Thank you for the guidance so far! I believe the (i) issue description and (ii) what I want accomplished are both plainly stated in the OP.
Please find below my inxi output:
$ inxi --admin --verbosity=7 --filter --no-host --width
System:
Kernel: 5.9.16-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.9-x86_64
root=UUID=7d129f16-68a5-4166-af3c-be36b7ba6c40 rw quiet
cryptdevice=UUID=d4d370d7-082e-437f-b4ae-84c750147f53:luks-d4d370d7-082e-437f-b4ae-84c750147f53
root=/dev/mapper/luks-d4d370d7-082e-437f-b4ae-84c750147f53 apparmor=1
security=apparmor resume=UUID=85ffc8b9-36cc-4a1d-a122-a69aa6ef2518
udev.log_priority=3 pcie_aspm=off
Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.24 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 vt: 7
dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: Gigabyte model: H310M H 2.0 v: x.x serial: <filter>
UEFI: American Megatrends v: F12 date: 08/13/2019
Battery:
Message: No system battery data found. Is one present?
Memory:
RAM: total: 15.58 GiB used: 2.33 GiB (14.9%)
RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
Info: Quad Core model: Intel Core i3-9100F bits: 64 type: MCP
arch: Kaby Lake note: check family: 6 model-id: 9E (158) stepping: B (11)
microcode: DE cache: L2: 6 MiB bogomips: 28808
Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/4200 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800
4: 800
Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm acpi adx aes aperfmperf apic arat arch_perfmon art
avx avx2 bmi1 bmi2 bts clflush clflushopt cmov constant_tsc cpuid
cpuid_fault cx16 cx8 de ds_cpl dtes64 dtherm dts ept ept_ad erms est f16c
flexpriority flush_l1d fma fpu fsgsbase fxsr ht hwp hwp_act_window hwp_epp
hwp_notify ibpb ibrs ida intel_pt invpcid invpcid_single lahf_lm lm mca mce
md_clear mmx monitor movbe mpx msr mtrr nonstop_tsc nopl nx pae pat pbe pcid
pclmulqdq pdcm pdpe1gb pebs pge pln pni popcnt pse pse36 pti pts rdrand
rdseed rdtscp rep_good sdbg sep smap smep ss ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2
ssse3 stibp syscall tm tm2 tpr_shadow tsc tsc_adjust tsc_deadline_timer vme
vmx vnmi vpid x2apic xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveopt xsaves xtopology xtpr
Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
Type: l1tf
mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT disabled
Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled
Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
Type: spec_store_bypass
mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp
Type: spectre_v1
mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional,
IBRS_FW, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling
Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GK208B [GeForce GT 710] driver: nvidia v: 460.73.01
alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:128b
class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: nvidia display-ID: :0.0
screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x286mm (20.0x11.3")
s-diag: 583mm (23")
Monitor-1: HDMI-0 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 55 size: 885x498mm (34.8x19.6")
diag: 1015mm (40")
OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GT 710/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 460.73.01
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel 200 Series PCH HD Audio vendor: Gigabyte
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a2f0
class-ID: 0403
Device-2: NVIDIA GK208 HDMI/DP Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0e0f class-ID: 0403
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.9.16-1-MANJARO running: yes
Sound Server-2: sndio v: N/A running: no
Sound Server-3: JACK v: 0.125.0 running: no
Sound Server-4: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes
Sound Server-5: PipeWire v: 0.3.26 running: no
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8192EE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter driver: rtl8192ee
v: kernel port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:818b class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
broadcast: <filter>
IP v6: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169 v: kernel port: c000 bus-ID: 05:00.0
chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp5s0 state: down mac: <filter>
WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Message: No bluetooth data found.
Logical:
Message: No logical block device data found.
Device-1: luks-bd4c91ef-b67b-4d8c-a73d-f8f8642b867b maj-min: 254:1
type: LUKS dm: dm-1 size: 931.51 GiB
Components:
p-1: sda1 maj-min: 8:1 size: 931.51 GiB
Device-2: luks-d4d370d7-082e-437f-b4ae-84c750147f53 maj-min: 254:0
type: LUKS dm: dm-0 size: 155.57 GiB
Components:
p-1: sdb3 maj-min: 8:19 size: 155.57 GiB
RAID:
Message: No RAID data found.
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 1.13 TiB used: 696.72 GiB (60.3%)
SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Seagate model: ST1000DM010-2EP102
size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
rotation: 7200 rpm serial: <filter> rev: CC43 scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Western Digital
model: WDS240G2G0A-00JH30 size: 223.57 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 0400
scheme: GPT
Message: No optical or floppy data found.
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 155.57 GiB size: 152.13 GiB (97.79%)
used: 42.51 GiB (27.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 254:0
mapped: luks-d4d370d7-082e-437f-b4ae-84c750147f53 label: N/A
uuid: 7d129f16-68a5-4166-af3c-be36b7ba6c40
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 4 GiB size: 3.99 GiB (99.80%) used: 424 KiB (0.0%)
fs: vfat dev: /dev/sdb2 maj-min: 8:18 label: N/A uuid: 50B3-509E
ID-3: /home raw-size: 931.51 GiB size: 915.89 GiB (98.32%)
used: 654.21 GiB (71.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1 maj-min: 254:1
mapped: luks-bd4c91ef-b67b-4d8c-a73d-f8f8642b867b label: N/A
uuid: 5e60496a-8abb-4130-b96e-7a2f3ef1bc44
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 64 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
dev: /dev/sdb1 maj-min: 8:17 label: N/A
uuid: 85ffc8b9-36cc-4a1d-a122-a69aa6ef2518
Unmounted:
Message: No unmounted partitions found.
USB:
Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 10 rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
Device-1: 1-7:2 info: USB OPTICAL MOUSE type: Mouse
driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 1.1 speed: 1.5 Mb/s
power: 100mA chip-ID: 275d:0ba6 class-ID: 0301
Device-2: 1-8:3 info: Megawin Defender Gaming Keyboard type: Keyboard
driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 1.5 Mb/s
power: 100mA chip-ID: 0e6a:02c0 class-ID: 0301
Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s
chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 27.8 C mobo: 16.8 C gpu: nvidia temp: 34 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 40%
Info:
Processes: 230 Uptime: 37m wakeups: 0 Init: systemd v: 247 tool: systemctl
Compilers: gcc: 10.2.0 alt: 8/9 clang: 11.1.0 Packages: 1900 pacman: 1896
lib: 461 flatpak: 0 snap: 4 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.0 running-in: screen
inxi: 3.3.04
As far as I know, I do not have BIOS/UEFI password setup (I do not need to enter any password if I want to change boot settings, etc.).
As stated, the different behavior (asking for partition password TWICE instead of ONCE), began after a Stable update.