Linux
Welcome to c/linux!
Welcome to our thriving Linux community! Whether you're a seasoned Linux enthusiast or just starting your journey, we're excited to have you here. Explore, learn, and collaborate with like-minded individuals who share a passion for open-source software and the endless possibilities it offers. Together, let's dive into the world of Linux and embrace the power of freedom, customization, and innovation. Enjoy your stay and feel free to join the vibrant discussions that await you!
Rules:
-
Stay on topic: Posts and discussions should be related to Linux, open source software, and related technologies.
-
Be respectful: Treat fellow community members with respect and courtesy.
-
Quality over quantity: Share informative and thought-provoking content.
-
No spam or self-promotion: Avoid excessive self-promotion or spamming.
-
No NSFW adult content
-
Follow general lemmy guidelines.
view the rest of the comments
When you've booted in safe mode you can use journalctl to check what's going on.
https://www.howtogeek.com/499623/how-to-use-journalctl-to-read-linux-system-logs/
https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/journalctl.1.html
Thanks. I pulled the journalctl. This is...A bit extensive. EDIT: Well seems I only can see the KDE logo and a frozen gear, but according to systemctl the system is up and running, and the network connected? After 7 seconds frozen I give up once more and hold power button, since this is the only thing it seems to react to, and yet, even this gets logged onto journalctl.
You can use the -b flag to get a specific boot sequence:
https://www.howtogeek.com/499623/how-to-use-journalctl-to-read-linux-system-logs/#reviewing-boot-messages
Sometimes it can help to filter by UID 1000:
https://www.howtogeek.com/499623/how-to-use-journalctl-to-read-linux-system-logs/#selecting-log-messages-by-data-fields
Other than that you can try to filter by KDE services, but as I run GNOME I'm not very familiar with their names. In the KDE forum a developer recommends using this for another problem:
journalctl --user-unit=plasma-plasmashell.service --boot 0 --no-pager
https://discuss.kde.org/t/black-screen-after-login-how-to-troubleshoot-plasma-desktop/1615/4
You need to specify the -b switch or you're just looking at logs for the current session. Something like
journalctl -xe -b 1should do the trick.Just an update. Today I made a rescuezilla full backup of the whole drive, and then wiped and installed KDE Neon brand new from Dec 1st release from their page. Guess what...that one ALSO fails to boot.
OK so just to confirm: you get a boot freeze even on a fresh install before you restore a backup?
Are you able to boot a liveusb?
I would try another distro just to rule out a software problem but it sounds like hardware failure. I would test your ram, graphics card, and storage medium. Do you have an SSD or an HDD?
I actually clicked on the replace partition option on the installer, instead of a full disk wipe. The profile did look brand new once I managed to login in safe mode, but I didn't stay too long to check, as I just concluded hell, if it only boots in safe mode I might as well continue troubleshooting on the original install.
Anyway...After going back to the original image (as I had it backed up anyway), I paid a bit more attention at that weird popup on safe mode as I logged in, mentioning it failed to launch startlxde. So I ran
sudo dpkg --reconfigure sddmAnd on the menu, for some reason sddm wasn't the first choice. After choosing it again, this time it went straight to the boot screen. Some other day I'll check again whichever random login menu is installed, and remove it, as it clearly causes issues.
Ah ha! Problem solved then. Nice troubleshooting skills!
Oh, and before trying fixes - make a backup of your precious files when booted in safe mode.
About that - I´d like to run a backup that takes all apps and their configuration files (more than my own docs and files, which I already have properly backed in Seafile). What would you recommend just for the apps, their configs (and maybe the repos) etc?
I think you're gonna find that a hard task. There isn't one universal directory where apps saves their configs and bin files. You'll find some in ~/.config
All I can see in that is that your machine has an LTE SIM slot and that the LTE Modem isn't supported. That shouldn't stop you from booting.
Yeah...It looks to me like it just says it went alright, right until I hit the poweroff button, because it's actually completely crashed.
Just an update. Today I made a rescuezilla full backup of the whole drive, and then wiped and installed KDE Neon brand new from Dec 1st release from their page. Guess what...that one ALSO fails to boot.
If a clean install also fails then I would start considering hardware fault.
You could always check if you can boot Fedora Workstation with GNOME just in case but I think you should start looking for a replacement PC.
I actually clicked on the replace partition option on the installer, instead of a full disk wipe. The profile did look brand new once I managed to login in safe mode, but I didn't stay too long to check, as I just concluded hell, if it only boots in safe mode I might as well continue troubleshooting on the original install.
Anyway...After going back to the original image (as I had it backed up anyway), I paid a bit more attention at that weird popup on safe mode as I logged in, mentioning it failed to launch startlxde. So I ran
sudo dpkg --reconfigure sddmAnd on the menu, for some reason sddm wasn't the first choice. After choosing it again, this time it went straight to the boot screen. Some other day I'll check again whichever random login menu is installed, and remove it, as it clearly causes issues.
Sweet, then you know what's going on and solved it!
You might wanna try out if your distro is compatible with cockpit:
https://cockpit-project.org/
https://github.com/cockpit-project/cockpit
It gives you a webUI that you can use to check out logs and services (among other things) and makes it a lot easier to troubleshoot computer troubles where the machine starts but your GUI doesn't.