Arch Linux

james-h-arch

Member

Registered: 2022-04-13

Posts: 29

[SOLVED] Ext display goes blank during boot when laptop lid is closed

I've got an Arch laptop plugged into an external display. I power-up the laptop with its lid closed.

During power-up, I see as expected on the external display:

• UEFI boot animation

• systemd-boot options list

• plymouth animation

After the plymouth animation completes, the display becomes blank. I do not see the SDDM login screen.

If I toggle to a terminal with Ctrl-Alt-F3, then back again using Ctrl-Alt-F2, I see the SDDM login screen as expected and can login just fine.

If I boot with the laptop lid open, then SDDM login appears fine on the external display.

How can I get the external display to automatically show SDDM login screen, when booting with the laptop lid closed?

Last edited by james-h-arch (2024-06-08 14:18:40)

james-h-arch

Member

Registered: 2022-04-13

Posts: 29

Re: [SOLVED] Ext display goes blank during boot when laptop lid is closed

For others with the same problem. Solved by following the Arch wiki guidance :

Create file:

/etc/sddm.conf.d/10-wayland.conf

Add lines:

[General]
DisplayServer=wayland
GreeterEnvironment=QT_WAYLAND_SHELL_INTEGRATION=layer-shell

[Wayland]
CompositorCommand=kwin_wayland --drm --no-lockscreen --no-global-shortcuts --locale1

Worked for me as the machine is configured with SDDM, KDE Plasma and Wayland. Turns out SDDM by default runs with X11. Switching SDDM to also run with Wayland feels tidier, as well as giving me the "display on at boot" feature I wanted.

(I'd already configured the machine to ignore the laptop lid switch.)

Last edited by james-h-arch (2024-06-08 14:20:35)