Black screen with mouse cursor on boot after update

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1

After running updates on Thursday 28th march. My Manjaro install will no longer boot to the desktop. I see only a black screen with the mouse cursor. The mouse cursor responds but the system is further unresponsive. I can not switch to a TTY (ctrl F3 - F7) hitting CTL + ALT + DEL 7 times in rapid succession does nothing. Ctrl F1 does bring me to the startup log screen but there is no messages that seem to relate to the problem.
Strangely there is another symptom. The log shows the network has come up and my samba shares try to connect but time out. This is happening with Kernel 6.8 and 6.6.
I have had to use a live USB to chroot in and install Kernel 6.1 LTS which does boot and samba shares connect successfully at boot time.

inxi -Fza
System:
  Kernel: 6.1.83-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1-x86_64
    root=UUID=ec3dbccf-e41f-4e6e-b2a7-191de5e084ae rw apparmor=1
    security=apparmor resume=UUID=fa434f7e-a145-45bf-b30e-52da2883f338
    udev.log_priority=3 amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xffffffff iommu=pt
    amd_pstate=passive processor.max_cstate=5 nvme_load=yes
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.0.2 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.0.0
    wm: kwin_wayland vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: Gigabyte model: B550 AORUS ELITE V2 v: x.x
    serial: <superuser required> uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: American
    Megatrends LLC. v: F16b date: 02/08/2023
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+ gen: 4
    level: v3 note: check built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm) family: 0x19 (25)
    model-id: 0x21 (33) stepping: 2 microcode: 0xA20120A
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 8 tpc: 2 threads: 16 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 512 KiB desc: d-8x32 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 4 MiB desc: 8x512 KiB
    L3: 96 MiB desc: 1x96 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1623 high: 4550 min/max: 550/4550 boost: enabled
    scaling: driver: amd-pstate governor: schedutil cores: 1: 4038 2: 550
    3: 4550 4: 564 5: 550 6: 550 7: 550 8: 550 9: 4550 10: 3180 11: 550
    12: 3598 13: 550 14: 550 15: 550 16: 550 bogomips: 108861
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling 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, no microcode
  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
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 22 [Radeon RX 6700/6700 XT/6750 XT / 6800M/6850M XT]
    vendor: XFX driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-2 code: Navi-2x
    process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22 pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 16 ports: active: HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1,DP-2,DP-3 bus-ID: 09:00.0
    chip-ID: 1002:73df class-ID: 0300
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.4
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
    unloaded: modesetting,radeon alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: radeonsi
    gpu: amdgpu display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 res: 1920x1080 size: N/A modes: N/A
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi
    device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: kms_swrast surfaceless: drv: radeonsi
    wayland: drv: radeonsi x11: drv: radeonsi
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 24.0.4-manjaro1.1
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon Graphics (radeonsi
    navi22 LLVM 17.0.6 DRM 3.49 6.1.83-1-MANJARO) device-ID: 1002:73df
    memory: 9.77 GiB unified: no display-ID: :1.0
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.279 layers: 14 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu
    name: AMD Radeon Graphics driver: amd v: 2024.Q1.3 (LLPC)
    device-ID: 1002:73df surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland
Audio:
  Device-1: Creative Labs CA0132 Sound Core3D [Sound Blaster Recon3D /
    Z-Series BlasterX AE-5 Plus] driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 1
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 1102:0012 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD Navi 21/23 HDMI/DP Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 09:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab28
    class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.83-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off tools: aucat,midicat,sndioctl
  Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: jack_control,qjackctl
  Server-3: PipeWire v: 1.0.4 status: off with: pipewire-media-session
    status: active tools: pw-cli
  Server-4: PulseAudio v: 17.0 status: active with: 1: pulseaudio-alsa
    type: plugin 2: pulseaudio-jack type: module tools: pacat,pactl,pavucontrol
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169 v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 06:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8125 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, smbd, systemd-timesyncd
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 2.79 TiB used: 1.48 TiB (53.2%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Kingston model: SKC3000D2048G
    size: 1.86 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: EIFK31.6 temp: 27.9 C
    scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:5 vendor: Western Digital
    model: WDS100T2B0C-00PXH0 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 211210WD temp: 34.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Generic model: Flash Disk
    size: 15.64 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: USB
    rev: 2.0 spd: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 8.07 scheme: MBR
  SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure?
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 160 GiB size: 156.43 GiB (97.77%) used: 119.98 GiB (76.7%)
    fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 320 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 1.68 TiB size: 1.68 TiB (100.00%)
    used: 907.16 GiB (52.9%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 maj-min: 259:4
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: yes
    compressor: zstd max-pool: 20%
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 32 GiB used: 14 MiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 34.8 C mobo: 25.0 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 38.0 C
    mem: 34.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 0
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.25 GiB used: 3.73 GiB (11.9%)
  Processes: 394 Power: uptime: 22m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 12.49 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,upowerd
    Init: systemd v: 255 default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Packages: 2579 pm: pacman pkgs: 2537 libs: 597 tools: pamac pm: flatpak
    pkgs: 38 pm: snap pkgs: 4 Compilers: clang: 17.0.6 gcc: 13.2.1 Shell: Zsh
    v: 5.9 default: Bash v: 5.2.26 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.33
2

may be try with X11

3

I would recheck my kernel params by removing those not default.

amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xffffffff iommu=pt amd_pstate=passive processor.max_cstate=5 nvme_load=yes

If you are then able to boot - apply then one by one and verify they are working.

4

I’ve removed those kernel parameters from the default grub config and updated grub. No change to the problem im afraid.

inxi -Fza
System:
  Kernel: 6.1.83-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1-x86_64
    root=UUID=ec3dbccf-e41f-4e6e-b2a7-191de5e084ae rw apparmor=1
    security=apparmor resume=UUID=fa434f7e-a145-45bf-b30e-52da2883f338
    udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.0.2 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.0.0
    wm: kwin_wayland vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: Gigabyte model: B550 AORUS ELITE V2 v: x.x
    serial: <superuser required> uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: American
    Megatrends LLC. v: F16b date: 02/08/2023

lspci -knn | grep Eth -A3
06:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8125 2.5GbE Controller [10ec:8125] (rev 05)
        DeviceName: RTL8111E Giga LAN
        Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd RTL8125 2.5GbE Controller [1458:e000]
        Kernel driver in use: r8169
5

There was no big updates in the last 2 weeks, what did you updated 2 days ago?

When was the last time you updated your system?

Wayland is still present in your last inxi btw.

1 Like
6

It seems the problem is related to my fstab samba cifs mounts. They were failing to mount at boot time and somehow I wasn’t getting to the desktop because the system was waiting for drives to come online. I commented these lines out of the fstab file and rebooted. (I only did this because I was tired of waiting for the 90+ second time-out I was getting every time I restarted to see if i had fixed the problem or not.)
Now starts up normally. I need to find a better method of mounting my network drives methinks.

Edit: forgot to mention. I tried rebooting with X11 as default wm but it made no difference.

It seems to me that some change in the kernel affected the way the network stack is initiated. I had a problem a while back with kernel 6.8.rc7 where my onboard NIC just stopped showing up all together. This was fixed with the next iteration of that same kernel.
I’m on unstable branch. But if this problem goes unnoticed users with network shares set to automount via fstab may start getting the same black screen issue I had.
For now i’ve got my network shares mapped via dolphin. Which seems to work ok.

7

I think there is a option in fstab to let you skip the mountpoint when your drive has issues, that you still can boot. It has something to do with the last 2 numbers at the end of the mount command.

8

OK update: I’ve added the options noauto,user to the end of my cifs mount lines in fstab. Now these drives are mounted on demand instead of at boot time which is what I wanted all along.

Also i’m pleased to have found those non default kernel params. I had completely forgotten i’d added those. Some were workarounds for things that are now long since fixed and others were because I was experimenting with overclocking on hardware i’m no longer using in this PC.

N.B. the last two numbers at the end of each mount command / fstab line are dump and pass.

dump: (the first digit) this is a binary system where 1 = dump utility backup of a partition. 0 = no backup. This is an outdated backup method and should NOT be used.

pass: (second digit) Here we can see three possible outcomes. 0 means that fsck will not check the filesystem. Numbers higher than this represent the check order. The root filesystem should be set to 1 and other partitions set to 2 then 3 and so on.

9

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