PLASMA shows black screen only

[checkfrogger]

Hi folks,

I am running openSUSE Leap 15.1 (Linux localhost 4.12.14-lp151.28.32-default #1 SMP Wed Nov 13 07:50:15 UTC 2019 (6e1aaad) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux).
When I log in, PLASMA only shows a black desktop, no task bar or anything. I can run applications using Alt+F2, but the whole plasma environment is missing.
Any ideas?

Thanks

[mrmazda]

Is this a fresh installation which you have not yet updated? Are you able to launch an IceWM session instead successfully?

[unix111]

Do you see a mouse pointer? What color & shape? Can you move the pointer?

Does right-clicking anywhere on the black screen show the Desktop context menu? (»Open with Dolphin«, »Configure Desktop« etc)

Maybe it has to do with a missing desktop image, or with those newfangled »Activities…« I’ve never used, or with a KDE widget/plasmoid like Weather waiting for a network connection?

Maybe the compositing doen’t work correctly with your video driver? (systemsettings5 → Display and Monitor → Compositor; try disabling it.)

[checkfrogger]

Is this a fresh installation which you have not yet updated? Are you able to launch an IceWM session instead successfully?

Yes, actually, I encountered the problem and decided to try a fresh installation. So I did a system upgrade (conserving my home directory), updated all packages - and ended up with the same situation.
And yes, IceWM works. It seems to be KDE/Plasma problem.

[checkfrogger]

Do you see a mouse pointer? What color & shape? Can you move the pointer?

Does right-clicking anywhere on the black screen show the Desktop context menu? (»Open with Dolphin«, »Configure Desktop« etc)

Maybe it has to do with a missing desktop image, or with those newfangled »Activities…« I’ve never used, or with a KDE widget/plasmoid like Weather waiting for a network connection?

Maybe the compositing doen’t work correctly with your video driver? (systemsettings5 → Display and Monitor → Compositor; try disabling it.)

Yes, I see a normal mouse pointer (white standard pointer). I can also move it normally and the background is completely black. As soon as I return home, I will check the Compositor setting. One interesting thing to note is that it suddenly happened without changing any settings.

[susejunky]

... So I did a system upgrade (conserving my home directory),

and thereby conserving all your old (potentially faulty) Plasma-settings.

Does the problem occur with a newly created user as well?

Regards

susejunky

[checkfrogger]

Do you see a mouse pointer? What color & shape? Can you move the pointer?

Does right-clicking anywhere on the black screen show the Desktop context menu? (»Open with Dolphin«, »Configure Desktop« etc)

Maybe it has to do with a missing desktop image, or with those newfangled »Activities…« I’ve never used, or with a KDE widget/plasmoid like Weather waiting for a network connection?

Maybe the compositing doen’t work correctly with your video driver? (systemsettings5 → Display and Monitor → Compositor; try disabling it.)

Meanwhile, I checked this: the context menu is not shown.
I also disabled Compositor now. Now it shows the standard background, but still no taskbar and no functionality...

[checkfrogger]

and thereby conserving all your old (potentially faulty) Plasma-settings.

Does the problem occur with a newly created user as well?

Regards

susejunky

Yes, I was aware of the risk to conserve faulty settings - but I wanted to keep all my data safe...
Anyway, I now created a new user - and see exactly the same behavior...
Any ideas? Thank you very much for any hints...

[susejunky]

Yes, I was aware of the risk to conserve faulty settings - but I wanted to keep all my data safe...

That's fine but it is necessary to figure out whether the problem is caused by some settings of the individual user or is a more fundamental one.

... Anyway, I now created a new user - and see exactly the same behavior...
Any ideas? Thank you very much for any hints...

So to me this looks like a more fundamental problem.

Could you please use

# zypper lr -uEP

to produce a list of your current repositories and show the result here.

What does

# journalctl -b 0 -p 4

report?

Regards

susejunky

[checkfrogger]

Thanks for you help. Here are the outputs:

chris@localhost:~$ zypper lr -uEP
#  | Alias               | Name                        | Enabled | GPG Check | Refresh | Priority | URI                                                              
---+---------------------+-----------------------------+---------+-----------+---------+----------+------------------------------------------------------------------
 6 | repo-non-oss        | Non-OSS Repository          | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes     |   99     | http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/leap/15.1/repo/non-oss/
 7 | repo-oss            | Main Repository             | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes     |   99     | http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/leap/15.1/repo/oss/    
10 | repo-update         | Main Update Repository      | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes     |   99     | http://download.opensuse.org/update/leap/15.1/oss/               
11 | repo-update-non-oss | Update Repository (Non-Oss) | Yes     | (r ) Yes  | Yes     |   99     | http://download.opensuse.org/update/leap/15.1/non-oss/

chris@localhost:~$ journalctl -b 0 -p 4
Hint: You are currently not seeing messages from other users and the system.
      Users in the 'systemd-journal' group can see all messages. Pass -q toturn off this notice.
-- Logs begin at Fri 2018-01-12 08:39:29 CET, end at Sat 2019-11-30 16:01:47 CET. --
Nov 30 15:59:17 localhost klauncher[1986]: Connecting to deprecated signal QDBusConnectionInterface::serviceOwnerChanged(QString,QString,QString)
Nov 30 15:59:17 localhost kdeinit5[1989]: org.kde.wacomtablet.common: d->name.isEmpty? true
Nov 30 15:59:17 localhost kdeinit5[1989]: org.kde.wacomtablet.common: d->name.isEmpty? true
Nov 30 15:59:17 localhost ksmserver[2055]: Qt: Session management error: networkIdsList argument is NULL
Nov 30 15:59:17 localhost kdeinit5[1989]: QDBusConnection: name 'org.kde.kglobalaccel' had owner '' but we thought it was ':1.10'
Nov 30 15:59:17 localhost polkit-kde-authentication-agent-1[2161]: kf5.kcoreaddons.kaboutdata: Could not initialize the equivalent properties of Q*Application: no instance (yet) existing.
Nov 30 15:59:17 localhost kdeinit5[1989]: kscreen.kded: PowerDevil SuspendSession action not available!
Nov 30 15:59:18 localhost org_kde_powerdevil[2263]: QDBusArgument: read from a write-only object
Nov 30 15:59:18 localhost org_kde_powerdevil[2263]: QDBusArgument: read from a write-only object
Nov 30 15:59:18 localhost org_kde_powerdevil[2263]: QDBusArgument: read from a write-only object
Nov 30 15:59:18 localhost plasmashell[2159]: Aborting shell load: The activity manager daemon (kactivitymanagerd) is not running.
Nov 30 15:59:18 localhost plasmashell[2159]: If this Plasma has been installed into a custom prefix, verify that its D-Bus services dir is known to the system for the daemon to be activata>
Nov 30 15:59:18 localhost pulseaudio[2254]: [pulseaudio] module.c: module-combine is deprecated: Please use module-combine-sink instead of module-combine!
Nov 30 15:59:18 localhost pulseaudio[2254]: [pulseaudio] module-combine.c: We will now load module-combine-sink. Please make sure to remove module-combine from your configuration.
Nov 30 15:59:18 localhost pulseaudio[2254]: [pulseaudio] backend-ofono.c: Failed to register as a handsfree audio agent with ofono: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.>
Nov 30 15:59:18 localhost org_kde_powerdevil[2263]: powerdevil: No outputs have backlight property
Nov 30 15:59:18 localhost org_kde_powerdevil[2263]: powerdevil: Xrandr not supported, trying ddc, helper
Nov 30 15:59:18 localhost /hp-systray[2275]: hp-systray[2275]: error: option -s not recognized
Nov 30 15:59:18 localhost org_kde_powerdevil[2263]: powerdevil: Handle button events action could not check for screen configuration
Nov 30 15:59:18 localhost plasmashell[2159]: Warning: all files used by qml by the plasmoid should be in ui/. The file in the path "file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontai>
Nov 30 15:59:18 localhost plasmashell[2159]: Warning: all files used by qml by the plasmoid should be in ui/. The file in the path "file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontai>
Nov 30 15:59:19 localhost plasmashell[2159]: trying to show an empty dialog
Nov 30 15:59:19 localhost plasmashell[2159]: file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontainment/contents/ui/FolderItemDelegate.qml:302:17: QML Text: Binding loop detected for pr>
Nov 30 15:59:19 localhost plasmashell[2159]: file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontainment/contents/ui/FolderItemDelegate.qml:302:17: QML Text: Binding loop detected for pr>
Nov 30 15:59:19 localhost plasmashell[2159]: file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontainment/contents/ui/FolderItemDelegate.qml:302:17: QML Text: Binding loop detected for pr>
Nov 30 15:59:19 localhost plasmashell[2159]: file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontainment/contents/ui/FolderItemDelegate.qml:302:17: QML Text: Binding loop detected for pr>
Nov 30 15:59:19 localhost plasmashell[2159]: file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontainment/contents/ui/FolderItemDelegate.qml:302:17: QML Text: Binding loop detected for pr>
Nov 30 15:59:19 localhost plasmashell[2159]: file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontainment/contents/ui/FolderItemDelegate.qml:302:17: QML Text: Binding loop detected for pr>
Nov 30 15:59:19 localhost plasmashell[2159]: file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontainment/contents/ui/FolderItemDelegate.qml:302:17: QML Text: Binding loop detected for pr>
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost plasmashell[2159]: file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontainment/contents/ui/FolderItemDelegate.qml:302:17: QML Text: Binding loop detected for pr>
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost plasmashell[2159]: file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontainment/contents/ui/FolderItemDelegate.qml:302:17: QML Text: Binding loop detected for pr>
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost plasmashell[2159]: file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontainment/contents/ui/FolderItemDelegate.qml:302:17: QML Text: Binding loop detected for pr>
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost plasmashell[2159]: Connecting to deprecated signal QDBusConnectionInterface::serviceOwnerChanged(QString,QString,QString)
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost plasmashell[2159]: Trying to use rootObject before initialization is completed, whilst using setInitializationDelayed. Forcing completion
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost plasmashell[2159]: Both point size and pixel size set. Using pixel size.
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost plasmashell[2159]: Both point size and pixel size set. Using pixel size.
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost plasmashell[2159]: Both point size and pixel size set. Using pixel size.
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost kwin_x11[2126]: qt.qpa.xcb: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 943, resource id: 14680068, major code: 18 (ChangeProperty), minor code: 0
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost plasmashell[2159]: trying to show an empty dialog
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost kdeinit5[1989]: kf5.kded: found kded module "touchpad" by prepending 'kded_' to the library path, please fix your metadata.
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost plasmashell[2159]: Warning: all files used by qml by the plasmoid should be in ui/. The file in the path "file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.panel/content>
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost plasmashell[2159]: trying to show an empty dialog
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost kdeinit5[1989]: QDBusAbstractAdaptor: Cannot relay signal KDEDModule::moduleDeleted(KDEDModule*): Pointers are not supported: KDEDModule*
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost kdeinit5[1989]: org.kde.bluez: GetManagerJob Error: "Cannot find org.bluez.Media1 object!"
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost /hp-systray[2338]: hp-systray(qt5)[2338]: warning: value_int() Failed to convert data[1427397675.51712]:invalid literal for int() with base 10: '1427397675.51712'
Nov 30 15:59:20 localhost plasmashell[2159]: Warning: all files used by qml by the plasmoid should be in ui/. The file in the path "file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.plasma.notifi>
Nov 30 15:59:21 localhost /hp-upgrade[2356]: hp-upgrade[2356]: error: HPLIP upgrade is disabled by openSUSE for security reasons, see https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=853405 - i>
Nov 30 15:59:21 localhost kwin_x11[2126]: qt.qpa.xcb: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 1016, resource id: 6291487, major code: 18 (ChangeProperty), minor code: 0
Nov 30 15:59:22 localhost plasmashell[2367]: Aborting shell load: The activity manager daemon (kactivitymanagerd) is not running.
Nov 30 15:59:22 localhost plasmashell[2367]: If this Plasma has been installed into a custom prefix, verify that its D-Bus services dir is known to the system for the daemon to be activata>
Nov 30 15:59:22 localhost plasmashell[2367]: Warning: all files used by qml by the plasmoid should be in ui/. The file in the path "file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontai>
Nov 30 15:59:22 localhost plasmashell[2367]: Warning: all files used by qml by the plasmoid should be in ui/. The file in the path "file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.desktopcontai>
Nov 30 15:59:22 localhost plasmashell[2367]: trying to show an empty dialog