Blank screen at login

[MarieSophie]

Hello,
MX have been running fine since my last reinstall (to solve problem with VPN) early february
This morning, after the computer froze, I click restart, and then it boots up, bios password, MX logo, log-in screen, login+password, and .... blank screen
I hit ESC, and see that it hang at line "/dev "
I waited 30min, nothing.
Hard-stop the computer, wait 2min, restart
Bios, MX logo, and straight to blank screen with a little white line on the top left
The cursor moves all right, but nothing else
Restart, re-blank screen
Then I tried previous kernel, same thing

Before reinstalling it all (again) I thought about:
Then I tried previous kernel with systemD ... and it starts !!
Then I re-tried the "default" still nothing.

What could be causing SystemD to work and not the default SysVinit ?

Did I miss (I don't read it) an update revocating SysVinit ?

Thank you !
MSSG

[Eadwine Rose]

According to the forum rules (please read): Please provide full Quick System Info, use copy for forum button, no edits.
LiveUSB version is OK if needed.

[MarieSophie]

According to the forum rules (please read): Please provide full Quick System Info, use copy for forum button, no edits.
LiveUSB version is OK if needed.

I thought about that, but as I'm logged using a different system, I thought that would be irrelevant (or misleading)

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-32-amd64 [6.1.129-1] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-6.1.0-32-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash
    init=/lib/systemd/systemd
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.5 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 7 dm: SDDM Distro: MX-23.5_KDE_x64 Libretto Jan
    12 2025 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20AN006NCA v: ThinkPad T440p serial: <superuser required>
    Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: 20AN006NCA v: 0B98401 WIN serial: <superuser required> UEFI: LENOVO
    v: GLET98WW (2.52 ) date: 02/27/2019
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 22.1 Wh (53.6%) condition: 41.2/99.5 Wh (41.4%) volts: 11.2 min: 11.1
    model: LGC 45N1153 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: not charging
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i7-4910MQ 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: 2494 high: 2495 min/max: 800/3900 scaling: driver: intel_cpufreq
    governor: ondemand cores: 1: 2494 2: 2494 3: 2495 4: 2495 5: 2495 6: 2495 7: 2495 8: 2495
    bogomips: 46298
  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: Intel 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 v: kernel
    arch: Gen-7.5 process: Intel 22nm built: 2013 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, HDMI-A-1,
    HDMI-A-2, VGA-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0416 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA GK208M [GeForce GT 730M] vendor: Lenovo driver: N/A alternate: nouveau
    non-free: series: 470.xx+ status: legacy-active (EOL~2023/24) arch: Kepler code: GKxxx
    process: TSMC 28nm built: 2012-18 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 8 link-max: gen: 3
    speed: 8 GT/s bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1290 class-ID: 0300
  Device-3: Chicony Integrated Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-12:3
    chip-ID: 04f2:b39a class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.9 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: crocus gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1600x900 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 423x238mm (16.65x9.37") s-diag: 485mm (19.11")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: LG Display 0x03fc built: 2013 res: 1600x900 hz: 60 dpi: 132 gamma: 1.2
    size: 309x174mm (12.17x6.85") diag: 355mm (14") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1600x900
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 24.2.8-1mx23ahs renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 4600 (HSW GT2)
    direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad T440p
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:03.0 chip-ID: 8086:0c0c class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad T440p
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:8c20 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-32-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: Intel Ethernet I217-LM vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad T440p driver: e1000e v: kernel
    port: 4080 bus-ID: 00:19.0 chip-ID: 8086:153a class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Wireless 7260 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel modules: wl pcie: gen: 1
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:08b2 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: proton0 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
  IF-ID-2: pvpnksintrf1 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 3.2 TiB used: 631.14 GiB (19.3%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Dogfish Technology model: SSD 512GB size: 476.94 GiB
    block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 1A0
    scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Western Digital model: WD20SPZX-22UA7T0 size: 1.82 TiB
    block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter>
    rev: 1A01 scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 type: USB vendor: Sabrent model: SABRENT size: 931.51 GiB
    block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 0104 scheme: MBR
  ID-4: /dev/sdd maj-min: 8:48 type: USB vendor: Kingston model: DataTraveler 2.0 size: 953.9 MiB
    block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 1.00 scheme: MBR
  SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure?
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 128 GiB size: 124.93 GiB (97.60%) used: 14.69 GiB (11.8%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3
  ID-2: /boot raw-size: 1024 MiB size: 973.4 MiB (95.06%) used: 272.3 MiB (28.0%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
  ID-3: /boot/efi raw-size: 750 MiB size: 748.5 MiB (99.80%) used: 288 KiB (0.0%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
  ID-4: /tmp raw-size: 32 GiB size: 31.2 GiB (97.50%) used: 31.9 MiB (0.1%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sdb2 maj-min: 8:18
  ID-5: /var raw-size: 128 GiB size: 124.93 GiB (97.60%) used: 5.46 GiB (4.4%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sdb5 maj-min: 8:21
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 32 GiB used: 4.9 MiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sdb1
    maj-min: 8:17
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 47.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): fan-1: 0
Repos:
  Packages: 2624 pm: dpkg pkgs: 2610 libs: 1375 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala pm: rpm pkgs: 0
    pm: flatpak pkgs: 14
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main
  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/mx.list
    1: deb http://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/mxlinux/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
    2: deb http://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/mxlinux/mx/repo/ bookworm ahs
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/protonvpn-stable.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/protonvpn-stable-archive-keyring.gpg] https://repo.protonvpn.com/debian stable main
Info:
  Processes: 431 Uptime: 3h 22m wakeups: 6 Memory: 15.5 GiB used: 7.02 GiB (45.3%) Init: systemd
  v: 252 target: graphical (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

[MarieSophie]

I have 26 updates waiting in my queue, I'm hesitating to go ahead :/

[DukeComposed]

I thought about that, but as I'm logged using a different system, I thought that would be irrelevant (or misleading)

I thought it went without saying that the QSI for a help request should belong to the affected system.

[MarieSophie]

I thought about that, but as I'm logged using a different system, I thought that would be irrelevant (or misleading)

I thought it went without saying that the QSI for a help request should belong to the affected system.

Yes, my point exactly !
But for the sake of non-confusion, by "system" I mean SysVinit versus SystemD.
The problem happen with SysVinit, which I can't log into, therefore no QSI, and the one I provided is with SystemD.
MSSG

[j2mcgreg]

@MarieSophie wrote:

Yes, my point exactly !
But for the sake of non-confusion, by "system" I mean SysVinit versus SystemD.
The problem happen with SysVinit, which I can't log into, therefore no QSI, and the one I provided is with SystemD.
MSSG

What you could do is log into the SystemD version, create a new user, give it admin access, and then log out. Now log in as the new user, at the grub screen click on Advanced Options and select a Sys V kernel as the boot choice. If this lets you get to the desktop, use Boot Options in MX Tools to make the switch permanent. Finally copy the contents of /home to the new user and then delete the old account. This wouldn't be the first time that a user's profile has gotten corrupted for unknown reasons. It happens, not often, but it does happen.

[Germ]

Are you logging into Plasma (Wayland)?

If so, try logging into Plasma (X-11)

In my experience, some machines just don't behave well with Wayland. Kind of hit and miss at times.

[DukeComposed]

But for the sake of non-confusion, by "system" I mean SysVinit versus SystemD.

"I'm logged using a different system" implies computer A is having the problem so you switched to computer B which may not be having the same problem and is likely worthless in terms of investigation.

systemd and sysvinit are known as "init systems". So if you've had to switch to systemd, it's important to specify that you're using a different init system. Even saying "I'm only using systemd now" would have given a clearer picture than "using a different system" did.

[MarieSophie]

Are you logging into Plasma (Wayland)?

If so, try logging into Plasma (X-11)

In my experience, some machines just don't behave well with Wayland. Kind of hit and miss at times.

I'm with X11 ...