Suse 12.2: KDE is black on boot

skytter13 · February 3, 2013, 11:20pm

Hi all, need advice what to do. (Google was not of big help …)

I’m not an expert on linux, so if possible give step-by-step hints.

Just made a new install of Suse 12.2 with KDE 4.8.5. The installation went smooth as usual, loaded the kde nicely.
BUT after reboot the problem started: the OS loads, comes to the user selection screen without problems; after the KDE splash screen is displayed with 5 icons on green background - and that’s it (nothing more). If I then click anywhere it does to BLACK screen with mouse pointer. No desktop.

I’ve tried loading under root, it worked also ONLY for the first time. After that it behaves the same way (black screen with mouse pointer in the middle).

What I’ve tried so far:

booting with “nomodeset”, failsafe - same result
installed nVidia repo - from it latest drivers - run nvidia-xconfig - same result

at this stage Google became useless for advice ((

Looking forward for any hints/advice.

ratzi · February 4, 2013, 12:33am

Hi,

please tell a bit more about your PC.

Which hardware (well, you seem to use nvidia graphics, but otherwise)?
Is it a dual boot (e.g. with Windows)?

Did you install from live CD or DVD?

Did you ever try to boot from a live CD (instead of the openSUSE installed on HDD)?

Good luck

skytter13 · February 4, 2013, 12:52am

Hi, sorry forgot to mention this ((

i have this trouble on the following system:
icore7, 16 gb ram, 3hdd+ssd, nvidia gtx660ti

i was installing from a DVD 64bit version, it has a dual boot (windows) but no issues here. ei I can get into the init 3 mode on the current install, it seems that it just the X (or KDE) is a problem. But as I’ll consider myself a dummy with such issues - not sure. (the same config I use on the notebook, it it works fine there …, so I’m completely lost)

Have not tried from a live CD

One more thing, as I’ve installed “/” on ssd, I’ve added “noatime, discard” to /etc/fstab. Other than that it was a straightforward install.

ratzi · February 4, 2013, 1:47am

Hi skytter13,

I see your reasons.

But not every SSD seems to need the “discard” option.

And to have a running installation would be a nice thing to start from,
i.e. doing optimizations afterwards will probably be easier.

What if you install without adding any options to /etc/fstab (like “noatime, discard”) ?

Of course you will probably still need to tell the installer where to put “/” (i.e. on your SSD)

But do a plain installation otherwise, without any whistles and bells …

Still the same result?

Good luck

skytter13 · February 4, 2013, 1:57am

Thanks Ratzi

Will have a try, however personally see no connection with graphics problem.
The original install was without any extra keys, just added them to fstab on the first session (will also have a try to remove them)

How it is possible to check which ones “need” ?

ratzi · February 4, 2013, 3:58pm

Hi skytter13,

Have a look again at your first posting in this thread:

But it worked.
Which means that e.g. the graphics driver did its job, and that e.g. X is running.

To me this doesn’t look like a ‘graphics problem’, whatever you mean with this term.

Even to display a mouse pointer, the system needs graphics …
Otherwise you might see a completely black screen without mouse pointer,
or you might see some funny pattern.

… making it unlikely that there is a problem with the graphics driver.

That’s why I asked you for a clean install without bells and whistles (i.e. without extras).

Besides, did you use the same installation source as for your notebook?
Or if not, did you run ‘check installation media’ for your installer DVD ?

Good luck
Mike

skytter13 · February 4, 2013, 5:07pm

Thanks Ratzi,

just a quick update: made a new install (same dvd as for the notebook, media check fine), but have forgotten to format /home and had a clean install of “/”

this time the KDE went black even on the first boot. (so to my naive understanding, there is something wrong in the /home directory, left from the first install, probably in .kde)

will make a new attempt to install with formating also /home

So far other question, now for the install I consider ssd as a normal hhd, what should change after install (fortunately will work)? You’ve mentioned that “discard” option might be wrong, any further comment, please?

skytter13 · February 4, 2013, 6:32pm

Ok, after the clean install everything works so far. Not sure what was the trick, done exactly the same. The only changes: use the default theme for the kde. Will make change to it and write back on the status.

Still question on the ssd optimization.

Thanks Ratzi for support (at least morale )

skytter13 · February 4, 2013, 7:02pm

ok, seems the problem is found in my case …

if any of the “cosmetic” setting are changed from the defaults in KDE - then it cannot load (it comes to the green screen with 5 icons, and that’s it). So I’m still testing what might be the walk-around (just having Root at defaults).

any suggestions are welcome, in fstab for “/” on ssd i have a “discard” option - could this be a problem?

skytter13 · February 4, 2013, 9:40pm

the final status:
problem is somewhere within KDE /home/.kde4 directory

after the first login with defauts into KDE under any user other than “root” the next login fails. Removing /home/user/.kde4 directory will allow to login again with normal GUI but again only one time.

which brings me to idea there is something wrong with the settings written to /home/user/.kde4 or there is problem with access.

As I run with ssd+hdd, below are the “fstab” and “df” listings, may be there is something wrong there. Please help, I’ve already twisted my mind trying to solve this …

df:     sdb=ssd
============
Filesystem     1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
rootfs          16946044   7254660   8830560  46% /
devtmpfs         8194540        52   8194488   1% /dev
tmpfs            8203324        76   8203248   1% /dev/shm
tmpfs            8203324       820   8202504   1% /run
/dev/sdb3       16946044   7254660   8830560  46% /
tmpfs            8203324         0   8203324   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs            8203324       820   8202504   1% /var/lock
tmpfs            8203324         0   8203324   0% /media
tmpfs            8203324       820   8202504   1% /var/run
none             4194304       360   4193944   1% /tmp
/dev/sdb2       99898756  28169776  71728980  29% /WinC
/dev/sda2      511896572  49289744 462606828  10% /WinE
/dev/sdd2      226235360 201981288  24254072  90% /oldMisc
/dev/sdc1      240362656  90815320 137337536  40% /oldData
/dev/sda8      258025860    191576 244727340   1% /data
/dev/sdd1      258033560 196445312  48480820  81% /oldWork
/dev/sda3      511999996 181323364 330676632  36% /WinD
/dev/sda6      103210272    396532 101765188   1% /home
/dev/sda5         200307     44699    145266  24% /boot
/dev/sda9      543155928    202448 515362672   1% /work

 /etc/fstab
===============
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST2000DM001-1CH164_Z1E1TX34-part7 swap                 swap       defaults              0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Samsung_SSD_840_Series_S14CNEACA23217N-part3 /                    ext4       acl,user_xattr,noatime,discard 1 1
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Samsung_SSD_840_Series_S14CNEACA23217N-part2 /WinC                ntfs-3g    users,gid=users,fmask=133,dmask=022,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST2000DM001-1CH164_Z1E1TX34-part3 /WinD                ntfs-3g    users,gid=users,fmask=133,dmask=022,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST2000DM001-1CH164_Z1E1TX34-part2 /WinE                ntfs-3g    users,gid=users,fmask=133,dmask=022,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST2000DM001-1CH164_Z1E1TX34-part5 /boot                ext4       acl,user_xattr        1 2
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST2000DM001-1CH164_Z1E1TX34-part8 /data                ext4       acl,user_xattr        1 2
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST2000DM001-1CH164_Z1E1TX34-part6 /home                ext4       acl,user_xattr        1 2
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3250820AS_6QE1H910-part1 /oldData             ext3       defaults              1 2
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAVS-00ZTB0_WD-WCASU4817522-part2 /oldMisc             ntfs-3g    users,gid=users,fmask=133,dmask=022,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAVS-00ZTB0_WD-WCASU4817522-part1 /oldWork             ext3       defaults              1 2
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST2000DM001-1CH164_Z1E1TX34-part9 /work                ext4       acl,user_xattr        1 2
proc                 /proc                proc       defaults              0 0
sysfs                /sys                 sysfs      noauto                0 0
debugfs              /sys/kernel/debug    debugfs    noauto                0 0
usbfs                /proc/bus/usb        usbfs      noauto                0 0
devpts               /dev/pts             devpts     mode=0620,gid=5       0 0
none                 /tmp                 tmpfs      rw,noexec,nosuid,noatime,size=4G              1 2

ratzi · February 4, 2013, 11:00pm

Glad you’ve got your system running !

Now that should provide a sound basis for you to see which adaptions will work for you.

I never formatted /home !
I even did not do that when I installed a later version of openSUSE !

For me it usually has absolutely been sufficient to remove all that hidden directories and files prior to installation of the next version,
just like .kde4, and all the other ones, except for .thunderbird.

But, on the other hand, I don’t have installed programs in my /home tree. That may be different for other users.
And of course, similar to you, I have /home on a different partition (you even have it on another physical hard disk, but that doesn’t matter in the end).

Besides, as you talk about a .kde directory - do you use KDE3 ?
I myself have installed KDE3 under openSUSE 12.1 on an old Pentium III (0.5 GHz Katmai), a 2nd PC of mine,
and I like it, not only because it runs fine on that old PC.

Look, I gathered quite some experience as a C programmer.
Even after some years of experience I sometimes couldn’t keep myself from ‘optimizing’ the code in a state where it even had been tested …
The result in the end was fruitless weeks of seeking bugs.
Later on I more and more preferred to first write simple code, test and run that, and then build upon that, if I still wanted to. period.

It could have been many things.
And one idea that I had was that your file system may not be working right.
For the reasons given in my previous postings, I a priori excluded graphics as the source of the error.

I know.

If I come across something I’ll post it (I may have another look later on).

Best wishes
Mike

gogalthorp · February 4, 2013, 11:08pm

That is odd

Install the proprietary NVIDIA driver
Instruction here
https://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/how-faq-forums/advanced-how-faq-read-only/438705-opensuse-graphic-card-practical-theory-guide-users.html

metehyi · February 4, 2013, 11:17pm

Hi

try to fix this by choosing a background image for you Desktop, then quit session and new login. This might help

skytter13 · February 4, 2013, 11:26pm

Thanks for your help.

That was done in the initial try and also during the next attempts - this is not a problem (which was my first guess).

as in my previous post: the KDE loads normally only on the initial (first for each user) time. On the second and so on - black screen. If after few attempts I would remove /home/user/.kde4 directory - on the next attempt KDE would load, but again only once. Which brings me to the question, what might be wrong in the setup, so that the settings for the KDE startup are mixed up, so the KDE cannot start properly …

Is there any log file for KDE startup? Right now I’m at the point of giving up with ssd install, and just make “/” on normal hdd

gogalthorp · February 4, 2013, 11:32pm

I doubt it is a SSD problem.

what format did you use for the home partition??

ratzi · February 4, 2013, 11:37pm

I thought that the latter could play a role.

But I’m not a guru and I’ll probably stop after the following.

skytter13, you wanted to optimize the use of your SSD.
Concerning the ‘discard’ option (or the support of TRIM for SSDs), have a look at
Minor Gems - The H Open: News and Features

That kernel is quite new and probably not part of openSUSE 12.2.

So support of features may still be not finished off in that respect.

Whether your SSD needs the use of TRIM or not should in the end be documented in the user manual or by the manufacturer.

Good luck
Mike

skytter13 · February 4, 2013, 11:48pm

I made “/” on ssd - ext4, with options in /etc/fstab “noatime, discard”, should be working according to the forum …

Thanks for advice, will check this out, but by now my personal felling that ssd+linux=problems; never had such crazy problem with suse before…

ratzi · February 4, 2013, 11:57pm

… don’t be so pessimistic ! Your system finally runs, doesn’t it …

Take care

tsu2 · February 5, 2013, 12:14am

Hello,

I think I have some insight into what you’re looking at, if you haven’t seen it yet, I posted a slide deck I created for a presentation on configuring SSD, in particular a system with both an SSD and HDD. You might almost be able to create your FSTAB and execute various commands almost exactly according to my slides.

https://sites.google.com/site/4techsecrets/slide-presentations-30min

In addition to what is in the slides, I’ll mention one almost secret tidbit from my experience… An undocumented issue I ran into that you might see is that when you change fstab values using an SSD, you might not see the results immediately. To my shock, several times after re-booting I checked my fstab only to find it displayed only the default and not including my changes. Apparently, the file was somehow cached and loaded on reboot and even on a cold boot without waitin more than a minute or so (which is what I finally did). So, <verify> the changes actually “took.”

That said, I do not recommend making changes to files like fstab until you have verified your system is stable. Resist the impulse to do too much during initial install, it can only complicate if things don’t turn out as expected.

Lastly, if you ran into the fairly common (but according to some not wide spread enough to do anything about it) Nouveau problem, then it can be important to describe <every> step updating your video driver. Overlooking even simple steps can mean for example that you may have configured the nVidia repo but not actually installed the new driver.

The simplest steps

If you <know> you have a Nouveau driver issue, then get the nVidia repo URI and add it during install (it’s not offered as a pre-configured optional repo during install, you’ll need to manually type the whole thing in). Otherwise, it almost becomes critical that you add it on first boot into your finished system. With the next re-boot, the display will go black and only <maybe> you can still fix by booting into Emergency mode.
After you have added the nVidia repo, it’s important that you simply execute (immediately) the following to <automatically> install the proprietary driver. Some guides will suggest you install a specific driver, but that is rife with mistake potential. Far better is to allow the OS and nVidia to probe your hardware and automatically select the driver for you.

# zypper up

Note that a “zypper up” will pull down updates for everything installed in your system, not just change your video driver so it might take a long time. Go get pizza or something while it’s running. When you get back, you’ll likely be prompted to re-boot to finish installation. Go do something else while it’s running (takes awhile but hopefully not too long). And then your result should be a well running machine ready for more configs (like optimizing your SSD).

HTH,
TSU

skytter13 · February 5, 2013, 12:41am

Hi Tsu, thanks for reply,

actually, I was making initial and later installs taking into account your slides (there are of big help !!!)

Will have a try once again, tonight. But I cannot even imagine at which stage the problems start to appear. I do have a notebook, with rather similar hardware (only difference is SSD) and everything installed nicely… So I’m considering ssd to be a problem factor.

As for the nVidia - it seems it is not the problem, under root (with default KDE4 options) everything displays correctly (3 monitors, proper resolution, colordepth, and so on).
So the way it looks to me: as soon as I change anything from the KDE desktop defaults, so that it would write new settings to/home/user/.kde4 => on the next login -black screen.

When KDE is loaded with default setting - everything is displayed correctly, and any changes to the decorations, widgets, etc works as they should, BUT only till the end of the session. Loging out -> loging in (no reboot) => black screen (sounds crazy)

If there is any way to check at which point KDE starts getting problems (something like startup log file)?