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#1 2014-08-31 11:19:20

L1ghtmareI
Member
Registered: 2014-08-29
Posts: 96

Blank screen after boot

Hi again,

Lately I experienced some troubles trying to set up at least a desktop environment. Firstly I tried installing Xorg with LightDM without any desktop environment (was pretty foolish). After enabling

lightdm.service

I carelessly rebooted, and after normal boot process, obviously when Xorg started, my screen went flashing/blinking/etc., turning from enabled to disabled state several times with an interval of about a second or even less. Nothing worked but rebooting with either

Ctrl+Alt+Del

or power switch. That forced me to reinstall Arch (luckily this took me smth about an hour the second time).

The second try was with installing

kdebase

as well, and this time there were some major differences: I used open-source drivers instead of proprietary (NVIDIA ones) and carefully edited LightDM's conf, installing

lightdm-kde-greeter

. At the test run LightDM even let me log in with some fancy background, but then nothing happened, leaving me with no choice but to reboot again. Surprisingly, this time even

Ctrl+Alt+Del

didn't work. When I booted into Arch with

lightdm

already enabled, I saw nothing but white screen with black cursor. Weirdly, I can control cursor, see it moving, but in other terms system doesn't react to my actions at all, as long as I don't press power switch.

Another real problem is that I, as some real Linux newbie, don't know what to do in events like that, people say that they somehow manage to fall into shell from that blank screen (in my case,

Ctrl+Alt+FX

doesn't work) or to edit files using LiveCD/USB, but I couldn't manage any other but reinstalling Arch from scratch.

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#2 2014-08-31 11:51:46

loqs
Member
Registered: 2014-03-06
Posts: 17,192

Re: Blank screen after boot

Can you switch to another tty with Ctrl+Alt+2?

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#3 2014-08-31 12:09:25

L1ghtmareI
Member
Registered: 2014-08-29
Posts: 96

Re: Blank screen after boot

loqs wrote:

Can you switch to another tty with Ctrl+Alt+2?

I don't know, when I press it nothing appears on the screen, but maybe this actually happens (remember that Xorg troubleshooting with blind login smile )

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#4 2014-08-31 12:25:50

loqs
Member
Registered: 2014-03-06
Posts: 17,192

Re: Blank screen after boot

Change_default_target_to_boot_into as lightdm wants graphical.target changing the default target to multi-user.target should stop the service starting at boot.

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#5 2014-08-31 12:27:07

rebootl
Member
Registered: 2012-01-10
Posts: 431
Website

Re: Blank screen after boot

Firstly, during the set-up of a display manager I would not use 'enable' but 'start' with systemctl, e.g.:

systemctl start lightdm

This way it's not a persistent setting and when rebooting you should get back to the console instead of "being trapped" in a potentially not functional DM.

Then I think, when using the open-source driver with a display manager, you currently have to setup Xorg.wrap. See the front page news and 'man Xorg.wrap'.

And finally my suggestion would be to always first try to set-up your graphical environment without a display manager, but using 'startx' (from the console) instead. However I see that the "Xorg manually starting" wiki is in a rather poor state: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg#Manually
I just had a quick glance at it but I think it even contains _wrong_ information. (I may be able to do something about it at some point, but up to now I have been somewhat reluctant when it comes to editing wiki articles...)

As for your current problem you may try to set your default.target to multi-user in order to get back to the console: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/sy … _boot_into (as I see, loqs just suggested)

Edit: striked out The information is correct, except for that part that is marked as "disputed", I still think it's far from being as good as it could be...

Last edited by rebootl (2014-08-31 17:57:29)


Personal website: reboot.li
GitHub: github.com/rebootl

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#6 2014-08-31 13:44:55

L1ghtmareI
Member
Registered: 2014-08-29
Posts: 96

Re: Blank screen after boot

rebootl wrote:

And finally my suggestion would be to always first try to set-up your graphical environment without a display manager, but using 'startx' (from the console) instead. However I see that the "Xorg manually starting" wiki is in a rather poor state: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg#Manually
I just had a quick glance at it but I think it even contains _wrong_ information. (I may be able to do something about it at some point, but up to now I have been somewhat reluctant when it comes to editing wiki articles...)

As for your current problem you may try to set your default.target to multi-user in order to get back to the console: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/sy … _boot_into (as I see, loqs just suggested)

Edit: The information is correct, except for that part that is marked as "disputed", I still think it's far from being as good as it could be...

I actually forgot to mention that i tried `startx` metod, the result was somewhat weird screen with white field at the top left, with black bash lines on it, though it wasn't functional (it didn't respond to keyboard)

The most viable question for me now is, what to do at boot to drop to the shell? I'd appreciate step-by-step description (in case it's complcated), cause I'm absolute newbie.

Last edited by L1ghtmareI (2014-08-31 13:46:40)

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#7 2014-08-31 13:53:31

Head_on_a_Stick
Member
From: London
Registered: 2014-02-20
Posts: 7,679
Website

Re: Blank screen after boot

L1ghtmareI wrote:

The most viable question for me now is, what to do at boot to drop to the shell? I'd appreciate step-by-step description (in case it's complcated), cause I'm absolute newbie.

Read the wiki page @loqs linked to in post #4; here it is again:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … _boot_into
The "rescue.target" sounds about right, don't you think?

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#8 2014-08-31 14:12:44

rebootl
Member
Registered: 2012-01-10
Posts: 431
Website

Re: Blank screen after boot

As mentioned on the links we gave you should see what kernel parameter to use, I'd suggest to try the one with multi-user first and if that doesn't work try the rescue one.

As for how to enter these, it depends on your bootloader, maybe this helps: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Kernel_parameters

Edit:

I'd appreciate step-by-step description (in case it's complcated), cause I'm absolute newbie.

You may not get this here, cause we have a (usually) great wiki and we expect you to use it wink. (newbie or not)

Last edited by rebootl (2014-08-31 14:15:03)


Personal website: reboot.li
GitHub: github.com/rebootl

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#9 2014-08-31 15:51:09

L1ghtmareI
Member
Registered: 2014-08-29
Posts: 96

Re: Blank screen after boot

I was actually able to switch to tty2, but this happened sort of on its own - I left the machine alone with just white screen on it, the at some moment it went blinking (just as described above), and when I pressed key to enable my monitor I found out that I'm in tty2.

Things are getting stranger.

Running `startx` caused no problems, just typical executable header (version, constants etc.) appeared and then what looked like two lines from log, ending with "Server terminated succesfully (0). Closing log file". HOWEVER, when i typed `pkill X`, I was thrown back to that blank screen. Despite the familiarity of an event, this time system responded to `Ctrl+Alt+F2` by momentatily returning me to the shell.

Then I tried running LightDM, which got me to the blank screen again, but fortunately I was able to return to the shell again.

Error message is as follows: (I'm gonna google it anyway, but just in case I'll post it here)

 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
Failed to use bus name org.freedesktop.DisplayManager, do you have appropriate permissions?

P.S.: Beforehand I changed default.service to multi-user.service as you advised. I'm still lacking understanding of what I'm doing. Logged in as root.

Last edited by L1ghtmareI (2014-08-31 16:01:25)

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#10 2014-08-31 16:17:42

loqs
Member
Registered: 2014-03-06
Posts: 17,192

Re: Blank screen after boot

So X works for you at least under some set of conditions.
If you disabled lightdm.service you can now change default.service back to graphical.target
X11_Troubleshooting will give you the name of the log file for X
What did you set greeter-session in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf, lightdm logs to files under /var/log/lightdm/
For that warning have a look at lightdm's optional dependancies

Last edited by loqs (2014-08-31 16:18:38)

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#11 2014-09-01 16:51:03

L1ghtmareI
Member
Registered: 2014-08-29
Posts: 96

Re: Blank screen after boot

The problem with the blank screen occured 'cause of my carelessness as I've left no lines uncommented in `.xinitrc` after downloading KDE and commenting `xterm`. Now KDE works perfectly well, I'm able to work when I log in using shell and starting Xorg manually. But whenever I try to start LightDM from command prompt, I get to that blank screen again, resorting only to pkilling it thru tty2. Now I'll try enable it again, reboot and see what happens, editing this post afterwards. P.S.: still doesn't work. At least now I'm sure that's LightDM issue.

But the problem is mainly solved, I guess.

Last edited by L1ghtmareI (2014-09-01 17:02:16)

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#12 2014-09-01 18:38:40

loqs
Member
Registered: 2014-03-06
Posts: 17,192

Re: Blank screen after boot

Glad to see many of the issues seem resolved

loqs wrote:

So X works for you at least under some set of conditions.
What did you set greeter-session in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf, lightdm logs to files under /var/log/lightdm/

Or the full contents of /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf and /var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log

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#13 2014-09-01 19:26:43

LAUAR
Member
Registered: 2014-07-23
Posts: 7

Re: Blank screen after boot

L1ghtmareI wrote:

and carefully edited LightDM's conf, installing

lightdm-kde-greeter

.

Are you sure that you actually uncommented the line that sets up the greeter? When I installed LightDM it wouldn't work in the test run but I quicklly found  out my noobish mistake of not uncommenting the actual config line.

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#14 2014-09-02 13:51:23

L1ghtmareI
Member
Registered: 2014-08-29
Posts: 96

Re: Blank screen after boot

LAUAR wrote:
L1ghtmareI wrote:

and carefully edited LightDM's conf, installing

lightdm-kde-greeter

.

Are you sure that you actually uncommented the line that sets up the greeter? When I installed LightDM it wouldn't work in the test run but I quicklly found  out my noobish mistake of not uncommenting the actual config line.

I did that mistake with Xorg, forgetting to uncomment KDE line after commenting xterm. tongue

Here is your lightdm.conf:

#
# General configuration
#
# start-default-seat = True to always start one seat if none are defined in the configuration
# greeter-user = User to run greeter as
# minimum-display-number = Minimum display number to use for X servers
# minimum-vt = First VT to run displays on
# lock-memory = True to prevent memory from being paged to disk
# user-authority-in-system-dir = True if session authority should be in the system location
# guest-account-script = Script to be run to setup guest account
# log-directory = Directory to log information to
# run-directory = Directory to put running state in
# cache-directory = Directory to cache to
# sessions-directory = Directory to find sessions
# remote-sessions-directory = Directory to find remote sessions
# greeters-directory = Directory to find greeters
#
[LightDM]
#start-default-seat=true
#greeter-user=lightdm
#minimum-display-number=0
minimum-vt=1
#lock-memory=true
#user-authority-in-system-dir=false
#guest-account-script=guest-account
#log-directory=/var/log/lightdm
run-directory=/run/lightdm
#cache-directory=/var/cache/lightdm
#sessions-directory=/usr/share/lightdm/sessions:/usr/share/xsessions
#remote-sessions-directory=/usr/share/lightdm/remote-sessions
#greeters-directory=/usr/share/lightdm/greeters:/usr/share/xgreeters

#
# Seat defaults
#
# type = Seat type (xlocal, xremote)
# xdg-seat = Seat name to set pam_systemd XDG_SEAT variable and name to pass to X server
# xserver-command = X server command to run (can also contain arguments e.g. X -special-option)
# xserver-layout = Layout to pass to X server
# xserver-config = Config file to pass to X server
# xserver-allow-tcp = True if TCP/IP connections are allowed to this X server
# xserver-share = True if the X server is shared for both greeter and session
# xserver-hostname = Hostname of X server (only for type=xremote)
# xserver-display-number = Display number of X server (only for type=xremote)
# xdmcp-manager = XDMCP manager to connect to (implies xserver-allow-tcp=true)
# xdmcp-port = XDMCP UDP/IP port to communicate on
# xdmcp-key = Authentication key to use for XDM-AUTHENTICATION-1 (stored in keys.conf)
# unity-compositor-command = Unity compositor command to run (can also contain arguments e.g. unity-system-compositor -special-option)
# unity-compositor-timeout = Number of seconds to wait for compositor to start
# greeter-session = lightdm-kde-greeter
# greeter-hide-users = True to hide the user list
# greeter-allow-guest = True if the greeter should show a guest login option
# greeter-show-manual-login = True if the greeter should offer a manual login option
# greeter-show-remote-login = True if the greeter should offer a remote login option
# user-session = Session to load for users
# allow-guest = True if guest login is allowed
# guest-session = Session to load for guests (overrides user-session)
# session-wrapper = Wrapper script to run session with
# greeter-wrapper = Wrapper script to run greeter with
# guest-wrapper = Wrapper script to run guest sessions with
# display-setup-script = Script to run when starting a greeter session (runs as root)
# display-stopped-script = Script to run after stopping the display server (runs as root)
# greeter-setup-script = Script to run when starting a greeter (runs as root)
# session-setup-script = Script to run when starting a user session (runs as root)
# session-cleanup-script = Script to run when quitting a user session (runs as root)
# autologin-guest = True to log in as guest by default
# autologin-user = User to log in with by default (overrides autologin-guest)
# autologin-user-timeout = Number of seconds to wait before loading default user
# autologin-session = Session to load for automatic login (overrides user-session)
# autologin-in-background = True if autologin session should not be immediately activated
# exit-on-failure = True if the daemon should exit if this seat fails
#
[SeatDefaults]
#type=xlocal
#xdg-seat=seat0
#xserver-command=X
#xserver-layout=
#xserver-config=
#xserver-allow-tcp=false
#xserver-share=true
#xserver-hostname=
#xserver-display-number=
#xdmcp-manager=
#xdmcp-port=177
#xdmcp-key=
#unity-compositor-command=unity-system-compositor
#unity-compositor-timeout=60
greeter-session=lightdm-kde-greeter
#greeter-hide-users=false
#greeter-allow-guest=true
#greeter-show-manual-login=false
#greeter-show-remote-login=true
#user-session=default
#allow-guest=true
#guest-session=
session-wrapper=/etc/lightdm/Xsession
#greeter-wrapper=
#guest-wrapper=
#display-setup-script=
#display-stopped-script=
#greeter-setup-script=
#session-setup-script=
#session-cleanup-script=
#autologin-guest=false
#autologin-user=
#autologin-user-timeout=0
#autologin-in-background=false
#autologin-session=UNIMPLEMENTED
#exit-on-failure=false
pam-service=lightdm-autologin

#
# Seat configuration
#
# Each seat must start with "Seat:".
# Uses settings from [SeatDefaults], any of these can be overriden by setting them in this section.
#
#[Seat:0]

#
# XDMCP Server configuration
#
# enabled = True if XDMCP connections should be allowed
# port = UDP/IP port to listen for connections on
# key = Authentication key to use for XDM-AUTHENTICATION-1 or blank to not use authentication (stored in keys.conf)
#
# The authentication key is a 56 bit DES key specified in hex as 0xnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.  Alternatively
# it can be a word and the first 7 characters are used as the key.
#
[XDMCPServer]
#enabled=false
#port=177
#key=

#
# VNC Server configuration
#
# enabled = True if VNC connections should be allowed
# command = Command to run Xvnc server with
# port = TCP/IP port to listen for connections on
# width = Width of display to use
# height = Height of display to use
# depth = Color depth of display to use
#
[VNCServer]
#enabled=false
#command=Xvnc
#port=5900
#width=1024
#height=768
#depth=8

lightdm.log:

 [+0.00s] DEBUG: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Starting Light Display Manager 1.10.1, UID=0 PID=354
[+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 366: /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
[+0.04s] DEBUG: Loading users from org.freedesktop.Accounts
[+0.04s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 added
[+0.86s] DEBUG: Got signal 10 from process 366
[+0.86s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Got signal from X server :0
[+0.86s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Connecting to XServer :0
[+0.86s] DEBUG: Seat: Display server ready, starting session authentication
[+0.86s] DEBUG: Session pid=479: Started with service 'lightdm-greeter', username 'lightdm'
[+0.87s] DEBUG: Session pid=479: Authentication complete with return value 0: Success
[+0.87s] DEBUG: Seat: Session authenticated, running command
[+0.87s] DEBUG: Session pid=479: Running command /usr/sbin/lightdm-kde-greeter
[+0.87s] DEBUG: Creating shared data directory /var/lib/lightdm-data/lightdm
[+0.87s] DEBUG: Session pid=479: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/x-0-greeter.log
[+0.88s] DEBUG: Activating VT 1
[+0.88s] DEBUG: Activating login1 session /org/freedesktop/login1/session/c1
[+1.15s] DEBUG: Session pid=479: Greeter connected version=1.10.1
[+15.71s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+22.49s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+50.09s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+161.65s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+253.67s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+258.88s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+274.67s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+384.62s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+393.11s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+854.50s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+861.08s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+873.61s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+879.56s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+935.50s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+944.60s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 changed
[+950.82s] DEBUG: Session pid=479: Greeter closed communication channel
[+950.82s] DEBUG: Session pid=479: Terminated with signal 1
[+950.82s] DEBUG: Seat: Session stopped
[+950.82s] DEBUG: Seat: Stopping; failed to start a greeter
[+950.82s] DEBUG: Seat: Stopping
[+950.82s] DEBUG: Seat: Stopping display server
[+950.82s] DEBUG: Sending signal 15 to process 366
[+950.82s] DEBUG: Got signal 15 from process 1
[+950.82s] DEBUG: Caught Terminated signal, shutting down
[+950.82s] DEBUG: Stopping display manager
[+950.87s] DEBUG: Process 366 exited with return value 0
[+950.87s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: X server stopped
[+950.87s] DEBUG: Releasing VT 1
[+950.87s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Removing X server authority /run/lightdm/root/:0
[+950.87s] DEBUG: Seat: Display server stopped
[+950.87s] DEBUG: Seat: Stopped
[+950.87s] DEBUG: Display manager stopped
[+950.87s] DEBUG: Stopping daemon
[+950.87s] DEBUG: Exiting with return value 0

Nothing clearly stating an error as for me.

Last edited by L1ghtmareI (2014-09-02 13:59:50)

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#15 2014-09-02 14:13:17

loqs
Member
Registered: 2014-03-06
Posts: 17,192

Re: Blank screen after boot

[+950.82s] DEBUG: Session pid=479: Greeter closed communication channel
[+950.82s] DEBUG: Session pid=479: Terminated with signal 1
[+950.82s] DEBUG: Seat: Session stopped
[+950.82s] DEBUG: Seat: Stopping; failed to start a greeter

Seems the issue is with the greeter or its config I do not use lightdm-kde-greeter so not sure how much help I can be with that
Try the log file /var/log/lightdm/x-0-greeter.log
You can stay logged in as a none root user and check it (assuming you have sudo installed and configured to allow it) with

sudo less /var/log/lightdm/x-0-greeter.log

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#16 2014-09-02 14:17:51

L1ghtmareI
Member
Registered: 2014-08-29
Posts: 96

Re: Blank screen after boot

file:///usr/share/apps/lightdm-kde-greeter/themes/classic/main.qml:139:42: Type TextField unavailable 
                         /*PlasmaComponents.*/TextField { 
                                              ^ 
file:///usr/share/apps/lightdm-kde-greeter/themes/classic/TextField.qml:312:5: Type Private/IconLoader unavailable 
         Private.IconLoader { 
         ^ 
file:///usr/share/apps/lightdm-kde-greeter/themes/classic/private/IconLoader.qml:123:17: Expected token `}' 
                 id: svgComponent 

As far as I understand, it's missing some components?

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#17 2014-09-02 14:27:27

loqs
Member
Registered: 2014-03-06
Posts: 17,192

Re: Blank screen after boot

Sorry no idea on those error messages.

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#18 2014-09-02 15:06:49

LAUAR
Member
Registered: 2014-07-23
Posts: 7

Re: Blank screen after boot

Can you post your greeter config too? Also why do you have it set to use a wrapper? Is it default?

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#19 2014-09-02 15:17:16

L1ghtmareI
Member
Registered: 2014-08-29
Posts: 96

Re: Blank screen after boot

LAUAR wrote:

Can you post your greeter config too? Also why do you have it set to use a wrapper? Is it default?

have no idea, the only thing I've changed in the config was enabling greeter.
Its config is pretty simple BTW:

[greeter]
theme-name=classic

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