i got a single update a day ago . i believe it was called " messagelib " . i turned my computer off while
i was out and when i started it again i could log in to plymouth and after that kde would not run . after a few
minutes it would go back to plymouth . after another attempted login i would get x and could not do anything .
Something is amiss with your description.
Plymouth provides the splash screen during startup. But it does not provide a login. It is the DM (display manager) that provides the login. Since you are using KDE, that’s probably SDDM.
There was a recent kernel update. Maybe booting to the previous kernel works.
My guess: you have Nvidia graphics (or maybe AMD graphics), and the Nvidia drivers are causing problems.
Perhaps you can tell us something about your graphics card.
i have a nvidia 9500gt . the last time it booted the nvidia splash screen was visible for a minute .
normally i would never see it .
i booted to a previous kernel . could not get kde to work but i have icewm running now .
Are you using the nvidia drivers, or are you using the nouveau graphics drivers? (If you have not done anything to install nvidia drivers, then you are probably using nouveau drivers).
i am running nvidia drivers .
Here’s my suggestion:
First see if you can boot to the newest kernel, and still get into Icewm. If not, use the previous kernel.
Then, while running Icewm, uninstall the nvidia drivers. And then reinstall them. The chances are that this will fix your problem.
i reinstalled nvidia drivers .
i can get kde to work half of the time now .
That’s better than not working at all. But it really should work all of the time.
If, by any chance, you are running KDE under Wayland, then best not to do that.
i’m not useing wayland .
I hope someone with successful experience using Nvidia graphics can step in and help here.
After all kinds of errors , weird text on the screen , disks being unmounted and then finally i could not
turn the computer off so i had to switch off the power supply … i found a popped capacitor in the
memory voltage regulation area of the motherboard . the board is just over 10 years old .
sorry for assuming it was a software problem .
That’s probably what happened to my older computer – almost 10 years old, that started misbehaving last year.
10 years is a pretty good life for a computer. I just replaced it at that stage.
In any case, I’m glad you were able to track this down. And thanks for reporting back.
Check out badcaps.net if interested in either self- or professional repair. I’ve managed to resurrect more than half the motherboards I’ve had with bad caps. More often I’ve found caps bad in power supplies, and had better success replacing those.