Xorg update gone wrong - Help needed urgently please. (Solved)

[The Liquidator]

Hi

I'm using the xorg intel driver from a 3rd party ppa and I've just updated it. On reboot I can't get past the KDE login screen - I wind up in a loop.

What I need to do from recovery mode is:

1. To remove the ppa concerned from my sources list
2. To remove the offending file - it's the Xserver intel driver
3. To install a replacement that is known to be working (which I assume will become available with a sudo apt -get update.

Can someone please provide me with the code I need to enter from the recovery command line to avoid the need to reinstall?

Many thanks

Ian

[claydoh]

ppa-purge is your friend :)

it will do all the things you need - it's in the main repos now


sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa
substitute the ppa address for the ppa you added - found on the ppa's launchpad page. While you can specify the ppa to remove in different ways (see the man page) I find the easiest way is to find the address formatted like this:
ppa:some-launchpad-user-or-group/ppa-name
to work best

while it wouldn't be too hard to do this manually - deleting the ppa's entry or file, uninstalling the driver, and updating/reinstalling the old driver - there could be some extra things that may need to be downgraded in addition to the intel driver.

The ppa-purge tool was developed by the ubuntu xorg-edgers folks specifically to aid in recovering from this sort of thing :)

[ubuntuku]

I had the same problem, fixed it by downgrading the package, press CTRL+ALT+F1 and login from terminal and install the previous version.

If you're using glasen/intel-driver ppa (https://launchpad.net/~glasen/+archive/intel-driver), you can proceed the following steps:



wget https://launchpad.net/~glasen/+archive/intel-driver/+build/2110363/+files/xserver-xorg-video-intel_2.13.902%2Bgit20101223%7Eglasen%7Emaverick%7 Eppa1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i xserver-xorg-video-intel_2.13.902+git20101223~glasen~maverick~ppa1_i3 86.deb
# hold the package, tell the package manager to keep the current version no matter what
sudo -s
echo xserver-xorg-video-intel hold | dpkg --set-selections
# reboot
shutdown -r now


you can remove the package from hold later:


sudo -s
echo xserver-xorg-video-intel install | dpkg --set-selections

[The Liquidator]

Hi thanks for the replies

You are right, I was using the glasen repo. Just goes to show, by all means use the ppas for the latest versions of programs you like but for basic apps vital for the system to run maybe stick with the defaults?

Anyway, the ppa purge thing didn't seem to work, maybe because of not knowing the correct name of the ppa. Also, I run wireless and did not have unfettered access to a wired connection (it's in my windows-loving son's bedroom and I know I would not have heard the last of this ;D).

Having made a usb key of 10.10 for other reasons I did a reinstall. It's way faster than a CD and I was back up and running in less than half an hour, well maybe an hour to get all my progs reinstated and to get up to kde 4.5.
!
Thanks for the tips anyway folks, and Happy New Year

Ian