This sounds like it is related to Plymouth and its relation to video drivers? If I recall, a possible solution was to edit mkinitcpio.conf and add the video (i915 or whatever video you have) to Modules for early load and then regenerate ( sudo mkinitcpio -P ). Personally, I have removed Plymouth entirely as I did not want or need it. It would be a good idea here to post a full inxi output. Take a look at the following: