On Sat, 09 Apr 2022 10:13:00 +0100, Michael wrote:

I'm trying to understand why one PC in particular fails to start SDDM
since an update to x11-misc/sddm-0.18.1-r6 and ends up with a blank
page on VT7. I suspect some pam module malfunction, but I don't
understand why this happens or how to troubleshoot it. Interestingly,
if I restart the display-manager service manually, SDDM starts and no
longer exits. :-/

Anything in Xorg.0.log?


--
Neil Bothwick

MIPS: Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed

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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Saturday, 9 April 2022 11:26:13 BST Neil Bothwick wrote:

On Sat, 09 Apr 2022 10:13:00 +0100, Michael wrote:

I'm trying to understand why one PC in particular fails to start SDDM
since an update to x11-misc/sddm-0.18.1-r6 and ends up with a blank
page on VT7. I suspect some pam module malfunction, but I don't
understand why this happens or how to troubleshoot it. Interestingly,
if I restart the display-manager service manually, SDDM starts and no longer exits. :-/

Anything in Xorg.0.log?

The PC is a laptop, which is usually connected to ethernet. Following Neil's prompt I just started it, without an ethernet cable connected, to check what Xorg log shows . . . O_O

Well, what do you know! SDDM started properly, with mouse, GUI and all. No pam_unix problem. I am now even more confused than before. Why would the presence of an ethernet connection determine if SDDM starts and then exits, or not? :-/
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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sun, 10 Apr 2022 10:18:29 +0100, Michael wrote:

The PC is a laptop, which is usually connected to ethernet. Following Neil's prompt I just started it, without an ethernet cable connected,
to check what Xorg log shows . . . O_O

Well, what do you know! SDDM started properly, with mouse, GUI and
all. No pam_unix problem. I am now even more confused than before.
Why would the presence of an ethernet connection determine if SDDM
starts and then exits, or not? :-/

This behaviour is repeatable. Why would the presence of a network
connection on this PC affect SDDM?!

When you don't have the cable, are you using wireless or no network? Have
you tried waiting a few minutes to see if SDDM comes up? I wonder if this
could be a DNS or IPv6 issue? Remember the old saying "The problem is
always DNS. Even when it's not DNS, it is DNS".


--
Neil Bothwick

But I thought YOU did the backups...

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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Saturday, 9 April 2022 11:36:45 BST Michael wrote:

On Saturday, 9 April 2022 11:26:13 BST Neil Bothwick wrote:

On Sat, 09 Apr 2022 10:13:00 +0100, Michael wrote:

I'm trying to understand why one PC in particular fails to start SDDM since an update to x11-misc/sddm-0.18.1-r6 and ends up with a blank
page on VT7. I suspect some pam module malfunction, but I don't understand why this happens or how to troubleshoot it. Interestingly,
if I restart the display-manager service manually, SDDM starts and no longer exits. :-/

Anything in Xorg.0.log?

The PC is a laptop, which is usually connected to ethernet. Following
Neil's prompt I just started it, without an ethernet cable connected, to check what Xorg log shows . . . O_O

Well, what do you know! SDDM started properly, with mouse, GUI and all. No pam_unix problem. I am now even more confused than before. Why would the presence of an ethernet connection determine if SDDM starts and then exits, or not? :-/

This behaviour is repeatable. Why would the presence of a network connection on this PC affect SDDM?!

I also checked Xorg.0.log with and without ethernet/SDDM and there is no difference and no errors.
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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sunday, 10 April 2022 10:26:09 BST Neil Bothwick wrote:

On Sun, 10 Apr 2022 10:18:29 +0100, Michael wrote:

The PC is a laptop, which is usually connected to ethernet. Following Neil's prompt I just started it, without an ethernet cable connected,
to check what Xorg log shows . . . O_O

Well, what do you know! SDDM started properly, with mouse, GUI and
all. No pam_unix problem. I am now even more confused than before.
Why would the presence of an ethernet connection determine if SDDM
starts and then exits, or not? :-/

This behaviour is repeatable. Why would the presence of a network connection on this PC affect SDDM?!

When you don't have the cable, are you using wireless or no network? Have
you tried waiting a few minutes to see if SDDM comes up? I wonder if this could be a DNS or IPv6 issue? Remember the old saying "The problem is
always DNS. Even when it's not DNS, it is DNS".

Thank you Neil for prompting my brain to work in a different direction. :-)

(As it happens I've experienced some DNSSEC issues on a router following a buggy firmware update, but this would be seriously O/T for this M/L.)

I have waited for minutes to see if SDDM will eventually kick in. It seems
the pam_unix intervention is terminal. SDDM does not start once session c1 .

The laptop has an ethernet NIC on the MoBo, which is gimped at 100Mbps. This is not used under normal circumstances. Instead I use a USB 3.0 1Gbps
ethernet adaptor. Following your prompts I unplugged the USB ethernet
adaptor, connected the ethernet cable to the NIC on the MoBo and rebooted. No problem. SDDM launches as it should.

So this could be udev related? While udev isrobing the USB adaptor and starting the dhcp negotiation, somehow this sequence interferes with the SSDM starting up?
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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sunday, 10 April 2022 12:12:43 BST Michael wrote:

On Sunday, 10 April 2022 10:26:09 BST Neil Bothwick wrote:

On Sun, 10 Apr 2022 10:18:29 +0100, Michael wrote:

The PC is a laptop, which is usually connected to ethernet. Following Neil's prompt I just started it, without an ethernet cable connected, to check what Xorg log shows . . . O_O

Well, what do you know! SDDM started properly, with mouse, GUI and all. No pam_unix problem. I am now even more confused than before. Why would the presence of an ethernet connection determine if SDDM starts and then exits, or not? :-/

This behaviour is repeatable. Why would the presence of a network connection on this PC affect SDDM?!

When you don't have the cable, are you using wireless or no network? Have you tried waiting a few minutes to see if SDDM comes up? I wonder if this could be a DNS or IPv6 issue? Remember the old saying "The problem is always DNS. Even when it's not DNS, it is DNS".

Thank you Neil for prompting my brain to work in a different direction. :-)

(As it happens I've experienced some DNSSEC issues on a router following a buggy firmware update, but this would be seriously O/T for this M/L.)

I have waited for minutes to see if SDDM will eventually kick in. It seems the pam_unix intervention is terminal. SDDM does not start once session c1
.

The laptop has an ethernet NIC on the MoBo, which is gimped at 100Mbps.
This is not used under normal circumstances. Instead I use a USB 3.0 1Gbps ethernet adaptor. Following your prompts I unplugged the USB ethernet adaptor, connected the ethernet cable to the NIC on the MoBo and rebooted.
No problem. SDDM launches as it should.

So this could be udev related? While udev isrobing the USB adaptor and starting the dhcp negotiation, somehow this sequence interferes with the
SSDM starting up?

I replaced the USB ethernet adaptor with a USB wireless adaptor, plugged into the same port. Rebooted and SDDM starts normally. So, this problem only occurs when I have the wired USB adaptor plugged in. What could be a possible cause?
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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sun, 10 Apr 2022 15:45:39 +0100, Michael wrote:

The laptop has an ethernet NIC on the MoBo, which is gimped at
100Mbps. This is not used under normal circumstances. Instead I use
a USB 3.0 1Gbps ethernet adaptor. Following your prompts I unplugged
the USB ethernet adaptor, connected the ethernet cable to the NIC on
the MoBo and rebooted. No problem. SDDM launches as it should.

So this could be udev related? While udev isrobing the USB adaptor
and starting the dhcp negotiation, somehow this sequence interferes
with the SSDM starting up?

I replaced the USB ethernet adaptor with a USB wireless adaptor,
plugged into the same port. Rebooted and SDDM starts normally. So,
this problem only occurs when I have the wired USB adaptor plugged in.
What could be a possible cause?

Does it still do it when the USB adaptor is plugged in with no cable?


--
Neil Bothwick

"Theory and practice are the same in theory, but different in practice"

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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sunday, 10 April 2022 16:31:01 BST Neil Bothwick wrote:

On Sun, 10 Apr 2022 15:45:39 +0100, Michael wrote:

The laptop has an ethernet NIC on the MoBo, which is gimped at
100Mbps. This is not used under normal circumstances. Instead I use
a USB 3.0 1Gbps ethernet adaptor. Following your prompts I unplugged
the USB ethernet adaptor, connected the ethernet cable to the NIC on
the MoBo and rebooted. No problem. SDDM launches as it should.

So this could be udev related? While udev isrobing the USB adaptor
and starting the dhcp negotiation, somehow this sequence interferes
with the SSDM starting up?

I replaced the USB ethernet adaptor with a USB wireless adaptor,
plugged into the same port. Rebooted and SDDM starts normally. So,
this problem only occurs when I have the wired USB adaptor plugged in.
What could be a possible cause?

Does it still do it when the USB adaptor is plugged in with no cable?

No, it only occurs when the ethernet cable is connected to the USB adaptor.
Hmm ... is your DNS statement coming back to haunt me? O_O
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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sunday, 10 April 2022 17:06:17 BST Michael wrote:

On Sunday, 10 April 2022 16:31:01 BST Neil Bothwick wrote:

On Sun, 10 Apr 2022 15:45:39 +0100, Michael wrote:

The laptop has an ethernet NIC on the MoBo, which is gimped at
100Mbps. This is not used under normal circumstances. Instead I use
a USB 3.0 1Gbps ethernet adaptor. Following your prompts I unplugged the USB ethernet adaptor, connected the ethernet cable to the NIC on the MoBo and rebooted. No problem. SDDM launches as it should.

So this could be udev related? While udev isrobing the USB adaptor
and starting the dhcp negotiation, somehow this sequence interferes with the SSDM starting up?

I replaced the USB ethernet adaptor with a USB wireless adaptor,
plugged into the same port. Rebooted and SDDM starts normally. So,
this problem only occurs when I have the wired USB adaptor plugged in. What could be a possible cause?

Does it still do it when the USB adaptor is plugged in with no cable?

No, it only occurs when the ethernet cable is connected to the USB adaptor. Hmm ... is your DNS statement coming back to haunt me? O_O

Still unable to get SDDM to come up when the ethernet cable is connected to
the USB NIC adaptor dongle. :-(

I added "rc_start_wait=500" in '/etc/conf.d/display-manager' just in case delaying SDDM would allow it to launch without any interference from the network configuration and start up, but it made no difference. The only way for
SDDM to launch successfully is to make sure the ethernet cable is unplugged from the USB NIC adaptor at boot, or to use a different NIC.

Is there something which might explain this behaviour? :-/
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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)