Lite - Black screen after update

Hi, carmar,

Thanks for your help. I checked for broken packages in Synaptic, but found none.

Also checked under advanced options in grub. My kernels are the same as yours. Tried booting from both. No luck.

I guess I’m wondering whether there’s any way to isolate whatever updates happened with me and @ribvivi yesterday. I checked history in Synaptic, but there’s nothing for yesterday.

Do you think it’s a problem with lightdm? Should I try installing a different login manager?

Or is it worth looking at any of the information in .xsession-errors? There are countless lines like this: (xfce4-session:5002): xfce4-session-WARNING …

Or like this: (xiccd:5193): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL …

Or like this: (wrapper-2.0:2352): Gtk-CRITICAL …

But that information doesn’t mean anything to me. If you or the others you mentioned (@jgordon or @AZorin) have any further insights, I’d appreciate it.

I recommend trying to reinstall your display manager (again, I recommend Synaptic). Since I have Core, I have gdm3 as opposed to your lightdm - if lightdm still gives you problems you can try gdm3 or some other.

You could post the error details that you saw earlier - may help if your display manager reinstallation doesn’t fix the problem.

Thanks, carmar. I did try to reinstall lightdm, a few posts ago, through the command line. Then a second time through Synaptic. No luck. But I’ll try a different display manager, as you suggest.

Installed lxdm. More or less the same problem. After the Zorin logo, it cuts straight to a command-line login prompt: username, password. Then startx, and the desktop appears. I still don’t understand why the boot process is breaking down mid-way.

Here are a few of the numerous error messages from .xsession-errors:

(Thunar:5150): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.286: gtk_main_quit: assertion ‘main_loops != NULL’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.454: gtk_widget_destroy: assertion ‘GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.454: g_object_unref: assertion ‘G_IS_OBJECT (object)’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.454: gtk_widget_destroy: assertion ‘GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.454: g_object_unref: assertion ‘G_IS_OBJECT (object)’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.455: gtk_widget_destroy: assertion ‘GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.455: gtk_widget_destroy: assertion ‘GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.455: gtk_widget_destroy: assertion ‘GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.455: gtk_widget_destroy: assertion ‘GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.455: gtk_widget_destroy: assertion ‘GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.456: gtk_widget_destroy: assertion ‘GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.456: gtk_widget_destroy: assertion ‘GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.456: g_object_unref: assertion ‘G_IS_OBJECT (object)’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.456: gtk_widget_destroy: assertion ‘GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.456: g_object_unref: assertion ‘G_IS_OBJECT (object)’ failed

(wrapper-2.0:5155): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 23:03:18.641: gtk_widget_destroy: assertion ‘GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)’ failed
Gdk-Message: 23:03:19.104: xfdesktop: Fatal IO error 4 (Interrupted system call) on X server :0.

Something I found that may be useful: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1132932/cannot-login-anymore-to-xfce

Thanks, carmar. I tried doing the two things mentioned by Lagane (the author of the post), but no luck.

I was able to check the log of what updates were installed yesterday:

Commandline: aptdaemon role=‘role-commit-packages’ sender=’:1.67’
Upgrade: libsystemd0:i386 (237-3ubuntu10.42, 237-3ubuntu10.43), libpulsedsp:i386 (1:11.1-1ubuntu7.10, 1:11.1-1ubuntu7.11), pulseaudio:i386 (1:11.1-1ubuntu7.10, 1:11.1-1ubuntu7.11), udev:i386 (237-3ubuntu10.42, 237-3ubuntu10.43), libudev1:i386 (237-3ubuntu10.42, 237-3ubuntu10.43), libpulse0:i386 (1:11.1-1ubuntu7.10, 1:11.1-1ubuntu7.11), libnss-myhostname:i386 (237-3ubuntu10.42, 237-3ubuntu10.43), libpulse-mainloop-glib0:i386 (1:11.1-1ubuntu7.10, 1:11.1-1ubuntu7.11), systemd-sysv:i386 (237-3ubuntu10.42, 237-3ubuntu10.43), libpam-systemd:i386 (237-3ubuntu10.42, 237-3ubuntu10.43), systemd:i386 (237-3ubuntu10.42, 237-3ubuntu10.43), libnss-systemd:i386 (237-3ubuntu10.42, 237-3ubuntu10.43), pulseaudio-module-bluetooth:i386 (1:11.1-1ubuntu7.10, 1:11.1-1ubuntu7.11), pulseaudio-utils:i386 (1:11.1-1ubuntu7.10, 1:11.1-1ubuntu7.11)

A lot of pulse audio updates, so those can be eliminated but I can’t make a determination on the rest of them.

Thanks, carmar.

When you say that the pulse audio updates can be eliminated, do you mean that I may uninstall them, or that they’re unlikely to be relevant to the problem?

Should I try uninstalling these updates, or is there a risk that I could make things worse? I’ve noticed that the desktop is also behaving oddly: applications disappear from the panel, for example.

Sorry. I meant you can ignore the pulse audio updates. I don’t see how they could have caused any problem.
I don’t know enough about the rest to opine. Perhaps send a PM to AZorin?

Hi, just wanted to add to this topic. I too have very similar/same symptoms which started following an update yesterday. In trying to solve the issue I have noticed a couple of extra things that may help someone with more knowledge than me to find the source of the problem.
I have booted via the Zorin recovery option from the boot menu, selected the root prompt option and typed ‘startx’ at the prompt. This takes me into what I assume is the default XFCE environment for the root user. This works fine, apart from the fact that it doesn’t look or feel like my normal Zorin WinXP look. However, if I try to start the ‘Zorin Appearance’ application it fails to load.
I also looked at my system log file for my previous boot attempts and could see that the ‘lightdm’ application was repeatedly failing on start (it was retrying each time and failing) and never launched successfully.
Additionally, I went via the same recovery boot mechanism but brought up a new terminal prompt and logged in as my usual (not root) user. I ran ‘startx’ again and part of my normal Zorin (WinXP lookalike) screen appeared i.e. the taskbar along the bottom and the outer frame. But the screen then locked including mouse and keyboard.
My inexpert conclusion is that X and XFCE are probably working but it is the Zorin ‘automatic reshaping’ of the XFCE environment that is part of the issue. I’m not sure how this fits in with the lightdm failure as I don’t really know how all these things fit together.
Hope this helps someone towards a solution as I have had great trouble-free use of Zorin 15 Lite up until now, and it is my daily use computer.

Hi, I’m using Zorin OS 32 bits Lite edition from one year ago and this is my first time on GNU/Linux due to the end of Windows 7 hehe and my problem is similar with the difference that I can’t hit the keys ctrl + alt and F1 or whatever to access to the console to log in in a different way because the screen is in a loop. I was tried today some methods that you mentioned but don’t worked anyone. I uploaded a video on my youtube’s channel to try to illustrate my problem: Zorin OS don’t works good My netbook is from 7 years ago and it has some simples hardware failures due to the use. Best regards.

Hi, Following KRB’s helpful description above, I was able to log in, under the recovery option, as root, and launch the bare-bones Xfce environment. But the regular boot process remains broken. As carmar suggested, I wrote to @AZorin. Let’s hope that we hear back, since this problem is affecting more than one user and we seem to have reached a dead-end.

Hi, Folks, I may have found a diagnosis. In syslog, I found an error message referring to lightdm-gtk-gre, and ran an internet search. It seems to be a bug resulting from the recent systemd update in Ubuntu 18.04:

The solution proposed in posts ##14, 18-19 worked for me. But I don’t understand why it worked. I don’t like opening the hood and messing around with the interior without understanding what I’m doing. If anybody could explain the bug and the solution, I’d be grateful.

Many thanks cnimi for researching further and finding this workaround. It has also worked for me, so the good times with Zorin 15 carry on.
As always this was a learning experience for me (never too old to learn). At least I was in the right area with lightdm even if I then tried to blame a Zorin component unjustly. Anyway, I now have a second user set up on my system (for XFCE environment use) should the need arise in the future. Thanks again.

Some more things to try: https://askubuntu.com/questions/320691/ubuntu-boots-on-terminal-only-how-do-i-recover-the-gui-desktop
Backing up and deleting xorg.conf as well as using vmalloc=192MB to boot were two things that caught my eye.

There is also: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50126179/after-upgrade-18-04-no-gui-available-only-tty mostly recommends reinstalling ubuntu desktop which is also one of the recommendations in the prior link.

Thanks everyone for letting us know about this issue!

The issue

After a period of investigating, debugging, and testing, we have found the source of the issue and fixed it. It appears that there was an error with the interplay between LightDM (the display manager & login screen in Zorin OS Lite) and the latest update to systemd on 32-bit systems. More specifically, it happened after an update patch changed the memory limits, which explains why this error only occurred on 32-bit systems.

This error appears to have only affected computers running Zorin OS 15 Lite 32-bit.

We have recently fixed this error in the latest software updates, specifically in the LightDM greeter. If you are currently running Zorin OS 15 Lite on a 32-bit system, it's now possible to update your system safely.

How to fix it

If you're only seeing a blank screen after booting Zorin OS, you can install the latest update that fixes this issue by following these steps:

  1. At the operating system boot menu (GRUB) enter "Advanced options" under Zorin OS and select the newest "(recovery mode)" option in the list to boot it.

Tip

If you only have Zorin OS installed on your computer as a single boot (with no other operating systems installed alongside it), you can make the boot menu appear by holding down either the Shift or Esc key immediately after pressing the power button (to turn on your computer).

  1. When you see the "Recovery Menu", use the down arrow key to highlight the "root" option and press Enter to select it.
    root
  2. Press the Enter key again when you see the "Press Enter for maintenance" prompt
  3. Enter the following 3 commands to install the latest updates:
    sudo service network-manager restart
    sudo apt update
    sudo apt upgrade
  4. After the updates finish installing, enter this command to reboot your computer:
    reboot

You should now be able to start Zorin OS normally.

1 Like

Thanks, carmar, for these helpful links. I think that we might have found a solution, two posts above (but I don’t know how to mark it as the solution).

Since this thread is started by @ribivi , he will have to mark the solution. I can also mark it but I’d like him to opine.

Can you also please try AZorin’s suggestion ?

I have this same problem today, and I need reinstall it.
The problem is on the lightdm and he cant solve by a reconfigure the lightdm, sometimes the computer simply cant stop looping on a black screen and the - ctrl + alt + f1 dont work so sometimes you simply cant do nothing, if the problem dont entry on a loop you need use -ctrl + alt + f1 or other tty text activation and simply put the command - startx and the session is active but the configs of Zorin Desktop like background are change.

The problem is on the update that system do on the firts update after install. But I cant find what is the real problem because in my case I try reconfigure lightdm, blacklist nouveau, aply nomodeset parameter, try to modify grub etc and nothing work.

Is a critical problem for users without experience on command line or kernel custom option at start.

If people have this problem they can access the session with the startx command.

I do some work to put here the hardware and the time of new installation, I do the update upgrade by the upgrade manager this evening at 6:00 pm (Portugal time) and then the computer crash with this problem and now I just finishing my new installation (I block the upgrade manager and install synaptic to have a better control of repositories and the upgrades that I need) .

I put here the result of some commands abut my hardware :

Blockquote
joao@joao-P4V88:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. PT880 Host Bridge
00:00.1 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. PT880 Host Bridge
00:00.2 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. PT880 Host Bridge
00:00.3 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. PT880 Host Bridge
00:00.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. PT880 Host Bridge
00:00.7 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. PT880 Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237/VX700 PCI Bridge
00:0f.0 RAID bus controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VIA VT6420 SATA RAID Controller (rev 80)
00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:10.0 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xx/62xx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.1 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xx/62xx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.2 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xx/62xx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.3 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xx/62xx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.4 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 86)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 ISA bridge [KT600/K8T800/K8T890 South]
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102/VT6103 [Rhine-II] (rev 78)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5500] (rev a1)
joao@joao-P4V88:~$

joao@joao-P4V88:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 15
model : 3
model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
stepping : 4
microcode : 0x17
cpu MHz : 2991.839
cache size : 1024 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 0
cpu cores : 1
apicid : 0
initial apicid : 0
fdiv_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 5
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe constant_tsc pebs bts cpuid pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl cid xtpr pti
bugs : cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf mds swapgs itlb_multihit
bogomips : 5983.67
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 128
address sizes : 36 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 1
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 15
model : 3
model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
stepping : 4
microcode : 0x17
cpu MHz : 2991.839
cache size : 1024 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 0
cpu cores : 1
apicid : 1
initial apicid : 1
fdiv_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 5
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe constant_tsc pebs bts cpuid pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl cid xtpr pti
bugs : cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf mds swapgs itlb_multihit
bogomips : 5983.67
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 128
address sizes : 36 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
power management:

joao@joao-P4V88:~$

joao@joao-P4V88:~$ cat /proc/version
Linux version 5.4.0-54-generic (buildd@lcy01-amd64-019) (gcc version 7.5.0 (Ubuntu 7.5.0-3ubuntu1~18.04)) #60~18.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Fri Nov 6 17:24:36 UTC 2020

joao@joao-P4V88:~$ ls -lact --full-time /etc | tail -1 | awk '{print $6,$7}'
2020-11-27 19:18:42.963062922

lscpu
Arquitetura: i686
Modo(s) operacional da CPU: 32-bit
Ordem dos bytes: Little Endian
CPU(s): 2
Lista de CPU(s) on-line: 0,1
Thread(s) per núcleo: 2
Núcleo(s) por soquete: 1
Soquete(s): 1
ID de fornecedor: GenuineIntel
Família da CPU: 15
Modelo: 3
Nome do modelo: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Step: 4
CPU MHz: 2991.839
BogoMIPS: 5983.67
cache de L1d: 16K
cache de L2: 1024K
Opções: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe constant_tsc pebs bts cpuid pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl cid xtpr pti

Blockquote

Other problem that I idetify is that the live ISO after test on this pc and in on the first time of live USB boot result in a critical crash on the internal native system of my internal disk, the grub is corrupted and also initramfs, because this I need to install Zorin , I cant solve the problem of the system of disk in case - Lubuntu 14.04. No problem I think this problem maybe can result by the software that I use to burn the ISO - etcher.

The system works very well on this pc. Great work of Zorin team. I hope that this post can help other users.

Thanks.
:grinning: