I can not fix the KDE 6 X11 black screen with cursor after following the forum topics

Good evening, people!

Explanation

I logged with Plasma X11 in, on KDE 6, after using Wayland for a long time. At the login, the screen always remained black, although with a cursor. I could move the cursor, but I could not run Krunner or the terminal or anything.

I need to use X11 because no GUI and terminal colour pickers work on Wayland.

I followed the following topics:

I also read the following topic:

Computer info and logs

Some questions:

  • Have you tried creating a new user login to see if the issue persists?

    • Maybe it’s a user settings issue.
  • Do you need to use KDE?

    • What features of KDE make you prefer it over others?
    • If using another DE isn’t an issue, Cinnamon comes the closest to KDE in terms of features and customisation.
  • Have you tried adding Openbox and using it together with KDE?

    • Or even separately? This would avoid most update bugs.
  • Have you tried another display manager, like LightDM (in case SDDM is having trouble connecting to a Plasma session)?

    • I use SDDM on Arch with Openbox, Cinnamon, and i3, so I know SDDM by itself is not a problem. But again, the rapid development of KDE and its components may together cause issues.

You’ve been part of this forum for a while, so you should know that KDE’s current rapid development can cause issues for anyone.

I am sure there are many Arch users that do not have this issue and use both KDE and SDDM. But I also use Ubuntu Studio with KDE and SDDM, so I know these issues are due to the rapid development over the past year.

I noted your BIOS version is dated 2018-08-07. In light of mysterious issues, it might pay to update that to at least the most recent stable release. Before considering this, please confirm it is the correct motherboard. Note also, the very latest BIOS update has “beta” mentioned in the description, so perhaps have a bit of caution about that one.

https://www.biostar-usa.com/app/en-us/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=874&data-type=DOWNLOAD

With respect to logs, it might help to have a clear log of just a failed attempt.

So a fresh reboot, followed by an attempted login to an X11 session.

Then restart (I’m not sure if you can do this cleanly or not), then run this to get the log from that previous boot with the failed X11 login:

journalctl -k -b -1 | eos-sendlog

@ddnn

I have just tested logging with my mother’s recently created account in, with Plasma X11 and the screens shows up normally. I think it turned out to be user settings. But I do not know which X users settings caused this problem, so I could deliver for you to analyse and detect the errors.

  • Yes
    • Dolphin, and its plugins and Krunner with ready conversions, commands, etc. KDE menubar with only icons, similar to Windows 10 and 11 dock, and macOS dock. Plasma plugins and widgets, like KDE Control Station. KDE Overview Effect, similar to macOS’ Mission Control.
    • I will test Cinnamon and give it a chance.
  • No, and no.
    • No.

No, I used only SDDM. I intend to use Hyprland, i3, and Sway occasionally in the future to develop the configurations and the themes with the colour palettes to share them with the public.


@Bink

I confirmed that it is the correct motherboard. I was not aware of this new update. I purchased it in 2019.

Follow the link: https://0x0.st/XISa.txt.

1 Like

Oh this is good progress. Good suggestion @ddnn :+1:

Perhaps:

  • Backup your user folder to somewhere safe.
  • Create a temporary admin account.
  • From your temporary account, delete your normal user account and create it fresh (use same username).
  • Selectively restore just what you need from your backup to your fresh user account.
1 Like

Can I rename the user folder as a backup? In my user folder, I have a bigger stuff.

I am apprehensive. I can not copy my backed up GNOME, KDE and X user settings to my new user folder as it can break the desktop environment. I have to set manually with the GUI settings.

As I said that, I intend to develop the settings and the themes for each desktop environment, each display manager, each session type, to share them with the public, like the owner of Dracula did and does. However, I fear I can break the desktop environment as the example of black screen. Any tips?

Can Bash or Shell Script or ZSH script files also break the desktop environment, for example, black screen, and login loop?

Yes, you don’t actually have to copy the folder. But the reasons for the suggestion is to eventually replace the user completely (by reusing the same username), and because some of your current user settings will point to a specific username. If the username no longer exists, you will either get errors or have to set things up from scratch. Either method works in the long run.

As was said before, selectively copy the settings you NEED, and only those.


When developing, it’s usually better to isolate. So, it’s maybe a blessing in disguise that you ran into this issue. I’d suggest making a user account which is just for editing and testing settings, and another for both testing and daily usage.

As for scripts, yes, they can break things or make things better. It depends on what they are being applied to.

Lastly, if you are using both Gnome and KDE on the same installation, that’s often a bad idea, and even worse if it’s the same user. Their respective settings managers are usually the reason for this. When using something like Hyprland or i3, these issues don’t exist because they don’t have full settings managers (none, actually).

2 Likes

@ddnn, I will create the new accounts:

  • Gustavo Papi [KDE and Daily] – gus
  • Gustavo Papi [GNOME and Daily] – gus_gnome
  • Gustavo Papi [KDE and Testing] – gus_testing
  • Gustavo Papi [GNOME and Testing] – gus_gnome_testing

Does it sound good for you?

When I complete the scripts and dotfiles building, can I share the script for you to analyse, and appoint the errors that can break GNOME and KDE?

  • Can I switch GNOME, Hyprland, i3 and Sway with the same account?
  • Can I switch KDE, Hyprland, i3 and Sway with the same account?

And can I switch between the desktop environments Budgie, Cinnamon, Cosmic, Enlightenment, LXDE, LXQt, MATE, Phosh, Pantheon, and XFCE with the same account?

And between the windows managers 2bwm, awesome, bspwm, dwm, FrankenWM, Herbstluftwm, LeftWM, QTile, and spectrwm?

I will not develop for Cutefish OS, Deepin and UKUI, as they do not allow the customisation and the theming.

Even with different user accounts, it’s generally not a good idea to have more than one full DE on the same system. In this case, it would be better to use a VM (virtual machine).
However, using different accounts does mitigate the possibility of issues/conflicts.

In this case, I wouldn’t be useful if the scripts are specific to Gnome or KDE, since I don’t use either one on Arch.

Yes, these two sets are fine.

Except for LXQt, these MAY be fine as they are all GTK-based, but still not recommended. Remember that the issue is conflicting Settings Managers, not just Qt vs GTK.

From my testing, this SHOULD be completely fine. That said, I’ve never used, and probably won’t ever use 2bwm and FrankenWM. And apart from Bspwm and Spectrwm, I didn’t like the rest enough to continue using them, so not more than a week’s experience with most.