow you to install them.
• then restart.

I hope this helps. again, just my experience, but i am not an expert by any means.

Answer 4

1. Ctrl Alt F1
2. sudo apt-get install update
3. sudo startx