Low graphics error unless I boot via recovery mode

Question

I recently upgraded to 12.10 (fresh install). I am a facing weird problem:

When I boot, I get a message notifying me of low graphics. For now, I have been switching to console using Alt+F1 and then rebooting.

Upon reboot, I select recovery mode, allow system to boot and then again reboot.

Now I select normal mode and my graphics load smoothly.

Could you please tell me what could be the issue? I have a Dell Inspiron 5230 with Intel 4000 onboard graphics.

Solution 1

It has absolutely nothing to do with the GPU. It's a problem with LightDM and SSDs (or some other "abnormally fast" piece of hardware, Nvidia cards cause the same issue)

Try adding

respawn 

below

stop on runlevel

In /etc/init/lightdm.conf

Often times, if you run into this error, you can hit

[Ctrl] + [Alt] + [5] to enter a terminal. Login and try

sudo lightdm start

If that doesn't yield anything try

sudo service lightdm restart

As a side note, my SATAIII SSD was connected to the SATAII port on my logic board when I ran into this issue. Verify that your main SSD is on the correct port before you try anything.

Solution 2

Your question appears similar to this one although you mention you have an Intel GPU (it could be unrelated).

Basically, it looks like LightDM (the default greeter/login screen) can sometimes get a bit confused if you've installed other packages or something has gone wrong with its configuration.

Here is a relevant bug report, though possibly for a different version: https://bugs.launchpad.net/lightdm/+bug/971891

I think the best (least destructive) advice there is the following:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure unity-greeter
sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm

Hopefully that should fix it!

You could also make sure that the ubuntu-desktop metapackage is installed.

Some of the advice in that other question seems suspect to me, either because it involves installing random PPAs or it simply doesn't apply to people with Intel graphics.

Comments

[jaseelder]

It says no proprietary drivers are in use. I have intel 4000 graphics card.

[kyle_hamblett]

It must be 12.10. I upgraded my laptop to that, and an hour later i was back to 12.04. I find that 12.04 works best.

[thomasrutter]

OP said he has an Intel GPU. Proprietary drivers are not applicable.

[jaseelder]

I do not have any PPA installed, still it sometimes goes to low graphics mode. I will do reconfigure and let you know if that solves the problem.

[faken]

Great answer, thank you. I have a SSD (SATAIII connected to SATAII port) + NVIDIA GPU , and I had this very annoying problem, and had to reboot several times before the GUI showed up (sometimes it booted into the command line, but recently that "low graphics" thing has been showing up instead). That "respawn" command worked wonders, I never had the problem again. I'm using Ubuntu 12.04. Thank you very much.