GDM doesn't start with nvidia drivers. (black screen cursor blinking)

snacksncode · 2020-10-26 14:35:49

Hello,
I'm using arch with 5.4.72-1-lts kernel. My gpu is NVIDIA GeForce 410M. It's always a pain to get proper nvidia drivers working. Right now I'm using default ones (nouveau) and GDM & Gnome boots fine. But if I try to install nvidia-390xx drivers (alongside with nvidia-390xx-utils and nvidia-390xx-settings). GMD does not start. It's just a black screen with cursor blinking at the left top corner. I've had almost the same issue while using KDE and not Gnome and that if I installed nvidia package and not nvidia-390xx arch wouldn't boot and will just get stuck right before SDDM would start.

myTerminal · 2020-11-27 00:56:48

I've had this same issue on my Dell Precision T3600 desktop for a few months. In fact, it has been showing up every now and then.

For the first few times I encountered issue, I reinstalled Arch and the problem went away. However, recently, it showed up again and after a lot of research, I realized that it's due to a recent change in xorg-server.
I ran a lot of experiments and came up with a quirky solution to the problem: Do not enable the display-manager service. Instead, create an .xinit file and let the machine start in CUI mode and once logged in, start GUI with a simple `startx ~/.xinitrc`.

I realized that removing the display manager out of the picture solves the issue, and I can still use Xserver with my nvidia-390xx drivers installed. The system started way quicker, given the absence of GDM.

Unfortunately, this didn't last long. The problem came back and I then settled with removing nvidia-390xx and using nouveau instead. Though the graphics performance is no way close to nvidia, the system now boots without issues. Finally, I re-enabled GDM as it's not the one causing the problem anymore.

seth · 2020-11-27 07:38:10

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NV … de_setting
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GD … rg_backend

Arch Linux

#1 2020-10-26 14:35:49

GDM doesn't start with nvidia drivers. (black screen cursor blinking)

#2 2020-11-27 00:56:48

Re: GDM doesn't start with nvidia drivers. (black screen cursor blinking)

#3 2020-11-27 07:38:10

Re: GDM doesn't start with nvidia drivers. (black screen cursor blinking)

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