Black screen with working mouse and BSPWM 'working' but can't see it at all

General system Newbie
1

I asked a question about this last year but decided then to just put up with it but its now getting intolerable so I wanted to finally sort this out and hopefully that might help someone else in my position in the future.

I have two kernels installed on my machine - the LTS and non LTS. I always default to the non LTS version and most of the time, it worked find but around 1 in 20 boots I would find that I would turn my machine on and I would be greeted with a black screen where I should be seeing BSPWM. Usually it was ok as I would reboot and run the LTS kernel and it would work fine.

Now since I have updated my machine (I do it every few months) I get the black screen every time on both kernels 99% of the time and I have to keep rebooting until the desktop shows again so its almost unusable at the moment.

Symptoms:

  • Black screen with working mouse
  • BSPWM is running as I can use mod+enter to open a terminal, the mouse changes and I can type as normal but I can’t see anything
  • Wallpaper isn’t visible
  • Polybar is not visible
  • If I type sudo pkill Xorg, I get taken to the login screen and can actually see that but when I log back in, im blind again.

Pressing Ctrl-Alt-F4 brings up TTY and I can control my computer that way. I used that to install AwesomeWM and I3wm and I can log in using those but the terminal doesn’t seem to be using any of my configuration from my .zshrc

When I type startx from TTY I can see a wallpaper but not Polybar and a terminal can be seen but in its default, non config setting. If I run something like a browser a window shows up but it looks awful, like the GPU can’t render it.

Machine Specs:

  • Dell XPS 7590
  • Intel UHD graphics 630 - built in GPU
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 mobile

I am actually typing this out now from a working BSPWM reboot with my laptop working as it should but I know if I restart I will be back to a black screen again. Its very strange. Sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn’t now.

I wonder if its a GPU issue but I don’t have a solid reason to think that. Is it possible to ‘switch’ between the cards or ask the system which one is in use?

I’m sorry for the wall of text about this, please let me know if you need me to explain in more detail about the issues :+1:

2

I just looked up how to check which GPU is in use and running:

glxinfo|egrep "OpenGL vendor|OpenGL renderer"

in my machine shows:

OpenGL vendor string: Intel OpenGL renderer string: Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)

Just in case that helps someone in a similar position as me.

3

I’m not sure I understand this correctly. Do you mean to say that everything would return to normal at some point if you keep rebooting?

What mechanism do you use to set your wallpaper? feh? I assume you aren’t using any Desktop Environment, just a window manager.

What if you launch polybar directly from the terminal? Does it launch? If it doesn’t, what error messages does it display?

If polybar launches fine from the terminal, it is possible that bspwm was not launched with your custom configurations at ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc(the file where you put the code to launch start up applications, set your wallpaper, define your key-bindings, etc.) and was instead launched with the default configs somewhere inside the /etc/ directory.

Post the contents of your .xinitrc

Once every few months? Please don’t take this the wrong way, but are you sure you should be using an Arch-based distro at all?

In any case, make sure you follow the instructions in bwpsm’s wiki to properly configure your window manager.

Your ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc needs to be executable, so if it isn’t, then chmod +x ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc

Update:

While you’re at it, you might as well also post the contents of your ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc

4

Yes exactly. The black screen used to be rare but now its almost every reboot. When it boots correctly with BSPWM/Polybar its completely fine.

Yes, just BSPWM. I installed I3 and Awesome through TTY and they ‘work’ in that I can see things but the terminal is completely default.

I have tried that and nothing appears. Its possible that there could be errors but I can’t see them. I know BSPWM is working in the background though because I can open a terminal and type something like shutdown now and it works.

Here is the xinitrc from /etc/X11/xinit: (I don’t have one in my home directory)

#!/bin/sh

userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
sysresources=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xresources
sysmodmap=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap

# merge in defaults and keymaps

if [ -f $sysresources ]; then







    xrdb -merge $sysresources

fi

if [ -f $sysmodmap ]; then
    xmodmap $sysmodmap
fi

if [ -f "$userresources" ]; then







    xrdb -merge "$userresources"

fi

if [ -f "$usermodmap" ]; then
    xmodmap "$usermodmap"
fi

# start some nice programs

if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ] ; then
 for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/?*.sh ; do
  [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
 done
 unset f
fi

twm &
xclock -geometry 50x50-1+1 &
xterm -geometry 80x50+494+51 &
xterm -geometry 80x20+494-0 &
exec xterm -geometry 80x66+0+0 -name login

No, you’re right - I really should be more careful. I have two machines - a desktop that I update nearly every day and my laptop(the one with this issue) that I only use for an hour or so every other day or so hence it not being that up to date.

Thank you for taking the time to help me out, I really appreciate it :+1:

5

BSPWM config:

#! /bin/sh

pgrep -x sxhkd > /dev/null || sxhkd &

bspc monitor -d I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X

bspc config border_width         2
bspc config window_gap          12

bspc config split_ratio          0.52
bspc config borderless_monocle   true
bspc config gapless_monocle      true
bspc config pointer_follows_focus true
bspc config focus_follows_pointer true

bspc rule -a Gimp desktop='^8' state=floating follow=on
bspc rule -a Chromium desktop='^2'
bspc rule -a firefox desktop='^2'
bspc rule -a mplayer2 state=floating
bspc rule -a Yad state=floating
bspc rule -a Kupfer.py focus=on
bspc rule -a Screenkey manage=off
bspc rule -a hl  state = floating
bspc rule -a RenderLib  state = floating
bspc rule -a app  state = floating
bspc rule -a "lime test hl"  state = floating
bspc rule -a Rogue  state = floating


# Border
#bspc config focused_border_color        "#6c71c4"
bspc config focused_border_color        "#5E81AC"
bspc config normal_border_color         "#073642"
bspc config active_border_color         "#073642"

#
# Autostart
#
# Set display from arandr saved script
sh ~/.screenlayout/monitor.sh &
# Bar
~/.config/polybar/launch.sh &
# Notifications
/usr/bin/dunst &
# Polkit
/usr/lib/polkit-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 &
# Wallpaper
nitrogen --restore &
# Dex
dex -a -s /etc/xdg/autostart/:~/.config/autostart/  
# Picom
picom -CGb &
# Network Applet
nm-applet --indicator &

# Cursor
xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr &

# Low battery notifier
~/.config/bspwm/scripts/low_bat_notifier.sh
6

@anthony93 is correct - if you can get a terminal up, the fault is in your .bspwmrc. You need to bisect it and try and find the problem. What are you using to set the wallpaper??

:edit:
open a terminal and run:

nitrogen --restore &

Any messages?

7

I saw in your bspwmrc that polybar is launched via a shell script. Run that launch.sh script in your terminal and see what happens. My conjecture is that that shell script failed to do its job somehow. It might be helpful to post the contents of that shell script.

Another conjecture regarding the missing wallpaper. I’m not entirely sure how nitrogen works, but judging from the --restore flag, I’m guessing the actual wallpaper file is cached somewhere so that it can be reloaded upon subsequent sessions. That cached image could be missing, maybe that’s why the wallpaper wasn’t loaded. Another possiblity is like @xircon suggested. The command nitrogen --restore & failed, in which case it would help to know the error messages to know exactly what went wrong.

If you want, you can try to set your wallpaper with feh to see if it works.

1 Like
8

Here is the contents of the shell script in .config/polybar/:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Terminate already running bar instances
killall -q polybar

# Wait until the processes have been shut down
while pgrep -u $UID -x polybar >/dev/null; do sleep 1; done

# Launch Polybar
polybar top -c ~/.config/polybar/config.ini &

.config/nitrogen/bg-saved.cfg:

[xin_-1]
file=/usr/share/endeavouros/backgrounds/endeavouros-wallpaper.png
mode=5
bgcolor=#000000

.config/nitrogen/nitrogen.cfg

[geometry]
posx=1004
posy=41
sizex=460
sizey=524

[nitrogen]
view=icon
recurse=true
sort=alpha
icon_caps=false
dirs=/usr/share/endeavouros/backgrounds/;

Nitrogen wise, everything seems normal. I have checked that the files are there in /usr/share/endeavouros/backgrounds and they are.

I have looked up nitrogen logs errors and I can’t seem to find any.

Nothing visibly happens. It maybe happening but I can’t see anything to veryify it. Its strange because its definately working in some form because if I use mod+enter to open a terminal, the mouse moves to the new ‘active’ window and typing works.

I have noticed that sometimes if I run sudo pkill Xorg to look out from the black screen then for a brief second the black screen disappears and I can see the wallpaper for a split second before seeing the login screen. The login screen always works by the way.

Weirdly, I’m replying to you from one of the ‘successful’ reboots

I have notice sometimes there are visual graphical errors on the screen. Might be unrelated but I will post a picture in the next reply.

9

Here is an example of the graphical issue I mentioned:

IMG_20240125_142144
IMG_20240125_1421441920×1440 69.9 KB

Also maybe unrelated but after typing things into the ‘blind’ black screen, TTY had these errors:

IMG_20240125_141431
IMG_20240125_1414314160×3120 739 KB

I couldn’t screenshot this I’m afraid, I had to use my camera.

10

I dont get any visible error messages but thats the thing, they maybe there but I cant see them. All I can see is the mouse (which I can move) and I can open a terminal using mod+enter and the mouse moves focus to the new window. I can type but I cant see anything that was pressed :confused:

11

Is it possible to do a ‘factory reset’ of Endeavouros? Completely reinstall the OS without a live USB. A fresh start might be helpful.

12

You could try and get it working using, say, xfce4 or budgie. Get into a tty (Ctrl+Alt+F3…9 pick one). Install:

sudo pacman -S xfce4 <or budgie>

Wait till it finishes and reboot and select in Desktop Manager.

13

Since you didn’t define your own .xinitrc, using startx will not launch BSPWM because the default /etc/X11/xinit will be used and there is no exec bspwm line inside that file.

On that note, how do you typically start your X server? Are you using a display manager like sddm or lightdm?

14

I have copied xinitrc from the default location to /home/.xinitrc and just added exec bspwm to the bottom of it. I restarted but it didn’t do anything different and I still get the black screen.

I’m using lightdm. Actually most of the settings are the default EndeavourOS settings ‘out of the box’. I have only really changed cosmetic things like the colors of polybar for example.

I have also tried running startx & bspwm from tty. What happens then is I get to a desktop and 3 default windows of xterm are on the screen. I either use Kitty or Wezterm so its almost as if an init file isn’t being called.

Again though, on some startups its 100% fine so its a tough one to work out.

15

Thanks for this. I have installed budgie and that appears to work which is good because it means that my laptop is at least usable when I need it :+1:

16

If you are using a display manager like lightdm, chances are that .xinitrc isn’t involved in starting your X server at all. .xinitrc is only sourced when you launch X server manually with startx.

This is exactly what the code inside /etc/X11/xinit does when you ran startx. In other words, when you use startx, /etc/X11/xinit was read. This could be due to the fact that you didn’t place the .xinitrc file in the correct location.

This is not the correct location. The file needs to be inside your home directory.

That’s because when you are using lightdm, .xinitrc won’t be sourced at all. If I’m not mistaken, it is .xprofile that will be sourced.

1 Like
17

seem be little mess … have zero idea your think on install DE + 2 x wm + bspwm ( mind boggle )

if me… 1st i disable ldm

edit .xinitrc you make … (~/.xinitrc)

( remove 5 lines )

twm &
xclock -geometry 50x50-1+1 &
xterm -geometry 80x50+494+51 &
xterm -geometry 80x20+494-0 &
exec xterm -geometry 80x66+0+0 -name login

(replace with )

exec bspwm

(#out )dex + picom line in bspwmrc. ( + monitor.sh )

reboot

sign in from tty

startx ( if you set up bspwm + sxhkd correct ) thing be ok

(get bspwm + key binds work 1st!! then if need fix wallpaper + polybar after)

That what i would do … ( try at own risk )

EDit … all good read below

" https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xinit "

cp /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc ~/.xinitrc

“https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Bspwm”
“https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Sxhkd”

3 Likes
18

I’m sorry, when I wrote that I meant $HOME/.xinitrc - I should have paid more attention to it :man_facepalming:

Thank you for explaining to me how the process works with lightdm and xinit - I didn’t realize they worked that way and am a bit of a noob with that process.

Interestingly, I tried suggestions from @Shjim - I disabled lines these from .xinitrc:

twm &
xclock -geometry 50x50-1+1 &
xterm -geometry 80x50+494+51 &
xterm -geometry 80x20+494-0 &
exec xterm -geometry 80x66+0+0 -name login

along with dex and picom from the bspwm config and I can now login and see things consistently so the laptop is in a ‘workable/usable’ state so that I can debug things. I suspect the issue is GPU related because if I use xterm then that works as normal but if I use kitty or wezterm (both use GPU accelerated) then a window appears but the screen is black. The Falkon browser also doesn’t render at all but Firefox works fine (I haven’t tried a video yet though).

Additionally, when I try to run games that I have been developing I get no output but streams of nouveau errors.

I think there was something that changed for my in the linux 6.7 kernel because linux 6.6 didn’t have the issues.

I will start a fresh thread about the graphics issue and link to this post from there

19

Thank you for your suggestions - I followed them and now I can see actually see things on my laptop. Its not perfect but I am now actually able to try and work out what is going wrong with my machine.

20

It might be worth it to try the LTS kernel. If you are a noob like me, you can run akm from the welcome screen and install it and then just reboot and select it to boot into.

2 Likes