Unable to login after update

Bit of background: As a former sysadmin (Ms) I’m helping my 75 year old neighbour with his (new to him) laptop. On my suggestion he wanted to give Linux a try so I opted for Garuda so he would have the same distro as I use (Only difference is that I use Dragonized while he got the plain KDE since he preferred a minimalistic look and as close to Windows functionality as possible).
He is very satisfied and have no interest in going back to Windows.

BUT we have run intoa problem, a couple of weeks ago he couldn’t “start the computer”. The issue was that it “froze” after the login prompt .
Froze in quotes since it isn’t really frozen, mouse can be moved around but not interact. It doesn’t responds to any key presses except for numlock/capslock (no ctrl-alt-del or switching to another terminal). We’ve waited for over ten minutes but no indication of activity.
Before the password is confirmed it’s possible to switch to another terminal which I used to re-run an update from the command prompt.

Currently the system is usable after rolling back with snap and then applying updates for Firefox and Thunderbird (those refuse to work otherwise).

I’ve also tried installing the same image on an old computer using the same settings as I used for him and then update but of course the issue doesn’t appear on it.

Not being very skilled with Linux, just a very happy user I’m hoping someone can point me to a log file I should dive into and/or some logging that can be activated.

All help, tips and ideas are welcome. I have started pondering swapping in a spare drive to test with a clean install again but since it’s now his only computer I rather not mess to much with it since I’m feeling rather clueless.

Garuda inxi from his system with the current working versions:

System:
  Kernel: 6.10.8-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
    root=UUID=5ddac017-ab29-4f86-abcb-0efa633ff9c9 rw rootflags=subvol=@
    quiet loglevel=3 ibt=off
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.1.4 tk: Qt v: N/A wm: kwin_wayland dm: SDDM
    Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Latitude E7440 v: 01 serial: <filter>
    Chassis: type: 9 serial: <filter>
  Mobo: Dell model: 091TRH v: A00 serial: <filter> part-nu: Latitude E7440
    uuid: 4c4c4544-005a-4d10-8046-b5c04f4a3132 UEFI: Dell v: A09
    date: 05/01/2014
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 34.5 Wh (92.7%) condition: 37.2/47.1 Wh (78.9%)
    volts: 8.5 min: 7.6 model: LGC-LGC6.2 DELL 0D47W4B type: Li-poly
    serial: <filter> status: charging
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i5-4310U socket: rPGA988B bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Haswell gen: core 4 level: v3 note: check built: 2013-15
    process: Intel 22nm family: 6 model-id: 0x45 (69) stepping: 1
    microcode: 0x26
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 tpc: 2 threads: 4 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 128 KiB desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 512 KiB desc: 2x256 KiB
    L3: 3 MiB desc: 1x3 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 841 high: 966 min/max: 800/3000 base/boost: 2000/2000
    scaling: driver: intel_cpufreq governor: schedutil volts: 1.2 V
    ext-clock: 100 MHz cores: 1: 966 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 bogomips: 20751
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell driver: i915
    v: kernel arch: Gen-7.5 process: Intel 22nm built: 2013 ports: active: DP-3
    off: eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-4, DP-5, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 00:02.0
    chip-ID: 8086:0a16 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Microdia Integrated Webcam driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 2-4:3 chip-ID: 0c45:64d2
    class-ID: 0e02
  Display: unspecified server: X.org v: 1.21.1.13 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.2
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    alternate: fbdev,intel,vesa dri: crocus gpu: i915 display-ID: :1
    note: <missing: xdpyinfo/xrandr>
  Monitor-1: DP-3 model: Samsung SyncMaster serial: <filter> built: 2008
    res: 1920x1200 dpi: 94 gamma: 1.2 size: 518x324mm (20.39x12.76")
    diag: 611mm (24.1") ratio: 16:10 modes: max: 1920x1200 min: 640x480
  Monitor-2: eDP-1 model: LG Display 0x03ea built: 2013 res: 1920x1080
    dpi: 158 gamma: 1.2 size: 309x174mm (12.17x6.85") diag: 355mm (14")
    ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.279 layers: 3 device: 0 type: integrated-gpu name: Intel
    HD Graphics 4400 (HSW GT2) driver: mesa intel v: 24.2.2-arch1.1
    device-ID: 8086:0a16 surfaces: xcb,xlib device: 1 type: cpu name: llvmpipe
    (LLVM 18.1.8 256 bits) driver: mesa llvmpipe v: 24.2.2-arch1.1 (LLVM
    18.1.8) device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: xcb,xlib
  API: OpenGL Message: Unable to show GL data. glxinfo is missing.
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 00:03.0 chip-ID: 8086:0a0c class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Intel 8 Series HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:9c20 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.10.8-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: N/A
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.3 status: n/a (root, process) 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 Ethernet I218-LM vendor: Dell driver: e1000e v: kernel
    port: f080 bus-ID: 00:19.0 chip-ID: 8086:155a class-ID: 0200
  IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie:
    gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:088e
    class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, smbd, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Centrino Bluetooth Wireless Transceiver driver: btusb v: 0.8
    type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-1.3:3
    chip-ID: 8087:07da class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 6 state: down bt-service: not found
    rfk-block: hardware: no software: no address: see --recommends
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci
    v: 3.0 port: f060 bus-ID: 00:1f.2 chip-ID: 8086:282a rev: N/A class-ID: 0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 238.47 GiB used: 64.31 GiB (27.0%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: SanDisk model: SD8TB8U256G1001
    size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 3101 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 238.17 GiB size: 238.17 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 64.31 GiB (27.0%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/sda2
    maj-min: 8:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 584 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat block-size: 512 B dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 238.17 GiB size: 238.17 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 64.31 GiB (27.0%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/sda2
    maj-min: 8:2
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 238.17 GiB size: 238.17 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 64.31 GiB (27.0%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/sda2
    maj-min: 8:2
  ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 238.17 GiB size: 238.17 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 64.31 GiB (27.0%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/sda2
    maj-min: 8:2
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 7.66 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    comp: zstd avail: lzo,lzo-rle,lz4,lz4hc,842 max-streams: 4 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 45.0 C mobo: 27.0 C sodimm: SODIMM C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 0
Info:
  Memory: total: 8 GiB available: 7.66 GiB used: 1.28 GiB (16.7%) igpu: 32 MiB
  Processes: 249 Power: uptime: 6h 4m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 2 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 3.05 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,upowerd
    Init: systemd v: 256 default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1400 libs: 428 Compilers: clang: 18.1.8
    gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: garuda-inxi (sudo) default: Bash v: 5.2.32
    running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.35
Garuda (2.6.26-1):
  System install date:     2024-09-06
  Last full system update: 2024-09-07
  Is partially upgraded:   Yes
  Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut
  Windows dual boot:       No/Undetected
  Failed units:            

1 Like

A few harmless things you could try, if not already done:

  • repeat the update (maybe something went wrong the 1st time), since you have a working snapshot…
  • select an x11 session in the login screen
  • install (and then and select in the GRUB menu) the linux-lts kernel
  • create a new user and test it

Updating the BIOS could be a bit more risky, considering the case, but hey… 2014!

4 Likes

Repeat update - Done that about a week after I learned about it.
Will try X11 way.
Holding on for the LTS kernel for a bit, I feel like to much of a newb…
New user, forgot to mention that I had tried this with the same result.

Ouch. Me feelink very ashamed… I should have checked BIOS before I even started install but I know the source (friend) of the machine and assumed it was updated already.

Thanks for chiming in. I’ll reply as soon as I know the outcome of these things.

1 Like

This is really easy:

sudo pacman -S linux-lts linux-lts-headers 

Reboot, and, in the GRUB menu, select advanced options and then linux-lts. If this works (can update successfully) the LTS can be made the default.

3 Likes

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