Odd behavior on boot - different window arraingements from time to time

[KDE5FAN]

Some time ago I had my system setup perfectly with 5 monitors in a some what odd arraingement - a 4 square with a long vertical monitor on one side. I hadn't rebooted in maybe 4-5 months and then had a system freeze. Upon rebooting my displays were all messed up, they were laid out horizontally and there was no way that the system would accept any changes, so I was stuck with this wack setup for 5-6 months (yeah I was lazy but got used to it). Then my system froze up and I had to go into grub and do a "rescue" or recovery. I think I selected the second option from the top "advanced option" which then gave me a choice of 4 kernel versions, well 2, but each version had another listing as "generic".

I selected the first option (newest kernel) and selected the recovery option, where I ran tests and all seemed fine. Rebooted and nothing. I went back into the "advanced options" and selected the same new kernel and this time I selected "continue boot" or "boot normally" This time the system came up without any problems (and I would say maybe 50% faster than normal previous boot times) and after login, the monitors were back to the original of the 4 square with 1 monitor on the side, no horizontal arraingement - YAAAAA!!!!

Well this worked great until I needed to reboot again, and then I was back to the horizontal arraingement. Couldn't get it fixed again either. So delt again for awhile until another issue and went back to GRUB and troubleshooting as before - and after that - monitors were back to the "good setup" (4 square + 1) .

I now know that when I boot I have to enter GRUB and go through the same process (no need to run tests) just select the "normal boot" and my monitors are good to go.

I haven't been able to find any information on this and I have no idea why the other setup won't take any adjustments to the screens. There are also some buttons missing on the Display Setup screen (in both login versions) which i have seen in other Kubuntu systems. I only have an apply button and that isn't even always there, especially in the version where I can't adjust the layout from all horizontal - I can move the monitors around, just can't apply them and set them, but when doing the complex boot option, this isn't an issue and the apply button is there (still think there are some other buttons or options missing though).

Can anyone shed any light on this as to what might be going on? I'm getting close to upgrading (uuggghh - don't know what version, 16.04 made a lot of changes to networking and didn't like my system AT ALL) so I want to be able to fix any issue that may arise.

Other than that, Kubuntu 14.04 has been a delight to use - as a 15 year Windows IT tech (professional) I was hesitant, but found this the most stable OS I've used to date - even with the glitches!

Thanks for any help you can shed on this issue!

[Qqmike]

Hard to tell where the gremlin(s) might be. Have you tried booting into your K 14.04 and re-installing GRUB:

sudo grub-install
sudo update-grub

?

[otisklt]

Not sure what to suggest as I am not entirely clear on what is different with your grub choices/selection changes. When booting with grub the default settings Kubuntu puts in place will be to boot the newest kernel available unless you choose to go through the advanced settings and choose an earlier kernel. I changed mine since I dual boot, to load whatever was last run. This will apply if for example that last time I booted 4.15.35 it will stick to that choice until I pick another... so if I was last booted into windows, it will reboot windows again. If you want to change grub this way look here.

I had similar issues with 3 monitors on 14.04 where it would forget the layout or move one a little above or below the others so when I was moving between them I would have to move the mouse up or down some to keep going left or right.
Though I cannot say I had a point where the apply button was missing so I was not able to fix it.
18.04.1 which I intentionally waited for the .1 release has been good so far in keeping my monitor layout.

[KDE5FAN]

When I check the kernel running on a default boot (just selecting my boot SSD and allowing system to do everything) which is something like 3.13.0.43-generic the other version installed is 3.13.0.24-generic.

When I do a normal boot without selecting anything in GRUB I get the 43-generic version and my monitors will be screwy - all horizontal and no option to apply the changes within the display options.

If I select the second option in GRUB - (Advanced options) I get 4 options, and the list the 2 kernel versions I wrote above, and these are the options I can boot to. I've tried all the 43 versions and they come up with the "good" arrainged screens (4 square + 1) and if I check kernel version while booted it always says 3.13.0.43-generic.

If I boot w/o using grub, just let the system run through the defaults, I get the horizontal screens with the same kernel - 3.13.0.43-generic.
When I boot this way the login/password prompt screen shows up on the top left monitor (it would be the second from left horizontally) - if I go through the long process (advanced options) the login screen shows up in the upper right screen (in a 4 square arraingement). IDK if that matters.

Here are the options of kernels I can boot to while choosing the "advanced options" in GRUB boot selection:

3.13.0.43
3.13.0.43-generic
3.13.0.24
3.13.0.24-generic

I haven't tried logging into the older kernel since I've gotten the system working (through the long process) b/c I don't want it to mess anything up in the config that seems to be working. I know that this is the original kernel that was installed during the orignal install and the screen setup was so simple and perfect the first try, I was SOOO happy that it worked, so I'm thinking that it may work again.

Anyway, just thought I would add this little bit, it seems like an odd bug, but I have seen a number of other people reporting something similar, none have been able to figure out what was wrong, most re-installed.

Oh, one more thing, about the time I upgraded to the newer kernel, VMware Workstation stopped working completely, nothing I could do would get it to work again which has been a MAJOR bummer.

[jlittle]

It might be interesting to compare the contents of /proc/cmdline in the good and bad cases. That "command line" is grub's primary way to communicate with the kernel. Mine, using btrfs, says:

BOOT_IMAGE=/@_bionic/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-34-generic root=UUID=c908b7ec-dc1d-4594-85e4-f62a9eb4e44e ro rootflags=subvol=@_bionic

Yours might include "quiet splash" which might be revealing if you turned them off. To do that edit /etc/default/grub to remove them from the setting of GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX. This just lets you see all the boot messages scroll past; sometimes something red appears. These days with systemd they can flash past far too fast for the human eye, but if something's going wrong they can stall at that point letting you read them.