[SOLVED] The screen locker is broken and unlocking is not possible anymore

mfoley · 02-10-2021, 11:57 PM

I've just installed Slackware-current (15.0) and did all updates. When I go to log in (KDE) I get the login screen fine, but after entering ID and PW the screen goes blank except for an immovable cursor. It stays like that for quite some time, more than 5 minutes, then briefly flashes the desktop, then immediately gives the message:

Code:

The screen locker is broken and unlocking is not possible anymore.
In order to unlock switch to a virtual terminal (e.g. Ctrl+Alt+F2),
log in and execute the command:

    loginctl unlock-session 4

Afterwards switch back to the running session (Ctrl+Alt+F8).

That works -- sort of. I do get the desktop after that, but when I click on the Application Launcher everything freezes, no mouse movement or clicking. Keyboard doesn't response. Ctrl-Alt-Fx does nothing. I have to manually reset.

I've found this issue elsewhere on the web, but most are two or more years old. Nevertheless, they generally indicate an issues with the graphics driver. I am using the standard installed driver (nouveau). I have a NVIDIA GK208 [GeForce GT 710] graphics card installed (two, actually). Are there issues with this card and Slackware current?

Other ideas for things I can check?

Tonus · 02-11-2021, 12:37 AM

In /var/log/X.0.log is there anything with errors (EE) or warnings (WW) ?

Could have a look to dmesg as well.

mfoley · 02-12-2021, 02:14 PM

Tonus - thanks for your reply!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tonus

In /var/log/X.0.log is there anything with errors (EE) or warnings (WW) ?

Code:

[   133.866] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/local" does not exist.
[   133.866] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/CID" does not exist.
[   134.132] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module fbdev
[   134.132] (EE) Failed to load module "fbdev" (module does not exist, 0)

Quote:

Could have a look to dmesg as well.

dmesg has 2000+ of the following message:

Code:

[  331.937690] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: ILLEGAL_CLASS ch 5 [007f93f000 ksplashqml[1477]] subc 0 class 0000 mthd 1b0c data 1000f010

The "fbdev" error in Xorg.0.log, and the myriad nouveau errors in dmesg could be clues.

Alien Bob · 02-12-2021, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mfoley

I've just installed Slackware-current (15.0) and did all updates. When I go to log in (KDE) I get the login screen fine, but after entering ID and PW the screen goes blank except for an immovable cursor. It stays like that for quite some time, more than 5 minutes, then briefly flashes the desktop, then immediately gives the message

What Desktop did you select in the graphical login screen? If it is Plasma Wayland then that's the culprit. Select Plasma5 (not Wayland) instead, login and next time you boot up the graphical login manager (SDDM) will remember your previous selection as the new default.

mfoley · 02-12-2021, 04:57 PM

I reinstalled Slackware-current from scratch and tried again. After logging in (that screen is OK) I get the desktop briefly then blank. More info in dmesg:

Code:

[  711.582357] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: ILLEGAL_CLASS ch 5 [007f93f000 ksplashqml[1772]] subc 0 class 08e0 mthd 1b0c data 1000f010
[  727.868498] Bluetooth: RFCOMM TTY layer initialized
[  727.868514] Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized
[  727.868524] Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11
[  781.271154] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: DATA_ERROR 0000000c [INVALID_BITFIELD] ch 8 [007f7b0000 plasmashell[2054]] subc 2 class a140 mthd 0188 data 80400914
[  781.271164] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fifo: PBDMA0: 00040000 [PBENTRY] ch 8 [007f7b0000 plasmashell[2054]] subc 0 mthd 0000 data 00000000
[  781.271181] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fifo: PBDMA0: 00040000 [PBENTRY] ch 8 [007f7b0000 plasmashell[2054]] subc 0 mthd 0000 data 00000000
[  781.271191] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: TRAP ch 8 [007f7b0000 plasmashell[2054]]
[  781.271194] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: M2MF 80000002 [PUSH_NOT_ENOUGH_DATA]
[  781.271202] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fifo: fault 01 [WRITE] at 0000000080500000 engine 00 [GR] client 04 [HUB/FE] reason 00 [PDE] on channel 8 [007f7b0000 plasmashell[2054]]
[  781.271206] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fifo: channel 8: killed
[  781.271208] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fifo: runlist 0: scheduled for recovery
[  781.271211] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fifo: engine 0: scheduled for recovery
[  781.271215] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fifo: engine 6: scheduled for recovery
[  781.272738] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: plasmashell[2054]: channel 8 killed!
[  789.672285] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: ILLEGAL_CLASS ch 5 [007f93f000 ksplashqml[1772]] subc 0 class 08e0 mthd 1b00 data 00000000

The last line is repeated another 8 times. Same EE/WW errors as in previous post.

Does any of this help?

mfoley · 02-12-2021, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alien Bob

What Desktop did you select in the graphical login screen? If it is Plasma Wayland then that's the culprit. Select Plasma5 (not Wayland) instead, login and next time you boot up the graphical login manager (SDDM) will remember your previous selection as the new default.

When installing from scratch (setup), I just selected KDE as the desktop. I didn't specifically select anything else. How would I go about selecting Plasma5? Can I do that now that it's installed?

Alien Bob · 02-13-2021, 04:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mfoley

When installing from scratch (setup), I just selected KDE as the desktop. I didn't specifically select anything else. How would I go about selecting Plasma5? Can I do that now that it's installed?

If you installed Slackware -current (full install) and boot in Rnlevel 4, you will be greeted by SDDM graphical login manager, and in the bottom left there will be a desktop session selector. None of the sessions will be called anyting with "KDE" in it. There's "Plasma (Wayland)" which for some people on fresh installs seems to be the default selection, and there's also "Plasma" which is what you need to pick.

If you start in Runlevel 3 (console login) then you select your desktop session with the "xwmconfig" script and there you can pick "KDE: KDE Plasma Desktop".
Now, in your original post you state that "When I go to log in (KDE) I get the login screen fine" which implies you start in Runlevel 4.

Can you please be specific?

mfoley · 02-13-2021, 01:16 PM

Alien Bob: I was starting at run level 3 and doing 'init 4' to startx. Your solution did the trick! When I selected 'Plasma' in the session selector at bottom left the desktop came up fine, no problems. I had no idea that selector option existed. As a bonus, I got desktops on all 4 of my video monitors without needing to run the NVIDIA driver, create an xorg.conf or use Xinerama. I haven't explored how well that works yet as I had to jump on a ZOOM meeting, but I'm really hoping I don't need Xinerama!

Thanks!