Login blank background (gray) after update

[Brent C]

Today I booted up and the update manager came to inform me I had updates (system was recently updated). I chose to do them because I'm having issues with HDMI audio (and audio in general, only headset via USB works) and it is an NVIDIA GPU.

However after reboot, the login screen is just blank with only the gray background. It is still the GUI but just no login box/logo/anything else.

I chose xorg as the issue but I'm not certain of it. Not sure how to troubleshoot this as I'm unfamiliar with the inner workings of this.

I have since attempted to reinstall the NVIDIA drivers using apt purge ~nnvidia and then reinstalling with ubuntu-drivers autoinstall, as well as reinstalling ubuntu-desktop and related components. I can still log in via terminal.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 22.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+23ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.2.0-36.37~22.04.1-generic 6.2.16
Uname: Linux 6.2.0-36-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.capabilities.gpu0: Error: path was not a regular file.
.proc.driver.nvidia.capabilities.mig: Error: path was not a regular file.
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0000.05.00.0: Error: path was not a regular file.
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.suspend: suspend hibernate resume
.proc.driver.nvidia.suspend_depth: default modeset uvm
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 535.129.03 Thu Oct 19 18:56:32 UTC 2023
 GCC version:
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu82.5
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
Date: Mon Nov 6 11:14:02 2023
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: jammy
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 virtualbox/6.1.38, 5.15.0-88-generic, x86_64: installed
 virtualbox/6.1.38, 6.2.0-36-generic, x86_64: installed
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 NVIDIA Corporation GA102 [GeForce RTX 3080 Lite Hash Rate] [10de:2216] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. GA102 [GeForce RTX 3080 Lite Hash Rate] [1043:882e]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2021-11-03 (732 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04.2.0 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20210209.1)
MachineType: ASUS System Product Name
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.2.0-36-generic root=UUID=34735887-8417-4547-843c-9b9b6b7cfbd8 ro quiet splash radeon.audio=1 vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 04/26/2022
dmi.bios.release: 5.17
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 4201
dmi.board.asset.tag: Default string
dmi.board.name: ROG CROSSHAIR VIII HERO (WI-FI)
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev X.0x
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Default string
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Default string
dmi.chassis.version: Default string
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr4201:bd04/26/2022:br5.17:svnASUS:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnROGCROSSHAIRVIIIHERO(WI-FI):rvrRevX.0x:cvnDefaultstring:ct3:cvrDefaultstring:skuSKU:
dmi.product.family: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.sku: SKU
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUS
version.compiz: compiz N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.113-2~ubuntu0.22.04.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx N/A
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers-* N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:21.1.4-2ubuntu1.7~22.04.2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:19.1.0-2ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20210115-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.17-2build1

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Do you have any disabled monitors plugged in? This sounds like bug 1760849

[Brent C (brentc)]

Indeed I have my TV plugged in as well (even though it is not turned on) via HDMI. That sounds like a plausible bug indeed. I'll try disconnecting the TV and rebooting.

[Brent C (brentc)]

Indeed when I unplug the TV HDMI, the login screen appears. Additionally (awesome :D) my HDMI audio is also working with this update!

I'll track the bug you mentioned but at least I have this workaround.