Hello, fellow Manjaronites
I am not the most experienced Linux user, but I’ve been using a Linux OS in some form for the last ~8 years. I will do my best to communicate my issue.
The problem
When booting into Manjaro I am greeted with a plain black screen. I can not access TTY and keyboard lights do not respond to keys being touched (e.g. pushing Caps Lock). It seems that the boot just hangs. All I can do is hit the power button to turn off.
I can access my system using a live USB set up with Ventoy but this has brought its own set of complications. I experienced the same hanging boot when using latest images (25.0.10). I tried live USB with:
- manjaro-gnome-25.0.10-251013-linux612.iso;
- manjaro-gnome-25.0.10-minimal-251013-linux66.iso;
- some older image from earlier this year; and finally
- manjaro-gnome-22.0-221224-linux61.iso.
Only the last image allowed me to boot into Manjaro and from there I am able to manjaro-chroot.
Potential cause
I updated Manjaro without issue up to and including stable update 2025-09-26. I have been working extensively in Windows the last couple of weeks and performed an ASUS EZ Flash update (which I think updates UEFI/related firmware) on the Windows boot through the MyASUS app which I think might be the cause, but I am not certain.
My system
I am running Gnome Manjaro on an ASUS ExpertBook (model: B1502CB) dual booted alongside Windows 11 on the same hard drive (a necessary evil for work purposes—don’t shoot me). These have been happily living side-by-side for about 2 years now.
Secure boot is turned off. So is fast boot:
powercfg /h off
Output of inxi -zv8 (don’t know what the prepended “12” on each line is about):
12System:
12Kernel 6.1.1-1-MANJARO 12arch x86_64 12bits 64 12compiler gcc 12v 12.2.0 12clocksource tsc 12avail acpi_pm
12parameters BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-x86_64 lang=en_US keytable=us tz=UTC misobasedir=manjaro
misolabel=MANJARO_GNOME_220 quiet systemd.show_status=1 splash driver=nonfree
nouveau.modeset=0 i915.modeset=1 radeon.modeset=1
12Console N/A 12Distro Manjaro 12base Arch Linux
12Machine:
12Type Laptop 12System ASUSTeK 12product ASUS EXPERTBOOK B1502CBA_B1502CBA 12v 1.0
12serial <superuser required>
12Mobo ASUSTeK 12model B1502CBA 12v 1.0 12serial <superuser required> 12uuid <superuser required>
12UEFI American Megatrends LLC. 12v B1502CBA.314 12date 08/11/2025
12Battery:
12ID-1 BAT0 12charge 31 Wh (100%) 12condition 31/42.1 Wh (73.6%) 12volts 12.59 12min 11.85 12model X421-35
12type Li-ion 12serial N/A 12charging 12status full 12control 12start N/A 12end 100% 12cycles N/A
12Memory:
12System RAM 12total 16 GiB 12note est. 12available 15.25 GiB 12used 3.21 GiB (21.0%)
12RAM Report 12message No RAM data found using udevadm.
12PCI Slots:
12Permissions Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
12CPU:
12Info 12model 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1255U 12bits 64 12type MST AMCP 12arch Alder Lake 12level v3 12note check
12built 2021+ 12process Intel 7 (10nm ESF) 12family 6 12model-id 0x9A (154) 12stepping 4 12microcode 0x434
12Topology 12cpus 1x 12dies 1 12clusters 4 12cores 10 12threads 12 12mt 2 12tpc 2 12st 8 12smt enabled 12cache
12L1 928 KiB 12desc d-8x32 KiB, 2x48 KiB; i-2x32 KiB, 8x64 KiB 12L2 6.5 MiB 12desc 2x1.2 MiB, 2x2 MiB
12L3 12 MiB 12desc 1x12 MiB
12Speed (MHz) 12avg 2600 12min/max 400/4700:3500 12scaling 12driver intel_pstate 12governor powersave 12cores
121 2600 122 2600 123 2600 124 2600 125 2600 126 2600 127 2600 128 2600 129 2600 1210 2600 1211 2600 1212 2600
12bogomips 62688
12Flags 3dnowprefetch abm acpi adx aes aperfmperf apic arat arch_capabilities arch_lbr
arch_perfmon art avx avx2 avx_vnni bmi1 bmi2 bts clflush clflushopt clwb cmov constant_tsc
cpuid cpuid_fault cx16 cx8 de ds_cpl dtes64 dtherm dts epb ept ept_ad erms est f16c
flexpriority flush_l1d fma fpu fsgsbase fsrm fxsr gfni hfi ht hwp hwp_act_window hwp_epp
hwp_notify hwp_pkg_req ibpb ibrs ibrs_enhanced ibt ida intel_pt invpcid invpcid_single lahf_lm
lm mca mce md_clear mmx monitor movbe movdir64b movdiri msr mtrr nonstop_tsc nopl nx ospke pae
pat pbe pcid pclmulqdq pdcm pdpe1gb pebs pge pku pln pni popcnt pse pse36 pts rdpid rdrand
rdseed rdtscp rep_good sdbg sep serialize sha_ni smap smep smx split_lock_detect ss ssbd sse
sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 stibp syscall tm tm2 tpr_shadow tsc tsc_adjust tsc_deadline_timer
tsc_known_freq umip vaes vme vmx vnmi vpclmulqdq vpid waitpkg x2apic xgetbv1 xsave xsavec
xsaveopt xsaves xtopology xtpr
12Vulnerabilities
12Type itlb_multihit 12status Not affected
12Type l1tf 12status Not affected
12Type mds 12status Not affected
12Type meltdown 12status Not affected
12Type mmio_stale_data 12status Not affected
12Type retbleed 12status Not affected
12Type spec_store_bypass 12mitigation Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
12Type spectre_v1 12mitigation usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
12Type spectre_v2 12mitigation Enhanced IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: SW
sequence
12Type srbds 12status Not affected
12Type tsx_async_abort 12status Not affected
12Graphics:
12Device-1 Intel Alder Lake-UP3 GT2 [UHD Graphics] 12vendor ASUSTeK 12driver i915 12v kernel 12arch Xe
12process Intel 10nm 12built 2020-21 12ports 12active eDP-1 12empty DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, DP-4, HDMI-A-1
12bus-ID 00:02.0 12chip-ID 8086:4628 12class-ID 0300
12Device-2 IMC Networks USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam 12driver uvcvideo 12type USB 12rev 2.0 12speed 480 Mb/s
12lanes 1 12mode 2.0 12bus-ID 3-7:4 12chip-ID 13d3:5463 12class-ID fe01 12serial <filter>
12Display 12server X.org 12v 1.21.1.18 12with Xwayland 12v 24.1.8 12driver 12gpu i915 12note X driver n/a, try
sudo/root 12tty 80x40
12Monitor-1 eDP-1 12model ChiMei InnoLux 0x15e7 12built 2020 12res 1920x1080 12dpi 142 12gamma 1.2 12chroma
12red 12x 0.592 12y 0.349 12green 12x 0.329 12y 0.557 12blue 12x 0.153 12y 0.118 12white 12x 0.314 12y 0.329
12size 344x193mm (13.54x7.6") 12diag 394mm (15.5") 12ratio 16:9 12modes 1920x1080
12API EGL 12v 1.5 12hw 12drv intel iris 12platforms 12device 0 12drv iris 12device 1 12drv swrast 12gbm 12drv iris
12surfaceless 12drv iris 12inactive wayland,x11
12API OpenGL 12v 4.6 12compat-v 4.5 12vendor mesa 12v 25.2.3-arch1.2 12note console (EGL sourced)
12renderer Mesa Intel Graphics (ADL GT2), llvmpipe (LLVM 20.1.8 256 bits)
12Info 12Tools 12api eglinfo,glxinfo 12x11 xprop,xrandr
12Audio:
12Device-1 Intel Alder Lake PCH-P High Definition Audio 12vendor ASUSTeK
12driver sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl 12bus-ID 00:1f.3 12chip-ID 8086:51c8 12class-ID 0401
12API ALSA 12v k6.1.1-1-MANJARO 12status kernel-api 12with aoss 12type oss-emulator
12tools alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
12Server-1 JACK 12v 1.9.22 12status off 12tools N/A
12Server-2 PipeWire 12v 1.4.8 12status off 12with 121 pipewire-pulse 12status off 122 wireplumber 12status off
123 pipewire-alsa 12type plugin 12tools pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
12Network:
12Device-1 Intel Alder Lake-P PCH CNVi WiFi 12driver iwlwifi 12v kernel 12bus-ID 00:14.3
12chip-ID 8086:51f0 12class-ID 0280
12IF wlo1 12state up 12mac <filter>
12IP v4 <filter> 12type dynamic noprefixroute 12scope global 12broadcast <filter>
12IP v6 <filter> 12type noprefixroute 12scope link
12Device-2 Intel Ethernet I219-V 12driver e1000e 12v kernel 12port N/A 12bus-ID 00:1f.6 12chip-ID 8086:1a1f
12class-ID 0200
12IF eno2 12state down 12mac <filter>
12Info 12services No services found.
12WAN IP <filter>
12Bluetooth:
12Device-1 Intel AX201 Bluetooth 12driver btusb 12v 0.8 12type USB 12rev 2.0 12speed 12 Mb/s 12lanes 1 12mode 1.1
12bus-ID 3-10:5 12chip-ID 8087:0026 12class-ID e001
12Report rfkill 12ID hci0 12rfk-id 1 12state down 12bt-service N/A 12rfk-block 12hardware no 12software no
12address see --recommends
12Logical:
12Message No logical block device data found.
12RAID:
12Message No RAID data found.
12Drives:
12Local Storage 12total 480.69 GiB 12used 180.94 GiB (37.6%)
12SMART Message Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
12ID-1 /dev/nvme0n1 12maj-min 259:0 12vendor Micron 12model 2400 MTFDKBA512QFM 12size 476.94 GiB
12block-size 12physical 512 B 12logical 512 B 12speed 63.2 Gb/s 12lanes 4 12tech SSD 12serial <filter>
12fw-rev V3MA003 12temp 35.9 C
12ID-2 /dev/sda 12maj-min 8:0 12vendor Generic 12model Flash Disk 12size 3.75 GiB 12block-size
12physical 512 B 12logical 512 B 12type USB 12rev 2.0 12spd 480 Mb/s 12lanes 1 12mode 2.0 12tech SSD
12serial <filter> 12fw-rev 8.07
12Message No optical or floppy data found.
12Partition:
12ID-1 / 12raw-size 249.19 GiB 12size 244.22 GiB (98.01%) 12used 180.87 GiB (74.1%) 12fs ext4
12dev /dev/nvme0n1p4 12maj-min 259:4 12label N/A 12uuid 2866aafa-c3b8-46b3-b65b-2398a425de55
12ID-2 /boot/efi 12raw-size 260 MiB 12size 256 MiB (98.46%) 12used 68.7 MiB (26.8%) 12fs vfat
12dev /dev/nvme0n1p1 12maj-min 259:1 12label SYSTEM 12uuid 6800-A6F0
12Swap:
12Alert No swap data was found.
12Unmounted:
12ID-1 /dev/dm-0 12maj-min 254:0 12mapped ventoy 12size 3.54 GiB 12fs <superuser required>
12label MANJARO_GNOME_220 12uuid 2022-12-24-05-24-42-00
12ID-2 /dev/dm-1 12maj-min 8:1 12mapped sda1 12size 3.72 GiB 12fs <superuser required> 12label N/A 12uuid N/A
12ID-3 /dev/nvme0n1p2 12maj-min 259:2 12size 16 MiB 12fs <superuser required> 12label N/A 12uuid N/A
12ID-4 /dev/nvme0n1p3 12maj-min 259:3 12size 225.61 GiB 12fs <superuser required> 12label OS
12uuid B016026B160232C0
12ID-5 /dev/nvme0n1p5 12maj-min 259:5 12size 1.61 GiB 12fs <superuser required> 12label N/A
12uuid 06F83948F8393771
12ID-6 /dev/nvme0n1p6 12maj-min 259:6 12size 260 MiB 12fs <superuser required> 12label MYASUS
12uuid 9210-0E9C
12ID-7 /dev/sda1 12maj-min 8:1 12size 3.72 GiB 12fs <superuser required> 12label Ventoy 12uuid 4E21-0000
12ID-8 /dev/sda2 12maj-min 8:2 12size 32 MiB 12fs <superuser required> 12label VTOYEFI 12uuid 3105-B091
12USB:
12Hub-1 1-0:1 12info hi-speed hub with single TT 12ports 1 12rev 2.0 12speed 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) 12lanes 1
12mode 2.0 12chip-ID 1d6b:0002 12class-ID 0900
12Hub-2 2-0:1 12info super-speed hub 12ports 1 12rev 3.1 12speed 20 Gb/s (2.33 GiB/s) 12lanes 2
12mode 3.2 gen-2x2 12chip-ID 1d6b:0003 12class-ID 0900
12Hub-3 3-0:1 12info hi-speed hub with single TT 12ports 12 12rev 2.0 12speed 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s)
12lanes 1 12mode 2.0 12chip-ID 1d6b:0002 12class-ID 0900
12Device-1 3-1:2 12info Alcor Micro Flash Drive 12type mass storage 12driver usb-storage 12interfaces 1
12rev 2.0 12speed 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) 12lanes 1 12mode 2.0 12power 200mA 12chip-ID 058f:6387 12class-ID 0806
12serial <filter>
12Device-2 3-2:3 12info CCore FocalTech FT9349 ESS 12type diagnostic 12driver N/A 12interfaces 1 12rev 1.1
12speed 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) 12lanes 1 12mode 1.1 12power 100mA 12chip-ID 2808:a959 12class-ID dca0
12serial <filter>
12Device-3 3-7:4 12info IMC Networks USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam 12type video 12driver uvcvideo 12interfaces 3
12rev 2.0 12speed 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) 12lanes 1 12mode 2.0 12power 500mA 12chip-ID 13d3:5463 12class-ID fe01
12serial <filter>
12Device-4 3-10:5 12info Intel AX201 Bluetooth 12type bluetooth 12driver btusb 12interfaces 2 12rev 2.0
12speed 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) 12lanes 1 12mode 1.1 12power 100mA 12chip-ID 8087:0026 12class-ID e001
12Hub-4 4-0:1 12info super-speed hub 12ports 4 12rev 3.1 12speed 10 Gb/s (1.16 GiB/s) 12lanes 1
12mode 3.2 gen-2x1 12chip-ID 1d6b:0003 12class-ID 0900
12Sensors:
12System Temperatures 12cpu 56.0 C 12mobo N/A
12Fan Speeds (rpm) N/A
12Repos:
12Packages 12pm pacman 12pkgs 1362 12libs 376 12tools gnome-software,pamac,yay 12pm flatpak 12pkgs 0
12Active pacman repo servers in /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
121 https: //manjaro.mirrors.lavatech.top/stable/$repo/$arch
122 https: //mirror.vinehost.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
123 https: //manjaro.mirrors.uk2.net/stable/$repo/$arch
124 https: //ask4.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
125 https: //ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
126 https: //mirrors2.manjaro.org/stable/$repo/$arch
127 https: //mirror.easyname.at/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
128 https: //cofractal-ewr.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
129 https: //forksystems.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1210 https: //mirror.alwyzon.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1211 https: //manjaro.ynh.ovh/stable/$repo/$arch
1212 https: //coresite.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1213 https: //mnvoip.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1214 https: //mirror.raiolanetworks.com/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1215 https: //mirror.futureweb.be/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1216 https: //repo.ialab.dsu.edu/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1217 https: //southfront.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1218 https: //nocix.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1219 https: //codingflyboy.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1220 https: //manjaro.mirror.wearetriple.com/stable/$repo/$arch
1221 https: //ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1222 https: //mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1223 https: //ftp.rz.tu-bs.de/pub/mirror/manjaro.org/repos/stable/$repo/$arch
1224 https: //ziply.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1225 https: //opencolo.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1226 https: //gsl-syd.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1227 https: //volico.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1228 https: //mirror.2degrees.nz/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
1229 https: //manjaro.c3sl.ufpr.br/stable/$repo/$arch
1230 http: //ossmirror.mycloud.services/os/linux/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
12Processes:
12Message No process data available.
12Info:
12Processes 0 12Power 12uptime 13m 12states freeze,mem,disk 12suspend s2idle 12avail deep 12wakeups 0
12hibernate platform 12avail shutdown, reboot, suspend, test_resume 12image 6.08 GiB 12Init systemd 12v 257
12default graphical 12tool systemctl
12Compilers 12gcc 15.2.1 12Client 12inxi 3.3.39
I am not too sure if this command is grabbing the live USB info or the actual system, but I ran the command above after performing manjaro-chroot -a.
When listing installed kernels, I get:
[manjaro-gnome /]# mhwd-kernel -li
Currently running: 6.1.1-1-MANJARO (linux61)
The following kernels are installed in your system:
* linux612
[manjaro-gnome /]#
So I am unsure what’s being listed by inxi -zv8. If I recall correctly, I only had one kernel installed.
What I have attempted thus far
Initially, I thought it was a bootloader/GRUB issue, so I made sure my system and GRUB were both updated (as per some instructions I found here):
sudo manjaro-chroot -a
pacman-mirrors -f 30 && pacman -Syu
update-grub
mkinitcpio -P
Unfortunately this did not work.
Thinking that at least a temporary fix lay in the installation of a different kernel, I had a look at the list of available kernels and tried to install one like so:
mhwd-kernel -l
mhwd-kernel -i linux66
But the install command results in the following error:
:: Synchronizing package databases...
core is up to date
extra is up to date
multilib is up to date
error: no targets specified (use -h for help)
Trying to get to the bottom of this error was surprisingly difficult (I had to enlist the help of Mr ChatGPT). I understand now that it has to do with pacman not receiving the linux66 argument somehow. But I am not sure how to fix this.
Initially I did try some other potential solutions but did not document them thinking they would work. At some point my GRUB screen disappeared completely, then I got it back but without the Windows entry. I can boot into Windows without issue, but I need to enter UEFI boot (or smash the escape key on ASUS splash screen) to select it
Anyway, that leaves me where I am now. I am happy to try any suggestions even if I’ve done them previously and provide any more info. Please help.
