Completely black screen after switch from XFCE to KDE Desktop - any advice?

[LateJunction]

I have used MX Package Installer to switch from XFCE to KDE. After install the system allows me to login to KDE Plasma but then presents me with a 100% black screen and a working cursor. I can invoke some collection of system utilities by using Ctrl-Esc key sequence - but I don't know how to use any of options thus presented to make changes to my system. The key combination Ctrl-F12 told me that I had 'No Windows'. The only productive option seems to be to Ctrl-Alt-Delete to logout and log back into XFCE. The only aspect of the install process that caught my attention was the option to choose some sort of service for which 'Lightdm' was the default. The other option available (name forgotten) didn't mean anything to me, so I proceeded with the default.

Any advice on how to proceed to a fully working KDE desktop?

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 6.9.12-2-liquorix-amd64 [6.9-12~mx23ahs] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0 parameters: audit=0
    intel_pstate=disable BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.9.12-2-liquorix-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro
    quiet iommu=off splash
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.36 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.18.0 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.26.0 Distro: MX-23.4_x64 Libretto October 15  2023 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12
    (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: H81M-S2H v: N/A serial: <superuser required> Chassis:
    type: 3 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Gigabyte model: H81M-S2H v: x.x serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends
    v: F2 date: 08/11/2015
Battery:
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Keyboard PID:0062 serial: N/A
    charge: 70% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: discharging
  Device-2: hidpp_battery_1 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse PID:0081 serial: N/A
    charge: 70% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i7-4790 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Haswell gen: core 4 level: v3
    note: check built: 2013-15 process: Intel 22nm family: 6 model-id: 0x3C (60) stepping: 3
    microcode: 0x28
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 tpc: 2 threads: 8 smt: enabled cache: L1: 256 KiB
    desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 8 MiB desc: 1x8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2879 high: 3994 min/max: 800/3601 boost: enabled scaling:
    driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: ondemand cores: 1: 2193 2: 3746 3: 3806 4: 3993 5: 3707 6: 800
    7: 3994 8: 800 bogomips: 57469
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW; STIBP: conditional; RSB
    filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP107 [GeForce GTX 1050] vendor: ZOTAC driver: nvidia v: 535.183.06
    non-free: 530.xx+ status: current (as of 2023-03) arch: Pascal code: GP10x process: TSMC 16nm
    built: 2016-21 pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1c81
    class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm v: 4.18.0 driver: X: loaded: nvidia
    gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x286mm (20.00x11.26") s-diag: 583mm (22.95")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-0 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 26 size: 1872x1053mm (73.7x41.46")
    diag: 2148mm (84.56") modes: N/A
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 535.183.06 renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050/PCIe/SSE2
    direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio vendor: Gigabyte 8
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:8c20 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP107GL High Definition Audio vendor: ZOTAC driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0fb9 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.9.12-2-liquorix-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.47 TiB used: 413.56 GiB (27.4%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EZEX-75ZF5A0 size: 931.51 GiB
    block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 0A80
    scheme: MBR
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Seagate model: ST3500312CS size: 465.76 GiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 1.5 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5900 serial: <filter> rev: SC13
    scheme: MBR
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: SanDisk model: SDSSDA120G size: 111.79 GiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 00RL scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 83.66 GiB size: 81.79 GiB (97.77%) used: 43.72 GiB (53.5%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sdc3 maj-min: 8:35
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 7.62 GiB size: 7.6 GiB (99.80%) used: 288 KiB (0.0%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sdc1 maj-min: 8:33
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 465.76 GiB size: 457.38 GiB (98.20%) used: 291.61 GiB (63.8%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sdb1 maj-min: 8:17
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 20.51 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sdc2
    maj-min: 8:34
  ID-2: swap-2 type: file size: 16.68 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -3 file: /swap/swap
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 37.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 28 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 45%
Repos:
  Packages: 3381 pm: dpkg pkgs: 3364 libs: 1959 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 17
  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/ bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/graphics:darktable.list
    1: deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/graphics:/darktable/Debian_12/ /
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/graphics:darktable:master.list
    1: deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/graphics:/darktable:/master/Debian_12/ /
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb https://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-bookworm.sources
    1: deb [arch=amd64 i386] https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/debian bookworm main
Info:
  Processes: 322 Uptime: 18m wakeups: 5 Memory: 15.65 GiB used: 1.76 GiB (11.2%) Init: SysVinit
  v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI

[LateJunction]

Update: thanks to support and advice from this forum, I booted the PC to use systemd. Then selecting KDE Plams as my desktop environment at login was completely successful. I'm now running Plasma, and learning my way round this rather colourful environment.

Just a quick comment about this Forum and the 'feel' of the MX 'Community': it's just a nice experience, with such immediate and effective help. I'm comparing to the Mint Community (I run Mint as my 'production' system). Mint as a great product, and the community help is very wide ranging - it just feels a lot less personal than here - more like a Corporate experience. This PC is for messing about with software; I chose MX linux a couple of years ago as being exactly the right distro, for me, for that purpose; this present experience has confirmed my decision.

[Kermit the Frog]

You know: You can make it (systemd) the default with "MX Boot Options" - "Boot to".

[asqwerth]

Update: thanks to support and advice from this forum, I booted the PC to use systemd. Then selecting KDE Plams as my desktop environment at login was completely successful. I'm now running Plasma, and learning my way round this rather colourful environment....

....

Now that we know it's a systemd thing, I think we need to know which mx-modified packages are missing from your KDE Standard install (and which is found in the MX-KDE iso), which will help your plasma desktop run on sysvinit as well. Even if you are happy keeping to systemd, I think it's good to know what's missing.

@dolphin_oracle , could you provide your input? From what OP said in his first post, he's still using lightdm as the display manager, so I suppose the lack of sddm-modified package isn't the culprit?

[dolphin_oracle]

Update: thanks to support and advice from this forum, I booted the PC to use systemd. Then selecting KDE Plams as my desktop environment at login was completely successful. I'm now running Plasma, and learning my way round this rather colourful environment....

....

Now that we know it's a systemd thing, I think we need to know which mx-modified packages are missing from your KDE Standard install (and which is found in the MX-KDE iso), which will help your plasma desktop run on sysvinit as well. Even if you are happy keeping to systemd, I think it's good to know what's missing.

@dolphin_oracle , could you provide your input? From what OP said in his first post, he's still using lightdm as the display manager, so I suppose the lack of sddm-modified package isn't the culprit?

don't know. it should have worked either way. I guess maybe logind not starting up might be a factor. I don't think I've KDE without sddm since we changed the sddm init script about a year ago.

[asqwerth]

Now that we know it's a systemd thing, I think we need to know which mx-modified packages are missing from your KDE Standard install (and which is found in the MX-KDE iso), which will help your plasma desktop run on sysvinit as well. Even if you are happy keeping to systemd, I think it's good to know what's missing.

@dolphin_oracle , could you provide your input? From what OP said in his first post, he's still using lightdm as the display manager, so I suppose the lack of sddm-modified package isn't the culprit?

don't know. it should have worked either way. I guess maybe logind not starting up might be a factor. I don't think I've KDE without sddm since we changed the sddm init script about a year ago.

So it's possible that OP could install the sddm-modified-init package (to hopefully get sddm to run properly in sysvinit), and then

run

Code: Select all

sudo dpkg-reconfigure sddm 

(or is it sudo dpkg-reconfigure sddm-modified-init )

to make sddm the default display manager?

Again, based on his first post, it looks like during his install of KDE Standard he was asked whether to keep to lightdm or switch to (I'm guessing) sddm.

[dolphin_oracle]

Now that we know it's a systemd thing, I think we need to know which mx-modified packages are missing from your KDE Standard install (and which is found in the MX-KDE iso), which will help your plasma desktop run on sysvinit as well. Even if you are happy keeping to systemd, I think it's good to know what's missing.

@dolphin_oracle , could you provide your input? From what OP said in his first post, he's still using lightdm as the display manager, so I suppose the lack of sddm-modified package isn't the culprit?

don't know. it should have worked either way. I guess maybe logind not starting up might be a factor. I don't think I've KDE without sddm since we changed the sddm init script about a year ago.

So it's possible that OP could install the sddm-modified-init package (to hopefully get sddm to run properly in sysvinit), and then

run

Code: Select all

sudo dpkg-reconfigure sddm 

(or is it sudo dpkg-reconfigure sddm-modified-init )

to make sddm the default display manager?

Again, based on his first post, it looks like during his install of KDE Standard he was asked whether to keep to lightdm or switch to (I'm guessing) sddm.

either of these would trigger the reconfigure

Code: Select all

sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm

or

Code: Select all

sudo dpkg-reconfigure sddm

but yes, install sddm-modified-init first.

[Jerry3904]

Before I posted that video, I asked
@adrian if that would result in a normal MX KDE. He tested it, and I will post his report in a bit.
:
EDIT
@LateJunction @dolphin_oracle @asqwerth From @adrian 20240125:

Didn't test it a lot, but seems to be very easy to install and it works just fine.

Some notes:
- install from MXPI (there was only one prompt to accept a .config file change I chose "y")
- Personal choice, I kept lightdm as the default DM, I didn't try sddm, but I don't know why it would not work
- Extra Firefox dead icon in the panel -- can be removed, or people can install Firefox if they wish

Some differences from the stock KDE install:
- had to install yakuake and change F12 to F4 default hotkey
- has MX Updater and mx-usb-unmounter that kind of duplicate KDE functions -- better to keep them if the user keeps Xfce.
- Wayland session doesn't work OOTB, I was able to log in only to Xorg. I installed wayland-utils and rebooted and was able to run use it.

[asqwerth]

@LateJunction @Jerry3904

Looks like some of the MX modified settings/defaults for Plasma were written over.

Dolphin has sorted it out.

See solution in this thread: viewtopic.php?p=795888#p795888

[Jerry3904]

Thanks for the heads-up @asqwerth . KDE installation worked fine for Adrian and me when testing for the video early this year, so I would not have been much help to this enterprising OP and really appreciate your stepping in.

BTW: 1) I would think we might consider promoting this feature for MX-25--wouldn't surprise me if it were quite attractive. 2) I could also imagine that we consider offering (yet another) ISO with all three (x64 only) and a little app that makes final removal painless. @dolphin_oracle