Inconsistent device initialization at boot (multi-monitor + USB RGB /

Santo C01 · 2026-04-24 14:17:46

Hi everyone,

I’m experiencing some inconsistent behavior during boot/login and would appreciate any guidance on how to make my system initialization more consistent.

### System Overview

* Arch Linux (fully up to date)
* KDE Plasma (currently using X11)
* NVIDIA GPU (RTX 4090)
* Multiple monitors (recently upgraded to a higher resolution setup)
* Corsair Lighting Node Pro (LC100 triangles) controlled via OpenRGB

### Issue Description

My system boots and operates perfectly *most of the time*, but occasionally I encounter inconsistent behavior right after boot or login:

* OpenRGB sometimes fails to detect all devices or freezes during initialization
* RGB devices (Corsair Node Pro) may not respond until I restart OpenRGB
* Monitor detection can be inconsistent (especially after logout/login cycles)
* Rarely, displays do not come back after logging back into the session (requiring a reboot)

What’s interesting is that:

* There are **no critical errors** in `journalctl -p 2 -b`
* Filesystem checks (`btrfs device stats`) show **no issues**
* After a clean cold boot, everything usually works perfectly again

### My Current Understanding

From troubleshooting, it seems like a **timing/initialization race condition**, where:

* GPU / monitor initialization (EDID/DDC)
* USB device initialization (Corsair Node Pro)
* User session startup (KDE + OpenRGB)

…are not always synchronized, leading to occasional “messy” boots.

### What I’ve Tried

* Switching from Wayland → X11 (improved stability)
* Testing with and without OpenRGB autostart
* Cold boot resets (which often fix the issue temporarily)
* Checking logs and system health (all clean)

### Goal

I’m trying to achieve **consistent, predictable boots**, even with this mix of hardware.

### Questions

* Is there a recommended way to **control or delay initialization timing** for user applications or USB devices?
* Are there known issues with **DDC/CI or multi-monitor setups** causing inconsistent startup behavior?
* Would disabling DDC/CI or adjusting power management (e.g., USB autosuspend) be advisable?
* Is there a more robust way to ensure OpenRGB only starts after all devices are fully initialized?

---

I understand this might be a “perfect storm” of hardware interactions, but I’d like to reduce variability as much as possible.

Any insights or best practices would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

seth · 2026-04-24 19:07:20

* OpenRGB sometimes fails to detect all devices or freezes during initialization
* RGB devices (Corsair Node Pro) may not respond until I restart OpenRGB

systemctl status openrgb.service
systemctl show openrgb.service

* Monitor detection can be inconsistent (especially after logout/login cycles)
…
* Switching from Wayland → X11 (improved stability)

Is this limited to kwin_wayland?

* Rarely, displays do not come back after logging back into the session (requiring a reboot)

Do you have a better experience w/ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages?O=0&K=580xx and https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA … P_firmware ?

Santo C01 · 2026-04-25 00:46:30

seth wrote:

* OpenRGB sometimes fails to detect all devices or freezes during initialization
* RGB devices (Corsair Node Pro) may not respond until I restart OpenRGB
systemctl status openrgb.service
systemctl show openrgb.service
* Monitor detection can be inconsistent (especially after logout/login cycles)
…
* Switching from Wayland → X11 (improved stability)
Is this limited to kwin_wayland?
* Rarely, displays do not come back after logging back into the session (requiring a reboot)
Do you have a better experience w/ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages?O=0&K=580xx and https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA … P_firmware ?

Hi,

Thank you for your detailed reply — I really appreciate it.

I’m currently running Wayland (KDE Plasma) and using the `nvidia-open` driver (version 595.58.03). I haven’t switched to X11 at any point.

Today’s boot was actually clean — all monitors initialized correctly and OpenRGB detected the devices without issues, so the behavior seems inconsistent rather than permanently broken.

Given that I recently updated the system and also changed my monitor setup, I suspect this might be related to timing/initialization during boot rather than a constant misconfiguration.

I’ll continue monitoring the system over the next few boots before making changes like disabling GSP firmware or switching drivers, just to avoid introducing new variables while things are currently stable.

Thanks again for the suggestions — I’ll report back if I find a consistent trigger or pattern.

seth · 2026-04-25 08:13:59

I’m currently running Wayland (KDE Plasma) … I haven’t switched to X11 at any point.

But you previously wrote:

### System Overview
* KDE Plasma (currently using X11)
…
* Switching from Wayland → X11 (improved stability)

If this hapens again please post your complete system journal for that boot:

sudo journalctl -b | curl -s -H "Accept: application/json, */*" --upload-file - 'https://paste.c-net.org/'

Santo C01 · 2026-04-28 02:38:48

seth wrote:

I’m currently running Wayland (KDE Plasma) … I haven’t switched to X11 at any point.
But you previously wrote:
### System Overview
* KDE Plasma (currently using X11)
…
* Switching from Wayland → X11 (improved stability)
If this hapens again please post your complete system journal for that boot:
sudo journalctl -b | curl -s -H "Accept: application/json, */*" --upload-file - 'https://paste.c-net.org/'

Hi,

Apologies for the confusion in my previous message — I made a mistake. I initially thought I had switched to X11 at some point, but after checking again I realized I have been on Wayland the entire time.

Today I encountered the same issue again: one of the monitors was detected by the system but remained a black screen after login. A full reboot resolved it, and the monitor then initialized and displayed correctly.

This continues to point more toward an initialization/timing issue during boot or session start rather than a persistent configuration problem.

Here is the full journal from the affected boot (as requested):
https://paste.rs/Djq4u

Thanks again for your help.

Last edited by Santo C01 (2026-04-28 04:44:41)

seth · 2026-04-28 08:29:18

Apr 28 09:56:35 HOST kernel: amdgpu 0000:72:00.0: [drm] Cannot find any crtc or sizes

All outputs are attached to the nvidia GPU, none to the AMD APU? Can you disable the latter?

Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST systemd[3245]: Starting OpenRGB...
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST systemd[3245]: Starting OpenRGB...
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST systemd[3245]: Started OpenRGB.
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST systemd[3245]: Started OpenRGB.
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST systemd[3245]: Started OpenRGB.
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3760]: qt.qpa.plugin: Could not find the Qt platform plugin "wayland" in ""
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3753]: Connection attempt failed
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3753]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3753]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3753]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3760]: Connection attempt failed
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3760]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3760]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3760]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3773]: Connection attempt failed
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3773]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3773]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3773]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3753]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] Unrecognized controller version
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3753]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] RGB controller not registered.
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3760]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] Unrecognized controller version
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3773]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] Unrecognized controller version
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3773]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] RGB controller not registered.
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3760]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] RGB controller not registered.
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3753]: Reset byte was not 0?!
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3753]: Got unexpected data - expected to recieve data for (6, 0) but got for (45, 65)
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3753]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] Unrecognized controller version
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3753]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] RGB controller not registered.
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3760]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] Unrecognized controller version
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3773]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] Unrecognized controller version
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3773]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] RGB controller not registered.
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3760]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] RGB controller not registered.
Apr 28 09:57:11 HOST openrgb[3760]: <h2>Some internal devices may not be detected:</h2><p>One or more I2C or SMBus interfaces failed to initialize.</p><p><b>RGB DRAM modules, some motherboards' onboard RGB lighting, and RGB Graphics Cards, will not be available in OpenRGB</b> without I2C or SMBus.</p><h4>How to fix this:</h4><p>On Linux, this is usually because the i2c-dev module is not loaded.</p><p>You must load the i2c-dev module along with the correct i2c driver for your motherboard. This is usually i2c-piix4 for AMD systems and i2c-i801 for Intel systems.</p><p>See <a href='https://help.openrgb.org/'>help.openrgb.org</a> for additional troubleshooting steps if you keep seeing this message.<br></p><h3>If you are not using internal RGB on a desktop this message is not important to you.</h3>
Apr 28 09:57:11 HOST openrgb[3753]: <h2>Some internal devices may not be detected:</h2><p>One or more I2C or SMBus interfaces failed to initialize.</p><p><b>RGB DRAM modules, some motherboards' onboard RGB lighting, and RGB Graphics Cards, will not be available in OpenRGB</b> without I2C or SMBus.</p><h4>How to fix this:</h4><p>On Linux, this is usually because the i2c-dev module is not loaded.</p><p>You must load the i2c-dev module along with the correct i2c driver for your motherboard. This is usually i2c-piix4 for AMD systems and i2c-i801 for Intel systems.</p><p>See <a href='https://help.openrgb.org/'>help.openrgb.org</a> for additional troubleshooting steps if you keep seeing this message.<br></p><h3>If you are not using internal RGB on a desktop this message is not important to you.</h3>
Apr 28 09:57:11 HOST openrgb[3773]: <h2>Some internal devices may not be detected:</h2><p>One or more I2C or SMBus interfaces failed to initialize.</p><p><b>RGB DRAM modules, some motherboards' onboard RGB lighting, and RGB Graphics Cards, will not be available in OpenRGB</b> without I2C or SMBus.</p><h4>How to fix this:</h4><p>On Linux, this is usually because the i2c-dev module is not loaded.</p><p>You must load the i2c-dev module along with the correct i2c driver for your motherboard. This is usually i2c-piix4 for AMD systems and i2c-i801 for Intel systems.</p><p>See <a href='https://help.openrgb.org/'>help.openrgb.org</a> for additional troubleshooting steps if you keep seeing this message.<br></p><h3>If you are not using internal RGB on a desktop this message is not important to you.</h3>
Apr 28 09:57:11 HOST openrgb[3773]: Error: Invalid option: -session
Apr 28 09:57:11 HOST openrgb[3773]: Run `OpenRGB --help` for syntax
Apr 28 09:57:11 HOST systemd[3245]: app-org.openrgb.OpenRGB@88b51a02fab745ce89e4de0f6aecb1a4.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=255/EXCEPTION
Apr 28 09:57:11 HOST systemd[3245]: app-org.openrgb.OpenRGB@88b51a02fab745ce89e4de0f6aecb1a4.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

You seem to be launching three openrgb instances, seems one is an autostart and another one from the session restoring, no idea where the third process is coming from, but it's got a bogus "-session" parameter.
As mitigation you can probably shadow /usr/bin/openrgb w/ /usr/loca/bin/openrgb

#!/bin/sh
pgrep opergb && exit
exec /usr/bin/openrgb "$@"

don't forget to chmod ugo+x that and then sort out what actually gets to start openrgb.
If you've enabled it as user service (systemctl --user status openrgb) remove the autostart entry, resp. shadow it

Santo C01 · 2026-05-30 01:49:01

Hello,sorry for the long time to reply back but I was observing the issue before writing here.

Thank you again for your help and for taking the time to review the logs.

I believe I have identified the root cause of the issue.

At the time, OpenRGB was actually being launched multiple times. In my attempt to make it more consistent, I had created a custom startup script while also having OpenRGB's own "Start at Login" option enabled. In addition, KDE session restoration may have been trying to reopen it as well. After cleaning everything up, OpenRGB is now launched only once through a single external startup script.

I also discovered that the issue was related to the large number of USB devices and RGB controllers connected to my system. I currently have around a dozen USB peripherals, RGB controllers, LCD devices, and hubs. What was happening was essentially a race condition during startup.

Sometimes all the USB devices, especially my Corsair Lighting Node Pro, would finish initializing before OpenRGB started scanning, and everything would work correctly. Other times OpenRGB would launch first, scan too early, fail to properly detect some devices, and that is when I would experience the frozen state and occasional crashes when trying to close the application.

My solution was to create a delayed startup script. The script waits for the system and USB devices to finish initializing before launching OpenRGB. This ensures that all devices are already present when OpenRGB performs its scan.

Since implementing this change, OpenRGB has been launching only once and has been detecting all devices correctly, including the Corsair controller. I am still monitoring the system over the coming days to confirm long-term stability, but so far the behavior has been significantly more consistent.

Thank you again for pointing me in the right direction.

Santo C01 · 2026-05-30 01:49:47

seth wrote:

Apr 28 09:56:35 HOST kernel: amdgpu 0000:72:00.0: [drm] Cannot find any crtc or sizes

All outputs are attached to the nvidia GPU, none to the AMD APU? Can you disable the latter?

Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST systemd[3245]: Starting OpenRGB...
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST systemd[3245]: Starting OpenRGB...
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST systemd[3245]: Started OpenRGB.
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST systemd[3245]: Started OpenRGB.
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST systemd[3245]: Started OpenRGB.
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3760]: qt.qpa.plugin: Could not find the Qt platform plugin "wayland" in ""
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3753]: Connection attempt failed
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3753]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3753]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3753]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3760]: Connection attempt failed
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3760]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3760]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3760]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3773]: Connection attempt failed
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3773]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3773]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3773]: [i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3753]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] Unrecognized controller version
Apr 28 09:57:09 HOST openrgb[3753]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] RGB controller not registered.
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3760]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] Unrecognized controller version
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3773]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] Unrecognized controller version
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3773]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] RGB controller not registered.
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3760]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] RGB controller not registered.
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3753]: Reset byte was not 0?!
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3753]: Got unexpected data - expected to recieve data for (6, 0) but got for (45, 65)
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3753]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] Unrecognized controller version
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3753]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] RGB controller not registered.
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3760]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] Unrecognized controller version
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3773]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] Unrecognized controller version
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3773]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] RGB controller not registered.
Apr 28 09:57:10 HOST openrgb[3760]: [ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO] RGB controller not registered.
Apr 28 09:57:11 HOST openrgb[3760]: <h2>Some internal devices may not be detected:</h2><p>One or more I2C or SMBus interfaces failed to initialize.</p><p><b>RGB DRAM modules, some motherboards' onboard RGB lighting, and RGB Graphics Cards, will not be available in OpenRGB</b> without I2C or SMBus.</p><h4>How to fix this:</h4><p>On Linux, this is usually because the i2c-dev module is not loaded.</p><p>You must load the i2c-dev module along with the correct i2c driver for your motherboard. This is usually i2c-piix4 for AMD systems and i2c-i801 for Intel systems.</p><p>See <a href='https://help.openrgb.org/'>help.openrgb.org</a> for additional troubleshooting steps if you keep seeing this message.<br></p><h3>If you are not using internal RGB on a desktop this message is not important to you.</h3>
Apr 28 09:57:11 HOST openrgb[3753]: <h2>Some internal devices may not be detected:</h2><p>One or more I2C or SMBus interfaces failed to initialize.</p><p><b>RGB DRAM modules, some motherboards' onboard RGB lighting, and RGB Graphics Cards, will not be available in OpenRGB</b> without I2C or SMBus.</p><h4>How to fix this:</h4><p>On Linux, this is usually because the i2c-dev module is not loaded.</p><p>You must load the i2c-dev module along with the correct i2c driver for your motherboard. This is usually i2c-piix4 for AMD systems and i2c-i801 for Intel systems.</p><p>See <a href='https://help.openrgb.org/'>help.openrgb.org</a> for additional troubleshooting steps if you keep seeing this message.<br></p><h3>If you are not using internal RGB on a desktop this message is not important to you.</h3>
Apr 28 09:57:11 HOST openrgb[3773]: <h2>Some internal devices may not be detected:</h2><p>One or more I2C or SMBus interfaces failed to initialize.</p><p><b>RGB DRAM modules, some motherboards' onboard RGB lighting, and RGB Graphics Cards, will not be available in OpenRGB</b> without I2C or SMBus.</p><h4>How to fix this:</h4><p>On Linux, this is usually because the i2c-dev module is not loaded.</p><p>You must load the i2c-dev module along with the correct i2c driver for your motherboard. This is usually i2c-piix4 for AMD systems and i2c-i801 for Intel systems.</p><p>See <a href='https://help.openrgb.org/'>help.openrgb.org</a> for additional troubleshooting steps if you keep seeing this message.<br></p><h3>If you are not using internal RGB on a desktop this message is not important to you.</h3>
Apr 28 09:57:11 HOST openrgb[3773]: Error: Invalid option: -session
Apr 28 09:57:11 HOST openrgb[3773]: Run `OpenRGB --help` for syntax
Apr 28 09:57:11 HOST systemd[3245]: app-org.openrgb.OpenRGB@88b51a02fab745ce89e4de0f6aecb1a4.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=255/EXCEPTION
Apr 28 09:57:11 HOST systemd[3245]: app-org.openrgb.OpenRGB@88b51a02fab745ce89e4de0f6aecb1a4.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

You seem to be launching three openrgb instances, seems one is an autostart and another one from the session restoring, no idea where the third process is coming from, but it's got a bogus "-session" parameter.
As mitigation you can probably shadow /usr/bin/openrgb w/ /usr/loca/bin/openrgb

#!/bin/sh
pgrep opergb && exit
exec /usr/bin/openrgb "$@"

don't forget to chmod ugo+x that and then sort out what actually gets to start openrgb.
If you've enabled it as user service (systemctl --user status openrgb) remove the autostart entry, resp. shadow it

...

Arch Linux

#1 2026-04-24 14:17:46

Inconsistent device initialization at boot (multi-monitor + USB RGB /

#2 2026-04-24 19:07:20

Re: Inconsistent device initialization at boot (multi-monitor + USB RGB /

#3 2026-04-25 00:46:30

Re: Inconsistent device initialization at boot (multi-monitor + USB RGB /

#4 2026-04-25 08:13:59

Re: Inconsistent device initialization at boot (multi-monitor + USB RGB /

#5 2026-04-28 02:38:48

Re: Inconsistent device initialization at boot (multi-monitor + USB RGB /

#6 2026-04-28 08:29:18

Re: Inconsistent device initialization at boot (multi-monitor + USB RGB /

#7 2026-05-30 01:49:01

Re: Inconsistent device initialization at boot (multi-monitor + USB RGB /

#8 2026-05-30 01:49:47

Re: Inconsistent device initialization at boot (multi-monitor + USB RGB /

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