What 22.04 Background Services are Safe to Disable + Login Screen Turns Black

[Rick St. George]

After previous problems upgrading / installing 22.04 (fresh install) see here: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2497163 There were many issues including activating Ubuntu Pro then computer fails to Start !!!

And thinking I had resolved the problem ... alas I did not. After several days of successful boots, I now get part of the same problem as before.
Upon booting and Login Screen shows ... first key pressed and screen goes BLACK. Have to hard Reset / Reboot and pray I can login to my system.

After a luckily successful Boot-up, I bring up Startup and Shutdown / Background Serves. I notice several things Running that I don't need. Such as;

Bluetooth ( Don't have bluetooth availability on my Desktop)
Free Space Notifier (will never happen on my 1TB SSD )
Touchpad (this is a Desktop, there is No Touchpad and NEVER will be)
Keyboard Layout ( most will NEVER switch their keyboard layout)
Network Proxy Config ( I have no Proxy)
Wacom Tablet (as if this OS is confused, wasting valuable resources)
SMB Watcher (have no link or connection to a SMB)
Search Folder Updater (could care less)
Remote URL Change Notifier ( really?!?! )
Write Daemon ( I am the ONLY user, local users would be for Server or whatever )

Logic would dictate all of the above Services can be deactivated / switched off safely, less they run forever for No Reason.
But unsure which is causing 22.04 to fail to Boot correctly (Grub didn't show, now shows) or be able to Login!?!?!

I suspect it is Thunderbolt Device Manager. Since this has something to do with PCI Express which is where my GPU is plugged into, and there
are issues with my ASUS Nvidia GeForce GT610 w/2GB DDR3 Ram, PCI Express 2.0 (running 2 monitors) and Nvidia Driver 390 with 22.04.
Whereas in System Settings / Driver Manager / Software Sources / Additional Drivers shows Using X.Org X Server Nouveau display driver
and not Nvidia driver 390 (proprietary, tested).

Questions:

1. How can I trouble shoot my Login Screen turning my monitors BLACK and computer unable to respond?!!?

2. And which Background Services can we "safely" turn off in our Desktop Environment (otherwise is it just poke and hope for everyone) ???

3. Is it safe to allow X.org X server as Nvidia GPU Driver rather than Nvidia driver 390 (no longer supported) ???

Thanks for any feedback, and hope this helps others.

By the way ... after logging into UbuntuForums; it Failed to go into the Forums and posted an Error Msg. Upon attempting , via Contact Us, to notify of the problem,
received Wrong URL under your Contact / help page https://forms.canonical.com/sso-support/ "The requested URL /sso-support/ was not found on this server.". Maybe whoever reads this can get it to the right person (webmaster).

[currentshaft]

Bluetooth ( Don't have bluetooth availability on my Desktop)
Free Space Notifier (will never happen on my 1TB SSD )
Touchpad (this is a Desktop, there is No Touchpad and NEVER will be)
Keyboard Layout ( most will NEVER switch their keyboard layout)
Network Proxy Config ( I have no Proxy)
Wacom Tablet (as if this OS is confused, wasting valuable resources)
SMB Watcher (have no link or connection to a SMB)
Search Folder Updater (could care less)
Remote URL Change Notifier ( really?!?! )
Write Daemon ( I am the ONLY user, local users would be for Server or whatever )

Logic would dictate all of the above Services can be deactivated / switched off safely, less they run forever for No Reason.

They possibly would, but should they? What problem are you trying to solve? These processes hardly use any "valuable" resources, and do not really need to be disabled.

1. How can I trouble shoot my Login Screen turning my monitors BLACK and computer unable to respond?!!?

Boot into recovery mode at grub, or if you can get past grub but don't get a graphical interface, try control-shift-F1 through F7. If all else fails, boot to a live Ubuntu image and repair the file system from there.

2. And which Background Services can we "safely" turn off in our Desktop Environment (otherwise is it just poke and hope for everyone) ???

Why? I only uninstall avahi-daemon because I don't want an extra network listener.

If you're looking for an absolutely minimal desktop environment, check out dwm from suckless.org.

3. Is it safe to allow X.org X server as Nvidia GPU Driver rather than Nvidia driver 390 (no longer supported) ???

Safe in what regard? Compared to what? I think it's reasonably safe, but I know nothing about your threat model. Hope it helps!

[Rick St. George]

Boot into recovery mode at grub, or if you can get past grub but don't get a graphical interface, try control-shift-F1 through F7. If all else fails, boot to a live Ubuntu image and repair the file system from there.

Grub Menu does not show. In my previous thread (see link in 1st sentence above) I could hold SHIFT key down and a BLANK Grub Menu would come up. Haven't needed or tried it this time (after another FRESH Install from USB stick, and I'm not doing it again).

What I've noticed is that upon Boot-up, my Num Lock light will go off and on. When Login Screen shows ... it is off. When I hit the Num Lock key, the light of course comes on and the Login Screen stays up for me to be able to Login. If I don't press Num Lock key at the right time, the screen goes BLACK / BLANK and I can't do anything else but hit the RESET button to ReStart the computer.

Does this tell anyone what is happening, or what is going on? I have saved to a file, relevant parts of the Boot Fail Log but is lengthy to post ... if it would help!

Thanks for any and all replies.

[TheFu]

I routinely disable services/programs that I don't use. OTOH, if something bad happens, I re-enable it FAST! LVM snapshots makes this effort easy.

Running extra code that you don't use is a liability. It is more code with more bugs.

If your system isn't stable, I'm inclined to think there is either a hardware or OS setting problem. Check the system logs for hardware issues, research each, decide if they are important or not, correct each. Sometimes old hardware breaks - like 10+ yr old GPUs. I had a GPU that was failing prevent boots from working. The only way I discovered it was by replacing the GPU and not seeing any more issues. I can only guess there was a short in the GPU card, somewhere. Also, I had an older, spare, GPU laying around, so it wasn't too hard to test a different one.

Troubleshooting issues from a Try Ubuntu Flash drive (the installer/boot flash you made) is common when there are issues. If that environment is stable and working, then it isn't likely a hardware issue. Look at your personal and system settings.

[Rick St. George]

[QUOTE=TheFu;14189137]I routinely disable services/programs that I don't use. OTOH, if something bad happens, I re-enable it FAST!
LVM snapshots makes this effort easy.
[QUOTE]

I'm familiar with VirtualBox Snapshots .... but what is LVM?

If your system isn't stable, I'm inclined to think there is either a hardware or OS setting problem.

I've been through all the Personal and OS Settings I can find, under MENU. Not used any commands tactics.

Troubleshooting issues from a Try Ubuntu Flash drive (the installer/boot flash you made) is common when there are issues. If that environment is stable and working, then it isn't likely a hardware issue. Look at your personal and system settings.

I don't have a spare GPU to fit a PCIexpress Slot. It may be worth buying ... will report back afterwards.

Thanks FU

[TheFu]

I'm familiar with VirtualBox Snapshots .... but what is LVM?

Do some research. It isn't something to be added after-the-fact. It needs to be chosen as part of the install - - - or better, customized pre-install, then tell the installer about your LVM layout during install. Sadly, 24.04 broke LVM in the installer. It is ugly now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_volume_management is an overview. To my knowledge, there are 3 methods to have snapshots.
LVM, BTRFS, ZFS. I haven't touched VirtualBox in so long that I don't recall if their snapshots are real or fake. There are lots of fake uses of the "snapshot" term, especially with some backup tools incorrectly using it.

I've been through all the Personal and OS Settings I can find, under MENU. Not used any commands tactics.

I don't know how to do OS settings with a GUI. I doubt any GUI provides sufficient control.

I don't have a spare GPU to fit a PCIexpress Slot. It may be worth buying ... will report back afterwards.

GPUs aren't cheap like they were 15 yrs ago. It might make more sense to switch to a new CPU+motherboard that has an iGPU than to find a "cheap" $130 low-end GPU. Only you can decide. I swapped out a Ryzen 2600 + nVidia 1030 GT setup for a Ryzen 5600G that is 40% faster and the iGPU is faster than the nVidia 1030 GT (it was 4-6 yrs newer, so that makes sense). The iGPUs today will put your GPU to shame.

If a new Ryzen 5600G + Motherboard + 16GB of RAM is under $220, that's a great deal. I haven't been watching prices for a while. I paid $120 for the CPU a few years ago. MB runs between $50 and $140, so there's a wide range of options. DDR4 RAM isn't going to get any cheaper than it is today, unless you can find someone to give you their old RAM. I have 16GB of G.Skill DDR4 3200 RAM laying around that needs a home, but I'd want $45 for it, so it isn't a good deal. I paid $120 for it, I think.

Soon, DDR4 RAM will be hard to find and prices will increase for used RAM. That's how RAM pricing works.

[Rick St. George]

FYI, found this interesting, and if I run into the same problem again, will try this remedy and report back.

You will find more details in this launchpad issue https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...x/+bug/1990750.

When ever facing the black screen issue, then boot in recovery mode however is possible and remove/reinstall the tested drivers.
For the time being this is the commands to apply as it was proposed to me, and it worked:
(obviously replacing driver 525 with your version)

$sudo apt-get --purge remove ‘nvidia’
$sudo apt install linux-modules-nvidia-525-generic nvidia-driver-525

Please note that I previously reinstalled the system whenever I was having the black screen/blinking cursor, as I did not know there is always a workaround to start up Ubuntu from there, for example do: [CTRL] + [ALT] + [DEL] to regain access to the boot menu, or instead during boot keep pressing on the key that gives you access to the Ubuntu boot menu (‘Shift’ key with my Gigabyte mainboard) to select the recovery mode, or somewhere during boot when the system hangs I could regain control by clicking randomly on the function keys.

Selecting the Nouveau driver will also allow your system to boot normally without the black screen also subsequently allowing you to reinstall the nVidia tested drivers from a normally booted system.

Last but not least as I am updating my system with pre-releases and presently using 20.10 Kinetic, I had recently the same black screen issue after a system update and I had to downgrade to kernel 5.19.0.31.32 from I believe a 5.19.0.35 version (using Mainline).

Retrieved From: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/22-04...ivers/28072/27

[Rick St. George]

Boot into recovery mode at grub, or if you can get past grub but don't get a graphical interface, try control-shift-F1 through F7. If all else fails, boot to a live Ubuntu image and repair the file system from there.

Grub does not come up. Login shows briefly ... then everything goes BLACK. Control shift F1 - 7 does nothing. This is a Fresh Install. Why would I Re-install a 3rd time?!?!?

v20.04 worked fine. A fresh install of v22.04 FAILS. Obviously something is wrong with v22.04 and yet they are moving on and creating 24.04. The posts are full of people having trouble with both!

If I go back to 20.04, which worked fine, it is not being supported. So what choice do we have but to ask for help in solving these issues? But, best I can get is ... Buy a new computer?!?!?

To say I am frustrated pales in comparison to the vulgar things coming out of my mouth these past few weeks trying to make UbuntuStudio boot up!

Hate to say it ... I may have to give up.

[Rick St. George]

One more time ... Here is the Error I'm getting when attempting Update after Fresh Install of v22.04.

2 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.

~$ apt list --upgradable
Listing... Done
python3-update-manager/jammy-updates,jammy-updates 1:22.04.20 all [upgradable from: 1:22.04.18]
update-manager-core/jammy-updates,jammy-updates 1:22.04.20 all [upgradable from: 1:22.04.18]
stephen@stephen-ms7640:~$ sudo apt full-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-5.15.0-106 linux-headers-5.15.0-106-generic
  linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5-headers-6.5.0-17
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  linux-headers-6.5.0-17-lowlatency linux-image-6.5.0-17-lowlatency
  linux-modules-6.5.0-17-lowlatency
The following packages have been kept back:
  python3-update-manager update-manager-core
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 639 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
(Reading database ... 531613 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing linux-headers-6.5.0-17-lowlatency (6.5.0-17.17.1.1.1~22.04.1) ...
Removing linux-image-6.5.0-17-lowlatency (6.5.0-17.17.1.1.1~22.04.1) ...
/etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools:
update-initramfs: Deleting /boot/initrd.img-6.5.0-17-lowlatency
/etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub:
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/init-select.cfg'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.5.0-35-lowlatency
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.5.0-35-lowlatency
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.5.0-35-lowlatency
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.5.0-35-lowlatency
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.5.0-28-lowlatency
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.5.0-28-lowlatency
Memtest86+ needs a 16-bit boot, that is not available on EFI, exiting
Warning: os-prober will not be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Systems on them will not be added to the GRUB boot configuration.
Check GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER documentation entry.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
done
Removing linux-modules-6.5.0-17-lowlatency (6.5.0-17.17.1.1.1~22.04.1) ...
Setting up nvidia-dkms-390 (390.157-0ubuntu0.22.04.2) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
INFO:Enable nvidia
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/lenovo_thinkpad
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/put_your_quirks_here
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/dell_latitude
Removing old nvidia-390.157 DKMS files...
Deleting module nvidia-390.157 completely from the DKMS tree.
Loading new nvidia-390.157 DKMS files...
Building for 6.5.0-35-lowlatency
Building for architecture x86_64
Building initial module for 6.5.0-35-lowlatency
ERROR: Cannot create report: [Errno 17] File exists: '/var/crash/nvidia-dkms-390.0.crash'
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 6.5.0-35-lowlatency (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/nvidia/390.157/build/make.log for more information.
dpkg: error processing package nvidia-dkms-390 (--configure):
 installed nvidia-dkms-390 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 10
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of nvidia-driver-390:
 nvidia-driver-390 depends on nvidia-dkms-390 (<= 390.157-1); however:
  Package nvidia-dkms-390 is not configured yet.
 nvidia-driver-390 depends on nvidia-dkms-390 (>= 390.157); however:
  Package nvidia-dkms-390 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package nvidia-driver-390 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                 Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.140ubuntu13.4) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.5.0-35-lowlatency
Errors were encountered while processing:
 nvidia-dkms-390
 nvidia-driver-390
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Can this be safely ignored? Forget the Nvidia 390 driver? Stop using Terminal Commands? Let the OS Software Updater do its thing?
This has got me running in circles! Sometimes it boots-up, sometimes it does not! And upon Reboot, system hangs at Mobo Screen ... No Login Screen at all. Can't Boot, Can't Login, Can't USE it.
Any feedback?

[currentshaft]

Sorry, I mispoke, it's Control-Alt-F1 through F7. You may need to hold the Function (Fn) key on your keyboard to access the F keys.