Blank screen + mouse cursor after changing desktop setting

Hey all, I’m new to Linux but openSUSE is the first distro I’ve really felt comfortable with and I’m really starting to transition away from Windows.

Sorry if this issue appears in another thread. I’m not sure how to describe it in a search query.

I used KDE to change a certain setting under “configure desktop” (I think) that had to do with desktop effects, or something like that, and after applying the setting, the screen went blank except the mouse cursor and after a reboot the same condition exists.

I think I might have changed a setting that is incompatible with my hardware or something.

Sorry I can’t remember exactly what the setting was.

Does this ring a bell for anyone? Can I boot to a command prompt shell and edit a file to reverse this setting?

Thanks in advance!

I’ve had the exact same problem. You haven’t set up your gfx driver correctly. I don’t know of how to switch the ‘Desktop Effects’ setting back off (I searched for that for a little while) so what you’re going to have to do is remove ~/.kde4
What I suggest is this, go into a console and type:

mv ~/.kde4 ~/.kde4-backup

Then logout and re-login to KDE. This will force KDE to recreate .kde4 and won’t include Desktop Effects. You’ll lose all of your customization (all the KDE settings will go back to default) but so far I don’t know of a better way. This is why I’m recommending you just rename the folder rather than delete it. Someone might come along and give you better advice! :slight_smile:

Note: if you had any torrents downloading, you can still find them in ~/.kde4-backup/share/apps/ktorrent (if you used KTorrent) Just copy that back over to your .kde4 folder and you’ll be fine.

Thanks, that worked great!

You’re welcome :slight_smile: