KDE not starting correctly
 

I've just installed a new Slackware 14.2/KDE computer. This is about the 4th one I've installed at our office. I started by restoring a clone of a currently running computer. However, when I startx both screens are blank (no backgroun) with a cursor that I can move between screens, but with no effect. I've tried disconnecting one screen. I've tried reinstalling Slackware from scratch with update. Same thing. Everthing seems to work find at the bash leve, but no go on the GUI. I've build about a dozen Slackware/KDE systems this year and all have run the GUI w/o problem. I'm not sure where to look first.

Furthermore, when this happens, I can still run commands from and ssh session, and I can run 'shutdown -r now', but nothing happens except that my ssh session is logged out. The computer does not reboot and screens remain the same, with lone cursor.

Here is a 'ps ax' showing X running. Where else can I look?

First thing to check would be the X log file, /var/log/Xorg.0.log and see if there's any obvious issues in there.

Another thing you could try is loading a different desktop, like xfce or fluxbox and see if the issue happens there as well (if so, it indicates an X issue and not a KDE issue).

Also, info on the GPU and the driver loaded could help.

That's the KDE's Black Screen of Death, usually produced by erroneous 3D desktop effects.

I suggest to OP to remove the .kde folder from the user's home while using user level 3 and to try again.

Make sure /etc/profile.d/kde.sh is being sourced.

The XDG_CONFIG_DIRS envvar, in particular, will lead to KDE 5 booting to a blank screen if it's missing.

OK, I'm going to try all these suggestion tomorrow. Meanwhile, I wiped the system and re-installed from the raw 14.2 DVD - no updates. SAME THING! I don't know if that provides any clues or not. I'll post back the results on your suggestion tomorrow. Thanks.

(BTW - this is KDE4)

A few hours later ...

I packed up this office workstation and took it home to obsess over it late into the night. VERY INTERESTING: I hooked the same raw 14.2 install up to an old Acer AL1702, booted, ran startx as root ... and BEHOLD! ... I got the KDE desktop!!! The only difference is the monitors. Unfortunately, I don't know from here what the monitors are at the office. I know one is an LG, but that's it. I'll have to truck this rig back in the morning to see what's there.

This system has an AMD FX-8350 with a separate NVIDIA card (no on-board chip graphics on processor).

Is it really possible that KDE won't run on some video monitors???

Highly unlikely, because I've run various flavors of KDE on old cathode ray tube monitors, as well as LCD monitors. Is it possible that the image you want to clone is using a proprietary video driver (like NVIDIA or AMD) where that hardware is not present on the machine to which the image is being applied?

As another poster in this thread suggested, check the X.org log files for any error messages.

HTH just a bit,
John

I'm now using a scratch-installed-from-DVD OS, not the clone.

Last night, I updated the 14.2 and tested again and it worked fine with the Acer AL1702.

This morning I took the box into the office, attached only the LG Flatron E2242 (VGA) and after running startx it again hung the system with only a cursor on a black screen, per yesterday's tests.

Next I connected the Acer LA2216W (DVI). That test showed the KDE iconic progress screen, but then hung there, never showing the desktop.

Next, I tried a HANNS-G HW191D (VGA). It showed the progress screen and it began to fade and reveal the desktop as usual, but hung halfway partially still showing the progress screen and partially showing the (non-functioning) desktop.

Finally, I connected my old Acer AL1702 (VGA), brought from home, and it fired up the desktop without problem!

(BTW - I've deleted the .Xauthority, .kde, etc. 'dot' files between each test)

In over 50+ Slackware systems I've built, I've never seen this problem! Any ideas?

I believe I've attached the Xorg.log, but in case I fooped that it's here: http://novatec-inc.com/pub/Xorg.0.log

The video card is an ASUS GEFORCE GT710 with NVIDIA chipset.

As my next experiment I'm going to try installing the NVIDIA driver.

Qt 5 tries to detect the font DPI from the monitor's EDID information.

As far as I know, Qt 4 does not do that.

Qt4 no, but the KDE4 do that. ;)

I suspect to be something like a bad VGA cable or even DDC (EDID) issues on those monitors. Betting on the cable.

Well ladies and gentlemen, the NVIDIA driver fixed the problem. I installed the driver and tried each of the test monitors singly, in turn, then finally the origial Acer AL2216W and LG Flatron E2242 together and they all worked! Really bizarre! I installed a dual-monitor system about 6 months ago with a Geforce GT 730 card (also NVIDIA) and had no such problem.

Darth Vader: I had the same thought and tried different cables, didn't help.

Later: ...

I've been playing with the machine for a couple of hours now, and it seems that they mouse latency is a bit much. It is usually 5+ seconds or more between the time I click the KDE Launcher icon and when the menu appears. Similar with other apps such as doing VirtualBox settings, opening a PDF file, etc. The processor is supposedly pretty powerful: AMD FX-8350, eight-core; and I have 8G of memory.

I'm wondering if I should run the nvidia-settings program and generate an Xorg.conf file? Normally Slackware/KDE doesn't use Xorg.conf and doing so disables System Settings > Display and Monitor > Display Configuration.

Suggestions?

3rd is on by default. At least on every install I did.

If you installed the nvidia drivers from SBo, they come with a perfectly good xorg.conf file.

I personally use the binary installer, and I have the following as /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-local.conf:

But, I opted to NOT install the xorg.conf during the NVIDIA install, so I don't have one. I found that KDE's System Settings > Display and Monitor > Display Configuration are mostly disabled when using the xorg.conf (can't rearrange screens, activate/deactivate, etc.). KDE must keep its own xorg.conf-like settings somewhere which are overriden by the /etc/X11/conf.org.

I'll experiment some more and if mouse response doesn't improve I'll try the xorg.conf thing. Note that this mouse/keyboard delay can even occur with Konsole.

I've given more thought to why this essentially same rig didn't manifest this problem when I set one up 6 months ago(see https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...rs-4175597701/) and I realized that I was, in fact, using two of the older Acer monitors during initial setup. In the end, I did use the NVIDIA driver because I was going for a 4 monitor solution. So, given all this, I do believe the NVIDIA chipset MUST NO WORK with all monitors without using the NVIDIA driver!

Unless you're a fanatic about OSS-Only, there really is no compelling reason to not use nVidia drivers. They are simply better in every other way. Perhaps more specific to your issues, if I understand you correctly, the "was not working system" had 2 discrete graphics chipsets. That can be a problem unless one of the two has a specific and usually exclusive call into service. Nvidia's drivers do that nicely and it is advisable to let it generate the simple xorg.conf calls. KDE cannot possibly give the level of control that nvidia-settings can, so it is very worthwhile to "let the Master do his job".

FWIW some monitors have shamefully horrible EDID and any shortcomings can easily be corrected in xorg.conf. For example I have owned a few monitors that have lousy resolution control and even worse control with fonts. A simple in xorg.conf made them usable. One required specifying DPI as well but even that is trivial in xorg.conf. Automated is fine when everything speaks the same language. In some cases a human must take over as "conductor".

So far, no complaints from the user on mouse or keyboard. Thanks for the additional tips. Those will come in handy.