(12.10) intermittent boot failure / black screen

[Will Skibicki]

Ubuntu 12.10 (Xubuntu)
HP p2-1033w - AMD E-300 APU with Radeon 6310 integrated graphics

My pc sometimes will not boot properly and will stay at a black screen with blinking cursor. It usually displays the GRUB bootloader and boots normally. After disconnecting and reconnecting power, I am able to boot Ubuntu but the intermittent booting problem continues.

edit - log from boot-repair
http://paste.ubuntu.com/1378561/

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1081819/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

[This is an automated message. I apologize if it reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Will Skibicki (wtskibicki)]

edit -
Boot works after disconnecting and reconnecting power supply.
- added package name

[paul (paulgraves)]

For what it's worth, I'm having the exact same problem, but using crunchbang, not ubuntu. I have an AMD Athlon II Neo K325 processor, and I've had the same problem with crunchbang waldorf and statler (based on debian wheezy and squeezy).

I've isolated the problem with my current setup (64-bit waldorf) -- it only shows up after a reboot if the computer was put to sleep at sometime during the previous session. So:

Power up, do stuff, power down, power up -- no problem.
Power up, do stuff, sleep, wake, do more stuff, power down, power up -- problem

The problem is just as described -- grub fails to load, just a solid cursor in the upper left corner, followed by a blinking cursor. A quick touch to the power button will make the computer power off, and ctrl-alt-delete will make the computer reboot. However, the problem won't be resolved unless I either pull the battery or boot into some live session. Pulling the battery has always fixed this for me.

Very strange.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Mihai Vinaga (vinaga-mihai)]

I have the same problem, I have a E6419 dell laptop, the funny think is that this does not happen all the time.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Will Skibicki, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

If reproducible, could you also please test the latest upstream kernel available (not the daily folder) following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds ? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested. If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

where VERSION-NUMBER is the version number of the kernel you tested. For example:
kernel-fixed-upstream-v3.13-rc6

This can be done by clicking on the yellow circle with a black pencil icon next to the word Tags located at the bottom of the bug description. As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug's Status as Confirmed. Please let us know your results. Thank you for your understanding.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for xorg (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]