Black screen with mouse cursor after update

Support Graphics & Display
1

Hi -
I got a notification (in gui) that packages needed updating. I accepted the defaults and let the update complete. When I rebooted, instead of the Plasma login screen I got a black screen with the gui mouse cursor and nothing else. I bounced out to a terminal and tried running “startx” , this just opened another full black screen with a gui mouse cursor. Let me know what you think I should try.

Here are some outputs from inxi and dmesg
inxi:

System:
  Kernel: 6.15.6-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.1.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.15-x86_64
    root=UUID=2192ae1c-37dd-49fd-9255-dbb3e21cdd9e rw quiet splash
    udev.log_priority=3
  Console: tty 3 DM: SDDM Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: PRIME B450M-A II v: Rev X.0x
    serial: <superuser required> part-nu: SKU uuid: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: 4204 date: 08/14/2023
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+ gen: 3
    level: v3 note: check built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm) family: 0x19 (25)
    model-id: 0x21 (33) stepping: 2 microcode: 0xA201211
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 1 cores: 6 threads: 12 tpc: 2
    smt: enabled cache: L1: 384 KiB desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB L2: 3 MiB
    desc: 6x512 KiB L3: 32 MiB desc: 1x32 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1738 min/max: 561/4654 boost: enabled scaling:
    driver: amd-pstate-epp governor: powersave cores: 1: 1738 2: 1738 3: 1738
    4: 1738 5: 1738 6: 1738 7: 1738 8: 1738 9: 1738 10: 1738 11: 1738 12: 1738
    bogomips: 88632
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: ghostwrite status: Not affected
  Type: indirect_target_selection status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
Type: spec_rstack_overflow mitigation: Safe RET
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW;
    STIBP: always-on; RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not
    affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsa mitigation: Clear CPU buffers
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA TU104 [GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER] vendor: eVga.com.
    driver: nouveau v: kernel alternate: nova_core non-free: 550-570.xx+
    status: current (as of 2025-04; EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Turing code: TUxxx
    process: TSMC 12nm FF built: 2018-2022 pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    ports: active: DP-1,DP-2 empty: DP-3,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 09:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:1e81 class-ID: 0300
  Display: unspecified server: X.org v: 1.21.1.18 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.8
    driver: X: loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: zink gpu: nouveau
    tty: 240x67
  Monitor-1: DP-1 model: MSI G274QPF serial: <filter> built: 2023
    res: 2560x1440 dpi: 108 gamma: 1.2 size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23")
    diag: 685mm (27") ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 2560x1440 min: 720x400
  Monitor-2: DP-2 model: Pixio PX247 serial: <filter> built: 2020
    res: 1920x1080 dpi: 94 gamma: 1.2 size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23")
    diag: 605mm (23.8") ratio: 15:9 modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  API: EGL v: 1.5 platforms: device: 0 drv: zink device: 1 drv: swrast gbm:
    drv: zink surfaceless: drv: zink inactive: wayland,x11
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: mesa v: 25.1.5-arch1.1
    note: console (EGL sourced) renderer: zink Vulkan 1.4(NVIDIA GeForce RTX
    2080 SUPER (NVK TU104) (MESA_NVK)), llvmpipe (LLVM 20.1.7 256 bits)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.313 layers: 9 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: NVIDIA
    GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (NVK TU104) driver: mesa nvk v: 25.1.5-arch1.1
 device-ID: 10de:1e81 surfaces: N/A
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor wl: wayland-info
    x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA TU104 HD Audio vendor: eVga.com. driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel alternate: nova_core pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 09:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:10f8 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio
    vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 16 bus-ID: 0b:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.15.6-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.4.6 status: off with: wireplumber status: off
    tools: pw-cli,wpctl
  Server-3: PulseAudio v: 17.0-43-g3e2bb status: off with: pulseaudio-alsa
    type: plugin tools: pacat,pactl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: ASUSTeK RTL8111H driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 08:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp8s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager,systemd-timesyncd
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 4.57 TiB used: 232.93 GiB (5.0%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Crucial model: CT4000P3PSSD8
    size: 3.64 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: P9CR40A temp: 32.9 C
    scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Leven model: JAJS600M1TB
    size: 953.87 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 8A0 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 1.69 TiB size: 1.66 TiB (98.37%) used: 232.92 GiB (13.7%)
    fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 6.3 MiB (2.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 39.1 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.25 GiB used: 765.1 MiB (2.4%)
  Processes: 200 Power: uptime: 19m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 12.47 GiB Init: systemd v: 257
    default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1658 libs: 506 tools: pamac pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
    Compilers: clang: 20.1.7 gcc: 15.1.1 Shell: Bash (login) v: 5.2.37
    running-in: tty 3 inxi: 3.3.38

Here is the output of dmesg when I grepped for failed and error
failed:

[    5.631916] asus_wmi: failed to register LPS0 sleep handler in asus-wmi
[    6.644758] ucsi_ccg 3-0008: i2c_transfer failed -110
[    6.644762] ucsi_ccg 3-0008: ucsi_ccg_init failed - -110
[    6.644770] ucsi_ccg 3-0008: probe with driver ucsi_ccg failed with error -110

error:

[    6.644751] nvidia-gpu 0000:09:00.3: i2c timeout error e0000000
[    6.644770] ucsi_ccg 3-0008: probe with driver ucsi_ccg failed with error -110
[   10.949796] sddm-greeter-qt[709]: segfault at 1d0 ip 00007f1876234582 sp 00007fff10719bb8 error 6 in libgallium-25.1.5-arch1.1.so[c34582,7f1875618000+1865000] likely on CPU 8 (core 2, socket 0)
Mod edit: https://forum.manjaro.org/t/howto-provide-system-information/874
2

There have been some issues with the latest kernel versions and AMDs as AMD seems to be trying different optimizations. I have slightly different issues with mine, (a Ryzen 9 5900-XT) and frustratingly, they seem different with every reboot. I have a very long file of differing boot errors.

Try booting to an LTS kernel to see if the problem persists.

2 Likes
3

Hi, I tried the 6.12.nn kernel, and safe mode boot. No difference.

1 Like
4

I’m afraid that’s all I have. Maybe someone else can figure it out.

Maybe it’s an Nvidia thing not an AMD thing?

5

Have you tried with Nvidia driver rather than nouveau?

Also, you have a bios update available.

6

I guess I’ll try the nividia drivers and see what happens.

7

Have a look here [Stable Update] 2025-07-12 - Kernels, Systemd, GNOME, NVIDIA, Plasma, Firefox, VLC splits - #103 by Hipster
See if your issue is similar.

8

Similar, I never even get a dialg box to login, so it sounds like that case was better than mine. I’ll try this and see what happens. Thanks.

9

Hey, that did it. Thanks. (How do I mark this resolved?)

Mod edit:- Corrected typo(s) to aid clarity. No charge.
I see you found the solution.

10

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