Inconsistent device initialization at boot (multi-monitor + USB RGB /

Santo C01 · Yesterday 14:17:46

Hi everyone,

I’m experiencing some inconsistent behavior during boot/login and would appreciate any guidance on how to make my system initialization more consistent.

### System Overview

* Arch Linux (fully up to date)
* KDE Plasma (currently using X11)
* NVIDIA GPU (RTX 4090)
* Multiple monitors (recently upgraded to a higher resolution setup)
* Corsair Lighting Node Pro (LC100 triangles) controlled via OpenRGB

### Issue Description

My system boots and operates perfectly *most of the time*, but occasionally I encounter inconsistent behavior right after boot or login:

* OpenRGB sometimes fails to detect all devices or freezes during initialization
* RGB devices (Corsair Node Pro) may not respond until I restart OpenRGB
* Monitor detection can be inconsistent (especially after logout/login cycles)
* Rarely, displays do not come back after logging back into the session (requiring a reboot)

What’s interesting is that:

* There are **no critical errors** in `journalctl -p 2 -b`
* Filesystem checks (`btrfs device stats`) show **no issues**
* After a clean cold boot, everything usually works perfectly again

### My Current Understanding

From troubleshooting, it seems like a **timing/initialization race condition**, where:

* GPU / monitor initialization (EDID/DDC)
* USB device initialization (Corsair Node Pro)
* User session startup (KDE + OpenRGB)

…are not always synchronized, leading to occasional “messy” boots.

### What I’ve Tried

* Switching from Wayland → X11 (improved stability)
* Testing with and without OpenRGB autostart
* Cold boot resets (which often fix the issue temporarily)
* Checking logs and system health (all clean)

### Goal

I’m trying to achieve **consistent, predictable boots**, even with this mix of hardware.

### Questions

* Is there a recommended way to **control or delay initialization timing** for user applications or USB devices?
* Are there known issues with **DDC/CI or multi-monitor setups** causing inconsistent startup behavior?
* Would disabling DDC/CI or adjusting power management (e.g., USB autosuspend) be advisable?
* Is there a more robust way to ensure OpenRGB only starts after all devices are fully initialized?

---

I understand this might be a “perfect storm” of hardware interactions, but I’d like to reduce variability as much as possible.

Any insights or best practices would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

seth · Yesterday 19:07:20

* OpenRGB sometimes fails to detect all devices or freezes during initialization
* RGB devices (Corsair Node Pro) may not respond until I restart OpenRGB

systemctl status openrgb.service
systemctl show openrgb.service

* Monitor detection can be inconsistent (especially after logout/login cycles)
…
* Switching from Wayland → X11 (improved stability)

Is this limited to kwin_wayland?

* Rarely, displays do not come back after logging back into the session (requiring a reboot)

Do you have a better experience w/ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages?O=0&K=580xx and https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA … P_firmware ?

Santo C01 · Today 00:46:30

seth wrote:

* OpenRGB sometimes fails to detect all devices or freezes during initialization
* RGB devices (Corsair Node Pro) may not respond until I restart OpenRGB
systemctl status openrgb.service
systemctl show openrgb.service
* Monitor detection can be inconsistent (especially after logout/login cycles)
…
* Switching from Wayland → X11 (improved stability)
Is this limited to kwin_wayland?
* Rarely, displays do not come back after logging back into the session (requiring a reboot)
Do you have a better experience w/ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages?O=0&K=580xx and https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA … P_firmware ?

Hi,

Thank you for your detailed reply — I really appreciate it.

I’m currently running Wayland (KDE Plasma) and using the `nvidia-open` driver (version 595.58.03). I haven’t switched to X11 at any point.

Today’s boot was actually clean — all monitors initialized correctly and OpenRGB detected the devices without issues, so the behavior seems inconsistent rather than permanently broken.

Given that I recently updated the system and also changed my monitor setup, I suspect this might be related to timing/initialization during boot rather than a constant misconfiguration.

I’ll continue monitoring the system over the next few boots before making changes like disabling GSP firmware or switching drivers, just to avoid introducing new variables while things are currently stable.

Thanks again for the suggestions — I’ll report back if I find a consistent trigger or pattern.

seth · Today 08:13:59

I’m currently running Wayland (KDE Plasma) … I haven’t switched to X11 at any point.

But you previously wrote:

### System Overview
* KDE Plasma (currently using X11)
…
* Switching from Wayland → X11 (improved stability)

If this hapens again please post your complete system journal for that boot:

sudo journalctl -b | curl -s -H "Accept: application/json, */*" --upload-file - 'https://paste.c-net.org/'

Arch Linux

#1 Yesterday 14:17:46

Inconsistent device initialization at boot (multi-monitor + USB RGB /

#2 Yesterday 19:07:20

Re: Inconsistent device initialization at boot (multi-monitor + USB RGB /

#3 Today 00:46:30

Re: Inconsistent device initialization at boot (multi-monitor + USB RGB /

#4 Today 08:13:59

Re: Inconsistent device initialization at boot (multi-monitor + USB RGB /

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