u/Dorirter

▲ 13 r/pop_os

Stuck in boot screen after kernel update to 7.0.11

[SOLVED] Updating the Nvidia driver from 580 to 595 (sudo apt install nvidia-driver-595) solved the problem.

Original thread:

Yesterday I installed some updates on my PC, incl. a kernel update, which is now 7.0.11-76070011-generic.

During boot, the splash screen comes up, but only in a low-res version. It's not possible to press any keyboard shortcuts to see the full boot process/log. With one exception: Only one single time I managed to force a reboot by pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL, which for just a few seconds showed the boot process/log where I could see that the last started process (where it stuck) was GDM with a green [ok].

For now, I always must press ESC to get the boot menu and select the old kernel version, then it boots successfully.

I tried checking the log files, but nothing out of the ordinary was to be found there.

Edit: I'm using the Nvidia driver which comes with Pop! OS. Should I remove it and re-install it as suggested here: https://system76.com/support/articles/login-loop-pop ?

Edit 2: I think I use GDM instead of Cosmic Greeter, because when I installed Cinnamon I read it's needed for that, for I actually don't remember (maybe it was also just because GDM looks nicer)

Edit 3: For testing, I switched back to Cosmic Greeter. The only change is that now at least I can get a console (TTY2 etc.) where I can log in, but it still does not bring me to the graphical log in screen.

EDIT 4: Okay, it must definitely be the Nvidia driver. It does not load in 7.0.11. I noticed this after switching on boot messages. With that I saw that the service I had created for reducing the power limit of my Nvidia card to 260 W failed to start, and it failed to start because nothing Nvidia-related was loaded in 7.0.11.

And the reason for that ... seems to be that the 580 driver (the one installed by Pop! OS) is too old for kernel versions 7+ or at least unstable? I read that users go back to kernel version 6.x when using Nvidia. Hm.

Edit 5: Ok, I now try to install the 595 drivers (the ones supported by Pop! OS, using apt). We'll see how it goes...

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u/Dorirter — 12 hours ago