Steam causing Ubuntu boot failures

[The Riet]

I've reinstalled Ubuntu 12.04 x64 several times, from disc, in various configurations, updating different things each time, but every time, the reboot after installing Steam causes Ubuntu to freeze on the boot splash, with ctrl-alt-del or the power button being the only things that affect the computer at this point.

As for the system I'm running this on, it's my Acer Aspire 8930 laptop, upgraded to have 8gb of RAM instead of 4, definitely more than capable of running the Ubuntu desktop environment.

So far I have tried:
• Installing Ubuntu, downloading updates while installing, installing third party software, booting, installing recommended updates and drivers, rebooting, installing Steam
• Installing Ubuntu, downloading updates while installing, installing third party software, booting, installing recommended updates without drivers, rebooting, installing Steam
• Installing Ubuntu, installing third party software, booting, installing recommended updates, rebooting, installing Steam
• Installing Ubuntu, booting, installing recommended updates, rebooting, installing Steam
• Installing Ubuntu, booting, installing updates via sudo apt-get update, rebooting, installing Steam
• Installing Ubuntu, booting, installing Steam

All of the above have caused Ubuntu to fail to boot upon the next reboot. I am able to enter GRUB upon boot and enter recovery mode, which from there I'm able to boot Ubuntu into the terminal environment just fine, but upon attempting to enter the desktop environment, the boot process hangs at the boot splash with the loading dots.

I am out of ideas and I've been wrestling with this over the past 3 days, I have tried everything I can think of, I just want to get my laptop working with Ubuntu and Steam. I can seem to run it fine up until installing Steam and rebooting, so I am going to attempt another fresh install and not install Steam, to see if that has any difference after several reboots. If anyone would have any insight as to what might be going on, I would very much appreciate it.

[[dirrty]gsharp]

After some testing and back-and-forth, we nailed down some culprits!

The boot failures were Ubuntu being unable to start X. X was broken when the Steam client was installed w/o ia32-libs being installed first Apparently, the 12.10 backported graphics bits were removed when the Steam client was installed. (?)

The OP also experienced problems installing nvidia-experimental-310. The "Additional Drivers" app would complain about nvidia-settings-updates being installed as part of a 304 install and refuse to install 310. The fix for that was the remove nvidia-settings-updates, install 310, and reboot.

The OP experienced problems with their touchpad after nvidia-experimental-310 was installed. The virtual vertical scrollbar was disabled. The fix was to install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics -- which had been removed either during the 310 install or the Steam install.

The final installation steps were:

1. Install 12.04 LTS
2. Reboot, install 20+ updates and reboot;
3. Install ia32-libs and reboot;
4. Install nvidia-experimental-310 and reboot;
5. Install the Steam Client from the Ubuntu Software Center;
6. Start up Steam;
7. Install the missing synaptics package.

User is running 12.04, the Steam for Linux client, and TF2 so mission accomplished.

The Valve page on the Ubuntu Wiki has been updated to include ia32-libs.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Valve

[[dirrty]gsharp]

My steps don't work for you because this isn't your thread and they don't apply to your case. Open your own thread if you would like some help. Thread hijacker removed his post and created his own thread.

[[dirrty]gsharp]

Logging here for histoical purposes...

The "Ubuntu boot failures" are Xorg being unable to start. However, vtys are inaccessible as well. The system still responds to CTRL-ALT-DEL though. During boot, pressing ESC gets to init 3 and working vtys.

Was able to duplicate the problem on a laptop with an nvidia card. The failure occurs during the first reboot after installing the Steam Client from the Ubuntu Software Center (steam64 1.0.0.26). I'm not pointing fingers yet. Still gathering information.

[AbartigerNorbert]

Try booting with Kernel Option "nomodeset". Edit Boot Entry in Grub and insert "nomodeset" without "" in from of "ro" in "/vmlinus-linux root=something ro". Boot with that. Will fallback to VESA for graphics -> probably 1024x768 max res. But good for debugging.

[[dirrty]gsharp]

t.jp Linux a écrit :

Try booting with Kernel Option "nomodeset". Edit Boot Entry in Grub and insert "nomodeset" without "" in from of "ro" in "/vmlinus-linux root=something ro". Boot with that. Will fallback to VESA for graphics -> probably 1024x768 max res. But good for debugging.

Noted. Thank you. I'll keep that in mind. I'm currently stepping through the install process again to see exactly what files and pkgs were removed.

[[dirrty]gsharp]

More details...

Trying to install Steam64 via Synaptic results in a whole bunch of pkgs being removed:

libgl1-mesa-dri-lts-quantal will be removed
libgl1-mesa-glx-lts-quantal will be removed
libglapi-mesa-lts-quantal will be removed
libxatracker1-lts-quantal will be removed
x11-xserver-utils-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-common-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-core-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-input-all-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-input-evdev-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-input-mouse-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-input-wacom-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-all-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-ati-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-cirrus-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-fbdev-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-intel-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-mach64-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-mga-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-modesetting-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-neomagic-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-nouveau-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-openchrome-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-r128-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-radeon-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-s3-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-savage-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-sis-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-sisusb-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-tdfx-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-trident-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-vesa-lts-quantal will be removed
xserver-xorg-video-vmware-lts-quantal will be removed

[[dirrty]gsharp]

This might be related to the 12.04.2 update. :(

[[dirrty]gsharp]

Logging here for historical / archive purposes.

It appears 12.04.2 and the Steam client bumped heads! Found the fix in the sticky thread by johnv. New install method for 12.04, Steam, and nvidia drivers:

1) Install 12.04 LTS;
2) Boot and install 20+ updates;
3) Reboot;
4) Install 32bit libraries (sudo apt-get install ia32-libs)
5) Reboot;
6) Install nvidia-experimental-310
7) Reboot;
8) Install Steam from Ubuntu Software Center;
9) Reboot; (not needed but to confirm that Steam and Ubuntu are playing nice)

This was tested on a Thinkpad w/ Quadro FX3800 and works.

[Wouter]

dirrtygsharp a écrit :

Logging here for historical / archive purposes.

It appears 12.04.2 and the Steam client bumped heads! Found the fix in the sticky thread by johnv. New install method for 12.04, Steam, and nvidia drivers:

1) Install 12.04 LTS;
2) Boot and install 20+ updates;
3) Reboot;
4) Install nvidia-experimental-310;
5) Reboot;
6) Install 32bit libraries (sudo apt-get install ia32-libs)
7) Reboot;
8) Install Steam from Ubuntu Software Center;
9) Reboot; (not needed but to confirm that Steam and Ubuntu are playing nice)

This was tested on a Thinkpad w/ Quadro FX3800 and works.

Don't you need the 32bit libraries for installing your drivers?

[[dirrty]gsharp]

Wouter a écrit :

(snip for space)
Don't you need the 32bit libraries for installing your drivers?

Hrm. I thought not but wrote that list from memory. Will double-check my notes. Thanks. :)

Nope. I installed ia32-libs after the nvidia install. However, the OP tried the same on his rig and had problems. Synaptic was unable to remove 304 to install 310. So you might be on to something. I'm retesting with another rig now.

[[dirrty]gsharp]

When the OP finished patching their laptop, somehow nvidia-settings-updates was installed BEFORE installing any nvidia drivers. Attempts to install nvidia-experimental-310 would fail because this settings-update package was already installed.

We removed nvidia-settings-update then installed nvidia-experimental-310. Laptop was rebooted. We ended up with a working desktop but jockey reported an error. OP was then able to install and start Steam.

We rebooted again to test the Steam client install, ensure it didn't break things, and see if the jockey error could be reproduced.

The laptop booted normally. The OP could login and start Steam. No jockey error after the reboot.

OP is installing TF2 now.

Once they are in TF2, I'll write a post-mort summary of wtf we did for historical purposes.