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I fired up Ubuntu for the first time in a while today. I was running 8.10. I decided to upgrade to 9.04 since it was available.
I was running the upgrade while browsing the net in Firefox. Firefox froze on me and I couldn't quit it. I reflexively hit ctrl-alt-delete, being used to that bringing up the force quit menu in Windows or the equivalent on a Mac. I forgot that it restarts Gnome on Ubuntu. This is apparently not the best thing to do when in the middle of a major OS upgrade.
Gnome tried to restart, but the graphics driver I was using was removed by the 9.04 installer. I got a warning that Ubuntu was running in low graphics mode due to the lack of a driver, but the keyboard and mouse had stopped functioning. I couldn't click to dismiss the warning, so I'm not sure if the machine was frozen or if I just couldn't use my peripherals.
For good measure, I left the computer sitting and went to the driving range for about an hour, hoping the upgrade was still running in the background. When I got back I force-restarted it.
When I booted back up, fsck found errors. I ran a repair. I fixed the graphics issue by reverting to the default driver. I can now get to the login screen, and when I enter my username and pass it attempts to get to the desktop. I get the progress wheel for a second, the mouse pointer changes from the default to the custom one I set with my theme, then it just sits there. If I start a failsafe Gnome session my custom background loads and it stops there.
Am I screwed? Is it time to reformat? Is there a fix? I'm comfortable with the terminal, just not terribly familiar with it under Ubuntu. All my experience is from Unix/OS X.
--B
ETA: I get to the new 9.04 login window, not the old 8.10 one.
I was running the upgrade while browsing the net in Firefox. Firefox froze on me and I couldn't quit it. I reflexively hit ctrl-alt-delete, being used to that bringing up the force quit menu in Windows or the equivalent on a Mac. I forgot that it restarts Gnome on Ubuntu. This is apparently not the best thing to do when in the middle of a major OS upgrade.
Gnome tried to restart, but the graphics driver I was using was removed by the 9.04 installer. I got a warning that Ubuntu was running in low graphics mode due to the lack of a driver, but the keyboard and mouse had stopped functioning. I couldn't click to dismiss the warning, so I'm not sure if the machine was frozen or if I just couldn't use my peripherals.
For good measure, I left the computer sitting and went to the driving range for about an hour, hoping the upgrade was still running in the background. When I got back I force-restarted it.
When I booted back up, fsck found errors. I ran a repair. I fixed the graphics issue by reverting to the default driver. I can now get to the login screen, and when I enter my username and pass it attempts to get to the desktop. I get the progress wheel for a second, the mouse pointer changes from the default to the custom one I set with my theme, then it just sits there. If I start a failsafe Gnome session my custom background loads and it stops there.
Am I screwed? Is it time to reformat? Is there a fix? I'm comfortable with the terminal, just not terribly familiar with it under Ubuntu. All my experience is from Unix/OS X.
--B
ETA: I get to the new 9.04 login window, not the old 8.10 one.
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