[mesa] GNOME fails to start after update to 25.1.1-1

Desktop Environments Gnome
1

Dear all,

This morning, after the usual system upgrade, I experienced a system hang during boot — right before the desktop environment was supposed to start.

Using a live distro and chroot, I inspected the recent updates and noticed mesa among them:


[2025-05-22T09:36:45+0200] [ALPM] upgraded mesa (1:25.0.5-1 -> 1:25.1.1-1)

Here’s an excerpt from the boot log:


gnome-session-binary\[...] WARNING: Application 'org.gnome.Shell.desktop' failed to register before timeout
gnome-session-binary\[...] Unrecoverable failure in required component org.gnome.Shell.desktop
...
(EE) Failed to load module "intel" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) Failed to load module "nouveau" (module does not exist, 0)
...
MESA: error: ZINK: vkCreateInstance failed (VK\_ERROR\_INCOMPATIBLE\_DRIVER)

After downgrading mesa, everything worked fine again:


\[2025-05-22T14:04:28+0200] \[ALPM] downgraded mesa (1:25.1.1-1 -> 1:25.0.5-1)

The issue seems resolved for now, but I had to add mesa to my IgnorePkg list to prevent it from updating again.

Has anyone else experienced the same issue with mesa 25.1.1-1?
Is there a known fix or workaround that doesn’t involve downgrading?

Thanks in advance,
Alessio

2 Likes
2

Here on EOS with KDE falling into the same issue.
With your hints, my system is recovered by downgrading mesa, thank you!
Greetings

3

Yes…there are reports on Arch forum about this…I was just about to update this morning…until I saw this. Looking like everyone needs to hold Mesa until this gets sorted out.

4

Well I don’t have any problems in both Plasma as well as XFCE, but I use Refind to start the system, and AMD IGP maybe a Grub or Nvidia thing ?

5

I just did an upgrade including upgraded mesa (1:25.0.5-1 -> 1:25.1.1-1)
and I have NO issue booting and using gdm / gnome.

2 Likes
6

Running KDE here. I did an upgrade this morning include mesa and i have NO issues booting into my system

╰─❯ pacman -Qs mesa  
local/glu 9.0.3-2
    Mesa OpenGL utility library
local/lib32-vulkan-mesa-layers 1:25.1.1-1
    Mesa's Vulkan layers - 32-bit
local/mesa 1:25.1.1-1
    Open-source OpenGL drivers
local/mesa-utils 9.0.0-5
    Essential Mesa utilities
local/vulkan-mesa-layers 1:25.1.1-1
    Mesa's Vulkan layers
2 Likes
7

Same here, Plasma, Wayland and Nvidia Open drivers.

1 Like
8

maybe Nvidia thing…

9

Please post what video card/system you are using–will help to pin down the affected driver.

10 
$ lspci | grep 'VGA'
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] (rev 0c)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GA104 [Geforce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU] (rev a1)

Is this information sufficient? Do you have possibly a specific command to suggest?

tnx

11

That is exactly what is needed…I just upgraded my backup system first—no problem…then my daily system, again no problem…My specs>>

[dean@ASUS-Z790 Desktop]$ lspci | grep 'VGA'
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Battlemage G21 [Arc B580]

So. I’m guessing that we have an nVidia problem again… So I’m REALLY recommending nVidia users to holdpkg for a while & do a “wait & see”

1 Like
12 
[user@host ~]$ lspci | grep 'VGA'
0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation TigerLake-LP GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] (rev 01)

Here is my graphic controller listed.

1 Like
13

Interesting… So, again a update is not causing problems equally…my B580 is current gen Intel & it is working without a problem…

Waiting to see who else posts to see a pattern.

14

EOS/Cinnamon, mesa 1:25.1.1-1, Intel:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 06)

No problems.

1 Like
15

My system stopped booting and fixed it by downgrading mesa.

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation TU117M [GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile / Max-Q] (rev a1)
05:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Renoir [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series] (rev c7)
1 Like
16

Thank You!!!

17

No issues for me in EOS Xfce with AMD graphics card.

$ pacman -Qs mesa
local/glu 9.0.3-2
    Mesa OpenGL utility library
local/lib32-mesa 1:25.1.1-1
    Open-source OpenGL drivers - 32-bit
local/mesa 1:25.1.1-1
    Open-source OpenGL drivers
local/mesa-utils 9.0.0-6
    Essential Mesa utilities

$ lspci | grep 'VGA'
2f:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Navi 32 [Radeon RX 7700 XT / 7800 XT] (rev c8)

$ inxi -G
Graphics:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 32 [Radeon RX 7700 XT /
    7800 XT] driver: amdgpu v: kernel
  Device-2: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
    type: USB
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.16 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
    unloaded: modesetting,radeon dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu resolution: N/A
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: radeonsi,swrast,zink
    platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 25.1.1-arch1.1
    renderer: AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (radeonsi navi32 LLVM 19.1.7 DRM 3.61
    6.14.7-zen2-1-zen)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.313 drivers: radv surfaces: N/A
  Info: Tools: api: eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo de: xfce4-display-settings
    x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
1 Like