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Updating Kubuntu... Again! Fixing Kernel Panic + Shadow Frame Buffer

Updating the Kubuntu Desktop

 Note to Self- Read this first before the next time you update the Kubuntu Desktop

Intro;
Perennial as the winter, I got a system message that “Kubuntu 14.04 is no longer supported.  Click this button for a fast ‘n easy upgrade to Kubuntu 16.04.”
“Kubuntu hasn’t been working that well lately,” I says to meself. “No more support is a bad thing.  Okay...”

I shouldn’t have, but I clicked it.
Six hours later, I had Kubuntu 16.04, but it tended to freeze up and I could only use the Command Line Interface (CLI) if I was quick enough to hit [Ctrl][Alt][F1] or [Ctrl][Alt][T].

First Note To Self–Read the Release Notes First

Using another computer, I went to the website and read the 16.04 Release Notes;
The release notes say not to click the automatic upgrade, because it does not work.  Hmmm.

Second Note to Self–Fix Kernel Panic

The first known bug that affects my system is “Kernel Panic,” brilliantly solved by Zanna at this web location;

 http://askubuntu.com/questions/801586/freezing-of-screen-on-ubuntu-16-04

Your processor is affected by the c-state bug which causes total freezes when the CPU tries to enter an unsupported sleep state. It's a problem for many Bay Trail devices especially with newer (4.*) kernels.

 There is a simple workaround for this until it gets properly fixed upstream. You just need to pass a kernel boot parameter and the random freezing stops completely.

 You do this by editing the configuration file for GRUB:

 Boot Ubuntu and open a terminal by pressing ctrl+alt+t then type

 sudo nano /etc/default/grub
Find the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

 This needs to be changed to include intel_idle.max_cstate=1

 So after your edit it reads

 GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash intel_idle.max_cstate=1"
If you have other boot parameters already besides quiet and splash, just leave them alone.

 Now save the file by pressing ctrl+o then enter and exit by pressing ctrl+x

 Now type

 sudo update-grub
Then reboot

This fixes the Kernel issue.  After doing this, you will have a bit more time to get to the CLI before the video freezes up– Which leads us to the next manual fix;

Third Note To Self–nVidia Does Not Play Nice- Activate the Shadow Frame Buffer

nVidia graphics boards do not play nice with Ubuntu or Kubuntu.  It requires the creation of a specific file in CLI and editing the GRUB file to get it to work.  This is a known bug, so until the UPTB get around to fixing it, we will have to fix it ourselves. :-)

This TOTALLY AMAZING Solution posted by Siggi2, below; I have made the steps more specific since I do not know a lot of the most elemental CLI functions and commands.

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2130640&page=11&p=13219687&viewfull=1#post13219687


Thank you mörgæs, for this blog! It inspired me to get my 12 year old machine with Nvidia 2 to get to work with Xubuntu 14.04.1. This is how I did it:

 The machine:

 Processor: AMD Athlon XP 1700+ 
CPU: 1466.807 MHz i386 32bit
Memory: 1001.5 MiB
Display: NV11(GeForce 2 MX/Mx 400)
Harddisk: 80 GB

 I opened http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Grafikkarten/Nvidia/nouveau

 went down to "ShadowFrame Buffer aktivieren" (activate ShadowFrame Buffer)

 and followed the instructions. Here they are:

 Using sudo,

 *** 1 ***
Create /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/

 Get to CLI from within the GUI using [Ctrl][Alt][t]

 cd /etc/X11/
sudo mkdir xorg.conf.d
cd xorg.conf.d

 *** 2 ***
create new file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nouveau.conf

 sudo touch 20-nouveau.conf #creates an empty file by that name
#edit as follows to add the content
sudo nano 20-nouveau.conf #opens the text editor. Type the following text

Section "Device"
Identifier "NvidiaGraphics"
Driver "nouveau"
Option "NoAccel" "1"
EndSection

 Save this file, logoff, logon, and was happily astonished 

 [Ctrl][o] #Saves contents of file.  
[Ctrl][x] #Closes file editor

 sudo reboot now

 Cheers, siggi2



 Fourth Note to Self--You REALLY Need to Read This First

On www.ubuntuforums.com,   Thread: Old hardware brought back to life

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2130640&page=11&p=13219687&viewfull=1#post13219687

It is a step-by-step guide to getting your new installation to work.  Lots of great ideas working solutions.  It helps you evaluate what Ubuntu version will work best on your system.  It may be the most important Ubuntu documentation I have ever read.  Thank you mörgæs, for this blog!

My System;

Chips; 64-bit Celeron (64-64-64-32) with SSE2 support for open source products.
Memory: 2GiB, all slots used
Graphics: nVidia Corp C73 GE Force 7050/nForce 610i rev a2

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