Arch Linux

StevenC21

Member

Registered: 2018-09-17

Posts: 59

LightDM Black Screen on Start [Solved]

Hello all. I was attempting to install LightDM recently, and it installed successfully with pacman, but it is not working. After I enabled it via systemctl, I rebooted to test it. Instead of seeing the LightDM menu, I witnessed the following:

...
[    OK   ] Started Login Service.
[    OK   ] Reached target Multi-User System.
[FAILED] Failed to Start Light Display Manager.
See 'systemctl status lightdm.service' for details.
[    OK   ] Reached target Graphical Interface.

┌[steven@Archlinux]
└[~]> systemctl status lightdm.service
● lightdm.service - Light Display Manager
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/lightdm.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2018-11-25 13:10:48 PST; 3min 50s ago
     Docs: man:lightdm(1)
  Process: 570 ExecStart=/usr/bin/lightdm (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
 Main PID: 570 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Nov 25 13:10:48 Archlinux systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Service RestartSec=100ms expired, scheduling restart.
Nov 25 13:10:48 Archlinux systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
Nov 25 13:10:48 Archlinux systemd[1]: Stopped Light Display Manager.
Nov 25 13:10:48 Archlinux systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Nov 25 13:10:48 Archlinux systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Nov 25 13:10:48 Archlinux systemd[1]: Failed to start Light Display Manager.

/var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log:
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Starting Light Display Manager 1.28.0, UID=0 PID=570
[+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: Registered seat module local
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Registered seat module xremote
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Registered seat module unity
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Using D-Bus name org.freedesktop.DisplayManager
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Monitoring logind for seats
[+0.00s] DEBUG: New seat added from logind: seat0
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Loading properties from config section Seat:*
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Starting
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Creating greeter session
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Failed to find session configuration lightdm-gtk-greeter
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Failed to create greeter session
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Failed to start seat: seat0

If anyone can help me out with this I would appreciate it very much. Please note that I can start X via startx, but I would like to finally get a DM set up.

Update: I have made progress. I installed lightdm-gtk-greeter, and am now met with a black screen instead of the systemd error messages.

/var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log:
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Registered seat module unity
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Using D-Bus name org.freedesktop.DisplayManager
[+0.31s] DEBUG: Monitoring logind for seats
[+0.31s] DEBUG: New seat added from logind: seat0
[+0.31s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Loading properties from config section Seat:*
[+0.31s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Starting
[+0.31s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Creating greeter session
[+0.31s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Creating display server of type x
[+0.31s] DEBUG: posix_spawn avoided (fd close requested) 
[+0.31s] DEBUG: Could not run plymouth --ping: Failed to execute child process “plymouth” (No such file or directory)
[+0.31s] DEBUG: Using VT 7
[+0.31s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Starting local X display on VT 7
[+0.31s] DEBUG: XServer 0: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/x-0.log
[+0.31s] DEBUG: XServer 0: Writing X server authority to /run/lightdm/root/:0
[+0.31s] DEBUG: XServer 0: Launching X Server
[+0.31s] DEBUG: Launching process 518: /usr/bin/X :0 -seat seat0 -auth /run/lightdm/root/:0 -nolisten tcp vt7 -novtswitch
[+0.31s] DEBUG: XServer 0: Waiting for ready signal from X server :0
[+0.31s] DEBUG: Acquired bus name org.freedesktop.DisplayManager
[+0.31s] DEBUG: Registering seat with bus path /org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Seat0
[+0.40s] DEBUG: Loading users from org.freedesktop.Accounts
[+0.40s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 added
[+2.24s] DEBUG: Got signal 10 from process 518
[+2.24s] DEBUG: XServer 0: Got signal from X server :0
[+2.24s] DEBUG: XServer 0: Connecting to XServer :0
[+2.24s] DEBUG: posix_spawn avoided (fd close requested) (child_setup specified) 
[+2.24s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Display server ready, starting session authentication
[+2.24s] DEBUG: Session pid=561: Started with service 'lightdm-greeter', username 'lightdm'
[+2.28s] DEBUG: Session pid=561: Authentication complete with return value 0: Success
[+2.28s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Session authenticated, running command
[+2.28s] DEBUG: Session pid=561: Running command /usr/bin/lightdm-gtk-greeter
[+2.28s] DEBUG: Creating shared data directory /var/lib/lightdm-data/lightdm
[+2.28s] DEBUG: Session pid=561: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/seat0-greeter.log
[+2.42s] DEBUG: Activating VT 7
[+2.42s] DEBUG: Activating login1 session c1
[+2.42s] DEBUG: Seat seat0 changes active session to c1
[+2.42s] DEBUG: Session c1 is already active
[+2.66s] DEBUG: Greeter connected version=1.28.0 api=1 resettable=false
[+2.89s] DEBUG: Greeter start authentication for steven
[+2.90s] DEBUG: Session pid=610: Started with service 'lightdm', username 'steven'
[+2.90s] DEBUG: Session pid=610: Got 1 message(s) from PAM
[+2.90s] DEBUG: Prompt greeter with 1 message(s)
[+14.34s] DEBUG: Seat seat0 changes active session to 
[+34.56s] DEBUG: Seat seat0 changes active session to 2

/var/log/lightdm/seat0-greeter.log:
** Message: 13:25:23.908: Starting lightdm-gtk-greeter 2.0.6 (Sep 30 2018, 09:14:12)
** Message: 13:25:23.912: [Configuration] Reading file: /etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf

** (lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): WARNING **: 13:25:24.094: [PIDs] Failed to execute command: /usr/lib/at-spi2-core/at-spi-bus-launcher

** (lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): WARNING **: 13:25:24.095: [PIDs] Failed to execute command: upstart

(lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:25:24.334: Drawing a gadget with negative dimensions. Did you forget to allocate a size? (node menubar owner GreeterMenuBar)

(lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:25:36.836: Drawing a gadget with negative dimensions. Did you forget to allocate a size? (node menubar owner GreeterMenuBar)

(lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:25:56.598: Drawing a gadget with negative dimensions. Did you forget to allocate a size? (node menubar owner GreeterMenuBar)

(lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:25:56.864: Drawing a gadget with negative dimensions. Did you forget to allocate a size? (node menubar owner GreeterMenuBar)

(lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:26:00.264: Drawing a gadget with negative dimensions. Did you forget to allocate a size? (node menubar owner GreeterMenuBar)

(lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:27:00.332: Drawing a gadget with negative dimensions. Did you forget to allocate a size? (node menubar owner GreeterMenuBar)

(lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:28:00.404: Drawing a gadget with negative dimensions. Did you forget to allocate a size? (node menubar owner GreeterMenuBar)

/var/log/lightdm/x-0.log:
** Message: 13:25:23.908: Starting lightdm-gtk-greeter 2.0.6 (Sep 30 2018, 09:14:12)
** Message: 13:25:23.912: [Configuration] Reading file: /etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf

** (lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): WARNING **: 13:25:24.094: [PIDs] Failed to execute command: /usr/lib/at-spi2-core/at-spi-bus-launcher

** (lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): WARNING **: 13:25:24.095: [PIDs] Failed to execute command: upstart

(lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:25:24.334: Drawing a gadget with negative dimensions. Did you forget to allocate a size? (node menubar owner GreeterMenuBar)

(lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:25:36.836: Drawing a gadget with negative dimensions. Did you forget to allocate a size? (node menubar owner GreeterMenuBar)

(lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:25:56.598: Drawing a gadget with negative dimensions. Did you forget to allocate a size? (node menubar owner GreeterMenuBar)

(lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:25:56.864: Drawing a gadget with negative dimensions. Did you forget to allocate a size? (node menubar owner GreeterMenuBar)

(lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:26:00.264: Drawing a gadget with negative dimensions. Did you forget to allocate a size? (node menubar owner GreeterMenuBar)

(lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:27:00.332: Drawing a gadget with negative dimensions. Did you forget to allocate a size? (node menubar owner GreeterMenuBar)

(lightdm-gtk-greeter:572): Gtk-WARNING **: 13:28:00.404: Drawing a gadget with negative dimensions. Did you forget to allocate a size? (node menubar owner GreeterMenuBar)

As the title suggests, I suspect that this may be a result of my nvidia graphics card (I'm using the proprietary driver from the repos). I have a notebook 1050ti, if it matters.

┌[steven@Archlinux]
└[~]>inxi -Fxzb
System:
  Host: Archlinux Kernel: 4.19.2-arch1-1-ARCH x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.2.1 
  Desktop: LXDE 0.9.3 Distro: Arch Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: GL753VE v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: GL753VE v: 1.0 serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends 
  v: GL753VE.306 date: 01/02/2018 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 40.8 Wh condition: 42.6/48.2 Wh (88%) model: Simplo SDI ICR18650 
  status: Unknown 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-7700HQ bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake rev: 9 L2 cache: 6144 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 44944 
  Speed: 900 MHz min/max: 800/3800 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 900 2: 900 3: 900 4: 900 
  5: 900 6: 900 7: 900 8: 900 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile] driver: nvidia v: 415.18 
  bus ID: 01:00.0 
  Display: server: X.Org 1.20.3 driver: modesetting,nvidia resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  Message: Unable to show advanced data. Required tool glxinfo missing. 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel CM238 HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.2-arch1-1-ARCH 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: e000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
  IF: wlp2s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet driver: r8169 
  v: kernel port: d000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.03 TiB used: 442.09 GiB (42.1%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: SanDisk model: SD8SN8U128G1002 size: 119.24 GiB 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABD100 size: 931.51 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 58.81 GiB used: 18.22 GiB (31.0%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
  ID-2: /boot size: 698.6 MiB used: 60.7 MiB (8.7%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 
  ID-3: /home size: 195.86 GiB used: 109.18 GiB (55.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb1 
  ID-4: swap-1 size: 14.99 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb3 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 48.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Info:
  Processes: 221 Uptime: 7m Memory: 15.55 GiB used: 1.01 GiB (6.5%) Init: systemd 
  Compilers: gcc: 8.2.1 clang: 7.0.0 Shell: zsh v: 5.6.2 inxi: 3.0.26 

Last edited by StevenC21 (2018-11-26 22:45:55)

Martina Neumayer

Member

From: München

Registered: 2018-11-06

Posts: 8

Re: LightDM Black Screen on Start [Solved]

Yeah.. Seems like you don't have installed some lightdm greeter theme. Jump into the TTL and install one of them, no matter which one, and set it as default theme for the lightdm.
Reboot this machine then and should be okay now
Read here:
https://linoxide.com/linux-how-to/insta … rch-linux/

And off course here:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LightDM

Btw.. lightdm can be a real pain in the a.. sometimes

To get rid of those "Failed to execute command: /usr/lib/at-spi2-core/at-spi-bus-launcher" errors just purge "at-spi2*" package away.
at-spi2-core is the base package for GNOME Accessibility which provides assistive technologies for people with disabilities
(screen readers and magnifiers, on-screen keyboards, speech recognition, etc...)
You don't need it normally in your system so you can remove them.

If this don't work try that: sudo chown  -R  $USER:$USER  $HOME and reboot.

Here was similar topic:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=194740

You can also use some other display manager:
https://www.slant.co/topics/2053/~best- … ay-manager

I hope this help you somehow.

Last edited by Martina Neumayer (2018-11-26 18:27:22)

StevenC21

Member

Registered: 2018-09-17

Posts: 59

Re: LightDM Black Screen on Start [Solved]

Yes. I solved the issues. What I needed to do was install the LightDM greeter theme, then I needed to make a couple config edits so it worked with my nvidia drivers.