Arch Linux

anselm

Member

Registered: 2017-11-21

Posts: 49

LXDE display manager refuse to start, I always have to type "startx"

When I boot my system, the usual LXDE GUI won't appear, and the terminal messages get stuck. The last message is: "Reached target graphical interface". Then I have to switch to another terminal (for example CTRL+ALT+F2) and type "startx" to start the GUI. After that everything works properly, as usual. This would be a minor problem, which doesn't need intervention, but the further problem is that my system after that seems to be less responsive, compared to the former state in the past, when the LXDE display manager was loaded automatically, without typing "startx" at the 2nd terminal. Where should I search for the root of the problem?

When I type "systemctl --failed", I get:

  UNIT                  LOAD   ACTIVE SUB    DESCRIPTION                            
● dhcpcd@enp2s3.service loaded failed failed dhcpcd on enp2s3                       
● logrotate.service     loaded failed failed Rotate log files                       
● lxdm.service          loaded failed failed LXDE Display Manager                   
● nfs-idmapd.service    loaded failed failed NFSv4 ID-name mapping service          
● nfs-mountd.service    loaded failed failed NFS Mount Daemon                       
● rpc-statd.service     loaded failed failed NFS status monitor for NFSv2/3 locking.
● vnstat.service        loaded failed failed vnStat network traffic monitor         
● vramswap.service      loaded failed failed Swap on Video RAM                      

LOAD   = Reflects whether the unit definition was properly loaded.
ACTIVE = The high-level unit activation state, i.e. generalization of SUB.
SUB    = The low-level unit activation state, values depend on unit type.

8 loaded units listed. Pass --all to see loaded but inactive units, too.
To show all installed unit files use 'systemctl list-unit-files'.

Last edited by anselm (2018-12-13 01:32:53)

deep42thought

Administrator

From: Jena, Germany

Registered: 2017-06-17

Posts: 617

Re: LXDE display manager refuse to start, I always have to type "startx"

The failing lxdm service is the reason why x won't start automatically - investigate its error messages to get some insight (or try restarting it with 'systemctl restart lxdm').
The slow graphics might be some driver issue/change, but I'm no expert on that terrain - maybe some boot parameter change can help?
Also this failing vramswap might make things slower (if it was working on your fast setup before)

regards,
deep42thought

anselm

Member

Registered: 2017-11-21

Posts: 49

Re: LXDE display manager refuse to start, I always have to type "startx"

No, vramswap never worked for me, I tried to get it work when I used a graphics card with 256 MB video ram.  Now I replaced it with a 64 MB graphics card. How can I save the messages from the boot screen, the Ctrl+Alt+F1 treminal?

deep42thought

Administrator

From: Jena, Germany

Registered: 2017-06-17

Posts: 617

Re: LXDE display manager refuse to start, I always have to type "startx"

IIRC they should be, what `dmesg` puts out. If not, you can search for them in /var/log