[SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

Roby · 2014-10-30 17:23:41

Hey,

My install of the base Arch system was successful. After installing the following packages

pacman -S gdm cinnamon gnome-terminal xorg-server firefox

I am unable to get past the GRUB screen.

Once I select Arch as my boot choice, I am stuck with the screen (with a blinking cursor and unable to type)

/dev/sda1: clean, 77321/1310720 files, 712800/524880 blocks
[      3.0966431] systemd-fsck[196]: /dev/sda2: clean, 15/5898240 files, 417208/23592960 blocks

I've tried messing around with the kernel parameters at boot as some other topics with similar issues have suggested (as well as a wiki page), but nothing has worked quite yet. I've tried the following combinations:

rw
rw quiet
rw splash
rw quiet splash
quiet splash

Any help is much appreciated!

The Solution
1. I downloaded the following after a fresh installation:
xorg-server
gdm
Cinnamon[
xf86-video-intel (this driver is the one that applies to my graphics card. Yours may differ. I found this wiki helpful determining which driver I needed.)
When asked about which libgl option I wanted to use during my download of xorg-server, I went with mesa-libgl (as I do not have an NVIDIA card).
2. I then ran the following:
systemctl enable gdm
That's really all it was. I just did a bit of running in circles with choosing the wrong drivers and doing more than I needed getting gdm to run (which ended up causing some of my issues in the first place).

Last edited by Roby (2014-11-01 03:06:33)

runical · 2014-10-30 18:34:47

Were you able to boot into the system before installing these packages? (Seems a yes, but still)

If so, did you install a graphics driver for your system? The problem may be because of a failing x-server with missing drivers. Best bet is to take the installation CD, chroot into the environment and install the drivers.

If not, did you also update the kernel in the same session? If this is the case, you may want to downgrade the kernel, also via the installation media and chroot.

Roby · 2014-10-30 19:12:44

Correct and just before reading your post I had booted into runlevel 3 and removed the mentioned packages and dependencies not being used by other packages. Upon reboot I was greeted with the Arch login and I think I'm seeing what may be causing the issue. Specifically the xorg-server package. This is the output I'm receiving after running pacman -S <a bunch of packages> xorg-server:

warning: skipping target: xorg-server
resolving dependencies...
 ::  There are 4 providers available for libgl:
 ::  Repository extra
     1) mesa-libgl   2) nvidia-304xx-libgl  3) nvidia-340xx-libgl  4) nvidia-libgl

Enter a number (default=1):

Initially I went with 4. I'm not sure how I can deduce which one would be the right one for my machine.

runical · 2014-10-30 19:26:17

Well, first of, do you have an NVIDIA card and is it supported by the most bleeding edge nvidia driver? If so, you can install the nvidia package. Otherwise you'll have to make do with either version 340 or 304. If you don't have an nvidia card, go with mesa.

Maybe this will help.

EDIT: A good point to make is that you should test your x config before rebooting

EDIT2: You can find out which driver you should use on the nvidia site.

Last edited by runical (2014-10-30 19:28:39)

Roby · 2014-10-30 20:31:42

mesa is the one I need.

Before reading your post I had:

booted into runlevel 3
removed all of the packages I mentioned above (pacman -Rs)
installed xfce4, xfce4-goodies, xorg, xorg-server (chose mesa), and garmin

I managed to get into the GUI from here.

I prefer Cinnamon as my DE so I did the same thing:

removed the xfce related packages (the ones listed in this post)
went to re-install the cinnamon related packages (the ones listed above + choosing mesa)

Oddly (and maybe it's my ignorance and would be expected behaviour) the packages didn't/don't redownload. They just reinstall as if they were disabled and not removed.

Anyway, I let the process run and trying to run startx returns a command not found error and rebooting brings me back to the same screen as my original post.

I feel like it's almost there, but I'm definitely missing something.

Last edited by Roby (2014-10-30 20:33:10)

runical · 2014-10-30 21:07:57

Roby wrote:

Oddly (and maybe it's my ignorance and would be expected behaviour) the packages didn't/don't redownload. They just reinstall as if they were disabled and not removed.

This is normal behaviour. Pacman has a cache where it checks for packages first.

Roby wrote:

Anyway, I let the process run and trying to run startx returns a command not found error and rebooting brings me back to the same screen as my original post.
I feel like it's almost there, but I'm definitely missing something.

What do you mean that startx returns a 'command not found' error? Did you follow the wiki on installing xorg? Anyway, if you install xorg-xinit you should be able to start an X session. Also disable your display manager, otherwise you will not get to the tty (for testing purposes).

Last edited by runical (2014-10-30 21:08:23)

josipva · 2014-10-31 00:44:52

After choosing option 4 and installing it, do a "pacman -S nvidia"and reboot.

Last edited by josipva (2014-10-31 00:45:15)

Roby · 2014-10-31 01:23:05

I believe I did, yes.

I managed to have startx not produce that command not found error, but I am now seeing this (I've also disabled gdm -> systemctl disable gdm.service and installed xorg-init):

Fatal server error:
(EE) no screens found(EE)
(EE)
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support at http://wiki.x.org for help.
(EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
(EE)
(EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.
xinit: giving up
xinit: unable to connect to X server: Connection refused
xinit: server error

The /var/log/Xorg.0.log file has a good amount of stuff in it. Not sure what would be needed to determine why startx is failing.

Also, I do have ~/.xinitrc set up and have the follwing uncommented

exec cinnamon-session

Thanks for your help so far runical, by the way. Much appreciated.

Last edited by Roby (2014-10-31 02:02:16)

runical · 2014-10-31 08:23:16

Just to get clear that there is only one issue here: Can you boot into the system without any tricks when you disable gdm.service?

Other than that, can you post the log mentioned in the error? Just put in on a pastebin and puth the link here.

Furthermore, what kind of video card do you have? Which driver did you install?

Last edited by runical (2014-10-31 08:24:32)

Roby · 2014-10-31 18:07:44

I've done a reinstall of Arch and I'm experiencing the same error.

Yes I am able to boot into Arch without gdm enabled.

My video card is

Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)

The drive I installed is (after installing xorg-server)

xf86-video-intel

I'm not sure how to paste that info anywhere as it's running off actual hardware (and no DE to upload it to pastebin).

Last edited by Roby (2014-10-31 18:08:59)

Trilby · 2014-10-31 18:14:56

Ah ... all your troubles were almost certainly that you were installing only nvidia drivers to work with an intel video card.

Now that you reinstalled (there is never a need for that BTW) and you've installed the proper intel driver, do you still get the same errors?

Roby · 2014-10-31 18:22:55

The error has changed.

After running startx (as root) it now reads:

waiting for X server to shut down (EE) Server terminated successfully (0). Closing log file.e 54: xterm: command not foundxinit: connection to X server lostmand

Trilby · 2014-10-31 19:13:56

That's not an error message. That's a success message. That is most likely from not having a ~/.xinitrc so startx uses the systemwide default xinitrc which runs 3 xterms. But since you also don't have xterm installed, that fails to launch and X exits as it has nothing to do.

Roby · 2014-10-31 20:38:06

I've installed xterm, created the ~/.xinitrc with exec cinnamon-session uncommented (odd because I could have sworn I already created this file with this install) and typing startx brings up Cinnamon.

However, gdm doesn't appear to work; it jumps right into Cinnamon without the login screen and there a number of icons missing from the theme (namely the shutdown/logout icons in the start menu). Logging out is successful, but trying to "Switch User" does nothing from within Cinnamon. I can only get to and from the command line.

There doesn't appear to be any error messages when logging out of Cinnamon and returning to the shell. Not sure where to go from there in that case.

Thanks Trilby, it's almost there!

Last edited by Roby (2014-10-31 20:57:20)

Trilby · 2014-10-31 22:29:12

What you are getting is (still) just as expected. You can use startx with xinitrc, or you can use gdm. Xinitrc does not start the display manager - if anything it's the opposite as some display managers run xinitrc (but not gdm). Follow the wiki pages: the cinnamon wiki page clearly states you can easily use a display manager or use startx directly. It even links to the display manager page which gives you various options, one of them being gdm. This too links to the gdm page which tells you step by step how to set it up.

We're happy to help with problems here on the forums, but please follow the wiki first. Don't expect to regularly be led step-by-step on the forums when those steps are already clearly delineated in the wiki.

Roby · 2014-11-01 03:06:06

Thank you Trilby. I now have gdm and Cinnamon up and running.

I know step by step solutions is not how this forum works and I tried not to have this topic turn out that way. I am a newer user to Arch so all this was a little bit of a blur. I spent a little while on Wednesday getting the install done and then a good part of my day yesterday trying to troubleshoot this myself in conjunction with yours and runical's replies. I'm not implying that spending time on my installation is an excuse for the path this topic took, but just that when you don't know what you don't know, it can be difficult to understand what the wiki is describing sometimes.

Anyhow, I do respect the way things are done around here and I very my appreciate your help. I hope to be able to give back to this place when I am comfortable enough to effectively help.

I'll be sure to include my resolution in my first post as well.

The Solution
1. I downloaded the following after a fresh installation:
xorg-server
gdm
Cinnamon[
xf86-video-intel (this driver is the one that applies to my graphics card. Yours may differ. I found this wiki helpful determining which driver I needed.)
When asked about which libgl option I wanted to use during my download of xorg-server, I went with mesa-libgl (as I do not have an NVIDIA card).
2. I then ran the following:
systemctl enable gdm
That's really all it was. I just did a bit of running in circles with choosing the wrong drivers and doing more than I needed getting gdm to run (which ended up causing some of my issues in the first place).

Arch Linux

#1 2014-10-30 17:23:41

[SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#2 2014-10-30 18:34:47

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#3 2014-10-30 19:12:44

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#4 2014-10-30 19:26:17

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#5 2014-10-30 20:31:42

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#6 2014-10-30 21:07:57

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#7 2014-10-31 00:44:52

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#8 2014-10-31 01:23:05

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#9 2014-10-31 08:23:16

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#10 2014-10-31 18:07:44

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#11 2014-10-31 18:14:56

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#12 2014-10-31 18:22:55

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#13 2014-10-31 19:13:56

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#14 2014-10-31 20:38:06

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#15 2014-10-31 22:29:12

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

#16 2014-11-01 03:06:06

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not boot after Cinnamon install

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