Arch Linux

Nan123

Member

Registered: 2021-01-24

Posts: 83

[Solved] I3 will not start on new install

Hi! I have been facing an issue on my new Arch install that's been driving me insane for the last 2 hours. I installed the system as usual and, as usual configure my system. I edited my bash_profile so I could start x on boot and then added 'exec i3' to my .xinitrc file, but i3 just won't start. It starts a x session but I don't think its i3. It has nothing but a cursor and doesn't do anything else. Oddly pressing alt + enter crashes it. I have gone through 3 installs and all the same result. I have used this exact method before, actually a few hours ago and it worked fine. I don't understand what is causing this? Does anyone have any clue?

EDIT SOLVED: no idea what I did, third times the charm?

Last edited by Nan123 (2022-03-22 06:44:00)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,302

Re: [Solved] I3 will not start on new install

The random and sporadic nature sounds like the race condition that can happen on fast storage devices that leads to xorg starting too quickly before graphics is actually initialized, which can be alleviated by relevantly putting the correct module into the early initramfs: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Kernel … mkinitcpio

Also to preempt future problems, if "added exec i3" means that is the only line contained in that file, it should contain more: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xinit#xinitrc

Last edited by V1del (2022-03-22 07:33:04)

Nan123

Member

Registered: 2021-01-24

Posts: 83

Re: [Solved] I3 will not start on new install

Hm, interesting, and yes, I edited the xinitrc as the wiki states. Thanks.