Arch Linux

DrTron

Member

Registered: 2018-03-24

Posts: 5

[Solved] Stuck/locked out on new install - how to kill X-Server?

Hello Guys,

I'm currently trying to install my first Arch system (being a quite experienced Debian user), but now I'm at my wit's end.
I tried to get Xorg and SDDM working to install a graphical interface. That somehow went wrong (no biggie usually), but the system now boots directly into the (faulty) display manager leaving me with a blank screen.

Now I'd usually either kill the X-Server or switch to a text console, but neither works. I just cannot get out of that (and I haven't enabled sshd yet). I tried:
- Ctrl-Alt-Backspace
- Ctrl-Alt-F1/2/etc.
- mounted the partition on my Debian system and removed the systemd-link that enables SDDM
- tried to boot into runlevel 1 or 3 with grub2, same blank screen as before, although that procedere works with my Debian
- tried to supply rescue.target to systemd on boot, same as above.

I seem to be missing something fundamental here - any ideas on how I can get a working shell?

- Michael

Last edited by DrTron (2018-03-24 20:15:19)

seth

Member

From: Don't DM me only for attention

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 74,336

Re: [Solved] Stuck/locked out on new install - how to kill X-Server?

Ensure to do it right: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … _boot_into
If even the multi-user.target *really* fails, try booting w/ nomodeset.

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DrTron

Member

Registered: 2018-03-24

Posts: 5

Re: [Solved] Stuck/locked out on new install - how to kill X-Server?

Thanks, the "nomodeset" got me back into a shell, giving systemd-options at boot didn't work.
Now I've "just" got to figure out why the x-server is still on strike.

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 18,859

Re: [Solved] Stuck/locked out on new install - how to kill X-Server?

Thanks, the "nomodeset" got me back into a shell, giving systemd-options at boot didn't work.
Now I've "just" got to figure out why the x-server is still on strike.

Are you trying to use X with with nomodeset?  If so you would need to use the xf86-video-vesa package and avoid any application that uses hardware acceleration such as SDDM.
Edit:
If the issue is that the system does not display a console without nomodeset irrespective of X then I would suggest adjusting the title to reflect that.
How was

Last edited by loqs (2018-03-24 18:08:31)

DrTron

Member

Registered: 2018-03-24

Posts: 5

Re: [Solved] Stuck/locked out on new install - how to kill X-Server?

Not really, I was stuck on a failed X and had no way of getting back to a shell. nomodeset allowed me to do that so I could fix the X-server. So yes, the system didn't display a console without it, but I do not plan to use nomodeset as a default, just to get back to a shell.

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 18,859

Re: [Solved] Stuck/locked out on new install - how to kill X-Server?

So what was starting X if you had SDDM disabled and what is your evidence X was still starting?

DrTron

Member

Registered: 2018-03-24

Posts: 5

Re: [Solved] Stuck/locked out on new install - how to kill X-Server?

Evidence...good question. The system started with the usual kernel messages and then went to a black screen. So it could have been either a faulty terminal mode or a failed start of X. No real way to tell.
As a solution I purged sddm and re-installed it, that got me back to a working sddm and a working terminal as well, so my bet is on the X-server somehow.

DrTron

Member

Registered: 2018-03-24

Posts: 5

Re: [Solved] Stuck/locked out on new install - how to kill X-Server?

Hi Guys,

a quick follow-up question, if you don't mind (nothing serious, I'm quite pleased with Arch and it fits the topic:
I now run two Linux systems (Debian and Arch, along with a Windows system) on the same disk, but each has its own root partition (/boot is just a directory underneath).
I use the Debian to manage the boot (Grub2), and it found the Arch install. But not with the "10_linux" script, but with the "30_os-prober", which surprised me.
This sadly means, that it does not recognize the kernel parameters I want to give each linux on boot (and here we are back at the "nomodeset"-thing). I suspect that the "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT" options are only applied to systems found with 10_linux, which would make sense.

So how do I get Grub2 to recognize the Arch install correctly?

I could try to run the update-grub-command from Arch, maybe that works better, I just don't want to mess up my bootloader with that.

Thanks!