KDE5: black screen, no desktop [SOLVED]

binro · Last edited by binro on Mon Jan 30, 2017 2:44 pm; edited 1 time in total

I have just upgraded two machine to KDE5. After sorting out all the blockages when I logged on from sddm the new desktop appeared and I was able to start working. On the second machine when I logon I get applications in the autostart list starting but there is no desktop, just a black screen. One of the apps has a console mode and I can start other programs from there. I have seen similar posts but in my case plasmashell, ksmserver, kwin-x11 are all running. I feel some component has been left out but all of plasma-meta is installed. Creating a new user did not help.
Any suggestions what to try?

TIA
Robin
_________________
"Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
Where there ain't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst"
from "Mandalay" by Rudyard Kipling

Keruskerfuerst · Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 9:44 am Post subject:

Can you post xorg.0.log of the machine, which shows a black screen?

binro · Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 10:21 am Post subject:

asturm · Developer Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 8936

Please check if it is the same issue with a different user.

binro

Keruskerfuerst · Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 3:48 pm Post subject:

Did you try to search "KDE 5 logfiles" with some search machines?
E.g.: with google

binro · Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 7:41 pm Post subject:

mrjoebob · n00b Joined: 26 Jan 2017 Posts: 2

I may be having the same problem as you... Perhaps you can confirm?

X seems fine and sddm launches without error even to the point of providing me the standard login prompt. Once I login I briefly see the KDE logo and the spinner while it loads Plasma 5. However I am quickly dumped to a black screen... If I press ALT+F2 the entire desktop flashes back to normal for a VERY brief moment then returns to black. I can, however, continue to type a command into the dialog that appeared as a result of pressing ALT+F2. Anyway, I can then launch a Konsole and the moment I assign focus to the Konsole dialog the ENTIRE desktop then appears normally. However, the moment I click back to the desktop, press ALT+F2, or try to click the "Start"/"K" button the screen goes black again. However, if I then press ALT+TAB to switch back to _any_ running application dialog in Plasma the desktop returns to normal and I can see the entire screen. Indeed, I'm writing this reply from the very machine that is experiencing this problem!

Basically, I can only use Plasma so long as I have an application focused and I cannot interact with the desktop or (presumably) any widget whatsoever...

Much like binro has written, ksmserver, kwin_x11, and plasmashell are all running. My .xsession-errors log appears very similar to his. I'm very troubled by the "No X-KDE-DBus-ServiceName" error messages, however, I will be the first to admit that I'm too ignorant to know if these messages are merely spam or are indeed relevant to the problem.

Regards,
Robert

binro · Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 4:55 pm Post subject:

I can start apps via Alt-F2 but I never see the desktop. I have "solved" the problem by installing lxqt as the desktop manager. It allows you to select kwin-x11 as the window manager and the result is very similar to normal KDE!

HTH
_________________
"Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
Where there ain't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst"
from "Mandalay" by Rudyard Kipling

binro · Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2017 2:44 pm Post subject:

Looking at some similar problems I re-installed kactivitymanagerd and the desktop started working! Go figure...
_________________
"Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
Where there ain't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst"
from "Mandalay" by Rudyard Kipling

mrjoebob · n00b Joined: 26 Jan 2017 Posts: 2

Your recommended workaround seemed pleasant enough so I went ahead and implemented it. I'm pretty sure I did a complete removal and reinstall of all kde/plasma-related packages and still experienced the problem. When I find the time, I will try to reinstall kactivitymanagerd to see if it resolves the issue.

Thanks for your contributions. I wouldn't have thought to have tried lxqt w/ kwin for the WM...

allan · Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2017 11:53 pm Post subject: