What should I do after a fresh install of Manjaro?

linux-aarhus · 23 August 2025 04:04

The logo - is that the plymouth screen showing Manjaro logo ?

Edit two file

/etc/default/grub - remove splash and quiet from kernel cmdline and save the file
/etc/mkinitcpio.conf - remove plymouth from HOOKS line and save the file

rebuild init

sudo mkinitcpio -P

rebuild grub config

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

That could be

Ben · 23 August 2025 05:19

Manjaro’s boot experience can be a bit theatrical with Plymouth in the mix…

I don’t know about you, but having the logo/animation whilst the system initializes is actually less satisfying (though I’ll admit it is slightly more polished) than the verbose boot messages from kernel/init…

Removing it means a possibly faster boot time (or at least - no delays) and more transparency, 'cos you can see those messages fly up the screen (though still - good luck reading them all).

The biggest bonus is less complexity.

The downside - yo umight get a rougher transition (resolution change, or a few seconds black screen)…

You’d need to rebuild Initramfs if you do remove it; and adjust GRUB to remove quiet splash.

Summary

sudo pacman -Rns plymouth
sudo sed -i 's/quiet splash//g' /etc/default/grub
sudo update-grub
sudo mkinitcpio -P

I found purging Plymouth to be a satisfying move

But sadly it isn’t a fix for hardware issues…

newbietolinux · 23 August 2025 07:09

I have booted in chroot again because the system took too long to get past the logo. By the logo, I mean the MSI PC.logo. In other words, I still have problems using the system, with it going to a black screen and lines of tasks but never resolving.

I wanted to show the journal output but it is saying no entries. Maybe the command journalctl -b -p3 --no-pager cannot be run in chroot, Perhaps because I tried unsuccessfully at first to boot into live USB with proprietary drivers. It took more than 7 minutes and i was still waiting, so i turned off the PC and booted with open source instead so i can write to this forum. This took less than 30 seconds.

My next thing to do is to follow @nikgnomic who has the same drivers as I have. I will try configure the Nvidia drivers further.

Once I can access my system without chroot and without an excessively long wait at the MSI logo, I will try update the BIOS using the Windows tool. I hope I can still do that through Firefox.

Thank you for all the instructions for Timeshift.

Teo · 23 August 2025 07:20

Yep, it is an old discussion why this sh…ahm “polyshness” is even there in the default iso configs. But i can understand the arguments, if you market the distro as beginner friendly (which is not) you have to cater to the taste of freshly converted windows noobs and they are used to having animation.

But yes, this is another one i will do immediately after a fresh install. And not only the bootline, but also the hook in the mkinitcpio.

newbietolinux · 23 August 2025 07:23

Something is wrong as I cannot access Nvidia settings in chroot. is this because I booted with open source drivers into the live USB environment?

[manjaro /]# nvidia-settings

(nvidia-settings:9): dbind-WARNING **: 09:15:25.885: Couldn't connect to accessibility bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/user/1000/at-spi/bus_0: No such file or directory

ERROR: NVIDIA driver is not loaded


ERROR: Unable to load info from any available system

[manjaro /]#

linux-aarhus · 23 August 2025 07:46

The reason I am suggesting removing plymouth - is to

exclude plymouth from the equation
it has been seen - at least with virtual machines - issues with xfce and lightdm

That is expected …

Adding to the above I suggest you disable ligthdm as this will get you to a working cmdline system.

systemctl disable lightdm

It is much easier to troubleshoot a driver issue when you have a command line to work with.

newbietolinux · 23 August 2025 08:03

i had to remove plymouth-theme-manjaro.

Should i now exit chroot and try login to my system or is there more to be done while in chroot?

[manjaro /]# pacman -Rns plymouth
checking dependencies...
error: failed to prepare transaction (could not satisfy dependencies)
:: removing plymouth breaks dependency 'plymouth' required by plymouth-theme-manjaro
[manjaro /]# pacman -Rns plymouth-theme-manjaro
checking dependencies...

Packages (1) plymouth-theme-manjaro-2.2-1

Total Removed Size:  0.08 MiB

:: Do you want to remove these packages? [Y/n] y
:: Processing package changes...
Theme=manjaro
  
==> WARNING: You have removed your current plymouth-theme.
==> Set a different theme with:
==> sudo plymouth-set-default-theme -R <theme-name>
==> or remove Plymouth properly!

(1/1) removing plymouth-theme-manjaro                                                                              [####################################################################] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/1) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
[manjaro /]# pacman -Rns plymouth
checking dependencies...
:: pamac-cli optionally requires plymouth: offline upgrade support

Packages (1) plymouth-24.004.60-13

Total Removed Size:  2.17 MiB

:: Do you want to remove these packages? [Y/n] y
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) removing plymouth                                                                                            [####################################################################] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/3) Reloading system manager configuration...
  Skipped: Running in chroot.
(2/3) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(3/3) Updating linux initcpios...
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux61.preset: 'default'
==> Using default configuration file: '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-6.1-x86_64 -g /boot/initramfs-6.1-x86_64.img
==> Starting build: '6.1.147-2-MANJARO'
  -> Running build hook: [base]
  -> Running build hook: [udev]
  -> Running build hook: [autodetect]
  -> Running build hook: [modconf]
  -> Running build hook: [kms]
  -> Running build hook: [block]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'xhci_pci'
  -> Running build hook: [keyboard]
  -> Running build hook: [keymap]
  -> Running build hook: [consolefont]
==> WARNING: consolefont: no font found in configuration
==> ERROR: Hook 'plymouth' cannot be found
  -> Running build hook: [resume]
  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
  -> Running build hook: [fsck]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating zstd-compressed initcpio image: '/boot/initramfs-6.1-x86_64.img'
==> WARNING: errors were encountered during the build. The image may not be complete.
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux61.preset: 'fallback'
==> Using default configuration file: '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-6.1-x86_64 -g /boot/initramfs-6.1-x86_64-fallback.img -S autodetect
==> Starting build: '6.1.147-2-MANJARO'
  -> Running build hook: [base]
  -> Running build hook: [udev]
  -> Running build hook: [modconf]
  -> Running build hook: [kms]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'ast'
  -> Running build hook: [block]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'bfa'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qed'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qla1280'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qla2xxx'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'wd719x'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'aic94xx'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'xhci_pci'
  -> Running build hook: [keyboard]
  -> Running build hook: [keymap]
  -> Running build hook: [consolefont]
==> WARNING: consolefont: no font found in configuration
==> ERROR: Hook 'plymouth' cannot be found
  -> Running build hook: [resume]
  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
  -> Running build hook: [fsck]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating zstd-compressed initcpio image: '/boot/initramfs-6.1-x86_64-fallback.img'
==> WARNING: errors were encountered during the build. The image may not be complete.
error: command failed to execute correctly
[manjaro /]# sed -i 's/quiet splash//g' /etc/default/grub
[manjaro /]# update-grub
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/manjaro/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.1-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-6.1-x86_64.img
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-6.1-x86_64-fallback.img
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries.
ERROR: mkdir /var/lock/dmraid
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sda1.  Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sda1.  Check your device.map.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
Root filesystem isn't btrfs
If you think an error has occurred, please file a bug report at "https://github.com/Antynea/grub-btrfs"
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
/usr/bin/grub-probe: warning: unknown device type nvme0n1.
Found memtest86+ EFI image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.efi
/usr/bin/grub-probe: warning: unknown device type nvme0n1.
done
[manjaro /]# mkinitcpio -P
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux61.preset: 'default'
==> Using default configuration file: '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-6.1-x86_64 -g /boot/initramfs-6.1-x86_64.img
==> Starting build: '6.1.147-2-MANJARO'
  -> Running build hook: [base]
  -> Running build hook: [udev]
  -> Running build hook: [autodetect]
  -> Running build hook: [modconf]
  -> Running build hook: [kms]
  -> Running build hook: [block]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'xhci_pci'
  -> Running build hook: [keyboard]
  -> Running build hook: [keymap]
  -> Running build hook: [consolefont]
==> WARNING: consolefont: no font found in configuration
==> ERROR: Hook 'plymouth' cannot be found
  -> Running build hook: [resume]
  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
  -> Running build hook: [fsck]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating zstd-compressed initcpio image: '/boot/initramfs-6.1-x86_64.img'
==> WARNING: errors were encountered during the build. The image may not be complete.
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux61.preset: 'fallback'
==> Using default configuration file: '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-6.1-x86_64 -g /boot/initramfs-6.1-x86_64-fallback.img -S autodetect
==> Starting build: '6.1.147-2-MANJARO'
  -> Running build hook: [base]
  -> Running build hook: [udev]
  -> Running build hook: [modconf]
  -> Running build hook: [kms]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'ast'
  -> Running build hook: [block]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'bfa'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qed'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qla1280'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qla2xxx'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'wd719x'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'aic94xx'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'xhci_pci'
  -> Running build hook: [keyboard]
  -> Running build hook: [keymap]
  -> Running build hook: [consolefont]
==> WARNING: consolefont: no font found in configuration
==> ERROR: Hook 'plymouth' cannot be found
  -> Running build hook: [resume]
  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
  -> Running build hook: [fsck]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating zstd-compressed initcpio image: '/boot/initramfs-6.1-x86_64-fallback.img'
==> WARNING: errors were encountered during the build. The image may not be complete.
[manjaro /]# nvidia-settings

(nvidia-settings:26410): dbind-WARNING **: 10:13:37.692: Couldn't connect to accessibility bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/user/1000/at-spi/bus_0: No such file or directory

ERROR: NVIDIA driver is not loaded


ERROR: Unable to load info from any available system

[manjaro /]# systemctl disable lightdm
Removed '/etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service'.
[manjaro /]#

beermad · 23 August 2025 08:10

The most important thing to do after installing Manjaro (or any other Linux) is to take a full backup of your system. And make sure you understand how to restore from it if you have to.

Backups are vital at any time, but undoubtedly with a new system, you’re going to be experimenting with things and it’s possible you may break things. Having a proper backup saves you the effort of reinstalling.

newbietolinux · 23 August 2025 08:17

i have taken a snapshot in Timeshift of the new installation, which I hope will be enough.

newbietolinux · 23 August 2025 08:46

The problem I ran into now after restarting the system was the loading modules in the boot up got stuck on:

NIC Link is Up 100Mbps Full Duplex, Flow Control : None.

Ipv^ ADDRCONF (NETDEV_CHANGE)

and then a number of [UFW Block] messages.

I couldn’t copy this output and jotted down the above. I also don’t know if there are security issues in typing the MAC = that followed each [UFW Block].

I think it may have something to do with loading kernel modules, but I’m not sure.

linub · 23 August 2025 10:42

at the beginning of this thread you wrote this

so maybe do a clean reinstall with whatever Nvidia drivers you want and just don’t touch it any more trying to “optimize it”?

newbietolinux · 23 August 2025 12:36

It worked like a charm on fresh reinstall with open source drivers but I do want to install the NVIDIA drivers. That is my GPU, after all. I am unable to boot from live USB if i choose proprietary drivers if you mean install them that way.

Right now I can’t access my system. It says login in the modules loading in the boot and after that a black screen of increasing UFW Block messages. I left it alone for over an hour but no luck properly booting into my system.

I would really like to be able to fix this.

Teo · 23 August 2025 12:41

The ufw messages are not the problem. They are informational, the firewall has done its job and block some packets. This comes every couple of seconds (i guess it can be muted but never bothered to research how). It is normal.

soundofthunder · 23 August 2025 12:42

Please Read

I suspect you are using an old Manjaro Installer ISO.

If you plan on reinstalling the OS (again) please do the following beforehand:

1. Download the latest available Manjaro ISO (XFCE) from;

2. Recreate your Manjaro Installer; Ventoy recommended:

When you install, choose to boot the Installer using the default free drivers; this will likely avoid other complications. The proprietary drivers may not even be needed, but if you prefer them, perhaps focus on them later after your system is generally stable.

Regards.

newbietolinux · 23 August 2025 12:49

Thanks @soundofthunder

I’m not sure, do i need to reinstall again? Would the latest manjaro version still support my legacy driver GPU?
I can’t access my system, so if you were to recommend another install, could i still download the iso and make the bootable disk in a live USB environment?

Teo · 23 August 2025 12:51

And a common mistake to avoid: verify the checksum of the iso on ventoy. And before booting the usb, be sure to switch to efi mode in the bios.

About the nvidia drivers i am not competent. But i would start with the free ones so that i have a good working system and than change with mwhd.

That is probably what you can do now short of reinstalling, IF the nvidia drivers are the problem. Note that mwhd does not work in chroot, so try to boot the installed system to a command line and work from there.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/132965/how-do-i-boot-into-single-user-mode-from-grub/132983#132983

Ben · 23 August 2025 12:52

Excellent. Just stop there.

I disagree. nVidia is NOT ‘your’ GPU, it belongs to nVidia and so do the drivers.

However, if you truly believe this, then contact nVidia - they’ll surely help you, as long as they aren’t busy offering their enterprise grade support for their more valuable customers

I fixed this back in the day, nVidia in the toilet and AMD in the ATX.

The best advice here is to clean install a working system, and then take snapshots and backups before you proceed to mess it up. If you’re lucky, it’ll be good. If not, you can roll back.

newbietolinux · 23 August 2025 12:57

Yes! Please tell me how to boot to a command line so I can access mwhd.

soundofthunder · 23 August 2025 13:02

No, this is not recommended, albeit possible with much inconvenience and other tools.

The presumption is that you might download and create using another computer - perhaps that of a sibling, parent, friend, local dog catcher - you get the picture

A Ventoy USB can be created in Linux or Windows - just read and follow the simple guide.

Teo · 23 August 2025 13:03

I added 2 links. Hit shift or esc early on, grub will show with menu, hit e to edit the entry, add “single” at the end (that actually needs verification as there several methods to achieve this, i thing the arch method was to add “3” instead) and boot with ctrl+x

And than play with mwhd options. Install the open free driver first.