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Startx works, but sddm/lightdm/xdm doesn't

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  Startx works, but sddm/lightdm/xdm doesn't John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> - 2022-02-28 22:50 +0100
    Re: Startx works, but sddm/lightdm/xdm doesn't Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2022-03-01 01:00 +0100
      Re: Startx works, but sddm/lightdm/xdm doesn't John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> - 2022-03-01 05:20 +0100
        Re: Startx works, but sddm/lightdm/xdm doesn't Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2022-03-01 05:50 +0100
          Re: Startx works, but sddm/lightdm/xdm doesn't John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> - 2022-03-01 06:30 +0100
    Re: Startx works, but sddm/lightdm/xdm doesn't Nicholas Geovanis <nickgeovanis@gmail.com> - 2022-03-01 02:00 +0100
    Re: Startx works, but sddm/lightdm/xdm doesn't Anssi Saari <as@sci.fi> - 2022-03-01 14:50 +0100

#245748 — Startx works, but sddm/lightdm/xdm doesn't

Hi,

I have a system with a GeForce 1050 Ti on bullseye.

On this system, if I log in as a regular user and run startx, everything
works fine; KDE Plasma comes up and it's all good.

But sddm doesn't work.  In fact, when it starts, it causes my monitor to
go "no signal".  Oddly, though, if I can log in blindly, then once I hit
enter after putting in my password, KDE will come up and work like it
should.

I also tried lightdm and xdm.  Both of them also had "no signal" when
starting.

It is using the nouveau driver.  There are no errors in Xorg.0.log,
journalctl, dmesg, syslog, or the xsession log.  lspci doesn't show any
other graphics adapter.  xrandr on the sddm session shows it detected
the appropriate output at the appropriate resolution.  Xorg.0.log looks
completely appropriate; detecting devices, setting them up, etc.

If I boot the same drive on a different box with Intel graphics, sddm
works fine.

This is a fresh bullseye install.

A am utterly baffled; I'd think at least xdm should work!

Thanks,

John

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#245759

John Goerzen composed on 2022-02-28 15:43 (UTC-0600):

> I have a system with a GeForce 1050 Ti on bullseye.

> On this system, if I log in as a regular user and run startx, everything
> works fine; KDE Plasma comes up and it's all good.

> But sddm doesn't work.  In fact, when it starts, it causes my monitor to
> go "no signal".  Oddly, though, if I can log in blindly, then once I hit
> enter after putting in my password, KDE will come up and work like it
> should.

> I also tried lightdm and xdm.  Both of them also had "no signal" when
> starting.

> It is using the nouveau driver. 

There are two nouveau drivers:

	kernel device
	display device
		modesetting
		nouveau

Both possible full-function display device drivers depend on the nouveau kernel
driver (module). inxi -Gayz will show both. Try switching from the one in current
use to the other. Adding or purging xserver-xorg-video-nouveau is typically the
simplest way to switch between them. /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ can also be used to
make the switch by explicitly declaring the chosen driver. The in-use display
driver is announced in roughly half the lines in each Xorg.#.log.

> There are no errors in Xorg.0.log,
> journalctl, dmesg, syslog, or the xsession log.  lspci doesn't show any
> other graphics adapter.  xrandr on the sddm session shows it detected
> the appropriate output at the appropriate resolution.  Xorg.0.log looks
> completely appropriate; detecting devices, setting them up, etc.

> If I boot the same drive on a different box with Intel graphics, sddm
> works fine.

> This is a fresh bullseye install.

> A am utterly baffled; I'd think at least xdm should work!
Try disabling Plymouth, appending one of the following to the end of the linu line
after striking the E key at the Grub menu:

	plymouth=0
	noplymouth
	plymouth.enable=0

If none help, try appending your display's native mode & refresh instead, e.g.:

	video=1920x1080@60

If this works, likely an edit to /etc/default/grub about graphics handling or
theme, and regeneration of /boot/grub/grub.cfg, is indicated.
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion,
	based on faith, not based on science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata

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#245762

On Mon, Feb 28 2022, Felix Miata wrote:

> There are two nouveau drivers:
>
> 	kernel device
> 	display device
> 		modesetting
> 		nouveau
>
> Both possible full-function display device drivers depend on the nouveau kernel
> driver (module). inxi -Gayz will show both. Try switching from the one in current
> use to the other. Adding or purging xserver-xorg-video-nouveau is typically the
> simplest way to switch between them. /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ can also be used to
> make the switch by explicitly declaring the chosen driver. The in-use display
> driver is announced in roughly half the lines in each Xorg.#.log.

Interestingly, purging xserver-xorg-video-nouveau didn't change
anything.  However, removing modesetting_drv.so from
/usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers did.  That solved the problem.

But it didn't switch to nouveau; it went to fbdev.

But, since I also want to boot this drive on other machines that need
it, I can't just leave it that way.  It also leaves open the question of
why it worked fine in startx, or after logging in with sddm, which is
darn weird to me.

> Try disabling Plymouth, appending one of the following to the end of the linu line
> after striking the E key at the Grub menu:

Thanks for the tip; no change there (I wasn't using the graphical stuff
anyhow).

> If none help, try appending your display's native mode & refresh instead, e.g.:
>
> 	video=1920x1080@60
>
> If this works, likely an edit to /etc/default/grub about graphics handling or
> theme, and regeneration of /boot/grub/grub.cfg, is indicated.

It's also already getting that right from EDID, so I'm pretty sure
that's not the issue.

Thanks again!

John

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#245763

John Goerzen composed on 2022-02-28 22:11 (UTC-0600):

> Interestingly, purging xserver-xorg-video-nouveau didn't change
> anything. 

That means you must have been /using/ the modesetting DIX driver.

> However, removing modesetting_drv.so from
> /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers did.  That solved the problem.

> But it didn't switch to nouveau; it went to fbdev.

You likely created a new problem. modesetting_drv.so is the default DIX for AMD,
Intel and NVidia GPUs. fbdev is unaccelerated, and won't support most common
widescreen display modes. Some apps won't run on it. I don't think Gnome will even
start using it. Using fbdev you can expect your PC to feel like it's running a
single core at 233MHz instead of 2000MHz or more on multiple cores.

I don't know that I've ever migrated an installation using SDDM to another PC
using a majorly different GPU. I use TDM or KDM3 on most installations, with a
rare few on LightDM or SDDM, whose themes I always have extreme negative
appreciation for.
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion,
	based on faith, not based on science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata

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#245767

On Mon, Feb 28 2022, Felix Miata wrote:

>> However, removing modesetting_drv.so from
>> /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers did.  That solved the problem.
>
>> But it didn't switch to nouveau; it went to fbdev.
>
> You likely created a new problem. modesetting_drv.so is the default DIX for AMD,
> Intel and NVidia GPUs. fbdev is unaccelerated, and won't support most common
> widescreen display modes. Some apps won't run on it. I don't think Gnome will even
> start using it. Using fbdev you can expect your PC to feel like it's running a
> single core at 233MHz instead of 2000MHz or more on multiple cores.

I was afraid of this, yes.

> I don't know that I've ever migrated an installation using SDDM to another PC
> using a majorly different GPU. I use TDM or KDM3 on most installations, with a
> rare few on LightDM or SDDM, whose themes I always have extreme negative
> appreciation for.

Somehow the Live CDs must be doing something that works here.  I guess
it might be interesting to see what Debian Live KDE does on this box!

John

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#245761

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Mon, Feb 28, 2022, 3:43 PM John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I have a system with a GeForce 1050 Ti on bullseye.
>
> On this system, if I log in as a regular user and run startx, everything
> works fine; KDE Plasma comes up and it's all good.
>
> But sddm doesn't work.  In fact, when it starts, it causes my monitor to
> go "no signal".  Oddly, though, if I can log in blindly, then once I hit
> enter after putting in my password, KDE will come up and work like it
> should.
>
> I also tried lightdm and xdm.  Both of them also had "no signal" when
> starting.
>
> It is using the nouveau driver.  There are no errors in Xorg.0.log,
> journalctl, dmesg, syslog, or the xsession log.  lspci doesn't show any
> other graphics adapter.  xrandr on the sddm session shows it detected
> the appropriate output at the appropriate resolution.  Xorg.0.log looks
> completely appropriate; detecting devices, setting them up, etc.
>
> If I boot the same drive on a different box with Intel graphics, sddm
> works fine.
>
> This is a fresh bullseye install.
>
> A am utterly baffled; I'd think at least xdm should work!
>

I had something similar happen with Debian 8 a long time ago. It turned out
to be because the driver/firmware/grafx-chipset had the wrong idea about
the monitor's available resolutions and modes. It was using too high a
resolution.

Thanks,
>
> John
>
>

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#245782

John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> writes:

> But sddm doesn't work.  In fact, when it starts, it causes my monitor to
> go "no signal".  Oddly, though, if I can log in blindly, then once I hit
> enter after putting in my password, KDE will come up and work like it
> should.
>
> I also tried lightdm and xdm.  Both of them also had "no signal" when
> starting.

That kind of points to a problem with a shared config file. I only know
sddm a little, its startup script /etc/sddm/Xsession ends with

. /etc/X11/Xsession

so it reads commands from there. Which in turn refers a whole bunch of
config files. I'd guess xdm and lightdm do the same. But good luck
figuring out what's wrong, especially if you have a new install where
you haven't tweaked anything? You didn't restore an old home directory
from backup for example?

What about installing the non-free nvidia-driver?

> It is using the nouveau driver.  There are no errors in Xorg.0.log,
> journalctl, dmesg, syslog, or the xsession log.  lspci doesn't show any
> other graphics adapter.  xrandr on the sddm session shows it detected
> the appropriate output at the appropriate resolution.  Xorg.0.log looks
> completely appropriate; detecting devices, setting them up, etc.

Curious. I do seem to get quite a lot of messages in ~/.xsession-errors
on my laptop, although they don't all look like errors.

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