Arch Linux

b0ing13

Member

Registered: 2026-06-12

Posts: 1

Login Loop on a old laptop

Hello guys. I'm new to all of this. Right now, I am trying to install Arch Linux onto an old Acer Aspire 7730 G from 2007/2008 with a BIOS (no UEFI yet). Unfortunately, I know that old NVIDIA cards (a Geforce 9600M GT in this case) do not go well with modern kernels. Now, the installation was successful, but I'm experiencing some problems. 1. A login loop. Everytime I try to log in, even with the correct password, I get sent straight back. After being able to launch the desktop from the terminal, I tried to change the login manager, which got rid of the loop, but now the desktop is just a plain black screen. 2. when I try to use the sudo command as myself (my user), I am told that I have no rights to do so, even though I gave myself the power during the installation process. And when fumbling around with the permissions, something goes wrong every single time and I break it. I reinstalled multiple times, and even consulted ChatGPT (which obviously isn't helpful), and I'm still stuck. Anyone have an idea what to do? I use the Xfce desktop, maybe that's the issue? Just so you know what I tried: I mostly used AI to help me with the commands. When editing textfiles, I repeatidly got errors like: "you have no permission to edit this" and similar. After being able to finally give me the ability to use sudo, I changed the graphics drivers from nouveau to the allrounders, and now the laptop doesn't boot anymore. Just finished a new ISO stick, I am definetly going to reinstall, aiming to start clean. Is the issue with the black desktop normal, and are there any articles in the ArchWIki that could help? P.S: I'm relatively new to Linux, only have some experience with KDE Neon (which is where I'm wrtiting this rn), but I'm eager to learn. So please be so nice as to give me very exact instructions, if that's possible in anyway. Thx

Btw, is Arch installer the smart choice? Or should I manually do it? So I know every detail? And how long does that take for an arch noob?

Last edited by b0ing13 (2026-06-12 23:00:56)

Sidekick

Member

Registered: 2024-06-23

Posts: 69

Re: Login Loop on a old laptop

To execute commands as root you need to 'become' root on Arch Linux by default. Meaning enter 'su', enter your password and then you are root. You can then add your user to the sudoers group and only then can you use the sudo command. See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Sudo#Configuration

The login manager dropping you back onto the login screen itself usually indicates some error when starting the desktop manager. That would fit with you getting a blackscreen when trying to launch it from the terminal, though that could also indicate other issues.

Could you try logging in again, then drop to the terminal and check your system logs with

journalctl -b0 -r

explanation: -b0 means you want to see the logs of the current boot, -r means that the log is reversed so that the newest entry is at the top. There should hopefully be some clear error message at the top or close to the top. Hopefully https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xfce#Troubleshooting has information about that error. Otherwise you'd have to post back here.

Last edited by Sidekick (2026-06-13 12:25:35)