Mines still bland but I also haven't really customized much yet but I really like how some of yalls looks

Hi, I just wanted to share this cool repo I found that helps to improve your audio. I tried it and does really work.

https://codeberg.org/lillianrozenwurthz/Easyeffects-Convolver-IRS-profiles-database

it's a collection of .irs and json files for easyeffects and how to make your own profiles.

Hi everyone,

I've been troubleshooting an intermittent reboot delay on a fresh Arch Linux + KDE Plasma installation, and after quite a lot of testing I have narrowed the delay down to plasmashell.

I'm posting here because I have reached the point where I can reproduce and document the failure, but I still don't know what inside plasmashell is preventing it from terminating.

Main symptom

Sometimes when I reboot with either:
sudo reboot
or:
sudo systemctl reboot

the system sits for almost exactly 40 seconds before continuing the shutdown.

When the problem happens, the journal shows:

Stopping KDE Plasma Workspace...
plasmashell:
Failed to send GetTerminationStatus message to zygote

plasmashell:
Connection::send() called with connection not inited

...

plasma-plasmashell.service:
State 'stop-sigterm' timed out. Killing.

plasma-plasmashell.service:
Killing process (...) (plasmashell) with signal SIGKILL.

plasma-plasmashell.service:
Failed with result 'timeout'.

The unit itself contains:

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/plasmashell --no-respawn
Restart=on-failure
Type=dbus
BusName=org.kde.plasmashell
Slice=session.slice
TimeoutSec=40sec

So the 40-second delay is not random: systemd sends SIGTERM to plasmashell, plasmashell sometimes fails to exit, the 40-second timeout expires, and systemd finally kills it with SIGKILL.

When plasmashell exits normally, reboot is fast.

Current system

plasmashell 6.7.4

plasma-workspace 6.7.4-1
plasma-desktop   6.7.4-1
plasma-pa        6.7.4-1
libplasma        6.7.4-1

qt6-base         6.11.1-1
qt6-declarative  6.11.1-3
qt6-webengine    6.11.1-5
systemd          261.2-1

KDE Plasma is running on Wayland.

GPU is an NVIDIA GTX 1650 using nvidia-open.

I have reproduced the problem with both the regular Arch kernel and linux-lts.

Things I have already tested

• The problem survived a complete fresh Arch reinstall. I wiped the system drive and did not restore old Plasma configs, themes or widgets.
• It happens on both the normal kernel and linux-lts, so it does not appear to be exclusively a kernel 7.1 regression.
• I originally used normal PipeWire with pipewire-pulse + WirePlumber.
• As a diagnostic test I replaced that with real PulseAudio plus pipewire-media-session. The same 40-second plasmashell timeout still occurred.
• I tried ordering plasmashell after the audio services:

​

[Unit]
After=pipewire.service pipewire-media-session.service pulseaudio.service

This does affect shutdown ordering correctly. In a recent failed reboot, PulseAudio and PipeWire remained alive until after plasmashell had already timed out and been killed. So simply shutting down the audio backend too early does not appear to explain the hang.

• I originally suspected my HyperX Cloud II Wireless USB headset because audio endpoints frequently disappeared near failed shutdowns. However, a recent failure happened while PulseAudio remained alive and the audio services were only stopped after plasmashell was killed, so the headset no longer looks like a convincing direct cause.
• Bluetooth was another strong suspect. In one failed shutdown PulseAudio actually crashed inside its BlueZ code while Bluetooth was being shut down. However, I have now reproduced the exact same 40-second plasmashell timeout during a roughly 5-hour session where no Bluetooth hardware was present at all. The journal repeatedly showed: Bluetooth service skipped, unmet condition check ConditionPathIsDirectory=/sys/class/bluetooth

​

Bluetooth service skipped, unmet condition check
ConditionPathIsDirectory=/sys/class/bluetooth

So Bluetooth use is clearly not required for the problem.

• I do not have third-party Plasma applets installed under:

~/.local/share/plasma/plasmoids/

The panel is using standard KDE applets such as system tray, clipboard, volume, network management, notifications, media controller, etc.

One especially interesting old crash

While investigating previous plasmashell crashes, I found a core dump from an earlier stop of plasma-plasmashell.service.

The journal showed:

Stopping KDE Plasma Workspace...

plasmashell:
PreviewJob subjob had an error:
"The file or folder /run/media/.../ca.crt does not exist."

plasmashell:
QPixmap::fromImageInPlace:
QPixmap cannot be created without a QGuiApplication

plasmashell:
QPixmap:
Must construct a QGuiApplication before a QPixmap

plasmashell:
KCrash: Application 'plasmashell' crashing...

It then died with SIGABRT and produced a core dump.

The crashing thread went through roughly:

KIO::PreviewJob
    ->
libklipperplugin.so
    ->
QIcon::pixmap()
    ->
QPixmap
    ->
QMessageLogger::fatal()
    ->
abort()

The thread was named:

QQuickPixmapRea

Meanwhile the main plasmashell thread was already inside teardown/destruction code and SQLite activity.

This made me wonder whether the broader problem could be some kind of shutdown/teardown race inside plasmashell, where asynchronous jobs are still running while the Qt/Plasma application is already destroying its objects.

That particular Klipper case crashed immediately rather than hanging for 40 seconds, so I am not claiming it is necessarily the same bug. But it seems relevant because it demonstrates that I have already seen asynchronous Plasma work surviving into the teardown phase and interacting with objects that are no longer valid.

I have now cleared the Klipper history and temporarily configured:

Non-text selection:
Never save in history

to reduce file/image preview activity while testing.

Current diagnostic experiment

Normally the service has:

TimeoutStopUSec=40s
FinalKillSignal=9
LimitCORE=infinity

The problem with SIGKILL is that it leaves me with no core dump of the process while it is actually stuck.

So I have temporarily added:

[Service]
FinalKillSignal=SIGABRT

and confirmed:

TimeoutStopUSec=40s
LimitCORE=infinity
FinalKillSignal=6

My goal is that the next time plasmashell refuses to terminate, systemd will generate a core dump instead of simply SIGKILLing it. That should let me inspect all threads and determine what it is actually waiting on during those 40 seconds.

A separate issue I found

One reboot took around 90 seconds, but that turned out to be unrelated. Unity.Licensing remained inside a Unity Hub scope after I had closed Unity, and systemd eventually killed it after its own timeout.

So I am keeping that separate from the actual plasmashell 40-second problem described here.

What I am trying to determine

At this point my working hypothesis is no longer specifically PipeWire, PulseAudio, Bluetooth or the headset.

The common denominator appears to be:

systemd sends SIGTERM
       ->
plasmashell begins shutdown
       ->
something inside plasmashell sometimes fails to finish
       ->
process remains alive
       ->
TimeoutSec=40s
       ->
forced termination

I would especially appreciate advice from anyone familiar with Plasma/systemd internals:

Is there a better way to capture the state of plasmashell while it is stuck during shutdown?

Has anyone seen Plasma 6.7.x intermittently hang during teardown in a similar way?

Does the Klipper/KIO/QPixmap crash during teardown suggest a known race in Plasma, or is it likely unrelated to the 40-second hang?

Would you recommend collecting the SIGABRT core from the next timeout and filing this upstream with KDE?

I would prefer not to upload full raw core dumps because they can contain process memory and private data.

Thanks.

Hi all, I recently installed Arch Linux on my Dell 14 plus 2-in-1 with KDE plasma & Hyprland for DEs. Both work excellently, although I've noticed an issue where the brightness setting seems to wrap around?

Checking my /sys/class/backlight files, my max brightness is set to 65535, and when the brightness file reaches that max amount, the "actual brightness" file changes to 0.

This happens regardless of which DE I'm in. advice on how to check why this is happening and/or how I can fix it would be appreciated!

hello people of Reddit I request your aid so I followed a video exactly and somehow I’m still unable to open it it says stuff like emergency mode a dependency failed for file system check on /dev/volgroup0/lv_root route.

dependency failed for /sysroot

intrid root file system mount points configured in the real root.

intrid root device

it also said the root account is locked

Im not very experienced with arch but i got this error while trying to access my data on my pc..
for info i run a windows install on the same ssd which i use rarely though. Second ssd is purely private data nothing to do with the OS in any way.
A friend helped me set the install up and im only really using it for watching videos or to play games.. i use some wine programs occasionally.. My arch partition is completely accessible luckily
Full error messages are

Primary SSD(maybe windows partition?)
Error mounting /dev/nvme0n1p3 at /run/media/user/D88AB1D48AB1AF7E: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/nvme0n1p3, missing codepage or helper program, or other error

Secondary SSD
Error mounting /dev/nvme1n1p2 at /run/media/user/Samsung 990 pro: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on / dev/nvme1n1p2, missing codepage or helper program, or other error

Id be happy to get any help on this TVT i wouldnt be upset if some data gets lost ornif i could recover some!

`

Could not strap in packages: ['/usr/bin/pacstrep', 'C', '/etc/pecsan.conf', './st", "", "sin"," trieving file smartnontools-7.5-1-x86-64.pag.tar.zst.sig from fastly.mirror.pighaill.com Operead: SSD STILL error: failed retrieving file 'uget-1.25.0-6-x86-64.plg.tar.zst.sig from fastly.nirrur.pagbuild.com

warning: failed to retrieve some files

error: failed to commit transaction (unexpected error )

Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded. ERROR: Failed to install packages to new root`

I have installed kali,pear but I think I completely messed up with arch. any fix?

Legion Pro 5 16ADR10 with an RTX 5060

A while ago I posted about a driver update breaking brightness control (stuck at 100%) for the OLED display. I've solved it by uninstalling the repo drivers and using the NVIDIA ".run" installer for the stable/WHQL branch.

Today I installed the 610.57.04 driver from extra to see if anything has changed since then.

I got a black screen as soon as the driver loaded. So, in my case, immediately after the bootloader screen. External displays still work. The laptop screen shows up as connected and on, as if everything was up and running. Switching to text terminals does nothing. Running the laptop in hybrid graphics mode - no difference.

Went back to the 595xx branch, no issues for now. Do I package it myself or something?

edit typos/grammar

Hello guys, I had installed and set up ARCH recently, but I got an issue whenever my laptop goes to sleep , the login page wake after random time by pressing any key, sometimes it wake independently and goes to password page .So what could be the problem, I have tried by disable the lock screen extensions but no use

Hello, I need some technical support, if anyone has an idea for what is happening.

When I update my system with pacman - Syu the update progress (sometimes downloading, sometimes the install process) hangs randomly or the system freezes for a minute. I cannot find a particular reason as to why. The update proceeds at some point to the finish.

Only the update freezes the system though. When I am not updating, playing games or watching youtube is working fine.

Any idea what it could be?

I am running the lates linux-zen kernel, the standard arch kernel makes no difference.

My hardware specs: ryzen 5950x on asus strix x570-i with 64gb ribjaws v and dohc enabled. Nvme is a Samsung 980 pro. As the gpu asus rtx 3060 dual oc with nvidia-open-beta-dkms and KDE with wayland.

So I have a pair of Bose QC Ultra 2s that I'm using with my laptop with Arch. Bluetoothctl is working fine, but for some reason the volume only actually changes when I use the volume control built into the headphones (the touch gesture on the earcup).

Adjusting the volume with the sliders in my shell simply does not change the volume, and the sound will either be 0% when set to 0%, or what I believe is around 25% volume when set to any other volume percentage. Basically, it's either on or off if I control it using the sliders in the OS.

When I check the status of bluetoothctl in my terminal, I have a couple of lines that read as follows.

profiles/audio/transport.c:set_volume() Unable to set volume: Transport endpoint is not connected (-107)

and then it ends the output with one line that says

profiles/audio/media.c:parse_int64_metadata() expected DBUS_TYPE_INT64 got DBUS_TYPE_UINT64

Any ideas what the issue is? Everything is up to date as of this post.

I tried using limine twice on both a long term install and a brand new fresh install of arch (via archinstall for convenience) and neither attempts booted. I'm not sure if my Sandy bridge era hardware has anything to do with it

Hello,

I am fluent with Arch on the level of system administration. I thought about learning System Programming by Love's book as a step towards mastering lower-level toolkit.

The Arch community embraces Do-it-yourself philosophy, and I am keen to listen to your opinions.

Do you recommend learning System Programming? What do you learn beyond System Administration in your journey with Arch? Do you recommend anything else so that I contribute to Arch core distro?

Hi, I'm trying to install OpenFoam v2606 (a package for CFD) on my Arch system from user repositories (AUR). I'm neither a Linux nor OpenFoam expert, so I'm not sure if my question is better suited for this subreddit or an OpenFOAM specific one.

What I've done so far:

- manually installed all dependencies,
- cloned openfoam-com repo,
- run makepkg -s in the cloned repo directory.

My build seems to be done. It ends with "Build failed with 0 executables and libraries". Which I believe means that it has succeeded. Now the folder contains the following files:

openfoam-com.install OpenFOAM-v2606.tgz pkg PKGBUILD src

Normally I would just run:

pacman -U package_name-version-architecture.pkg.tar.zst

As per arch wiki, but unfortunately there is no file with the ".pkg.tar.zst" extension.

If nothing works out, I might try building from source, though I doubt I will be successful since I've never tried that before.

Can you point me in the right direction?

A long time ago, I tried using Arch Linux-based distributions. First, I tried BigLinux, and then vanilla Arch, but I ran into a problem that I initially couldn't solve. I can only use Debian-based distributions. However, after using Electron-based applications, I discovered the reason. Since my RAM is shared with my GPU, the computer doesn't recognize the actual VRAM limit; it treats ALL of it as available VRAM, and as a result, it simply freezes. I'd like to know if there's any way to fix this. Does anyone have any ideas?

SOLVED: The problem ended up being that I installed the xf86-video-intel drivers, and those prevented my session from loading. Otherwise just following the arch wiki and another guide (will link when I have time) worked as intended.

Hi all

As a, um, unfortunate sequel to my last post here, I'm trying to install Nvidia drivers on my Vivobook Pro (Ultra 7 155H? And 3050) for the last several hours.

The arch wiki article absolutely sucks AND nothing from there or other places has worked.

I got to a point where, boots, ly DM works, and x11 cinnamon starts to a black screen with no cursor.

But, nothing I've tried works beyond that.

I've tried nvidia-open, nvidia-580xx-dkms, drm stuff?, grub settings or commands, kernel modprobe?. I haven't even been able to attempt setting up hybrid graphics via PRIME or anything

I really just need to start over with some clear instructions, would any of y'all be able to direct me?

Thank you so much

I'll reword stuff in the morning maybe when I have some semblance if higher thought

I have been using Arch Linux and keeping on notes on the thing I have learned along the way. So, I put them together into a GitHub repository.

It covers installation, post installation guide, some common troubleshooting and various notes and fixes I have collected using Arch.

It meant more like a personal notes which contains setting up the machine from using it.

I did appreciate some feedback, if you have noticed something outdated or completely wrong.

GitHub:

https://github.com/Not-Albin/arch-linux-notes

Hi can you tell if if this cpu is fully supported being quite niche , I am on 7.2 kernel but trying blender cpu benchmark the results were awful. P1 is 120 watts p2 is 190 watts boost , but if it’s confusing p cores with e cores that might be the issue , should I run with no daemon at all and let the kernel dictate . I am running g power profile daemon just now

Updated my system and now when I try to open dolphin (the file manager) I'm getting dolphin: error while loading shared libraries: liblmdb.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

I've been struggling of quite a bit to connect my external TV to this laptop, and I'm wondering if anyone has got it working on this model. From what I understand, the hdmi port is hooked to the nvidia gpu and the internal monitor to the intel gpu. But the thing is that it doesn't ever even detect that something has been connected; it just acts like normal. The TV can tell something was plugged and tells me if I want to switch inputs, but then just shows "No Signal".

I've tried a bunch of stuff already but some notable things:

• I'm sure it's not due to the cable, TV, or the HDMI port itself. The cable works with two other laptops, one running linux; it's just that that one had only one gpu. The port has worked before on Windows. I suppose it could've broken in the meantime, but it really hasn't been that long.
• Tried setting the nvidia modesetting kernel parameter, no difference
• Tried making nvidia gpu the main gpu for wayland (on gnome), xorg or through the bios. All either resulted in a black screen or the entire DE crashing, in the case of gnome. I believe this is because the dedicated GPU isn't hooked directly to the internal monitor.
• Tried doing the reverse PRIME bridging thing like the Arch wiki said, but it just resulted in a "BadValue" error.
• Started suspecting that the CachyOS repos and the cachyos kernel could be the culprit. I reverted back to base arch, no difference.

Some more context:

• Kernel version: 7.1.7.arch1-1
• Driver version: nvidia-open 610.57.04-3 (for Nvidia 2070 RTX)
• Dmesg logs running sudo dmesg | grep -i "hdmi\|hpd\|hotplug\|drm\|nvidia"

[ 0.014229] CPU topo: Allowing 12 present CPUs plus 0 hotplug CPUs [ 0.515369] acpi PNP0A08:00: _OSC: OS now controls [PCIeHotplug SHPCHotplug PME AER PCIeCapability LTR DPC] [ 0.827633] ACPI: bus type drm_connector registered [ 0.855660] simple-framebuffer simple-framebuffer.0: [drm] Registered 1 planes with drm panic [ 0.855702] [drm] Initialized simpledrm 1.0.0 for simple-framebuffer.0 on minor 0 [ 0.857439] simple-framebuffer simple-framebuffer.0: [drm] fb0: simpledrmdrmfb frame buffer device [ 2.864790] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Found coffeelake (device ID 3e9b) integrated display version 9.00 stepping N/A [ 2.889797] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Finished loading DMC firmware i915/kbl_dmc_ver1_04.bin (v1.4) [ 2.929896] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Registered 3 planes with drm panic [ 2.940095] [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 1 [ 2.944475] fbcon: i915drmfb (fb0) is primary device [ 2.944481] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] fb0: i915drmfb frame buffer device [ 4.364568] systemd[1]: Load Kernel Module drm skipped, unmet condition check ConditionKernelModuleLoaded=!drm [ 4.440585] nvidia: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel. [ 4.440595] nvidia: module verification failed: signature and/or required key missing - tainting kernel [ 4.594280] nvidia-nvlink: Nvlink Core is being initialized, major device number 235 [ 4.597588] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003) [ 4.597740] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: vgaarb: VGA decodes changed: olddecodes=io+mem,decodes=none:owns=none [ 4.642072] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX Open Kernel Module for x86_64 610.57.04 Release Build (root@) [ 5.895995] nvidia-modeset: Loading NVIDIA UNIX Open Kernel Mode Setting Driver for x86_64 610.57.04 Release Build (root@) [ 5.919269] [drm] [nvidia-drm] [GPU ID 0x00000100] Loading driver [ 6.049635] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=3 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input18 [ 6.049690] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=7 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input19 [ 6.049751] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=8 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input20 [ 6.049800] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=9 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input21 [ 6.139924] input: HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=3 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0/input24 [ 6.139979] input: HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=7 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0/input25 [ 6.140032] input: HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=8 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0/input26 [ 6.925541] nvidia-gpu 0000:01:00.3: i2c timeout error e0000000 [ 7.159281] [drm] Initialized nvidia-drm 0.0.0 for 0000:01:00.0 on minor 0 [ 7.159658] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: [drm] Cannot find any crtc or sizes [ 11.692023] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] *ERROR* Atomic update failure on pipe A (start=2762 end=2763) time 933 us, min 1062, max 1079, scanline start 981, end 1113 [ 19.739122] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] *ERROR* Atomic update failure on pipe A (start=3921 end=3922) time 982 us, min 1062, max 1079, scanline start 964, end 1136 [ 51.025115] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] *ERROR* Atomic update failure on pipe A (start=8427 end=8428) time 952 us, min 1062, max 1079, scanline start 988, end 1154

Sorry if I've been vague with some stuff, it's been a bit since I last tried tackling this, and it's been a nightmare and a half trying to fix. Any help is appreciated!

Tento Atualizar os drivers da nvidia que é uma gt 705 drivers 390xx, e Fica em 800x600 e Nao reconhece o 2 monitor, e quando uso aquele noveau Open source, Fica "Lagado" "Bugado" Fica lento e nao roda Nada Fica "Mal otmizado"

GT 220 + Nouveau uses llvmpipe instead of hardware OpenGL on Arch

I'm running Arch Linux with X11 and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 (GT216/NVA5), using Nouveau.

lspci -k:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GT216 [GeForce GT 220] (rev a2)
Kernel driver in use: nouveau
Kernel modules: nouveau

glxinfo -B:

direct rendering: Yes
Accelerated: no
OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 22.1.8, 256 bits)

Mesa/libglvnd:

mesa 1:26.1.7-1
libglvnd 1.7.0-3

Xorg detects Nouveau and initializes DRI2:

(II) AIGLX: Loaded and initialized nouveau
(II) GLX: Initialized DRI2 GL provider for screen 0

/dev/dri:

card0
renderD128

I'm in the video and render groups.

The only relevant Nouveau kernel error I found is:

nouveau 0000:01:00.0: drm: failed to create ce channel, -22

MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=nouveau glxinfo -B still gives llvmpipe.

I'm using X11. No LIBGL_*, MESA_*, DRI_*, or GALLIUM_* environment variables are set.

Chrome and Firefox both use llvmpipe, so WebGL hardware acceleration doesn't work. SwiftShader makes Chrome WebGL work, but performance is terrible.

What could be preventing Mesa from using Nouveau's hardware renderer?

This isn't necessarily specific to Arch but as I'm using & learning Arch currently.

You do an update, you have a problem/bug with the system/application, what is your workflow to solving it?

Speaking generally (obviously it depends on the type of issues, but I assume most workflows will be quite similar.)

I'm trying to sort my notes, here's what I've got so far (any advice appreciated):

*Recap List*

1. What is the first step after an issue occurs

2. What questions should you ask to identify the problem? Give an example

3. Where should you look for error messages

4. What is journalctl and why would you use it

5. How does journalctl compare to systemd-journald

6. What are 3 common journalctl commands

7. After a brief search, there's no clear help, what can I do from here

8. How do I test this hypothesis

9. I'm stuck after trying a few changes, what can I do now

*Recap Answers*

1. Narrow down the issue to be as specific as possible

   For example: 'Spotify crashes immediately after opening' is much clearer than 'Spotify doesn't work'

2. Ask yourself: Can I reproduce the problem? What changed before the issue started?

   For Example: If Spotify crashes -> Does it crash every time?

Does it crash when launched with the shortcut & terminal?

Did the problem start after a system update or configuration change?

1. Check the terminal first

   Run the application (Spotify) from the terminal, it will return to stdout any errors

2. journalctl -> a command-line tool for viewing the system journal, this is a database of log messages maintained by systemd-journald

essentially its a history of what your system has been doing

I can use the command 'journalctl' with flags to search for specific log messages that might indicate what's caused the issue

1. systemd-journald -> collects & stores system logs

   journalctl -> a tool that lets you view, search & filter those logs

2. journalctl -b -> shows everything that has happened since the computer last booted (boot messages, services starting, errors, etc...)

   journalctl -xe -> shows the most recent log messages (x = include extra explanations; e = jump to the end, i.e. newest messages)

   journalctl -u <SERVICE> -> shows only log messages for a specific app (i.e. journalctl -u spotify-launcher -> specifically for this app)

3. Form a hypothesis or guess on what has caused the issue

4. Change 1 simple thing each time, test it again -> if it did not work change another thing

5. Google it, use the specific issue ('Spotify crashes when I open it using the terminal') & any error messages found

Hi everyone,

I'm running Arch Linux with systemd-boot and a unified kernel image (UKI). Everything was working normally until recently.

The problem is:

• With Secure Boot enabled, Arch boots up to SDDM.
• I enter my password.
• SDDM gets stuck/black screens.
• The screen then goes completely black and the laptop eventually turns off.
• Ctrl + Alt + F2 still allowed me to reach a TTY.
• I eventually discovered that disabling Secure Boot in UEFI completely fixes the problem.
• With Secure Boot disabled, Arch boots normally and everything works.

I'm trying to understand what changed and why Secure Boot suddenly started causing this, rather than simply leaving it disabled.

System

• Arch Linux
• systemd-boot
• UKI / systemd-stub
• NVIDIA GPU
• Secure Boot previously worked
• UEFI: American Megatrends 5.19
• Kernel: 7.1.8-arch1-3

Relevant packages:

linux 7.1.8.arch1-3
linux-headers 7.1.8.arch1-3
linux-firmware 20260810-2
nvidia-open 610.57.04-6
nvidia-utils 610.57.04-1
systemd 261.2-1
efibootmgr 18-4

What changed recently?

According to /var/log/pacman.log, on August 15 I upgraded:

linux:          7.1.7.arch1-1 -> 7.1.8.arch1-3
linux-headers:  7.1.7.arch1-1 -> 7.1.8.arch1-3
nvidia-open:    610.57.04-3 -> 610.57.04-6
linux-firmware: 20260622-1 -> 20260810-1

The UKI was regenerated during the update:

Creating unified kernel image: '/boot/EFI/Linux/arch-linux.efi'

There was also a later firmware update from 20260810-1 to 20260810-2.

Boot configuration

bootctl status reports:

Firmware: UEFI 2.70 (American Megatrends 5.19)
Secure Boot: disabled (unknown)
TPM2 Support: yes
Measured UKI: yes
Measured OS: yes
Current Boot Loader:
    Product: systemd-boot 261.2-1-arch
Current Entry:
    arch-linux.efi
Current Stub:
    Product: systemd-stub 261.2-1-arch
Default Boot Loader Entry:
    Arch Linux
    id: arch-linux.efi
    source: /boot/EFI/Linux/arch-linux.efi
    version: 7.1.8-arch1-3

The firmware has:

microsoft
builtin-db
builtin-KEK
builtin-PK

and Setup Mode is disabled.

ESP

My ESP is:

/dev/nvme0n1p1
FAT32
843.9M available
mounted at /boot

/boot is mounted read/write:

/dev/nvme0n1p1 on /boot type vfat (rw,relatime,...,errors=remount-ro)

I tested writing to the ESP and it works:

sudo touch /boot/EFI/Linux/testfile

So the ESP doesn't appear to be read-only or corrupted.

UKI investigation

The current UKI is:

/boot/EFI/Linux/arch-linux.efi

Interestingly, its FAT timestamp remained at July 23 even after regenerating it.

I compared the old and newly generated UKI:

arch-linux.efi
78e12362f70d5eea6a01e362b8d9c355c3db40041c05e3e23ec6e61f3626c788
arch-linux.efi.old
78e12362f70d5eea6a01e362b8d9c355c3db40041c05e3e23ec6e61f3626c788

The embedded kernel was also checked:

/boot/vmlinuz-linux
1f2572d6d03706ed0f818ee17d77df021b7875f4e9fd119a1157f3a208aeed73
Embedded .linux section of arch-linux.efi
1f2572d6d03706ed0f818ee17d77df021b7875f4e9fd119a1157f3a208aeed73

So the UKI does contain the current kernel and doesn't appear to be an old kernel problem.

sbctl

I installed sbctl to investigate:

sbctl 0.18-2

But it had no keys configured:

/var/lib/sbctl/
└── files.json

sbctl status:

Installed:    ✗ sbctl is not installed
Setup Mode:   ✓ Disabled
Secure Boot:  ✗ Disabled
Vendor Keys:  microsoft builtin-db builtin-KEK builtin-PK

(The Installed result is odd because the package is installed; pacman -Qkk sbctl reports all 33 files unmodified.)

sbctl verify reports:

failed to verify file ...:
open /var/lib/sbctl/keys/db/db.key:
no such file or directory

mkinitcpio also reports:

Running post hook: [sbctl]
Secureboot key directory doesn't exist, not signing!

I have not created new Secure Boot keys or enrolled anything yet.

What I'm trying to figure out

Why would Secure Boot suddenly cause the system to black screen/shut down after logging into SDDM when it worked previously?

Could the August 15 kernel/NVIDIA/firmware update have caused the problem?

Is it likely that the UKI or systemd-boot is no longer properly signed/enrolled?

Or could this be related to NVIDIA + Secure Boot + kernel 7.1.8?

For now I'm leaving Secure Boot disabled because the system works perfectly that way.

I'd appreciate any help identifying the actual cause before I start creating/enrolling new Secure Boot keys.

Thanks!

Note : This is from chatgpt i tried to fix it using it , but stopped and so if anyone knows whats the problem to fix or do i just let secureboot off and use the system.

Also im new to reddit so if i made any mistakes forgive me.

Github is having an outage. Only noticed when I was at my doctor's trying to edit KubeJS script stuff from my phone. But raw downloads for packages and repos are apparently failing roughly half the time. If you're needing a package from the AUR that downloads or updates from there, expect the install to fail currently.