Arch Linux

pishi

Member

Registered: 2014-06-23

Posts: 9

Light dm doesn't start (screen just blinks) and no tty switch

Hello.after I installed arch Linux, i installed xorg-server. then i  installed nvidia and nvidia-utils as a driver for my nvidia geforce 210(not rebooted pc after that). then installed lightdm and lightdm-gtk3-greeter by following commands:
pacman -S lightdm
pacman -S lightdm-gtk3-greeter
and followed this guide and executed this command: systemctl enable lightdm
and after that installed jwm(not executed any command. just installed package with pacman)
and reboot.
after reboot and those [ok] ..... (the last one was something like "[ok] starting light display manager" ), the screen starts blinking(pixel turns in blue color which is close to black and i can barely see it and all of them turn black similar to time when monitor turned off)
one thing which is really strange is that i cant switch between tty(seems like crtl +alt + Fn doesn't do anything,maybe it changes tty and blinking is related to driver?)
my arch installation is x86_64
partition table format is gpt
and boot is uefi
my questions
1-is this related to lightdm or nvidia driver or something else?
2- did i missed any steps?
3-and if i messed something,aid me to fix those mistakes and solving this problem

pishi

Member

Registered: 2014-06-23

Posts: 9

Re: Light dm doesn't start (screen just blinks) and no tty switch

light dm log:
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Starting Light Display Manager 1.10.1, UID=0 PID=473
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration dirs from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration dirs from /usr/local/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration dirs from /etc/xdg/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Using D-Bus name org.freedesktop.DisplayManager
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Registered seat module xlocal
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Registered seat module xremote
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Registered seat module unity
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Registered seat module surfaceflinger
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Adding default seat
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Seat: Starting
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Seat: Creating greeter session
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Seat: Creating display server of type x
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Could not run plymouth --ping: Failed to execute child process "plymouth" (No such file or directory)
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Using VT 1
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Seat: Starting local X display on VT 1
[+0.00s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/x-0.log
[+0.00s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Writing X server authority to /run/lightdm/root/:0
[+0.00s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Launching X Server
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Launching process 478: /usr/sbin/X :0 -seat seat0 -auth /run/lightdm/root/:0 -nolisten tcp vt1 -novtswitch
[+0.00s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Waiting for ready signal from X server :0
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Acquired bus name org.freedesktop.DisplayManager
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Registering seat with bus path /org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Seat0
[+0.00s] WARNING: Error getting user list from org.freedesktop.Accounts: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.Accounts was not provided by any .service files
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading user config from /etc/lightdm/users.conf
[+0.01s] DEBUG: User lightdm added
[+0.01s] DEBUG: User pishi added
[+0.42s] DEBUG: Got signal 10 from process 478
[+0.42s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Got signal from X server :0
[+0.42s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Connecting to XServer :0
[+0.42s] DEBUG: Seat: Display server ready, starting session authentication
[+0.42s] DEBUG: Session pid=484: Started with service 'lightdm-greeter', username 'lightdm'
[+0.42s] DEBUG: Session pid=484: Authentication complete with return value 0: Success
[+0.42s] DEBUG: Seat: Session authenticated, running command
[+0.42s] DEBUG: Session pid=484: Running command /usr/sbin/lightdm-gtk-greeter
[+0.42s] DEBUG: Creating shared data directory /var/lib/lightdm-data/lightdm
[+0.42s] DEBUG: Session pid=484: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/x-0-greeter.log
[+0.43s] DEBUG: Activating VT 1
[+0.43s] DEBUG: Activating login1 session /org/freedesktop/login1/session/c8
[+0.49s] DEBUG: Session pid=484: Greeter connected version=1.10.1
[+0.54s] DEBUG: Session pid=484: Greeter closed communication channel
[+0.54s] DEBUG: Session pid=484: Exited with return value 139
[+0.54s] DEBUG: Seat: Session stopped
[+0.54s] DEBUG: Seat: Stopping; failed to start a greeter
[+0.54s] DEBUG: Seat: Stopping
[+0.54s] DEBUG: Seat: Stopping display server
[+0.54s] DEBUG: Sending signal 15 to process 478
[+1.16s] DEBUG: Process 478 exited with return value 0
[+1.16s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: X server stopped
[+1.16s] DEBUG: Releasing VT 1
[+1.16s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Removing X server authority /run/lightdm/root/:0
[+1.16s] DEBUG: Seat: Display server stopped
x-0.log:
X.Org X Server 1.15.1
Release Date: 2014-04-13
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 3.14.0-4-ARCH x86_64
Current Operating System: Linux pishi 3.15.1-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Jun 17 09:32:20 CEST 2014 x86_64
Kernel command line: initrd=\initramfs-linux.img root=/dev/sda3 rw
Build Date: 14 April 2014  08:39:09AM

Current version of pixman: 0.32.4
        Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
        to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
        (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Mon Jun 23 17:48:16 2014
(==) Using config directory: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d"
Initializing built-in extension Generic Event Extension
Initializing built-in extension SHAPE
Initializing built-in extension MIT-SHM
Initializing built-in extension XInputExtension
Initializing built-in extension XTEST
Initializing built-in extension BIG-REQUESTS
Initializing built-in extension SYNC
Initializing built-in extension XKEYBOARD
Initializing built-in extension XC-MISC
Initializing built-in extension SECURITY
Initializing built-in extension XINERAMA
Initializing built-in extension XFIXES
Initializing built-in extension RENDER
Initializing built-in extension RANDR
Initializing built-in extension COMPOSITE
Initializing built-in extension DAMAGE
Initializing built-in extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
Initializing built-in extension DOUBLE-BUFFER
Initializing built-in extension RECORD
Initializing built-in extension DPMS
Initializing built-in extension Present
Initializing built-in extension DRI3
Initializing built-in extension X-Resource
Initializing built-in extension XVideo
Initializing built-in extension XVideo-MotionCompensation
Initializing built-in extension XFree86-VidModeExtension
Initializing built-in extension XFree86-DGA
Initializing built-in extension XFree86-DRI
Initializing built-in extension DRI2
Loading extension GLX
Loading extension NV-GLX
Loading extension NV-CONTROL
Loading extension XINERAMA
(EE) Server terminated successfully (0). Closing log file.
x-0-greeter.log is empty

pishi

Member

Registered: 2014-06-23

Posts: 9

Re: Light dm doesn't start (screen just blinks) and no tty switch

seems like my question is very stupid that i don't get any respond from community.

longcao

Member

Registered: 2013-10-28

Posts: 15

Re: Light dm doesn't start (screen just blinks) and no tty switch

Keep trying, my friend Learning how to fix your Arch system is somehow frustrating, but also quite interesting.

_Have you try starting the WM independently? Remove lightdm, login console at boot then run something like "exec jwm" (check jwm manpage) or "startx" (put that exec command at the end of .xinitrc).
_Have your try another DM like SliM or GDM?
_Check journal with "journalctl -b" to see anything relating to lightdm.

pishi

Member

Registered: 2014-06-23

Posts: 9

Re: Light dm doesn't start (screen just blinks) and no tty switch

thanks for reply longcao
my problem is that i cant go to any other tty to have access to virtual terminal.
i press all of crtl+alt+f1 to f6 but nothing happens. no terminal .blinking countinues
another strange thing that happens is that when I press num lock when screen is on the blue color, num lock lights up on my keyboard but after screen turns black,the light goes off too. maybe keyboard is not recognized right now?(the keyboard worked in arch before that and it works in other operating systems on my pc)

Last edited by pishi (2014-06-23 17:50:08)

Padfoot

Member

Registered: 2010-09-03

Posts: 382

Re: Light dm doesn't start (screen just blinks) and no tty switch

Your solution is here:

[+0.43s] DEBUG: Activating login1 session /org/freedesktop/login1/session/c8
[+0.49s] DEBUG: Session pid=484: Greeter connected version=1.10.1
[+0.54s] DEBUG: Session pid=484: Greeter closed communication channel
[+0.54s] DEBUG: Session pid=484: Exited with return value 139
[+0.54s] DEBUG: Seat: Session stopped
[+0.54s] DEBUG: Seat: Stopping; failed to start a greeter
[+0.54s] DEBUG: Seat: Stopping
[+0.54s] DEBUG: Seat: Stopping display server

The greeter is failing.

Post yout /var/log/lightdm/x-0-greeter.log

Cheers.

pishi

Member

Registered: 2014-06-23

Posts: 9

Re: Light dm doesn't start (screen just blinks) and no tty switch

hello padfoot
if you look at post #2, i said that it's empty.and if you look at post #5, i said that it seems like keyboard is not recognized because crtl + alt + Fn doesn't do anything (no terminal).
i started arch again and let it blinking for 5-6 min.note as nothing works, i have to press reset button, boot to another distro, mount arch root partion and view log files.
and if you think i'm wrong, look at my lightdm logs:

pishi

Member

Registered: 2014-06-23

Posts: 9

Re: Light dm doesn't start (screen just blinks) and no tty switch

well i think the best option right now is to chroot to my installed arch from arch live usb and get rid of light dm.

pishi

Member

Registered: 2014-06-23

Posts: 9

Re: Light dm doesn't start (screen just blinks) and no tty switch

well problem solved by chrooting to my arch installation  from live usb, disabling lightdm service and removing lightdm and lightdm greeter(optional) .
and yes i do not solve the problem, just get rid of problem .
mark it solved or not?

Padfoot

Member

Registered: 2010-09-03

Posts: 382

Re: Light dm doesn't start (screen just blinks) and no tty switch

Ok,

Looking at your screenshot, are you booting a USB media for Arch, and just accessing the logs from a lubuntu install?

If that is the case, have you ensured the root filesystem on the USB device is writable? If it is not writable, that will be the cause of the lightdm greeter failing.

Cheers.

pishi

Member

Registered: 2014-06-23

Posts: 9

Re: Light dm doesn't start (screen just blinks) and no tty switch

thanks for reply
no i installed arch on my hardware and lubuntu is live.
as i said on my last post i disabled & removed lightdm using arch live usb by chrooting my hardware install.
i think i should mark it as solved.
thanks for your replies.
(ooh, there is no option for that,maybe is this a part of the arch way?)

Last edited by pishi (2014-06-24 10:33:44)

volmok

Member

Registered: 2013-04-24

Posts: 6

Re: Light dm doesn't start (screen just blinks) and no tty switch

In case you decide to give it another try and still does not work, could you post the config files for lightdm and greeter?
I have ran into some issues in the past with lightdm and always it proved to be a wrong configuration.

pishi

Member

Registered: 2014-06-23

Posts: 9

Re: Light dm doesn't start (screen just blinks) and no tty switch

hello volmok
well i removed lightdm and lightdm-greeter as i said on my previous posts,but i think i removed them with -R operation so config files should not have been removed,but it seems like pacman removed them or maybe i used -Rn. i  look up in arch and ubuntu and debian wikis and none of those location they named for lightdm and lightdm greeter config exist on my computer.
How i could mark this thread as solved?

carongangoo

Member

Registered: 2014-10-22

Posts: 58

Re: Light dm doesn't start (screen just blinks) and no tty switch

hi everybody !

I tried to install unity on arch  but due to some conflicts between compiz-core and compiz ubuntu and even with Unity, I am unable to boot into my arch os -that I installed on an external usb drive. In fact unity starts and then freezes : this is because I replace lightdm-gtk-greeter by lightdm-ubuntu-greeter.
I want to revert back to lightdm-gtk-greeter and from terminal in linux lite, i succeeded to reinstall lightdm-gtk-greeter but I don't know how to eliminate lightdm-ubuntu-greeter . Can I do it through Linux Lite or must I absolutely use a usb-live arch ?

Cheers from Mauritius

Caron