This seems to be a known issue, but the “solution” posted in the linked thread was “switched to Fedora, now it works”. While that is kind of funny, it does not really help me.
When you try to run the Manjaro 20.2 GNOME installer (with proprietary drivers) on a sufficiently old NVIDIA graphics card, at the point where GDM should start, the screen instead hangs forever on a blinking underscore.
Is there a fix coming (or already out) for this, or should I just quit trying to combine NVIDIA and GDM?
I know I can run the Manjaro XFCE installer and then manually add GNOME without GDM (that is the setup on which I am writing this post), but various tools really want you to have GDM as your display manager.
My search so far indicates that this happens to people with different NVIDIA cards since 20.2. I am on an ancient GTX 460 that has served me faithfully on all other Linux distros (not a laptop). Full system specs are provided at the end of this post via pastebin.
for x in $(ls /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/); do echo -e "---$x---\n\n $(cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/$x)\n\n"; done
for x in $(ls /var/log/ | grep Xorg); do echo -e "---$x---\n\n $(cat /var/log/$x)\n"; done
journalctl -b1 --no-pager --no-hostname
And since journalctl did not like that, I have also pasted the full output of
journalctl -b --no-pager --no-hostname
(-b with no arguments is the current boot). The file exceeds the maximum size of free pastebin pastes, so I have split it after the basic system comes up and before X stuff happens. Hopefully the first half is unnecessary, but I will link it for completeness.
Journalctl first half: https://pastebin.com/nzfekb9d
Journalctl second half: https://pastebin.com/NtRNrDx1
I have Nvidia GPU and none of the installers hangs at any point with the proprietary drivers.
Maybe you have a particular Laptop with hibrid graphics and maybe GDM is more peculiar with that?
I have updated my original post with links to those logs (it is kind of annoying that I have to sneak them past the forum software).
Journalctl did not like the “-b1” parameter, so I have also pasted the complete journalctl of the live boot. Apparently X cannot find my monitor?
PS: I probably should have mentioned in the original question – if I run the GNOME installer with the free drivers, it refuses to boot at all. That is why I tried the proprietary drivers, which at least gives me a running Manjaro, albeit without graphics.
[ 50.122] (II) NOUVEAU driver
[ 50.122] (II) NOUVEAU driver for NVIDIA chipset families
[...]
Fatal server error:
[ 50.123] (EE) no screens found(EE)
and gnomeshell fails because no drm device is available:
Dec 29 13:14:42 gnome-shell[1384]: Failed to create backend: No drm devices found
Seems you didn’t start with the nvidia driver or at least the included nvidia driver does not support your gpu and fallback to nouveau.
Since kernel 5.9 older drivers has been dropped. 455xx, 450xx and 390xx for legacy are only supported now. I would suggest to install it with the LTS Kernel, which should have a driver for your gpu:
The only difference is here the kernel and the driver support. Everything else is the same.
Ah, that makes sense, thank you! That also explains why that problem suddenly appeared with the new versions.
Yes, the nouveau drivers have never worked for my card, I just didn’t notice they were the fallback. I’ll try the LTS version and report back, then probably mark this as solved.
I’m having the same issue but on a Nvidia Geforce GTX 1050. It might not be the newest, but I’d not call it outdated. I think there is a bigger problem. Can anyone provide any more insights?