Arch Linux

andre-vm

Member

Registered: 2020-09-19

Posts: 2

[SOLVED] Stuck on starting version 246.5-1

I use archlinux with KDE Plasma Desktop. Today I did a system update using pacman -Syu, which got plasma-desktop updated to version 5.19.5-1. After that, I started to get stuck on the Starting version 246.5-1 screen every time I reboot. The cursor appears on the screen, and it moves when I move the mouse. I'm also able to switch to tty2.

After changing the .xinitrc file from

exec startkde

to

export DESKTOP_SESSION=plasma
exec startplasma-x11

I was able to execute startx, and then I could use KDE on tty2. However, I still get stuck on every reboot, and I'm only able to use KDE by starting it manually on tty2.

Is there a way to figure out what's going on?

Last edited by andre-vm (2020-09-20 02:31:55)

andre-vm

Member

Registered: 2020-09-19

Posts: 2

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck on starting version 246.5-1

Alright, I figured it out..

I use GRUB for dual boot with Arch Linux and Windows, and I also use SDDM. First I edited the /etc/default/grub file and removed the quiet option from this line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="loglevel=3 quiet"

After that, I regenerated the grub.cfg file and rebooted. Then I was able to see at which point the system was getting stuck:

[OK] Started Simple Desktop Display Manager.
[OK] Reached target Graphical Interface.

Then I ran journalctl -b (on tty2), and I found this somewhere in the logs:

sddm-helper[665]: PAM unable to dlopen(/usr/lib/security/pam_tally.so): /usr/lib/security/pam_tally.so: cannot open shared object fil>
sddm-helper[665]: PAM adding faulty module: /usr/lib/security/pam_tally.so
sddm-helper[669]: [PAM] Starting...
sddm-helper[669]: [PAM] Authenticating...
sddm-helper[669]: [PAM] authenticate: Module is unknown
sddm-helper[669]: [PAM] returning.
sddm[579]: Authentication error: "Module is unknown"
sddm-helper[669]: [PAM] Ended.
sddm[579]: Auth: sddm-helper exited with 1

These messages led me to this page. The pam package I had installed was exactly the same 1.4.0-3, which probably got updated in the pacman -Syu I executed earlier. Following one of the comments there, I went to the /etc/pam.d/ folder, I merged the sddm-autologin.pacnew file into sddm-autologin and then I deleted the former. Effectively, the only change was this line:

auth        required    pam_tally.so file=/var/log/faillog onerr=succeed

Into this:

auth        required    pam_faillock.so preauth

Then I rebooted and the system no longer got stuck.

kibblech

Member

Registered: 2018-09-08

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] Stuck on starting version 246.5-1

Some troubleshooting tips I used (running kde):

1. remove "quiet" from your kernel params (in grub configs, refind configs, etc) - this will let you see where in the boot it is hanging
2. try navigating to another tty - for me this was ctrl + alt + f1 / f2 / f3 /etc - if this works then your boot is fine, it is something else (think display manager)
3. try manually starting x with `startx`
4. try manually starting plasma with `startplasma-x11`
5. try manually starting plasma with `startplasma-wayland`
6. try manually starting your display manager with `sddm`

for me, the broken piece was sddm. I was able to fix it with `downgrade sddm`