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#1 2022-08-07 04:59:11

pyrole
Member
Registered: 2022-07-11
Posts: 90

[Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

I did pacman update yesterday and since then I am facing the problem that my lightdm is not starting EVERYTIME, meaning if I restart my laptop multiple times, it will start in one of those sessions but that seems to be pure luck.
I tried doing

sudo journalctl -b -1

But the error was "Specifying boot ID or boot offset has no effect, no persistent journal was found."

So here is the ouptut of my

 sudo journalctl --since=today

http://ix.io/46Sv

Also I suspect the problem might be related to nvidia, I am using linux-lts and nvidia-lts. (I just installed them and then automatically my grub started to load the lts by default)

Also here is my grub config:
http://ix.io/46Sw

Last edited by pyrole (2022-08-12 15:27:02)

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#2 2022-08-07 08:00:02

Ferdinand
Member
From: Norway
Registered: 2020-01-02
Posts: 331

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

Just a couple of quick comments that may be of some help.

  1. The non-persistent journal is explained in the first few paragraphs of the systemd/Journal wiki page

  2. You have something fishy going on around Aug 07 10:19:49 in your journal output; "pam_systemd_home(lightdm:auth): systemd-homed is not available: Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.home1.service not found."

Are you using systemd-homed?
I've never tried it and can't provide much help, but I'd say checking out that error is a place to start.
Also the default lightdm log is in /var/log/lightdm.

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#3 2022-08-07 08:12:09

pyrole
Member
Registered: 2022-07-11
Posts: 90

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

Ferdinand wrote:

Just a couple of quick comments that may be of some help.

  1. The non-persistent journal is explained in the first few paragraphs of the systemd/Journal wiki page

  2. You have something fishy going on around Aug 07 10:19:49 in your journal output; "pam_systemd_home(lightdm:auth): systemd-homed is not available: Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.home1.service not found."

Are you using systemd-homed?
I've never tried it and can't provide much help, but I'd say checking out that error is a place to start.
Also the default lightdm log is in /var/log/lightdm.

I dont know if I'm using systemd-homed or not how do I check?

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#4 2022-08-07 13:52:04

Ferdinand
Member
From: Norway
Registered: 2020-01-02
Posts: 331

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

It's something you only do  if you want it, so you probably don't.
By the way, I have the same errors in my journal too, so it seems to be just lightdms way of stating that you're not using systemd-homed smile

So you can forget about it, that was just me making noise.

Is your journal output from a session where lightdm actually did start okay?
In that case it's unlikely to say something about what went wrong, because nothing did.

So, you'll need to get lightdm to fail, and then Alt-Ctrl-F2 to open another console, log in and post your journalctl -b.
Alternatively, as you mentioned in your OP; log in with lightdm and post journalctl -b -1, assuming lightdm in the previous boot failed.

From https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Journal it seems you just need to create the directory /var/log/journal/ or set Storage=persistent in the file /etc/systemd/journald.conf, to keep the journal between boots.

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#5 2022-08-07 14:02:11

seth
Member
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 50,012

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

homed is spam, that's normal in lennartworld.
Is this still https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 3#p2048333 ? Do you get any output?

In doubt this is just https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/LightD … TTY_output

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#6 2022-08-08 03:45:12

pyrole
Member
Registered: 2022-07-11
Posts: 90

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

Ferdinand wrote:

It's something you only do  if you want it, so you probably don't.
By the way, I have the same errors in my journal too, so it seems to be just lightdms way of stating that you're not using systemd-homed smile

So you can forget about it, that was just me making noise.

Is your journal output from a session where lightdm actually did start okay?
In that case it's unlikely to say something about what went wrong, because nothing did.

So, you'll need to get lightdm to fail, and then Alt-Ctrl-F2 to open another console, log in and post your journalctl -b.
Alternatively, as you mentioned in your OP; log in with lightdm and post journalctl -b -1, assuming lightdm in the previous boot failed.

From https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Journal it seems you just need to create the directory /var/log/journal/ or set Storage=persistent in the file /etc/systemd/journald.conf, to keep the journal between boots.

So in that particular boot my lightdm succesfully started thats why I posted output of all boots since that morning (there were around 5+ erreneous boots and 1 successfull boot that day).

When lightdm fails, I can't access my consoles.

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#7 2022-08-08 03:48:05

pyrole
Member
Registered: 2022-07-11
Posts: 90

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

seth wrote:

homed is spam, that's normal in lennartworld.
Is this still https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 3#p2048333 ? Do you get any output?

In doubt this is just https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/LightD … TTY_output

No that nvidia issue was completely fixed at that time, this time the problem started after i again updated using pacman. I dont remember if there was linux or nvidia package that was updated this time but as far as i remember there wasn't.

I'll try putting the logind-check-graphical=true.....

Last edited by pyrole (2022-08-08 03:50:41)

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#8 2022-08-08 09:38:02

pyrole
Member
Registered: 2022-07-11
Posts: 90

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

Ok so I restarted my laptop 5 times and till now it seems to work fine.....

One thing I noticed is, before the update when I turned my laptop on and off, I could see a bunch of output during boot and shutdown because I removed the parameters quiet and splash from grub. But after the update I only see the output during boot and a black screen during shutdown.

Any idea what might be the issue?

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#9 2022-08-08 16:04:57

Ferdinand
Member
From: Norway
Registered: 2020-01-02
Posts: 331

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

pyrole wrote:

When lightdm fails, I can't access my consoles.

I think it's called to "switch tty" (tty, console, whatever) - you do that by pressing Ctrl-Alt-F2 when Lightdm fails. It should take you to a text-based login prompt. You can do this at any time after the computer has booted up - both before you log in, or after. Press Ctrl-Alt-F7 to get back to the graphical display.

If you can do it when Lightdm doesn't fail, and can't do it when it fails, then that should be an indication of what fails. Above me, though tongue

Anyway - if you can't switch tty when Lightdm fails, then you need to enable persistent journalling in order to be able to see the journal for the fail.
Edit: I understand you got it fixed, so this is just to wrap up the problem of getting to the journal, in case there was a misunderstanding.

Last edited by Ferdinand (2022-08-08 16:12:46)

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#10 2022-08-08 18:45:00

seth
Member
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 50,012

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

Alternatvely see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Kernel … _KMS_start as a lighdm-agnostic solution.

I only see the output during boot and a black screen during shutdown.

Can you still switch to a console VT after lightdm started?

Other than that: what Fedinand said - post a relevant journal and please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

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#11 2022-08-09 06:34:37

pyrole
Member
Registered: 2022-07-11
Posts: 90

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

deleted

Last edited by pyrole (2022-08-09 07:00:27)

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#12 2022-08-09 06:39:31

pyrole
Member
Registered: 2022-07-11
Posts: 90

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

Ferdinand wrote:
pyrole wrote:

When lightdm fails, I can't access my consoles.

I think it's called to "switch tty" (tty, console, whatever) - you do that by pressing Ctrl-Alt-F2 when Lightdm fails. It should take you to a text-based login prompt. You can do this at any time after the computer has booted up - both before you log in, or after. Press Ctrl-Alt-F7 to get back to the graphical display.

If you can do it when Lightdm doesn't fail, and can't do it when it fails, then that should be an indication of what fails. Above me, though tongue

Anyway - if you can't switch tty when Lightdm fails, then you need to enable persistent journalling in order to be able to see the journal for the fail.
Edit: I understand you got it fixed, so this is just to wrap up the problem of getting to the journal, in case there was a misunderstanding.

Update it turns out the problem didn't get fixed : ( I was just lucky those 5 times.....

Lightdm fails again twice during boot and worked the 3rd time.

Now for the other problems, I know how to switch tty but it is not wokring..... It just shows a black screen and becomes unresponsive.

Now the third issue is that during shutdown I can no longer see the output which I used to see before (the output that is generated when i removed queit splash).

Here are few of my configs:

grub: http://ix.io/46Sw

lightdm.conf: http://ix.io/474d

Here are few of my failed boots just now:

http://ix.io/474f

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#13 2022-08-09 06:42:54

pyrole
Member
Registered: 2022-07-11
Posts: 90

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

Another issue is that I put Storage=persistent in my journald.conf but I still can't do journalctl -b -1 it says its not persistent.....

my journald.conf: http://ix.io/474g

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#14 2022-08-09 06:58:51

seth
Member
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 50,012

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

Don't bump, edit your previous post if nobody replied (and since you posted 3 times within 10 minutes: assemble data and structure your thoughs before posting)

The journal you posted shows you logging in as pyrole from lightdm (so it's useless) and also attempting to "sudo /usr/bin/true" - is that still some funny attempt to blacklist the i915 module?

Another issue is that I put Storage=persistent in my journald.conf but I still can't do journalctl -b -1 it says its not persistent.....

Persistent storage should™ be auto anyway - it would seem that you perform unclean shutdowns or mount /var/log to a tmpfs?

df -T /var/log/journal
ls -lR /var/log/journal

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#15 2022-08-09 07:06:01

pyrole
Member
Registered: 2022-07-11
Posts: 90

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

seth wrote:

Don't bump, edit your previous post if nobody replied (and since you posted 3 times within 10 minutes: assemble data and structure your thoughs before posting)

The journal you posted shows you logging in as pyrole from lightdm (so it's useless) and also attempting to "sudo /usr/bin/true" - is that still some funny attempt to blacklist the i915 module?

Another issue is that I put Storage=persistent in my journald.conf but I still can't do journalctl -b -1 it says its not persistent.....

Persistent storage should™ be auto anyway - it would seem that you perform unclean shutdowns or mount /var/log to a tmpfs?

df -T /var/log/journal
ls -lR /var/log/journal

Ok firstly I am sorry about the duplicate replies, my browser bugged out it seems.....

my df -T /var/log/journal :

Filesystem     Type 1K-blocks     Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/nvme0n1p2 ext4 102626232 46021416  51345552  48% /
/var/log/journal:
total 4
drwxr-sr-x 2 root systemd-journal-remote 4096 May  2 19:02 remote

/var/log/journal/remote:
total 0

Another thing is that the journal is from all the boots since this morning not just 1 boot.....
You will find 1 successsfull boot and 2 or 3 failed ones.

Last edited by pyrole (2022-08-09 07:07:27)

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#16 2022-08-09 07:39:19

seth
Member
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 50,012

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

There's only one boot in the journal, what's not surprising since there're no journals stored.
Since /var/log/journal is on /dev/nvme0n1p2 it would seem that you don't properly shut down the system but cut the power supply?
If lightdm fails to start or the system doesn't shut down but just "turns black", try https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Keyboa … el_(SysRq) (nb. the kernel parameter to activate it!) - do not use use power button.

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#17 2022-08-09 12:17:13

pyrole
Member
Registered: 2022-07-11
Posts: 90

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

seth wrote:

There's only one boot in the journal, what's not surprising since there're no journals stored.
Since /var/log/journal is on /dev/nvme0n1p2 it would seem that you don't properly shut down the system but cut the power supply?
If lightdm fails to start or the system doesn't shut down but just "turns black", try https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Keyboa … el_(SysRq) (nb. the kernel parameter to activate it!) - do not use use power button.

I did cut the power and force shutdown when my boot fails cuz then I can't do anything, I cant control anything so there is no way to shutdown the normal way

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#18 2022-08-09 15:15:36

seth
Member
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 50,012

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

seth wrote:

If lightdm fails to start or the system doesn't shut down but just "turns black", try https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Keyboa … el_(SysRq) (nb. the kernel parameter to activate it!) - do not use use power button.

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#19 2022-08-09 16:50:55

pyrole
Member
Registered: 2022-07-11
Posts: 90

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

seth wrote:
seth wrote:

If lightdm fails to start or the system doesn't shut down but just "turns black", try https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Keyboa … el_(SysRq) (nb. the kernel parameter to activate it!) - do not use use power button.

Ok I'll do this from now on but still what about the other issues?

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#20 2022-08-09 17:07:21

seth
Member
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 50,012

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

What issues?
The issue is that we need to see a system journal to know what's going on w/ lightdm and the shutdown problems, otherwise your magic 8-ball is just as good as everyone elses.
There could be all sorts of reasons for this, one is actually the hard reboots triggering fsck's which slow down the boot process enough to get your GPU ready, but that's blind guesswork.

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#21 2022-08-09 21:15:19

pyrole
Member
Registered: 2022-07-11
Posts: 90

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

seth wrote:

What issues?
The issue is that we need to see a system journal to know what's going on w/ lightdm and the shutdown problems, otherwise your magic 8-ball is just as good as everyone elses.
There could be all sorts of reasons for this, one is actually the hard reboots triggering fsck's which slow down the boot process enough to get your GPU ready, but that's blind guesswork.

Ok so in a failed boot I tried the shortcuts as stated in the link but they didnt seem to do anything. Maybe becaause my Sysrq key is wrong.

I dont have any sysrq labeled key on my keyboard and looking it up on internet says that generally its the Prtsc key but that key doesnt seem to work with the shortcuts.

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#22 2022-08-09 22:14:11

seth
Member
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 50,012

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

seth wrote:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Keyboa … el_(SysRq) (nb. the kernel parameter to activate it!)

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#23 2022-08-10 16:08:02

pyrole
Member
Registered: 2022-07-11
Posts: 90

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

seth wrote:
seth wrote:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Keyboa … el_(SysRq) (nb. the kernel parameter to activate it!)

Ok so I added sysrq_always_enabled=1 to my grub config.....

Then I rebooted multiple times and encountered 3 failed boots, I used the REISUB method to reboot 3 times and my 4th boot was successfull (current session)

Below I am posting the following outputs:

journalctl -b -1 : Specifying boot ID or boot offset has no effect, no persistent journal was found.

journalctl --since=today : http://ix.io/47dc

I hope i followed the steps correctly.....

But why is journalctl -b -1 still giving the error? I even added Storage=persistent.....

journald.conf :

http://ix.io/474g

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#24 2022-08-10 21:16:39

seth
Member
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 50,012

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

When using REISUB, don't just hammer the sequence away but wait a couple of seconds between each step.
However, since you probably had a couple of "ok" boots and the journal archive is still empty, I suspect the "black screen during shutdown" (which I assume is a fixture and happens on *every* boot) is related to the journal loss.
Or: something™ clears the logs during the boot.
From a running system, run "sudo journalctl --flush; sudo journalctl --sync", then check "ls -lR /var/log/journal", there should now be some numeric name directory and some file(s) in there?
If yes, reboot and see whether they're still there.

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#25 2022-08-11 16:46:07

pyrole
Member
Registered: 2022-07-11
Posts: 90

Re: [Closed] Lightdm was not starting after pacman update.

seth wrote:

When using REISUB, don't just hammer the sequence away but wait a couple of seconds between each step.
However, since you probably had a couple of "ok" boots and the journal archive is still empty, I suspect the "black screen during shutdown" (which I assume is a fixture and happens on *every* boot) is related to the journal loss.
Or: something™ clears the logs during the boot.
From a running system, run "sudo journalctl --flush; sudo journalctl --sync", then check "ls -lR /var/log/journal", there should now be some numeric name directory and some file(s) in there?
If yes, reboot and see whether they're still there.

ls -lR /var/log/journal outputs:

drwxr-sr-x root systemd-journal-remote 4.0 KB Mon May  2 19:02:34 2022 remote

and the remote directory is empty inside.....

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