Linux hangs immediately after login screen (fresh install)

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samosa111

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Hi there

I have an old PC which I am trying to repurpose - Asus Pundit P4-P5N9300

Asus P4-P5N9300 Manuals

Asus P4-P5N9300 Pdf User Manuals. View online or download Asus P4-P5N9300 User Manual
www.manualslib.com www.manualslib.com

I've tried installing Mint (all versions) as well as Zorin. The installation is fine, but the moment I enter the username & password (at login screen), the computer boots into the desktop then freezes. The mouse pointer is responsive (moves around) but nothing is clickable and the keyboard presses are unresponsive.

I even tried installing Google Chrome Flex OS - that boots into the desktop and is responsive, but repeatedly crashes within minutes after the screen distorts.

Given the same thing happens on various versions of Mint and Zorin, I presume it is a driver issue. From the research I have done, it could possibly be the integrated graphics driver causing the issue. Does that sound right?

Can anyone help me troubleshoot. Would be great to bring this thing back to life.

Thanks in advance for your help.


P.s I am relatively new to Linux (being a Windows user) so please bear that in mind when giving instructions.
 


Can't find specs on the unit in question. Pentium Dual Core, Core2Duo, Celeron or what? How much RAM are you running? Et cetera. Would be helpful.

You could put Slax on a USB and boot up (hit F2 or F12 repeatedly when first starts, and enable boot from USB device) to get us the information.

Or just try antiX on that old desktop. You need something for older, resource-limited computers.

What's on your hard drive, now? Got another, clean one?
 
forester said:
Can't find specs on the unit in question. Pentium Dual Core, Core2Duo, Celeron or what? How much RAM are you running? Et cetera. Would be helpful.

You could put Slax on a USB and boot up (hit F2 or F12 repeatedly when first starts, and enable boot from USB device) to get us the information.

Or just try antiX on that old desktop. You need something for older, resource-limited computers.

What's on your hard drive, now? Got another, clean one?
Click to expand...

Many thanks for your swift reply.

I believe it is a Core2Duo, 4gb ram, brand new SSD. Does that help?
 
Hello @samosa111,
Welcome to the forum.

From what I could find on line the machine comes with a Nvidia graphics Which means you will need to do some work to get it going with linux.. For mint flavors follow the instructions found in their release notes.

Linux Mint 20.2 Cinnamon Release Notes - Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.
www.linuxmint.com www.linuxmint.com
Click to expand...
Scroll down to the section on Solving freezes during the boot sequence. And follow the instructions.
Good luck.
 
kc1di said:
Hello @samosa111,
Welcome to the forum.

From what I could find on line the machine comes with a Nvidia graphics Which means you will need to do some work to get it going with linux.. For mint flavors follow the instructions found in their release notes.

Scroll down to the section on Solving freezes during the boot sequence. And follow the instructions.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Many thanks for the guidance.

I have just tried this nomodeset with the my Zorin install. I made the nomodeset entry then continued to boot by select the Zorin generic option.

Unfortunately, it booted into desktop and then froze.

Any other suggestions?
 
go to the live disk and try the safe boot options see if that works.
you may have to hit the left shift key or the esc key just as the machine is starting to boot to reveal the grub menu.
If that works go to a terminal and type the command and copy and paste the results back here.
Code: 
inxi -Fxxxzr
 
Is your BIOS set up correctly? For example, when new SSD was installed, was mode set to AHCI?
 
forester said:
Is your BIOS set up correctly? For example, when new SSD was installed, was mode set to AHCI?
Click to expand...
It is current set to IDE. What that cause freezing of desktop? Would I need to reformat and reinstall Linux once I have set to AHCI?
 
No need to reformat or reinstall

The effect will take place after a reboot
 
If changing the BIOS to AHCI doesn't have the desired effect, then I would be suspicious of the download /ISO burn, the Nvidia graphics may take a little work to get going properly, but it will not stop the de-fault bios screen drivers from working,
Did you check the SHA sum? to make sure there were no download errors? did Mint run well in "live" mode before you installed it?
 
Brickwizard said:
If changing the BIOS to AHCI doesn't have the desired effect, then I would be suspicious of the download /ISO burn, the Nvidia graphics may take a little work to get going properly, but it will not stop the de-fault bios screen drivers from working,
Did you check the SHA sum? to make sure there were no download errors? did Mint run well in "live" mode before you installed it?
Click to expand...

I am confident that it is not a corrupted Linux download as I have tried Mint, Zorin, and even Google Chrome Flex OS.

You are correct, everything appears to work perfectly all the way through from Bios, installation, boot, and up to the login screen. After entering the username and password, the moment it boots into the desktop, the PC freezes. This happens on both Mint and Zorin.

Live CD (Mint & Zorin) desktop also froze

I've spent so many hours online trying to find a solution. I am beginning to loose the will to live!
 
Similar problems occasionally occur this is for Ubuntu based distributions [Ubuntu,Mint, etc], Not for the total novice, but this may be the problem
www.stephenwagner.com

Ubuntu Linux - Black screen and frozen system after upgrade and/or install

After upgrading a computer from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or Ubuntu 18.04 LTS to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, during boot the screen goes blank (turns black), all HD disk activity halts, and the system becomes frozen. This event can also occur on a fresh installation or when updates are...
www.stephenwagner.com www.stephenwagner.com
 
Have you actually changed the bios to ahci ?.....

This problem is crashing after the password is entered. ...So therefore the OS is installed.

What happens when you only boot to the usb stick.....(without installing)...??
 
I would try a couple of non- Ubuntu Distros. Give PCLinuxOS and Maybe MX xfce a try. Though I still believe that the culprit is the Nvidia graphics. That graphics chip set may be just too old for a Modern Linux distro. It's not linux's fault per sae as Nvidia stop update many of it's drivers for it's older line of cards in Linux. But give some other distros a try. If and when you get into a live desktop that works please give us the readout of
Code: 
inxi -Fxxxzr
 
ADDENDUM
Brickwizard said:
[this is a 32 bit graphic card]
Click to expand...
My apologies it is not a 32 bit card but a 64 bit version [took some finding], the normal Linux drivers should be OK with it, I would still try the 32 bit distributions as the basic spec of the box is on the low side
 
Refer to post #2 and post #13 before giving up.
Also, it looks like a 'buntu issue. Try something NOT in the ubuntu family, as others have suggested.
I second @kc1di -- try a lightweight PCLOS (NOT bigdaddy) as 64bit and antiX-21_386-base.iso as 32bit on a USB stick and see if either or both boot up.
If PCLOS works, it will find your nVidia driver if you tell it to do so on install.
 
It may also install the wrong one if let go unattended. But at least it will find it.

Ultimately, it is up to the user to install the correct driver, as always.
 
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