Arch Linux

twentyfour

Member

Registered: 2012-11-28

Posts: 3

Errors with window managers in Arch?

Hey,

I have been using arch for some time now. I just bought a new laptop that runs Windoze 7 (for vSphere management). I installed Arch Linux in a Vmware workstation VM for the time being (will be partitioning my disk and using a dual-boot).

The Arch version I am using is Arch-2012.07.15. Been using this version for a while now. Inside this VM, I got my disks partitioned, my bootloader installed and good to go, all the base packages insides, etc. Basically everything before installing a GUI like Gnome/KDE/LXDE/XFCE. Xorg is installed and functioning properly. The Xf86-video-vmware, xf86-input-keyboard and xf86-input-mouse drivers have been installed.

When I went to edit my rc.conf file, I noticed it wasn't there. Searched some and it appears like Arch has gone to systemd. I didn't use the new systemd setup, I went ahead and did "pacman -S initscripts" which gave my rc.conf file.

Anyway, I went to install Gnome first and the installation was fine; went into rc.conf and added the gdm daemon to the "DAEMONS=()" section (along with hal, dbus, network, netfs, crond, alsa). I reboot and Gnome starts on boot. What happens is it will load a blue screen (solid blue) and in the middle is a white box that *should* be for the username/password prompt. That happens and then it stops and goes back to CLI. About two seconds after that it cycles back into trying to load Gnome. It just repeats and I can't stop it, so I went back to a snapshot.

Tried KDE, it logins in fine but as soon as I try to launch terminal, it brings me back to the login screen. Can't do much about it on any window manager.

Anyone heard of this error? What causes it? It has never happened to me before. Maybe 4 months ago I put Arch on my desktop with no issues... also have a two Arch installs that function as servers in ESXi.

Thanks for your time.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 11,605

Re: Errors with window managers in Arch?

Why in the world would you install initscripts instead of just doing "systemctl enable gdm"?

You didn't put anything other that the DAEMONS array in rc.conf, did you? With the newest version of systemd, support is completely dropped for everything else.

Last edited by Scimmia (2012-11-28 21:33:29)

65kid

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2011-01-26

Posts: 663

Re: Errors with window managers in Arch?

you have some news and wiki reading to do, initscripts support will be dropped soon, you have to boot with systemd for the system to work properly. No more rc.conf, no more DAEMONS array etc... While the fact that you don't use systemd may not be the direct cause of your problems, you cannot expect any support while still running initscripts.

And what the hell are you still using hal for, it has been deprecated and basically useless for years!? Maybe it's even what causes your problems.

twentyfour

Member

Registered: 2012-11-28

Posts: 3

Re: Errors with window managers in Arch?

You guys are both right. It is just the way I have always done things. Good that you both told me that it's not supported.

I also *did* try loading it via systemctl. I had the issue of Gnome allowing me to be able to login but would fall back to login screen after an app was launched.

Should I do a reinstall and just use systemd/systemctl and NOT install initscripts? I shall give it a shot in the meantime. I will try and find the article and read up on it.

Thank you both.

Last edited by twentyfour (2012-11-28 21:54:29)

twentyfour

Member

Registered: 2012-11-28

Posts: 3

Re: Errors with window managers in Arch?

Appears I get the same result using systemctl enable gdm.service. I try to launch terminal and it takes me back to logon screen.
Any solutions? I will be reading the wiki in the meantime.

Thanks.

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 29,565

Website

Re: Errors with window managers in Arch?

No need to reinstall - just make sure you're up to date `pacman -Syu` and deal with any .pacnew files.  Then if you still get the same problem, check for errors in the logs.

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"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

cfr

Member

From: Cymru

Registered: 2011-11-27

Posts: 7,140

Re: Errors with window managers in Arch?

If you do reinstall, use a more recent install media - November is the latest but October may be better in some cases.

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CLI Paste | How To Ask Questions

Arch Linux | x86_64 | GPT | EFI boot | refind | stub loader | systemd | LVM2 on LUKS
Lenovo x270 | Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz | Intel Wireless 8265/8275 | US keyboard w/ Euro | 512G NVMe INTEL SSDPEKKF512G7L

chris_l

Member

Registered: 2010-12-01

Posts: 390

Re: Errors with window managers in Arch?

And don't forget to do pacman -R initscripts once you are done passing everything to systemd!

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"open source is about choice"
No.
Open source is about opening the source code complying with this conditions, period. The ability to choose among several packages is just a nice side effect.

cfr

Member

From: Cymru

Registered: 2011-11-27

Posts: 7,140

Re: Errors with window managers in Arch?

The latest media install systemd by default - no need to remove initscripts.

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CLI Paste | How To Ask Questions

Arch Linux | x86_64 | GPT | EFI boot | refind | stub loader | systemd | LVM2 on LUKS
Lenovo x270 | Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz | Intel Wireless 8265/8275 | US keyboard w/ Euro | 512G NVMe INTEL SSDPEKKF512G7L

chris_l

Member

Registered: 2010-12-01

Posts: 390

Re: Errors with window managers in Arch?

The latest media install systemd by default - no need to remove initscripts.

I meant if he choosed to not reinstall...

---

"open source is about choice"
No.
Open source is about opening the source code complying with this conditions, period. The ability to choose among several packages is just a nice side effect.