[SOLVED] Multiple issues with xorg/cinnamon after upgrade to

[jimplosion]

Hi,
I've been using Mint 14 now for a while, and had very few issues, but I decided that I needed an upgrade, so I (ambitiously) decided to upgrade to Qiana, adapting the instructions here: http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/62

Surprisingly (I'm not super good at this stuff yet) the install seemed to go fairly well, but on reboot I ended up with the same "blank screen after login" issue as described here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions ... 175512801/

I trawled through a whole bunch of forum posts, and after some tinkering I have gotten to the point that I can start Cinnamon by hitting "ctrl+alt+Fx" to get a terminal, then manually entering "startx". It takes a while, but eventually I get to a cinnamon desktop running in software acceleration mode.

Now, this gives me three problems for you all to help solve:
1. Why doesn't x start on boot?
2. Why does it take so long to start cinnamon?
3. Why is cinnamon running in software acceleration mode?

PS. A lot of posts I've found seem to end up with the OP giving up and moving to a new distro. I really don't want to do that, so any help is appreciated

[austin.texas]

Some info on your system is necessary.
Please run:

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sudo inxi -U

Then post the result (inside Code tags) of:

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inxi -zv7

You should not try to upgrade from 14 to 17 with that method.
You will note that on the page you linked, it says,

this may break your system

[jimplosion]

Well I did backup my personal files, and commenters appeared to have had success with similar big upgrades, so I thought it was worth a try.

Anyway, I'm afraid that I'm having unrelated internet issues, so I'm afraid a photo will have to do for now. Sorry

[jimplosion]

Ok, internet's back temporarily, here's the output:

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System:    Host: james-UL20A Kernel: 3.13.0-36-generic i686 (32 bit gcc: 4.8.2)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 2.2.16 (Gtk 3.10.8~6+qiana) dm: mdm Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana
Machine:   System: ASUSTeK (portable) product: UL20A v: 1.0
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: UL20A v: 1.0 Bios: American Megatrends v: 207 date: 11/02/2009
CPU:       Dual core Intel U7300 (-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 5356
           clock speeds: min/max: 800/1300 MHz 1: 1300 MHz 2: 1300 MHz
Memory:    Using dmidecode: you must be root to run dmidecode
Graphics:  Card: Intel Mobile 4 Series Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:2a42
           Display Server: X.Org 1.15.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.4, 128 bits)
           GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.1.3 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:293e
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.13.0-36-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8191SEvA Wireless LAN Controller
           driver: rtl8192se port: d800 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8171
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR8132 Fast Ethernet
           driver: atl1c v: 1.0.1.1-NAPI port: ec00 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 1969:1062
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 10 Mbps duplex: half mac: <filter>
           WAN IP: <filter> IF: eth0 ip: <filter> ip-v6: <filter>
           IF: wlan0 ip: <filter> ip-v6: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (5.1% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST9320325AS size: 320.1GB serial: 6VD0W2HA temp: 25C
           Optical: No optical drives detected.
Partition: ID-1: / size: 51G used: 16G (32%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda7
           label: N/A uuid: 57d5679f-f8e4-419d-b4e1-b963e81dc1bc
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 0.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda1
           label: N/A uuid: 7b86d424-c864-4485-8d93-2483a36986cd
RAID:      System: supported: N/A
           No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
           Unused Devices: none
Unmounted: ID-1: /dev/sda2 size: 15.73G label: RECOVERY uuid: 3C98-AC5D
           ID-2: /dev/sda3 size: 80.02G label: OS uuid: C2E6C774E6C7676F
           ID-3: /dev/sda5 size: 64.20G label: DATA uuid: 9DE401CA7F289B40
           ID-4: /dev/sda6 size: 104.86G fs: ext4 label: N/A uuid: a6ac898f-2cf4-469e-8d5f-52f88a0221ee
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 55.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 167 Uptime: 5 min Memory: 430.7/2995.8MB
           Init: Upstart v: 1.12.1 runlevel: 2 default: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.2 alt: 4.7
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111 running in guake) inxi: 2.2.14

Hope that helps

[austin.texas]

It is not what you want to hear, but I believe you should start over, and install Mint 17 the conventional way.
Back up your files from your Mint partition somewhere safe.
And it seems like you need to create a usable swap partition - what you have appears worthless. How big is that? Run:
sudo parted -l
(or maybe a swap file)

[jimplosion]

Returns this:

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Model: ATA ST9320325AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 320GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system     Flags
 1      32.3kB  1049kB  1016kB  primary   linux-swap(v1)
 2      1049kB  15.7GB  15.7GB  primary   fat32           hidden, lba
 3      15.7GB  95.7GB  80.0GB  primary   ntfs            boot
 4      95.7GB  320GB   224GB   extended                  lba
 5      95.7GB  160GB   64.2GB  logical   ntfs
 7      160GB   215GB   55.3GB  logical   ext4
 6      215GB   320GB   105GB   logical   ext4            boot

I'm not sure about getting partitions to work right. I just went with default settings when I installed 14. I would love if you could tell me what I'm doing wrong.

[austin.texas]

I would love if you could tell me what I'm doing wrong.

And hopefully, I will be able to.

The reason I questioned your swap partition is because the inxi results said 0GB
ID-2: swap-1 size: 0.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda1
Since the parted -l results say linux-swap(v1) size: 1016kB that tells me that you have a swap of 1MB.
So, you only have 1MB swap and you have 3GB ram. I guess you probably already know that the recommended swap size is slightly more than your installed ram. With 3GB ram, the recommendation is slightly more than 3GB swap.
I think that should be fixed like this:
Your Mint 14/17 root partition is sda7 which is much bigger than a root partition needs to be. You can see that you have only used 16GB of that.
I recommended, previously, that you install Mint 17 in the conventional way, rather than trying to fix the Mint 14/17 mess. Here is a variation on that - boot the live Mint DVD or USB and use gparted to resize sda7. Just shrink it down (from the right side, the end) to about 24GB. You will then have 27GB unallocated space. Create another 24GB partition (sda8), leaving 3GB of unallocated space. Create a 3GB swap partition, so that any swap needs are taken care of.
Now you can install Mint 17 in the proper way on sda8. Since you are using sda6 as a Data partition, and not using a separate /home, it makes things easier. Install Mint 17 with no separate /home - as you did when installing Mint 14.
(I am surprised you are not automounting sda6 with fstab, but that is a different subject.)
The first thing you should do is make sure that your backups are up to date. Everything that you value from sda7 and sda6 should be backed up somewhere else for safety.
So you end up with a nice new Mint 17 on sda8, and the old Mint 14/17 mess on sda7. You can import your wallpapers, icon sets, Firefox and Thunderbird config, etc. from sda7 to sda8. After you get your new Mint 17 all fixed up, you can use sda7 as a test platform. Install KDE or LMDE to play with. Install Mint 18 to sda7 when it is available, preserving your Mint 17 on sda8. Or use sda7 to create a cloned backup of sda8. It is nice having 2 root partitions, it gives you lots of options.
Of course, you could just shrink sda7 by 3GB for a swap partition and install Mint 17 to sda7. But you would end up with 30GB of space that will probably never be used, like you have now.
Do you know how to do these operations with gparted?

[jimplosion]

I just had a look at gparted. I don't think I've used it before, but it seems simple enough. I'll try and do all that in the next couple days and I'll post the results.

Thanks for the help

[austin.texas]

Gparted-resize-Step-1.jpg

Gparted-resize-Step-2.jpg

Gparted-resize-Step-3.jpg

[jimplosion]

So I'm posting this from my new Mint install!

The whole thing went really smoothly. Just a couple of hiccups (caused by my own incompetence), but they were easily solved.

Thanks so much for all the help and clear instructions, it was really useful!

[austin.texas]

Congratulations! Good job.
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