Ubuntu blinking at boot screen

Question

I have Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS version.

I usually never switch off my laptop. It is mostly on sleep or switched on. Suddenly my Wi-Fi stopped detecting so I had to restart the system but to my surprise it was flickering/blinking on the boot screen. After searching for few solutions, I found the fsck solution in the GRUB mode. But it seems like I have to do it every time to boot. I found another permanent solution that is by editing the GRUB file and adding nomodeset after quiet splash.

It seems to work but my overall response time became slow like the systems from 20th century. The mouse moves slowly, the screen loads slowly from top to bottom. The FPS has dropped drastically. Could someone please suggest a better solution to it?

---

Machine specs

• Manufacturer : Dell
• Model : Vostro 3568
• BIOS Ver : 01.00.01
• Graphics : Intel Corporation HD Graphics 620 (rev 02)

Solution

I was having the same problem and I too was not satisfied by the fsck and the nomodeset solution found on the internet. Then, I have definitely solved it.

After days searching for the problem, I have found out that it was not in Ubuntu itself, but was in GDM (GNOME Display Manager-gdm3 package) that, for some reason still unknown to me, was entering into an infinite loop.

In order to make my computer start properly, I decided to bypass the problem by changing my display manager, so I installed LightDM (lightdm package). If you, however, prefer some other display manager, I think it will work fine as well.

To install LightDM you just have to use these commands in your terminal:

sudo apt purge lightdm -y  # to make sure that is not installed yet
sudo apt install lightdm -y  # to install it

Then, the following screen will appear.

It will ask you which DM you want to use.

Choose lightdm and press Enter.

Now, to uninstall gdm3 (optional), use this command:

sudo apt purge gdm3 -y 

Then just reboot your computer and it should boot with no problems (and a different login screen).

I hope this will solve your problem as it did with mine.

Comments

[Allan]

Thanks for your question if you could add some details of your tech spec to your question it would help find a solution eg. Manufacturer, model, bios ver and in this case (graphics card) you can collect much of this information by running the command sudo lshw from a terminal

[TrailRider]

I can't speak at to if this solution will work but it is a great, well formatted post from a 1st time user. Well written, easy to understand, detailed and looks like a sane solution to someone not affected by this issue(I use kde so I don't use gdm) BTW your english was excellent, I didn't realizeyou weren't a native speaker until I read you note at the bottom.

[Emanuele Scarsella]

@TrailRiden Thanks for the compliments, but the truth is that i'm a 1st time user on "ask Ubuntu", but a 1 year old user on "stack overflow", so I know how much the stack exchange comunity evaluates the detalies and the form of the answers

[Rob]

Thankyou, worked for my Lenovo Ideapad z500. Clean install of Ubuntu 18.04. Its a slow boot, but when it gets there it seems to work now.