KDE Active Blur wallpaper plugin appers broken, black desktop background

Hello folks,

Bizarre thing happened. Rebooted the machine after a regular update, after logging back in, the wallpaper on both monitors (set to Garuda Broadwing) do not appear. The wallpaper is just black on both monitors. When I right-click and select “Desktop and Wallpaper” on the left monitor, it shows the selected image, but the wallpaper is still black. When I do the same on the right, it shows all the images as white boxes, and doesn’t display their thumbnails. See here:

Left monitor:

Right monitor:

However, when I disable the “active blur” on either monitor, the wallpaper appears. See here:

There appears to be a closed issue by the dev here, which describes the same issue I’m experiencing: Active blur shows black image in Plasma 6 · Issue #30 · bouteillerAlan/blurredwallpaper · GitHub where the solution was to use the package that he maintains and not the Garuda maintained version (i.e., “Hey, plasma6-wallpapers-blurredwallpaper is not maintain by me. You should use the kdeplasma-blurredwallpaper-git package that is up-to-date and working :)” )

I have plasma6-wallpapers-blurredwallpaper installed (as of this writing, v3.2.0-2), and plasma6-wallpapers-blurredwallpaper-git has the same version, but obviously conflicts with the installed version. I even forced re-install the plasma6-wallpapers-blurredwallpaper package, and that didn’t help much either. I’d love to get Active Blur running again, as I really enjoyed the effect.

Here’s my garuda-inxi:

System:
  Kernel: 6.14.6-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.1.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
    root=UUID=8dcc0c9c-8fe9-4fc6-b189-a8db2cfa3823 rw rootflags=subvol=@
    rd.driver.pre=vfio-pci intel_iommu=on i915.enable_guc=3 i915.max_vfs=7
    quiet resume=UUID=a14a443b-9c6b-47d0-b49a-d9686d767b7c loglevel=3
    sysrq_always_enabled=1 split_lock_detect=off nvidia-drm.modeset=1
    pci=disable_acs_redir=pci:12D8:2308
    vt.default_red=30,243,166,249,137,245,148,186,88,243,166,249,137,245,148,166
    vt.default_grn=30,139,227,226,180,194,226,194,91,139,227,226,180,194,226,173
    vt.default_blu=46,168,161,175,250,231,213,222,112,168,161,175,250,231,213,200
    ibt=off
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.3.5 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.14.0
    wm: kwin_wayland tools: avail: hypridle,hyprlock 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: PRIME Z690-P WIFI v: Rev 1.xx
    serial: <superuser required> part-nu: SKU uuid: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: 3601 date: 10/14/2024
CPU:
  Info: model: 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900K bits: 64 type: MST AMCP
    arch: Alder Lake gen: core 12 level: v3 note: check built: 2021+
    process: Intel 7 (10nm ESF) family: 6 model-id: 0x97 (151) stepping: 2
    microcode: 0x3A
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 10 cores: 16 threads: 24 mt: 8 tpc: 2
    st: 8 smt: enabled cache: L1: 1.4 MiB desc: d-8x32 KiB, 8x48 KiB; i-8x32
    KiB, 8x64 KiB L2: 14 MiB desc: 8x1.2 MiB, 2x2 MiB L3: 30 MiB
    desc: 1x30 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 801 min/max: 800/5100:5200:3900 scaling:
    driver: intel_pstate governor: performance cores: 1: 801 2: 801 3: 801
    4: 801 5: 801 6: 801 7: 801 8: 801 9: 801 10: 801 11: 801 12: 801 13: 801
    14: 801 15: 801 16: 801 17: 801 18: 801 19: 801 20: 801 21: 801 22: 801
    23: 801 24: 801 bogomips: 152985
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel AlderLake-S GT1 vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel
    alternate: xe arch: Xe process: Intel 10nm built: 2020-21 ports:
    active: none empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1,HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 00:02.0
    chip-ID: 8086:4680 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA GA104 [GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Lite Hash Rate]
    vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nvidia v: 570.144 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm
    non-free: 550-570.xx+ status: current (as of 2025-04; EOL~2026-12-xx)
    arch: Ampere code: GAxxx process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-2023 pcie:
    gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: none off: DP-2,DP-4
    empty: DP-3,HDMI-A-3,HDMI-A-4 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2489
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-3: Microsoft LifeCam Studio
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-9:4 chip-ID: 045e:0772
    class-ID: 0300
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia
    unloaded: nouveau alternate: fbdev,intel,nv,vesa dri: iris
    gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch d-rect: 3840x1080 display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: DP-2 pos: primary,left model: Samsung SyncMaster
    serial: <filter> built: 2009 res: mode: 1920x1080 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1)
    dpi: 92 gamma: 1.2 size: 531x298mm (20.91x11.73") diag: 609mm (24")
    ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 640x480
  Monitor-2: DP-4 pos: right model: Dell UZ2715H serial: <filter>
    built: 2014 res: mode: 1920x1080 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 83 gamma: 1.2
    size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23") diag: 676mm (26.6") ratio: 16:9 modes:
    max: 1920x1080 min: 640x480
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris drv: nvidia nouveau drv: nvidia
    platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia device: 1 drv: nouveau device: 2 drv: iris
    device: 3 drv: swrast gbm: drv: nvidia surfaceless: drv: nvidia wayland:
    drv: nvidia x11: drv: nvidia
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 570.144
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
    memory: 7.81 GiB display-ID: :1.0
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.313 layers: 15 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: NVIDIA
    GeForce RTX 3060 Ti driver: nvidia v: 570.144 device-ID: 10de:2489
    surfaces: N/A device: 1 type: integrated-gpu name: Intel UHD Graphics 770
    (ADL-S GT1) driver: mesa intel v: 25.0.5-arch1.1 device-ID: 8086:4680
    surfaces: N/A device: 2 type: cpu name: llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7 256 bits)
    driver: mesa llvmpipe v: 25.0.5-arch1.1 (LLVM 19.1.7)
    device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: N/A
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: corectrl, gputop, intel_gpu_top,
    lsgpu, nvidia-settings, nvidia-smi wl: wayland-info,wlr-randr
    x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-S HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: vfio-pci
    alternate: snd_hda_intel, snd_soc_avs, snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:7ad0 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA GA104 High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228b class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Microsoft LifeCam Studio
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-9:4 chip-ID: 045e:0772
    class-ID: 0300
  API: ALSA v: k6.14.6-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.4.2 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: Intel Alder Lake-S PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:7af0 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlo1 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8169 v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 3000 bus-ID: 06:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8125 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp6s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: br-1f7862558da6 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-2: br-7bfc84ea431e state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-3: br-82d31aa0b51e state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: unknown
    mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-4: br-8cfdb6073e28 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-5: br-960c3623af4c state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-6: br-b787944b7593 state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: unknown
    mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-7: br-e9c38ec2b98c state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: unknown
    mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-8: docker0 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-9: veth3b6156c state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full
    mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-10: veth93f93f8 state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full
    mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-11: vethc1c01d9 state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full
    mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-12: virbr0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, smbd, sshd, systemd-timesyncd
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-14:8 chip-ID: 8087:0026
    class-ID: e001
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down bt-service: enabled,running
    rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes address: <filter> bt-v: 5.2 lmp-v: 11
    status: discoverable: no pairing: no
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller driver: vmd
    v: 0.6 port: N/A bus-ID: 00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:467f rev: class-ID: 0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 6.37 TiB used: 2.83 TiB (44.4%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:4 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 980 PRO 1TB
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 5B2QGXA7 temp: 36.9 C
    scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 990 PRO with
    Heatsink 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: 4B2QJXD7
    temp: 40.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Seagate model: ST4000NE001-2MA101
    size: 3.64 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> fw-rev: EN01 scheme: GPT
  SMART Message: Unknown smartctl error. Unable to generate data.
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 1.79 TiB size: 1.79 TiB (100.00%) used: 562.17 GiB (30.7%)
    fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme1n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 620 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat block-size: 512 B dev: /dev/nvme1n1p1
    maj-min: 259:1
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 1.79 TiB size: 1.79 TiB (100.00%)
    used: 562.17 GiB (30.7%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme1n1p2
    maj-min: 259:2
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 1.79 TiB size: 1.79 TiB (100.00%)
    used: 562.17 GiB (30.7%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme1n1p2
    maj-min: 259:2
  ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 1.79 TiB size: 1.79 TiB (100.00%)
    used: 562.17 GiB (30.7%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme1n1p2
    maj-min: 259:2
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 31.08 GiB used: 3.2 MiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    comp: zstd avail: lzo-rle,lzo,lz4,lz4hc,deflate,842 max-streams: 24
    dev: /dev/zram0
  ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 34.2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/nvme1n1p3 maj-min: 259:3
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 39.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 31.08 GiB
    used: 10.05 GiB (32.3%)
  Processes: 544 Power: uptime: 19h 42m states: freeze,mem,disk
    suspend: deep avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown,
    reboot, suspend, test_resume image: 12.35 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
    power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 257 default: graphical
    tool: systemctl
  Packages: 2363 pm: pacman pkgs: 2355 libs: 599 tools: octopi,pacseek,paru
    pm: flatpak pkgs: 8 Compilers: clang: 19.1.7 gcc: 15.1.1 alt: 13/14
    Shell: garuda-inxi default: fish v: 4.0.2 running-in: ghostty inxi: 3.3.38
Garuda (2.7.2-1):
  System install date:     2024-10-16
  Last full system update: 2025-05-21
  Is partially upgraded:   No
  Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut nvidia-dkms
  Windows dual boot:       Probably (Run as root to verify)
  Failed units:

Any insights into troubleshooting this further?

Thank you all in advance!

Since the issue is inconsistent with each monitor, have you tried disconnecting and reconnecting them, or playing with the display settings?

I just noticed on the top toolbar, I have an icon, when hovering over it, says “Software Renderer in Use. Rendering may be degraded”. See here:

I found this in an old thread: Black screen after login on recent update | accelerate software rendering - #7 by nepti

But when I edit the .config/kdeglobals file - those two lines are not there, so that can’t be it.

That said, when I clicked on the icon, it loaded a dialogue box, and I made sure that both drop-downs show “Automatic” (previously “Background renderer” was set to “software”) and hit apply, and rebooted. This restored everything. I have no idea what would have caused this to occur.

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Yeah, I did that too - I even switched the ports the monitors were in, and it rendered the same, very strange. It works now, though I’m not sure what would have kicked the renderer to software spontaneously.

1 Like