Unable to launch X session after update

Support System Updates
1

After a system update, I can’t log in to my X session anymore, see diagnostics output below and photos attached.

All help is very much appreciated. 1-2 decades back, as a student, I had loads of time to be on top of all things Arch. Nowadays, as an adult there is extremely little time to keep updated on Manjaro architecture changes, so I might have missed something crucial in recent updates.

Basic info on the system below:

mhwd -l gives video-linux, video-modesetting and video-veso.

uname -a:
Linux pandeli 7.1.4-1-MANJARO #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sat, 18 Jul 2026 20:21:52 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux


lspci -k:
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v6/7th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 08)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
	Kernel driver in use: skl_uncore
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Kaby Lake-R GT2 [UHD Graphics 620] (rev 07)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
	Kernel driver in use: i915
	Kernel modules: i915
00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Thermal Subsystem (rev 08)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
	Kernel driver in use: proc_thermal
	Kernel modules: processor_thermal_device_pci_legacy
00:08.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/v6 / E3-1500 v5 / 6th/7th/8th Gen Core Processor Gaussian Mixture Model
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
	Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
	Kernel modules: xhci_pci
00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Thermal subsystem (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
	Kernel driver in use: intel_pch_thermal
	Kernel modules: intel_pch_thermal
00:15.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #0 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
	Kernel driver in use: intel-lpss
	Kernel modules: intel_lpss_pci
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP CSME HECI #1 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
	Kernel driver in use: mei_me
	Kernel modules: mei_me
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev f1)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1c.6 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #7 (rev f1)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #9 (rev f1)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point LPC/eSPI Controller (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PMC (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
	Kernel modules: snd_soc_avs, snd_hda_intel
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SMBus (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
	Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
	Kernel modules: i2c_i801
00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (4) I219-V (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2258
	Kernel driver in use: e1000e
	Kernel modules: e1000e
04:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL6240 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge (Low Power) [Alpine Ridge LP 2016] (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Device 2222:1111
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp
05:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL6240 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge (Low Power) [Alpine Ridge LP 2016] (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Device 2222:1111
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp
05:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL6240 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge (Low Power) [Alpine Ridge LP 2016] (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Device 2222:1111
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp
05:02.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL6240 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge (Low Power) [Alpine Ridge LP 2016] (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Device 2222:1111
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp
06:00.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation JHL6240 Thunderbolt 3 NHI (Low Power) [Alpine Ridge LP 2016] (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Device 2222:1111
	Kernel driver in use: thunderbolt
	Kernel modules: thunderbolt
3c:00.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation JHL6240 Thunderbolt 3 USB 3.1 Controller (Low Power) [Alpine Ridge LP 2016] (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Device 2222:1111
	Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
	Kernel modules: xhci_pci
3d:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 8265 / 8275 (rev 78)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265 [Windstorm Peak]
	Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
	Kernel modules: iwlwifi
3e:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM981/PM981/PM983
	Subsystem: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd SSD 970 EVO/PRO
	Kernel driver in use: nvme
	Kernel modules: nvme

..

inxi -fxy:
System:
  Kernel: 7.1.4-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 16.1.1
  Desktop: Xfce v: N/A Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20L70053GE v: ThinkPad T480s
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: 20L70053GE v: SDK0J40697 WIN
    serial: <superuser required> Firmware: UEFI vendor: LENOVO
    v: N22ET66W (1.43 ) date: 10/12/2020
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 41.5 Wh (99.5%) condition: 41.8/57 Wh (73.3%) volts: 12.8
    min: 11.58 model: LGC 01AV478 status: not charging
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-8550U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Coffee Lake rev: A cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 400 min/max: 400/4000 cores: 1: 400 2: 400 3: 400 4: 400
    5: 400 6: 400 7: 400 8: 400 bogomips: 31999
  Flags-basic: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Kaby Lake-R GT2 [UHD Graphics 620] vendor: Lenovo
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 bus-ID: 00:02.0
  Device-2: Chicony Integrated IR Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB
    bus-ID: 1-5:5
  Device-3: Chicony Integrated Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB
    bus-ID: 1-8:14
  Display: unspecified server: X.org v: 1.21.1.24 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting dri: iris gpu: i915 resolution: 1: 1920x1080
    2: 1920x1080 3: 2560x1440
  API: OpenGL Message: Unable to show GL data. glxinfo is missing.
  Info: Tools: de: xfce4-display-settings x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Lenovo
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
  API: ALSA v: k7.1.4-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api
  Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.6.8 status: off
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: Lenovo driver: e1000e v: kernel
    port: N/A bus-ID: 00:1f.6
  IF: enp0s31f6 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Wireless 8265 / 8275 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 3d:00.0
  IF: wlp61s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-3: Realtek RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter driver: r8152 type: USB
    bus-ID: 2-4.4:5
  IF: enp0s20f0u4u4 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 55.09 GiB (5.8%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVLB1T0HALR-000L7
    size: 953.87 GiB temp: 33.9 C
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 53.04 GiB used: 29.94 GiB (56.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p8
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 316 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p9
  ID-3: /home size: 35.81 GiB used: 25.15 GiB (70.2%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.7 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p7
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 39.0 C pch: 36.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): fan-1: 0
Info:
  Memory: total: 16 GiB note: est. available: 15.38 GiB used: 713.8 MiB (4.5%)
  Processes: 192 Uptime: 13m Init: systemd
  Packages: 1586 Compilers: gcc: 16.1.1 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9.2 inxi: 3.3.41
Summary

img1
img11920×1440 482 KB

img2
img21920×1440 323 KB

img3
img31920×2560 848 KB

img4
img41920×1312 240 KB

2

Output of mhwd -la: Source Code | 9Xc6D | Rocket Powered Pastebin
Output of journalctl -b 0: journalctl -b 0 - Pastebin.com
Output of pacman -Qi accountsservice: Name : accountsserviceVersion : 26.27.3-1Description - Pastebin.com
Content of .~home/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.1.log after trying to use “startx”: [ 2633.656] X.Org X Server 1.21.1.24X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0[ 2 - Pastebin.com

Status of systemd-homed.service was inactive (dead), but also starting it changed nothing.

3

Do you know what systemd-homed is? If not, then better is to disable it, because unless you’ve configured it yourself, it doesn’t do anything in Manjaro — or for that matter, even in Arch proper — because we ship it with a blank configuration.

4

I’m afraid I can’t read those screenshots (at least the top one).

Could you post the (full) output of inxi -zv8 for us? I can’t see which desktop environment you are using, or which branch you are on, for example.

Please note that GNOME dropped x11 support a while back, and KDE Plasma is doing the same as of Plasma 6.8:

However, as of present, we have the following:

mbn info plasma-desktop -q
Branch         : archlinux
Name           : plasma-desktop
Version        : 6.7.3-1
Repository     : extra
Build Date     : Wed 15 Jul 2026 11:33:07
Packager       : Tomaz Canabrava <tcanabrava@archlinux.org>
Branch         : unstable
Name           : plasma-desktop
Version        : 6.7.3-1
Repository     : extra
Build Date     : Wed 15 Jul 2026 11:33:07
Packager       : Tomaz Canabrava <tcanabrava@archlinux.org>
Branch         : testing
Name           : plasma-desktop
Version        : 6.7.3-1
Repository     : extra
Build Date     : Wed 15 Jul 2026 11:33:07
Packager       : Tomaz Canabrava <tcanabrava@archlinux.org>
Branch         : stable
Name           : plasma-desktop
Version        : 6.7.3-1
Repository     : extra
Build Date     : Wed 15 Jul 2026 11:33:07
Packager       : Tomaz Canabrava <tcanabrava@archlinux.org>

… so it should be fixable, for now at least. :thinking:

5

He is on xfce. The display 0 cannot be opened, but why…

6

Actually now I do see Xfce in the inxi info. It trips me up when a different variant is used. Plus my bad :eyes: :man_facepalming:

9

@Aragorn

Thanks.
Did

sudo systemctl stop systemd-homed.service systemd-userdbd.service systemd-userdbd.socket 
sudo systemctl disable systemd-homed.service systemd-userdbd.service systemd-userdbd.socket 
sudo systemctl mask systemd-homed.service systemd-userdbd.service systemd-userdbd.socket

and still not going into graphical session.
After a warning about " Unable to open /etc/tcb: " somewhere in my logs I had followed to [Unstable Update] March 2026 - #6 by philm , user GaVenga. But I don’t understand the instructions there given to user GaVenga or what he did to fix, but it seems he had a different coredump issue also it seems and maybe the /etc/tcb was unrelated: accounts-daemon: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directo / Pacman & Package Upgrade Issues / Arch Linux Forums .

Abridged .xsession-errors: (polkit-mate-authentication-agent-1:2028): Gtk-WARNING **: 10:21:30.975: Theme - Pastebin.com
.xinitrc: #!/bin/sh## ~/.xinitrc## Executed by startx (run your window manager fro - Pastebin.com

Mod edit: Consecutive posts merged.

Even if no-one spots an immediate error - any advice on a few things to try - re-install video drivers, other things to re-install or try (and how) even if not clear on exact cause? TIA !

10

You posted all available drivers, but what is actually installed

mhwd -li
11

My bad, it’s video-linux 2024.05.06 [FREEDRIVER]true PCI
Warning: No installed USB configs!

12

The open driver…as it should be.
I don’t know. The only time i have seen this error about displays was as i was trying to run x and vnc on the same display and it was taken. Obviously not the case here.

13

Some thoughts,
1.) To start the xfce session from tty, the correct command is: startxfce4
2.) You use xfce with ext4 ==> is timeshift installed and working? ==> if yes, then from tty: timeshift --restore
3.) Your firmware is out of date
Firmware: UEFI vendor: LENOVO v: N22ET66W (1.43 ) date: 10/12/2020

LVFS search result:
Lenovo ThinkPad T480s System Update
Vendor: Lenovo (ThinkPad)
Latest Version: 0.1.62 date: 09/10/2025

This thinkpad has firmware support via LVFS, so install fwupd and fwupd-efi from the repos
sudo pacman -Syu fwupd fwupd-efi

14

Thanks so much!
The command startxfce4 wasn’t even present. So I (re)installed the xfce4 bundle with all elements. Most were just updated. but xfce4-appfinder, xfce4-session, xfdesktop, xfce4-wm4 were installed from zero. Then I removed /tmp/.X11-unix/X0 and ‘/tmp/.X0-lock’ and rebooted.

Now I get nicely dropped into an XFCE session, so thanks already for the huge step until here. Before I used to get dropped straight into my awesome WM session.

Picom now generates a DOS-looking overlay warning onto my screen to check picom command output. So I run picom and it says

[session_init FATAL ERROR ] Another composite manager is already running
[session_init FATAL ERROR ] Failed to create new session.

So last step is to clean this up and get awesome back. I still have in my .xinitrc DEFAULT_SESSION=awesome .

Firmware update also done, thanks for fwupd pointer, went through fine. (No timeshift installed btw).

15

…yes, awesome! But why didn’t you tell us?

16

Sorry about that. I had posted the .xinitrc with DEFAULT_SESSION=awesome, but I appreciate it would have deserved special mention.

Edit: I want to thank everyone who took the time to read, think, and chime in here. You saved the entire next two weeks! :slight_smile:
I’m now almost there again: followed Xfce - ArchWiki to swap to awesome again, then installed awesome-git , copied over the new rc.lua, and started re-building my awesomeWM appearance.

PS. I want to close with some general musings, a bit off-topic, but explaining where this comes from: I started 20 years ago with pure Arch and used my CS major college free time, nights and weekends to tweak my setup to perfection. Then 1 decade passes, move to Manjaro, already less involved. Then another decade passes and one has less and less time, 10x more responsibilities than a student might ever have imagined, and the question comes whether such a distro is still the right setup when full adult life beats the living cr.. out of every awake second. But the setup, the keystrokes, everything is still tweaked to perfection. Also, the right time to quit a higher-responsibility distro/ecosystem is the time when the last laptop breaks in the last phase of life where you still have time before you don’t. Because if you arrive in a busy phase of life with a laptop and distro that are still going strong, you won’t swap the distro just to adapt to new life circumstances. So all that said, thanks for saving me after I didn’t follow the update news channel long enough.