no desktop after login after 13.10 upgrade

What video chipbare you using?
Does the system have a make and model?

It's an NVidia chipset... I'm not sure of the model - is there a way to look it up (hardware discover)?

Tom

GeForce 8400GS/PCIe/SSE2

It may be notable that my desktop was "gnome-panel" before the upgrade...

When you upgraded, which version did you upgrade from? Was it a clean install?

I upgraded from 13.04 - how do I know if it was "clean"?

A clean install involves wiping the old install out then install from fresh.

Nvidia drivers rarely survive release upgrades. If you remove every package with nvidia in the name (but not nvidia-common) then reboot and reinstall the driver it may help.

I used the software center to remove the only NVidia item that was listed - it did not seem to make any difference...

Is there some other place where I should do this?

I used the update tool, so I guess that was not a "clean" upgrade - if it does not always work, why not warn people? Is there a file I can post that may help in this problem diagnosis?

It seems that the NVidia driver is still in place (I found the NVidia control center and it is working)... Suggestions?

Tom

There is no such thing as an "unclean upgrade". As I clearly said earlier, if you wipe the old install off and install from zero again then THAT is a "clean install" and is a method to upgrade. If you upgraded from Raring to Saucy then that is simply and online upgrade and is also fine.

In command line, run:

sudo apt-get --purge remove `dpkg -l | grep nvidia | grep -v nvidia-current | awk {'print $2'}`

This will remove the nvidia drivers you installed. Once on the desktop tou can reinstall them as usual.

Before I execute this command line command - you wrote "Once on the desktop tou can reinstall them as usual." I don't know how to do that unless the system prompts me...

Also, it should be noted that they only don't work for one user... An old user that existed before the upgrade has a perfectly good desktop as do users I have created since the upgrade while trying to work through this...

Tom

I should clarify what I mean...

Using my primary login, once I enter the password, I end up with a blank screen that only has a mouse pointer. I was on this login when I performed the upgrade. Other users (one I created after the upgrade and one that existed before the upgrade) get the desktop after entering the login password (and the NVidia Drives work just fine)...

I suspect a configuration problem with the primary user account - I'm copying all that user's files to another user's account to see if I can duplicate the problem with the second user (which currently works fine) - the copy is being done via:

sudo rsync -aXS --exclude='/*/.gvfs' /home/primaryuser/. /home/newtestuser/.

Any suggestions on where to start with the newtestuser if the problem is replicated for that user?

Tom

OK - minor breakthrough here... Without resorting to the duplicated files/newtestuser (as noted above) I changed the login profule from gnome to Ubuntu (default) and landed on a working desktop... SO, now the challenge is:

How do I get my old gnome-panel desktop working?

Tom

Add a startup item to run:

gnome-panel

Should do it

"actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said 11 minutes ago: #16
Add a startup item to run:

gnome-panel

Should do it"

OK - this is probably a really stupid question, but how do I do that?

Tom

Thanks!!!

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.