MX Nvidia installer breaks systemd

[MH3]

I require systemd to enable my VPN client software, which is otherwise unusable. After successfully booting with systemd on a fresh install of MX Linux KDE my VPN software was functional. I then installed the Nvidia driver using MX Tools and rebooted the system. When using systemd to boot the system I ended up at an unresponsive terminal prompt.

I apologize for not being able to use the MX system info tool, but VPN access is required, as is the Nvidia driver. Since those options are currently incompatible, I restored my system to it's original state - Debian Buster.

[SwampRabbit]

I require systemd to enable my VPN client software, which is otherwise unusable. After successfully booting with systemd on a fresh install of MX Linux KDE my VPN software was functional. I then installed the Nvidia driver using MX Tools and rebooted the system. When using systemd to boot the system I ended up at an unresponsive terminal prompt.

I apologize for not being able to use the MX system info tool, but VPN access is required, as is the Nvidia driver. Since those options are currently incompatible, I restored my system to it's original state - Debian Buster.

MX Xfce, systemd, and Nvidia drivers work fine together, I think we would know if there was an issue with the KDE version, but no one has reported this issue yet.

If you can't provide the Nvidia driver installer logs, Quick System Info, or anything else.... why even report you had an issue?
How are we supposed to know why it didn't work on your system?

[Stevo]

Also missing is whether the sysvinit boot would succeed with the Nvidia driver installed--then we could say that only the systemd boot was affected. Without that datum, it might have been one of the standard "Nvidia driver boots to black screen" type problems that we see every so often, since I can't remember any systemd-specific video driver issues--ever.

[MH3]

Also missing is whether the sysvinit boot would succeed with the Nvidia driver installed--then we could say that only the systemd boot was affected. Without that datum, it might have been one of the standard "Nvidia driver boots to black screen" type problems that we see every so often, since I can't remember any systemd-specific video driver issues--ever.

Like I said, I apologize for some of the lack of info in my original post. The system I was using is also used by another person and I had to return it to working condition as soon as possible.

I have since performed another clean install. Once logged in I used MX Tools to modify GRUB so that it would boot into systemd by default. I then used MX Tools to install the Nvidia driver. I rebooted the machine and was left at a terminal prompt. I was able to login, first as root, later as a regular user, albeit the text in the terminal is garbled and can be confusing if you mistype a character. After one failed attempt, I was able to issue the "startx" command, both as root and as a regular user. In both cases, Plasma was launched successfully. I've copied the Quick System Info below:

Code: Select all

System:    Host: <filter> Kernel: 5.6.0-2-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.6.0-2-amd64 root=UUID=a935bb47-01a0-4062-935f-896f97d6795e ro 
           quiet splash init=/lib/systemd/systemd 
           Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.14.5 wm: kwin_x11 dm: SDDM Distro: MX-19.2_KDE_x64 patito feo August 16  2020 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:   Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: PRIME B350-PLUS v: Rev X.0x serial: <filter> 
           UEFI [Legacy]: American Megatrends v: 5407 date: 12/31/2019 
CPU:       Topology: 6-Core model: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen+ family: 17 (23) model-id: 8 
           stepping: 2 microcode: 800820D L2 cache: 3072 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 86395 
           Speed: 1447 MHz min/max: 1550/3600 MHz boost: disabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1439 2: 1436 3: 3592 
           4: 1432 5: 3600 6: 1448 7: 3600 8: 1445 9: 1434 10: 1440 11: 3581 12: 1433 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Not affected 
           Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
           Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full AMD retpoline, IBPB: conditional, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: NVIDIA GP108 vendor: eVga.com. driver: nvidia v: 440.100 bus ID: 07:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1d01 
           Display: server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: nvidia unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa alternate: nv 
           compositor: kwin_x11 resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GT 1030/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 440.100 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: NVIDIA GP108 High Definition Audio vendor: eVga.com. driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 07:00.1 chip ID: 10de:0fb8 
           Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 17h HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel 
           v: kernel bus ID: 09:00.3 chip ID: 1022:1457 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.6.0-2-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8169 v: kernel 
           port: f000 bus ID: 03:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168 
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 96.86 GiB (20.8%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Crucial model: CT500MX500SSD1 size: 465.76 GiB block size: physical: 4096 B 
           logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 022 scheme: MBR 
Partition: ID-1: / raw size: 22.35 GiB size: 21.88 GiB (97.87%) used: 7.50 GiB (34.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
           ID-2: /home raw size: 443.41 GiB size: 436.32 GiB (98.40%) used: 89.36 GiB (20.5%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 46.5 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 43 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 43% 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb https://mirror.kku.ac.th/mx-packages/mx/repo/ buster main non-free
           2: deb https://mirror.kku.ac.th/mx-packages/mx/repo/ buster ahs
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:      Processes: 293 Uptime: 10m Memory: 15.64 GiB used: 1.41 GiB (9.0%) Init: systemd v: 241 runlevel: 5 
           default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 Shell: quick-system-in running in: quick-system-in inxi: 3.0.36 

[JayM]

I assume when you said you used MX Tools to modify grub for a systemd boot you meant MX Boot Options. See these wiki articles for suggestions on what to try for the Nvidia issue: https://mxlinux.org/wiki/hardware/nvidi ... -recovery/ and https://mxlinux.org/wiki/help-files/hel ... nstallers/.

You could also try booting without systemd just to test whether or not it makes any difference re: Nvidia. If you still get the "black screen of death" then the init system has nothing to do with it and it's just an Nvidia driver issue.

Which Nvidia driver did you select in the driver installer? If you chose 440 that may be the issue. Some research indicates that this card needs (or at least works with) driver version 381, which we don't have in our repos. The closest one we have is the 390 legacy driver which may be the one that your card requires. OTOH if you selected the 390 driver you should purge it as per the instructions in the first Wiki article then reboot and rerun the installer, this time selecting the 440 driver. That is, if renaming your /etc/X11/xorg.conf and rebooting doesn't fix it.

[JuhaT]

I require systemd to enable my VPN client software, which is otherwise unusable. After successfully booting with systemd on a fresh install of MX Linux KDE my VPN software was functional. I then installed the Nvidia driver using MX Tools and rebooted the system. When using systemd to boot the system I ended up at an unresponsive terminal prompt.

I apologize for not being able to use the MX system info tool, but VPN access is required, as is the Nvidia driver. Since those options are currently incompatible, I restored my system to it's original state - Debian Buster.

MX Xfce, systemd, and Nvidia drivers work fine together, I think we would know if there was an issue with the KDE version, but no one has reported this issue yet.

If you can't provide the Nvidia driver installer logs, Quick System Info, or anything else.... why even report you had an issue?
How are we supposed to know why it didn't work on your system?

I actually did report exactly this problem in MX KDE in the feedback thread. I too need systemd for my VPN software (OVPN) None of the suggestion I got helped. I did not have this problem in MX XFCE, so I think it is a MX KDE specific problem.

viewtopic.php?p=589631#p589631

*edit 121720* I dont know if it is some update or if my VPN provider (OVPN) has done something with their app but now the VPN app works just fine in sysvinit too.

[MH3]

Interesting. Apparently the forum moderators don't like bug reports, in spite of this being a form for bug reports. I've made two subsequent posts on this topic providing the information requested and neither of them have shown up.

[Eadwine Rose]

People have a thing called "a life". We're also a very small team, so be a bit more patient.

[tony37]

I see you both have very recent hardware, maybe it isn't fully supported yet by the 5.6 LInux kernel.
You can choose to install a newer kernel, either the one from Debian Backports or the Liquorix kernel from MX Test, both are in the Popular Apps tab in MX Package Installer

[JayM]

Not that recent. The CPU, mobo and video card date from 2017 or 2018. They should be fully supported by the standard AHS 5.6 kernel.

Still waiting for the OP to try booting without systemd and test whether the nvidia driver works, and for him to tell us which driver he installed, etc. as per my post #5.