GDM not showing any user

After the latest update in test channel, I was unable to login as GDM was not showing any user or any login prompt. I could see the current date, and the right-top panel (network, sound, shutdown, …). My mouse was working as expected and I was able to restart/shut down the computer.
However, I was unable to use CTRL+ALT+F1/F2/F3… to switch to console mode.
I tried to change the kernel version used for booting (6.6 rather then 6.12) without success.
I managed to change grub options to boot at level 3 and gain access to the console. As suggested by other posts in this forum, I then switched from gdm to lightdm and I could use my computer again.
However, I would like to understand what was the root issue and eventually go back to gdm and any help would be appreciated…

Here is what inxi -FAz returns as I saw this usually what is asked in such situations:

System:
  Kernel: 6.12.20-2-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: GNOME v: 48.0 Distro: Manjaro Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: Micro-Star model: MAG X570S TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI (MS-7D54)
    v: 1.0 serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: 1.80
    date: 10/12/2023
CPU:
  Info: 12-core model: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X bits: 64 type: MT MCP cache:
    L2: 6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1727 min/max: 550/4951 cores: 1: 1727 2: 1727 3: 1727
    4: 1727 5: 1727 6: 1727 7: 1727 8: 1727 9: 1727 10: 1727 11: 1727 12: 1727
    13: 1727 14: 1727 15: 1727 16: 1727 17: 1727 18: 1727 19: 1727 20: 1727
    21: 1727 22: 1727 23: 1727 24: 1727
Graphics:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Vega 10 XL/XT [Radeon RX 56/64]
    driver: amdgpu v: kernel
  Display: unspecified server: X.org v: 1.21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6
    driver: X: loaded: amdgpu unloaded: modesetting dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu
    resolution: 3440x1440~60Hz
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: radeonsi,swrast
    platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 25.0.2-arch1.2
    renderer: AMD Radeon RX Vega (radeonsi vega10 ACO DRM 3.61
    6.12.20-2-MANJARO)
  Info: Tools: api: eglinfo,glxinfo x11: xprop,xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Vega 10 HDMI Audio [Radeon 56/64]
    driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio
    driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-3: Micro Star USB Audio driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
    type: USB
  API: ALSA v: k6.12.20-2-MANJARO status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PulseAudio v: 17.0-43-g3e2bb status: active (root, process)
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE driver: r8169
  IF: enp38s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX210/AX1675 2x2 [Typhoon Peak] driver: iwlwifi
  IF: wlo1 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX210 Bluetooth driver: btusb type: USB
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 state: up address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 3.18 TiB used: 203.34 GiB (6.2%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 980 PRO 2TB size: 1.82 TiB
  ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: SanDisk model: SSD PLUS 1000GB size: 931.52 GiB
  ID-3: /dev/sdb vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO 500GB size: 465.76 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 915.53 GiB used: 203.3 GiB (22.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 299.4 MiB used: 32.4 MiB (10.8%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 28.2 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 30.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 1252
Info:
  Memory: total: 64 GiB available: 62.72 GiB used: 2.2 GiB (3.5%)
  Processes: 464 Uptime: 15m Shell: Sudo inxi: 3.3.37

When Gnome stalls after a sync - the most prominent cause is an incompatible extension.

GDM relies on gnome-shell and gnome-shell is extremely sensitive to extensions.

Switch to a TtY, login as your user and disable all extensions - perhaps you need to uninstall a package or two … I cannot know.

Thanks. I disabled all the extensions, disabled lightdm and reenabled gdm and rebooted

for ext in $(ls /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions); do           ✔ 
  gnome-extensions disable  $ext;
done
sudo systemctl disable lightgdm.service 
sudo systemctl enable gdm.service
sudo reboot -h now

Unfortunately, it didn’t solve the issue. Gdm displays no user or no login prompt.

Reswitching to lightdm allows me to login.

1 Like

I have a similar issue documented here:

Installing lightdm + gtk greeter solved the problem.

GDM still not working, even after a new kernel.
Might try to disable extensions but since ceulemanso had no success I probably won’t either.