Added CPU/core metric on KDE Plasma Dragonized (X11) and it broke my desktop (Can't interact, nothing moves or updates)

Issues & Assistance
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Went into recovery mode to get the Garuda-inxi but I can’t scroll up to see the entire thing (Not like I can copy paste it anyway) so I’ve done my best to include what I can that shows.

Basically I added CPU/core metric to the top bar of the KDE dragonized theme and now nothing moves on the desktop. Can’t interact with anything. Can’t seem to do anything except CTRL+ALT+DEL. Restarting does nothing (problem persists), logging out also does nothing. Wayland also suffers from the same issue (arguable worse. Don’t even know how they both transferred together)

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Garuda-inxi best do
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Just frozen on the desktop like this

Edit: It appears the virtual desktop manager is still working so I can search things and open the konsole as while as browsers etc… just not interact with the desktop

Complete garuda.inxi

System:
Kernel: 6.9.3-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.1.1
clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=4b50f2bb-29e3-46db-902d-6f9025f83b73 rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet loglevel=3 ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.0.5 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.2.0
wm: kwin_wayland vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: ASUSTeK model: ROG CROSSHAIR VIII DARK HERO v: Rev X.0x
serial: <superuser required> part-nu: SKU uuid: <superuser required>
UEFI: American Megatrends v: 4702 date: 10/20/2023
Battery:
Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech MX Vertical Advanced Ergonomic
Mouse serial: <filter> charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes
status: discharging
CPU:
Info: model: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+ gen: 4
level: v3 note: check built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm) family: 0x19 (25)
model-id: 0x21 (33) stepping: 0 microcode: 0xA20102B
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 12 tpc: 2 threads: 24 smt: enabled cache:
L1: 768 KiB desc: d-12x32 KiB; i-12x32 KiB L2: 6 MiB desc: 12x512 KiB
L3: 64 MiB desc: 2x32 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 3788 high: 4755 min/max: 2200/4950 boost: enabled
scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: performance cores: 1: 4755 2: 3700
3: 3700 4: 3700 5: 3700 6: 3700 7: 3700 8: 3700 9: 3700 10: 3600 11: 3700
12: 3599 13: 4750 14: 3700 15: 3700 16: 3700 17: 3799 18: 3814 19: 3700
20: 3700 21: 3700 22: 3700 23: 3700 24: 3700 bogomips: 177608
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA AD102 [GeForce RTX 4090] vendor: Micro-Star MSI
driver: nvidia v: 550.78 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 550.xx+
status: current (as of 2024-04) arch: Lovelace code: AD1xx
process: TSMC n4 (5nm) built: 2022+ pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16
link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s ports: active: none off: DP-2
empty: DP-1,DP-3,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 0b:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2684
class-ID: 0300
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.13 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.0
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: nvidia unloaded: modesetting
alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv,vesa gpu: nvidia display-ID: 0
Monitor-1: DP-2 res: 2560x1440 size: N/A modes: N/A
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia device: 2
drv: swrast gbm: drv: nvidia surfaceless: drv: nvidia wayland: drv: nvidia
x11: drv: zink inactive: device-1
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 550.78
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090/PCIe/SSE2
memory: 23.43 GiB display-ID: :1.0
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.279 layers: 11 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu
name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 driver: nvidia v: 550.78 device-ID: 10de:2684
surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland
Audio:
Device-1: NVIDIA AD102 High Definition Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 0b:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:22ba class-ID: 0403
Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 0d:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
Device-3: Schiit Audio Modi 3+ driver: snd-usb-audio type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 3-2.4:4 chip-ID: 30be:1014
class-ID: 0102
API: ALSA v: k6.9.3-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api with: aoss
type: oss-emulator tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.7 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8169 v: kernel
pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000 bus-ID: 05:00.0
chip-ID: 10ec:8125 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp5s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Device-2: Intel I211 Gigabit Network vendor: ASUSTeK driver: igb v: kernel
pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: d000 bus-ID: 06:00.0
chip-ID: 8086:1539 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp6s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-3: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: gen: 2
speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 07:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp7s0 state: down mac: <filter>
IF-ID-1: wg0-mullvad state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Info: services: NetworkManager, smbd, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-6:4 chip-ID: 8087:0029
class-ID: e001
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.2
lmp-v: 11 status: discoverable: no pairing: no class-ID: 6c0104
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 11 TiB used: 125.24 GiB (1.1%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 980 PRO 2TB
size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 5B2QGXA7 temp: 45.9 C
scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 980 PRO 2TB
size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 5B2QGXA7 temp: 39.9 C
scheme: GPT
ID-3: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: A-Data model: SU800 size: 1.86 TiB
block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD
serial: <filter> fw-rev: 7A scheme: GPT
ID-4: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: A-Data model: SU800 size: 1.86 TiB
block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD
serial: <filter> fw-rev: 7A scheme: GPT
ID-5: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Seagate model: ST2000DM008-2FR102
size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> fw-rev: 0001 scheme: GPT
ID-6: /dev/sdd maj-min: 8:48 vendor: Seagate model: ST2000DM008-2FR102
size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> fw-rev: 0001 scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 1.82 TiB size: 1.82 TiB (100.00%) used: 125.24 GiB (6.7%)
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:7
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
used: 588 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:6
ID-3: /home raw-size: 1.82 TiB size: 1.82 TiB (100.00%)
used: 125.24 GiB (6.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:7
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 1.82 TiB size: 1.82 TiB (100.00%)
used: 125.24 GiB (6.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:7
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 1.82 TiB size: 1.82 TiB (100.00%)
used: 125.24 GiB (6.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:7
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 62.7 GiB used: 65.8 MiB (0.1%) priority: 100
comp: zstd avail: lzo,lzo-rle,lz4,lz4hc,842 max-streams: 24 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 49.0 C mobo: 34.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 0
Info:
Memory: total: 64 GiB note: est. available: 62.7 GiB used: 4.51 GiB (7.2%)
Processes: 535 Power: uptime: 1m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
suspend, test_resume image: 25.04 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 255 default: graphical
tool: systemctl
Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1959 libs: 550 tools: octopi,paru,yay
Compilers: clang: 17.0.6 gcc: 14.1.1 Shell: garuda-inxi default: fish
v: 3.7.1 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.34
Garuda (2.6.26-1):
System install date:     2024-06-08
Last full system update: 2024-06-09
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut nvidia-dkms
Windows dual boot:       Probably (Run as root to verify)
Failed units:

Now that it is fixed I decided to do some testing. Conclusion: The cause was setting Individual Core usage to Applications Table as the style which resulted in KDE Plasma Desktop breaking. Only solution is to delete the config file

Process Table option ALSO breaks it

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Update: Sweet new desktop effect

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3

Try booting loging into Plasma x11 from login.

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4

This began on X11. I tried swapping twice already. Neither work

5

Did u add any kernel modules … ? Or just some basic applet?

Edit. 1. Try different kernel from boot.

  1. Recover from Snapper snapshot from boot menu to go before the error happened.
1 Like
6

Attempted Linux-LTS earlier. Didn’t solve the problem

How do I do the second one?

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7

From the Boot menu (Garuda Boot) select Garuda Snapshots. There, depending on Snapper setup , select the earliest snap where the error wasnt there and it should be resolved.

2 Likes
8

I’ll try that

9

If @aegir221’s suggestion doesn’t work for you:

Boot a live environment, open Dolphin and go to /home/username/.config/ and make a backup of the file plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc (replace username in the path with your broken account).

Then delete the original plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc → reboot.

8 Likes
10

Didn’t work. The older snapshots said “Error: Need to load the kernel first” (Not sure why) and the newer ones, even the ones from before I made this change, had the same issue (and the change was made as well)

I’m not entirely sure how the snapshots work but it seems to be before and after installing software and since this wasn’t newly installed software, it hasn’t rolled anything back (That’s my running theory but I’m new to Linux so I’m not sure)

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I’ll give that a shot. But I assume I just keep the backup just in case? And not actually use it (Since it should logically cause the same problem)

12

Reinstall.

Not gonna lie.
I’d maybe try the Cinnamon version of Garuda. The Plasma has loads of small bugs with the new release plus all the wayland stuff.

I hope Cinnamon is more stable ( It was super robust couple years back)

Add to that the fact that Garuda Team has to run and debug their own applets and settings.

I am probably trying out cinnamon myself, just for fun.

Anyhow, you have lots of options.

1 Like
13

I should add. I added? (maybe?) the Linux-Zen Kernel and the Linux-LTS Kernel. I’m not sure what it runs on by default which is why I say maybe

14

If I have to reinstall it’ll be a little inconvenient but not the end of the world. It’s a pretty new install so it’s not the end of the world. I’ll make an attempt to recover based on what Nepti said

1 Like
15

Worked like a charm. Wiped all the data but eh. That’s what needed to be done.

Much appreciated. Thanks

16

Best to have LTS and zen kernel installed. No point of adding more since arch and zen are very similar.

1 Like
17

Now that it is fixed I decided to do some testing. Conclusion: The cause was setting Individual Core usage to Applications Table as the style which resulted in KDE Plasma Desktop breaking. Wonder why? I never intended to select it (I had misclicked) but it seems to just totally break the system. I don’t even know if it’s a realistically applicable option

Edit: Process Table option ALSO breaks it

1 Like
18

That’s what I had figured. LTS as a backup and Zen as a main

1 Like
19

Sorry that I only posted the quick and dirty solution yesterday, it was already very late for me :yawning_face:

If you know which widget is the cause, then it is enough to delete the relevant part of the widget in the plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc file. This also works in booted Linux (and if not, then via live iso). For example, using the memory usage widget:

If you don’t know what is causing the issues, then simply delete the entire file - as soon as Plasma is restarted, the file will be recreated with the default settings. This will of course delete the user settings and you will have to set up your desktop again.

If you still have the backup of the file, then open it with an editor, delete the lines with the faulty widget and copy the file back to /home/username/.config/ - this will save you having to set up the desktop again.

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20

We generally try to avoid giving this advice on Arch Linux based forums, as this negates much of benefit of using a rolling distro. Frankly, this is a mentality held over from the Windows world that is best forgotten when using Linux. With Windows, performance gradually deteriorates over time, so a periodic reinstall is actually helpful as it keeps the system running quickly. This is not the case with Linux and reinstalling should only be given as advice in a few limited situations.

If the user has only just installed Garuda on their system then reinstalling is no big deal. When the user hasn’t spent considerable time and effort configuring and personalizing their install to their likes, then a reinstall is of no major consequence. In the cases where Garuda was freshly installed, advising a reinstall may be the quickest and easiest fix and then this advice is sometimes warranted. However, in most other situations we try to avoid giving this advice.

There are other reasons why we try to avoid advising a reinstall besides much wasted time and effort on the users part configuring their old system. In many cases like the one on this thread, the fix is pretty simple and certainly does not warrant a reinstall (as the fix requires minimal effort). A reinstall would be like using a sledgehammer when only a thumbtack is required.

Another reason why reinstalling is discouraged is because most users learn virtually nothing about maintaining their system this way. If this becomes their default cure all method for every minor issue then they will need to either continually reinstall or burden other users with fixing their system. If the user intends to follow this path for every problem, then they may as well use a static distro instead of a rolling one. With a static distro upgrading is sometimes too complex and fraught with problems for a new Linux and a reinstall sometimes makes sense for them. With a rolling release such as Garuda, there is no advantage to reinstalling and it is highly discouraged.

About the only other situation where reinstall makes sense is when the fix is so complex and the system is so messed up that the average user could not manage it themselves. Sometimes language issues also make it too difficult to convey to a new user what steps need to be taken and progress is next to impossible. If it is obvious after a ton of posts that that the user will never be able to resolve their issue themselves, then sometimes a reinstall is simply inevitable. Usually a reinstall is the last resort though, and we try to avoid giving this as standard advice on the forum.

Reinstalling when using a rolling distro should almost never be required.

5 Likes