Ubuntu hangs at purple screen after reboot

I've tried using an older version of the kernel, and that works properly. Still - what's causing the problem with the updated kernel and is there a way to fix it?

Try pressing Escape when you see the purple screen. If that doesn't do anything, try F2. That might show some messages that would explain the problem--please reply, and describe those messages as best as possible.

If not, then perhaps the problem is not with booting, but with displaying the graphical user interface. So if Escape and F2 don't work, then try Ctrl+Alt+F1. Do you see a text-based login screen? If you do, please reply, and tell us the specific make and model of your computer, and also what video card you have (if you know or can find out without too much trouble). In addition, log on (when you type in your password you won't see any placeholder characters, like *, but that's OK, just type it and press enter), and then run this command:

sudo lshw -c video | grep driver

Please note that the | character is not an upper-case i and it is not a lower-case L -- rather, it is the pipe character, and on US English keyboards it is produced by holding down Shift and pressing \ (backslash). Again, after entering that command, you will likely have to enter your password. As before, you won't see anything as you're typing it, but that's OK.

(If Escape, F2, and Ctrl+Alt+F1 all have no effect, please still reply, and we'll keep working on the problem using other ideas.)

Firstly, thanks a lot for your help.

I've tried Escape and F2 and neither appear to have any effect. Ctrl + Alt + F1 results in a blinking cursor right at the top of the screen (i.e. literally at the top of the screen) which turns out to be a login prompt. I've logged in using that and can enter commands, however the output doesn't result in the cursor moving down the screen - I can see it moving along and so on when I'm typing but it always seems to remain on the same horizontal line. I then entered 'startx' which has given me a graphical session which displays only the desktop, but by opening a folder and going to /usr/bin I managed to get a terminal running and started unity. Pressing Ctrl + Alt + F1-6 now displays the usual black screen with a login prompt and in tty1 I can see the commands I previously entered. Ctrl + Alt + F7 displays some of the text usually shown when the computer's loading (presumably what I'd be expected to see when I pressed F2), so things like:

* Starting NTP server ntpd [ OK ]

The only things which don't appear to be normal are the first three lines of text:

plymouthd: ./plugin.c:540: map_to_device: Assertion `head_>size > 0' failed.
error: unexpectedly disconnected from boot status daemon
plymouthd: ./plugin.c:540: map_to_device: Assertion `head_>size > 0' failed.

Pressing Ctrl + Alt +F8 shows the graphical session I logged into. Ctrl + Alt + F9-12 show a blinking cursor on a black screen.

I'm not sure about the model or make of my computer, but I have an MSI K8N Neo4-F (or -FI, I'm not sure) motherboard and an Nvidia GeForce 7900GS.

The command you asked me to run only resulted in the output "PCI (sysfs)", although the program didn't return - it still appeared to be running... ...either way, according to nvidia-settings I have nvidia driver version 270.41.06 installed.

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.

The question has expired, however I'm still affected by the issue.... ...any more suggestions?

The question has expired, however I'm still affected by the issue.... ...any more suggestions?

You've tried removing the "quiet" boot option. Try instead adding the "nomodeset" boot option. If that doesn't work (or you have trouble adding it), please post another reply.

Yesterday I upgraded my motherboard, CPU and RAM and it seems the problem seems to have been solved. The purple screen is still displayed (rather than the ubuntu loading screen which is shown if I boot with an older kernel I think), but after this the login screen loads properly. Presumably, this indicates that there was some issue with the previous hardware and the latest kernel. I might not be able to test the old hardware for some time, but here's a list of the components:

Old:

Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo4-FI
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+
RAM: 1GB DDR

New:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad (Q9540)
RAM: 1GB DDR2

My graphics card, HDD and so on have remained the same.

I have the same issue, I have Ubuntu 11.10, and the issue came up after enabling the API proprietary drivers, however, in the past I have used these drivers without any problem. I have made the most recent system update, just today. (ie, updated to Ubuntu 11.10 from 11.4)

No keyword commands seem to work except ctrl+alt+del, which reboots the system, I can't access a shell, I will try to see if I can go to a shell on a new reboot, right away...

Nope, no key combination except reboot works, is there a way I can salvage something? Maybe through a live boot cd?

I've got exactly the same problem after upgrading from 11.04 to 11.10.
Some help would really be appreciated!

I get this too. I recently reinstalled Ubuntu 11.10 with Wubi, and everything has worked, albeit slowly, until today, when I was copying and pasting around 120MB of files and everything just froze. I had to unplug my PC, and now it hangs on this blank purple screen, even if I try "recovery mode" in GRUB.

i get this too, can use the 2.6.38 kernel, but not 3.0

I actually gave up and reinstalled Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, which I greatly prefer, and restored from a backup. I lost a day or so of stuff, but it wasn't a problem.