# Sddm-greeter crash (black screen w/mouse) after online install with Reborn ISO 2023-01-20

**URL:** <https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/sddm-greeter-crash-black-screen-w-mouse-after-online-install-with-reborn-iso-2023-01-20/1022>\
**Category:** KDE Plasma\
**Created:** [April 13, 2023, 7:45am UTC](https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/sddm-greeter-crash-black-screen-w-mouse-after-online-install-with-reborn-iso-2023-01-20/1022 "2023-04-13T07:45:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hi-Phile](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/rebornos.discourse.group/hi-phile/32/380_2.png) [@Hi-Phile](https://rebornos.discourse.group/u/Hi-Phile)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 7:45am UTC](https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/sddm-greeter-crash-black-screen-w-mouse-after-online-install-with-reborn-iso-2023-01-20/1022/1 "2023-04-13T07:45:45Z")

</div>

I have investigated the black screen with only mouse pointer showing up after installation. The problem is that sddm is crashing. The journal logs show that OpenGL isn’t able to function and/or is conflicting with QT.

```auto
Apr 12 14:05:26 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 sddm-helper[418]: pam_unix(sddm-greeter:session): session opened for user sddm(uid=969) by (uid=0)
Apr 12 14:05:26 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 sddm-greeter[428]: High-DPI autoscaling not Enabled
Apr 12 14:05:26 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 sddm-greeter[428]: Reading from "/usr/share/wayland-sessions/plasmawayland.desktop"
Apr 12 14:05:26 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 sddm-greeter[428]: Reading from "/usr/share/xsessions/plasma.desktop"
Apr 12 14:05:26 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 sddm-greeter[428]: Loading theme configuration from "qrc:/theme/theme.conf"
Apr 12 14:05:26 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 sddm-greeter[428]: Connected to the daemon.
Apr 12 14:05:26 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 sddm-greeter[428]: QFont::fromString: Invalid description '(empty)'
Apr 12 14:05:26 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 sddm-greeter[428]: QGLXContext: Failed to create dummy context
Apr 12 14:05:26 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 sddm-greeter[428]: Loading qrc:/theme/Main.qml...
Apr 12 14:05:26 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 sddm-greeter[428]: file:///usr/lib/qt/qml/SddmComponents/LayoutBox.qml:35:5: QML Connections: Implicitly defined onFoo properties in Connections are deprecated. Use this syntax instead: function onFoo(<arguments>) { ... }
Apr 12 14:05:26 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 sddm-greeter[428]: qrc:/theme/Main.qml:41:5: QML Connections: Implicitly defined onFoo properties in Connections are deprecated. Use this syntax instead: function onFoo(<arguments>) { ... }
Apr 12 14:05:26 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 sddm-greeter[428]: Adding view for "Virtual-1" QRect(0,0 1664x936)
Apr 12 14:05:26 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 sddm-greeter[428]: Failed to create OpenGL context for format QSurfaceFormat(version 2.0, options QFlags<QSurfaceFormat::FormatOption>(ResetNotification), depthBufferSize 24, redBufferSize -1, greenBufferSize -1, blueBufferSize -1, alphaBufferSize -1, stencilBufferSize 8, samples -1, swapBehavior QSurfaceFormat::DoubleBuffer, swapInterval 1, colorSpace QSurfaceFormat::DefaultColorSpace, profile QSurfaceFormat::NoProfile)
Apr 12 14:05:27 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 systemd-coredump[439]: Process 428 (sddm-greeter) of user 969 dumped core.
                                                                    #18 0x00005583d2d5c80f main (sddm-greeter + 0x1880f)
                                                                    #21 0x00005583d2d5e065 _start (sddm-greeter + 0x1a065)
░░ Subject: Process 428 (sddm-greeter) dumped core
░░ Process 428 (sddm-greeter) crashed and dumped core.
Apr 12 14:05:27 tester-standardpcq35ich92009 sddm-helper[418]: pam_unix(sddm-greeter:session): session closed for user sddm

```

This issue seems to only affect new installs.

A workaround/solution is to open a terminal and remove the libvdpau and nvidia-340xx-utils:

> sudo pacman -Rdd libvdpau

> sudo pacman -R nvidia-340xx-utils

You can then go ahead and reinstall libvdpau if you need to.

If you can’t open a Terminal (ctrl-alt-F3) example using a VM, you can edit Grub command (e - edit), put a `3` at the end of the `linux` line and save it (ctrl-x) and it will take you to command prompt bypassing graphical target and be in multiuser target (non-gui). You can login and then run the removal commands.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hi-Phile](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/rebornos.discourse.group/hi-phile/32/380_2.png) [@Hi-Phile](https://rebornos.discourse.group/u/Hi-Phile)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 8:35am UTC](https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/sddm-greeter-crash-black-screen-w-mouse-after-online-install-with-reborn-iso-2023-01-20/1022/2 "2023-04-13T08:35:36Z")

</div>

Please provide feedback if this fixed your problem and what video card / hardware you are using:

`inxi -G`

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hi-Phile](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/rebornos.discourse.group/hi-phile/32/380_2.png) [@Hi-Phile](https://rebornos.discourse.group/u/Hi-Phile)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 9:28am UTC](https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/sddm-greeter-crash-black-screen-w-mouse-after-online-install-with-reborn-iso-2023-01-20/1022/3 "2023-04-13T09:28:07Z")

</div>

A minor correction, I had to also remove nvidia-340xx-utils along with libvdpau otherwise only removing libvdpau didn’t correct the behavior.

`sudo pacman -R nvidia-340xx-utils`

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cloggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cloggy](https://rebornos.discourse.group/u/Cloggy)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/sddm-greeter-crash-black-screen-w-mouse-after-online-install-with-reborn-iso-2023-01-20/1022/4 "2023-04-13T19:27:46Z")

</div>

I can confirm that removing the 2 programs solved the login problem. Thanks for the solution!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![arnulf](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/rebornos.discourse.group/arnulf/32/51_2.png) [@arnulf](https://rebornos.discourse.group/u/arnulf)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 10:18pm UTC](https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/sddm-greeter-crash-black-screen-w-mouse-after-online-install-with-reborn-iso-2023-01-20/1022/5 "2023-04-13T22:18:02Z")

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Moin,  
i confirm that the deletion with _sudo pacman -Rdd libvdpau_ and _sudo pacman -Rdd nvidia-340xx-utils_ work.  
After that i install the libvdpau again with _pacman -S libvdpau_ and the system run like expected  
greeets

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mbich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@mbich](https://rebornos.discourse.group/u/mbich)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 10:48am UTC](https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/sddm-greeter-crash-black-screen-w-mouse-after-online-install-with-reborn-iso-2023-01-20/1022/6 "2023-04-19T10:48:30Z")

</div>

I confirm it too.  
I tested Plasma, LXDE, LXQt, Cinnamon and Deepin installations. None worked.  
With some of them, the installation failed completely (I think it was Deepin), the others got installed, but on booting the installed desktop, only a black screen with the mouse-pointer on it appeared.  
The worst experience was with LXQt. No login-screen at all, only a black screen.

Ctrl-Alt-F3 did something. Suddenly it said: login The black screen looked like a big terminal window.  
So I put my username in , then a prompt for my password appeared. I put it in and  
the promt said, that I am logged in, but still nothing but the black screen with the few lines of prompt.

From there I typed “sudo pacman -Rdd libvdpau” and then the other command for the nvidia, and something happened, they were uninstalled.  
From there I tried commands , but no normal desktop screen.  
So I had the idea to type in “reboot”.  
The PC rebootet and the normal login-screen appeared.

Later I installed chromium-browser, but it did not start.  
So I re-installed the libvdpau and then chromium-browser started.

I don’t need the nvidia package, because I have no nvidia hardware.

```auto
$ inxi -G
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Redwood XT [Radeon HD 5670/5690/5730] driver: radeon v: kernel
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.8 with: Xwayland v: 23.1.1 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting dri: r600 gpu: radeon resolution: 1920x1200~60Hz
  API: OpenGL Message: Unable to show GL data. Required tool glxinfo
    missing.

```

The other problem with Deepin is not important, I am not so much interested in trying Deepin.  
LXQt works fine for me now.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![arnulf](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/rebornos.discourse.group/arnulf/32/51_2.png) [@arnulf](https://rebornos.discourse.group/u/arnulf)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 11:13am UTC](https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/sddm-greeter-crash-black-screen-w-mouse-after-online-install-with-reborn-iso-2023-01-20/1022/7 "2023-04-19T11:13:58Z")

</div>

Moin  
It is sufficient to delete the nvidia-340xx-utils driver. Then sddm starts as expected.  
libvdpau is not needed to delete.  
greets

[arnulf@HP-EliteDesk ~]$ inxi -G  
Graphics:  
Device-1: AMD Lexa PRO [Radeon 540/540X/550/550X / RX 540X/550/550X]  
driver: amdgpu v: kernel  
Display: wayland server: [X.org](http://X.org) v: 1.21.1.8 with: Xwayland v: 23.1.1  
compositor: kwin\_wayland driver: X: loaded: modesetting dri: radeonsi  
gpu: amdgpu resolution: 1920x1080  
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 23.0.2 renderer: AMD Radeon RX 550 / 550 Series  
(polaris12 LLVM 15.0.7 DRM 3.49 6.2.11-arch1-1)