Unable to log into console login

Hello,

I just switched to the openSUSE Tumbleweed distro from v13.2 and am running into some video issues in my session - lots of screen tearing and refresh problems.

I want to install the NVIDIA driver as outline here: https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_the_hard_way
I log out of the GUI session and press CTRL+ALT+F1 to bring up the console, but then get stuck at the su - step. When I enter my root password, I get the message login incorrect.

I can log in as root while in KDE, so what am I missing?

Thanks!

You do log in with some username/password first? You cannot just type “su -” or your root password at the login prompt.

And if yes, why don’t you just login as root directly, instead of as user and running “su -”?

IIYC, “su -” and entering the root password does work inside a KDE session, right?
So then the most likely reason for your problem is a wrong keyboard layout I suppose. Does your root password contain characters that are located on different positions in different keyboard layouts?
What keyboard layout are you using? Did you set it in YaST? The KDE settings have no effect in text mode.

“su -” itself should work exactly the same regardless whether you run it in KDE or in text mode.

I’m talking about the console login (CTRL+ALT+F1), not the KDE login. Root works fine in KDE mode, but when I use the “real console” as described in the link I provided I get the login error.

According to the instructions, I can’t install the NVIDIA driver while in KDE.

My issue doesn’t seem to be a keyboard layout problem, at least that I’m aware of. I’m using whatever the default keyboard layout is for US English - I never changed it.

I still would like to fix the issue if possible, but I admit I’m not that experienced with Linux. Thanks!

Yes, I understood that.
So again, “su -” does not accept the root password in a text mode login? But it works inside KDE?
And you did enter your username/password first to login? As mentioned you cannot just type “su -” at the login prompt, you have to enter your username and password first, then you can run “su -”.

Why don’t you just log in as root anyway?
I.e. type “root” at the login prompt and enter the root password.
Does that work?

According to the instructions, I can’t install the NVIDIA driver while in KDE.

You can.
But you might need to force it, I’m not sure.

My issue doesn’t seem to be a keyboard layout problem, at least that I’m aware of. I’m using whatever the default keyboard layout is for US English - I never changed it.

If you are using a US keyboard, it’s unlikely a keyboard layout problem.

But still, please check in YaST->Hardware->System Keyboard Layout if it is set to US. The KDE settings override the default, so it might work in KDE but not in text mode.
Although if you never changed it, it should be ok.