How to figure out why Manjaro isn't starting (instead I can see blinking dash only)

megavolt · 23 December 2020 16:46

First of all:

Manjaro is a partial rolling release, but it constantly upgrades the packages unlike a fixed releases. If you only upgrade specific applications, then it could break your system due dependencies.

Partial Upgrade = Broken System

Most things are fixed with a full upgrade.

But if you want to investigate that then watch the system logs. Here are examples:

[HowTo] Provide System Information

System Logs ( dmesg , journalctl , /var/log/ )

These commands can be used to find errors and troubleshoot

dmesg

This command is used to get examine kernel ring buffer logs like hardware errors.

Use examples:

$ sudo dmesg | less

Pipe command to less so output is scrollable with arrow keys.

$ sudo dmesg | grep usb

Get info on usb devices

$ sudo dmesg -l emerg,alert,crit,err,warn

Print only emergency, alert, critical, error, warn messages.

journalctl

This command is used to query the (systemd) journal logs, as documented here .

Use examples:

$ journalctl -x -p3 -b1

The flags correspond to explanatory output, priority level, and which boot to pull logs from.

journalctl -f

Live printing of the journal.

/var/log/

This directory can contain logs from a number of sources.

Use examples:

$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log

Print Xorg log from the current session.

$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old

Print Xorg log from the previous successful session.

$ cat /var/log/Xorg.1.log

Print Xorg log from after the last suspend.

$ cat/var/log/pacman.log

Print pacman (and pamac ) log to view package management history.

I guess there were then some changes, which effect now your system. Maybe also pacnew and pacsave files are there with newer configs. You should check them:

pacdiff -l -o