Can only login using XFCE not Plasma(Wayland)

Desktop Environments Plasma
1

I’ve been using EOS since I had to move from Antergos, without issue.

This issue only affects my older (see below) laptop, not my desktop PC.

Symptom: If I choose Plasma(Wayland) when I login, I just get the grub screen momentarily and then the login screen again. If I choose X11, I get a black screen; if I choose XFCE I can login OK. This happened after an update about a month or more ago. Normally these things go away with subsequent updates. I have checked a great many posts but cannot find similarities with my issue, or I followed the suggestions and they have not worked.

So, here is lspci -R:
Trying method linux-sysfs......using /sys/bus/pci...OK
Decided to use linux-sysfs
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:16.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family KT Controller (rev 04)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (Lewisville) (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev c4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev c4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation QM77 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
01:00.0 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd PCIe SDXC/MMC Host Controller (rev 04)
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6235 (rev 24)

I think the answer is here: journalctl -b | grep -EiA2 “kwin|plasma” but I don’t really understand how to correct those errors or indeed what they mean.

For the sake of completeness:
sudo dmesg -rl warn,err,crit
inxi -Fxxc0z

Thank you.

BTW: I have renamed kwinoutputconfig.json such that it doesn’t used; I have tried different nvidia drivers – no change; I have followed advice on /etc/sddm.conf.d/kde_settings.conf – no change.

2

To be perfectly honest it looks like that you have XFCE installed and from within XFCE you installed Plasma. For several reasons that is never a good idea. Either that has happened or the update did very strange things to your system.

2 Likes
3

100% Accurate. Having two or more DEs on the same install is just asking for trouble.

1 Like
4

Many thanks. There are 15 members in the xfce4 group, pacman -Qg xfce4, whereas pacman -Q | grep -E "xf" returns:

endeavouros-xfce4-terminal-colors 6-1
exfatprogs 1.2.8-1
libxfce4ui 4.20.1-1
libxfce4util 4.20.1-1
libxfce4windowing 4.20.2-2
libxfixes 6.0.1-2
libxfont2 2.0.7-1
libxft 2.3.8-2
libxxf86vm 1.1.6-1
xf86-input-libinput 1.5.0-1
xf86-input-wacom 1.2.3-1
xf86-video-nouveau 1.0.18-1
xfce4-appfinder 4.20.0-2
xfce4-battery-plugin 1.1.6-1
xfce4-datetime-plugin 0.8.3-2
xfce4-mount-plugin 1.1.7-1
xfce4-netload-plugin 1.4.2-1
xfce4-notifyd 0.9.7-1
xfce4-panel 4.20.4-1
xfce4-power-manager 4.20.0-3
xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin 0.4.9-2
xfce4-screensaver 4.18.4-2
xfce4-screenshooter 1.11.1-3
xfce4-session 4.20.2-1
xfce4-settings 4.20.1-1
xfce4-taskmanager 1.5.8-1
xfce4-terminal 1.1.5-1
xfce4-wavelan-plugin 0.6.4-1
xfce4-weather-plugin 0.11.3-1
xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin 2.9.2-2
xfce4-xkb-plugin 0.8.5-1
xfconf 4.20.0-2
xfdesktop 4.20.1-1
xfsprogs 6.13.0-1
xfwm4 4.20.0-2
xfwm4-themes 4.10.0-6

To remove xfce4 completely, I was planning to login with a CLI (without a display manager) , and remove xfdesktop and xfce4-session, using pacman -Rss <package>. Is that recommended? I really don’t want to re-install EOS.

Or do I have to uninstall everything in the above list, starting at the bottom of the dependency tree?

5

To be completely honest I think it would be way much better to start with a blank canvas, because otherwise you could be removing stuff that is used by KDE, and I am not even sure that everything you need for KDE has been installed right now. If you have some important data on your system , make a backup of the data, and start with installing KDE or Xfce.

3 Likes
6

@keescase is spot on. As I said above, having two or more DEs on the same install is just asking for trouble. But, once two DEs are installed and trying to remove remnants of one of them to keep the other is asking for even more trouble.

Your best bet is to start fresh and install EOS with the DE of your choice.

2 Likes
7

Which DE do you want to keep, XFCE or Plasma?

8

I’ll keep Plasma. I would have chosen KDE/Plasma on installation, and possibly xfce later on. I have had both for years, no problems until recently when some update or something messed it all up. To be honest I think it was when I tried the QGIS system, which started off by down-grading a lot of kde stuff. Then I uninstalled it and tried re-upgrading the down-graded stuff. Thanks for your help guys! I do a clean re-install.

9

I can concur from personal headaches that installing another DE on top of another 1 ,is bad. Even worse when trying to get rid of 2nd DE lol.
At the end I had to do a fresh install.

2 Likes
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