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Today (02.09.16) I was updating the available security package on my computer when its battery died. Yes I know that all updates should be done with computer connected but I simply forgot and the system did not emit its usual low battery warning. The computer turned off whilst the install of the security package was occurring.

The thing is that when I turn the computer on it doesn't seem to be able to operate elementary. I say this because it does its start up procedure, "display the manufacturer logo and the screen with the white characters", I believe this is the BIOS. But once this is complete the screen simply goes to black and remains as such forever.

I do not have much computer knowledge but do enjoy elementary very much. The computer has important files which I need.

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  • When the screen goes black, are you able to switch to another virtual console (press Alt + F2)? You should see a login prompt.
    – Mike Wild
    Oct 12, 2016 at 13:46
  • First of all, just use an USB Stick with a live linux and an external partition/cloud to save your data. Then try to boot into recovery mode (With grub options) and clean package/make update of your install if you can. As said before, try to use ctrl+alt+f2.
    – Shining
    Dec 12, 2016 at 16:21

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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you might also want to try the following

  • at grub boot... hit e
  • on the line with /vmlinuz ...
  • try adding the option nomodeset towards the end of the line
  • then boot

I have found that many display issues are "fixed" by this ... EXCEPT seens to not work with multi-monitor setup

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You might want to use an elementary OS install CD/USB key to boot up a live system and check if

  1. you can repair your installation,
  2. you can save the files you need to an external disk drive.
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