[Fix] System doesn’t boot, boots to a black screen, or stops at a message

Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆

Original author in old forum was @jonathon

While there are many potential reasons why your Manjaro installation doesn’t boot to a desktop, the primary reason is that the graphics drivers haven’t loaded correctly so your login/display manager (DM) doesn’t start. This is why you get a “black screen” or stuck at an

[   OK   ] Started some service

message.

The normal reason for this is that you have the incorrect driver version for the kernel. This happens when the mirror you are updating from is not fully synchronised and so has different sets of packages in [core] and [extra]. This means the driver extramodule package in [extra] has been built for a different kernel point-release than that in [core].

The first thing to try

Switch to a text console with CTRL+ALT+F2, log in with your normal username and password, then run a full update:

sudo pacman-mirrors -f3
sudo pacman -Syyu

The first command will refresh your mirror list, picking three of the most recently updated mirrors (so those mirrors will all be up-to-date).

The second command will force a download of the current package lists, then perform an update if any updated packages are available.

If any packages were updated, reboot.

Note: If you can’t log in to a text console, use a chroot instead.

The second thing to try

Log into a text console as above and run startx . This should either start X, in which case the issue lies with your Display Manager (e.g. GDM, LightDM, SDDM), OR you will be presented with some output and returned to the console. Of particular interest are Error (EE) lines.

If you can’t see anything obvious

If neither approach helps fix this issue (which the first one will in 90% of cases) then search the forum (https://forum.manjaro.org/search?q=black%20screen), and, if you can’t find anything, start a new thread mentioning what you have already tried.

If you want more detailed instructions

Read this thread:

9 Likes

I had black screen after install of kernel 5.8 and 5.9rc. But I discovered it was due to nvidia. Reference:

and
https://forum.manjaro.org/t/how-to-set-automatically-xorg-with-free-driver-for-nvidia/26949/7
I hope it will help in some cases. Now I am able to run 5.9 with free driver.

I solved the issue by reinstall NVIDIA Drivers.

  1. Remove the NVIDIA driver by entering the following command into your terminal:
    sudo mhwd -r pci video-nvidia

  2. Reboot your computer

  3. Enter the following into your terminal:
    sudo gedit /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

  4. delete the word nouveau from the following line:
    MODULES=" nouveau"
    It should now look like this (i.e. keep the speech marks ("")):
    MODULES=""

  5. Save and close the file.

  6. It is now necessary to reconfigure your existing kernel to take into account this change. The syntax of the necessary command to enter into your terminal is:
    sudo mkinitcpio -p [linux kernel version]
    For example, if you are currently using Kernel 5.10, you would enter the following:
    sudo mkinitcpio -p linux510

  7. Now re-install the NVIDIA driver by entering the following command into your terminal:
    sudo mhwd -a pci nonfree 0300

  8. Reboot your system. Now it should work :wink:

https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php/Configure_NVIDIA_(non-free)_settings_and_load_them_on_Startup#Troubleshooting:_X-Server_Failed_to_Start_and_Install

2 Likes

Sorry but before install manjaro with gnome, I’m not access show black screen and not create user and password

try with root/manjaro and manjaro/manjaro
and nothing

You are a lifesaver, this worked without a hitch!

Just a heads up though, not everyone is going to have gedit installed. A better alternative would be to use vim, even tough in my case it was completely unnecessary since I didn’t have to do step 4.

1 Like

The post doesn’t mention how to proceed with the issue corresponding to

This should either start X, in which case the issue lies with your Display Manager (e.g. GDM, LightDM, SDDM)

I am currently able to boot into my system using startx via tty but the login page GUI is still stuck. I’d like to get some help on that part. Also, newbie here, if you feel this needs to be raised as a separate question post entirely. Thank you.

Not everyone has vim installed as well. Nano is in manjaro by default however as a gnu tool.

1 Like