Stuck on splash screen after trying to switch to KDE

General Help
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1

Hi,

I wanted to change from GNOME to KDE-plasma and tried to do the change without a guide because it seemed simple.

I am on an i5-13600K and a RX9070.

I ran sudo apt install kde-plasma-desktop and switched to sddm as the default in the popup screen. I then rebooted and got stuck on the zorin splash screen (just the pulsating logo). I tried to fix things by googling and got into the grub menu where I ran the following commands:

grub> set root=(hd4,gpt2)
grub> linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.17.0-23-generic root=UUID=[MY_LINUX_DRIVE'S_UUID] ro systemd.unit=multi-user.target
grub> initrd /boot/initrd.img-6.17.0-23-generic
grub> boot

This booted into tty1 and from there tried to troubleshoot by doing the following steps:

  • apt update && apt upgrade
  • reinstall kde-plasma-desktop and sddm
  • uninstall zorin-os-desktop, gdm3 and gnome-shell
  • enable sddm.service

This showed a really botched login screen that was not sized properly and had streched textures. I rebooted thinking it was a driver issue which went back to the zoein screen. I Followed the grub steps again and decided that kde was not worth the hassle so I:

  • installed gnome-shell, zorin-os-desktop, and gdm3
  • uninstalled kde-plasma-desktop and sddm
  • enabled gdm3.service

This brought me back to my normal login screen. I then ran update-grub to save my settings so it does what I have done in grub, but after restarting, the problem of being stuck at the splash screen stuck. I have to go into grub every boot and restart gdm3.service.

I am at a loss for what I might have broken but I wanted to know of there is anyway out or I should reinstall zorin?

Sorry for the long-winded post.

2

Hello did you try that ?

sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm3
2 Likes
3

Hi and welcome.

I would follow @Nourpon 's advice.

When installing Plasma it is best to use the following command:

sudo apt install kde-standard
1 Like
4

Welcome to the Forum!

When in Zorin logged in, try the Command sudo systemctl enable gdm3 and then sudo systemctl start gdm3

5

Thank you for the replies!

@Nourpon - I have, ran sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm3 and it did not have an output so I assume all is well on dpkg's side. I restarted after but same problem. Is it supposed to output anything into the terminal when I run this command? Currently, I am assuming that nothing said means all good.

@swarfendor437 - I will keep that in mind if I want to have a fiddle again (I probably will in the future :grinning_face: ).

@Nourpon -

When trying to run sudo systemctl enable gdm3 i gives me this error:

Synchronizing state of gdm3.service with SysV service script with /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install.
Executing: /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable gdm3
The unit files have no installation config (WantedBy=, RequiredBy=, UpheldBy=,
Also=, or Alias= settings in the [Install] section, and DefaultInstance= for
template units). This means they are not meant to be enabled or disabled using systemctl.
 
Possible reasons for having these kinds of units are:
• A unit may be statically enabled by being symlinked from another unit's
  .wants/, .requires/, or .upholds/ directory.
• A unit's purpose may be to act as a helper for some other unit which has
  a requirement dependency on it.
• A unit may be started when needed via activation (socket, path, timer,
  D-Bus, udev, scripted systemctl call, ...).
• In case of template units, the unit is meant to be enabled with some
  instance name specified.

sudo systemctl start gdm3 starts it normally but for the first time after booting I have to do sudo systemctl restart gdm3 as runing just sudo systemctl start gdm3 gives the same error.

Thank you all so much for helping me with this :grinning_face:.

7

did you uninstall or disable sddm ?

8

Yes, I uninstalled sddm by running sudo apt purge kde-plasma-desktop sddm then sudo apt autoremove then I restarted the computer.

9

Hi, It looks like you have tried to replace systemd with a SysV init script and I suggest that that is the main issue. You cannot replace or modify systemd when the OS uses Gnome. I believe @Aravisian was able to do it with Zorin Lite/xfce.

If you are wanting Plasma without systemd then you need to look at distributions that offer that, such as PCLOS Debian Plasma .iso or Artix.

1 Like
10

This message means the gdm3 systemd unit lacks an [Install] section, so systemd-sysv-install can't create enable/disable links automatically. To enable gdm3 at boot

Pick one of these safe options

  1. If a packaged unit exists but missing [Install], enable its target directly (recommended):
  • Enable graphical.target so display manager starts at boot:
sudo systemctl enable --now graphical.target
  1. Create an explicit enable link for gdm.service (creates WantedBy=graphical.target):
sudo ln -s /lib/systemd/system/gdm3.service /etc/systemd/system/graphical.target.wants/gdm3.servicesudo systemctl daemon-reloadsudo systemctl enable --now gdm3.service
  1. Add an [Install] section to a drop-in (persisting across package updates is safer via a copy):
sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/gdm3.service.dprintf '[Install]\nWantedBy=graphical.target\n' | sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/gdm3.service.d/enable.confsudo systemctl daemon-reloadsudo systemctl enable --now gdm3.service
  1. If gdm3 is managed via an SysV init script and you prefer that flow, let systemd continue to use the SysV script (no action required)—or convert the init script to a proper unit file.
11

You can take a look at this thread, there is shown the same error and a solution:

I'm not sure if it works on Zorin 18 this way.

12

Hi @Nourpon . The problem with Gnome and systemd are tightly interwoven. If you mess with it you will break the system.

13

im' not sure that sudo systemctl enable --now graphical.target could break a system !
anyway his gdm3 is broken...

14

Hi,

I mentioned running this in grub and this script had the ro systemd.unit=multi-user.target part so i tried running without that and My computer boots straight into zorin desktop.

vs

grub> set root=(hd4,gpt2)
grub> linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.17.0-23-generic root=UUID=[MY_LINUX_DRIVE'S_UUID]
grub> initrd /boot/initrd.img-6.17.0-23-generic
grub> boot

@Nourpon This leads me to believe that gdm3 is not broken. Would the solution be in finding out why I have to explicitly specify the root drive partition, linux directory and root drive using UUID? or is this a red herring?

EDIT:

@Forpli - I looked at the the error and they seem to be in a better condition than my computer

I am stuck before that, I never boot into Zorin OS until I reboot my computer and hold ESC at the right time to get into the grub menu and type in the grub commands I mentioned above. They solution they mention aswell is similar to the one mentioned by @Nourpon's option 2, so I'll leave that aside and get back to it if we cannot figure it out.

I do apologise for not doing my research and finding a similar error as past me would have definitely tried this :sweat_smile:.

Thank you!

I tried:

and it gave the same old error

The unit files have no installation config (WantedBy=, RequiredBy=, UpheldBy=,
Also=, or Alias= settings in the [Install] section, and DefaultInstance= for
template units). This means they are not meant to be enabled or disabled using systemctl.
 
Possible reasons for having these kinds of units are:
• A unit may be statically enabled by being symlinked from another unit's
  .wants/, .requires/, or .upholds/ directory.
• A unit's purpose may be to act as a helper for some other unit which has
  a requirement dependency on it.
• A unit may be started when needed via activation (socket, path, timer,
  D-Bus, udev, scripted systemctl call, ...).
• In case of template units, the unit is meant to be enabled with some
  instance name specified.

I didn't wanna try any more options because I am only supposed to use one and done wanna break anything more then I already have.

Thank you all for sticking with me!

1 Like
15

Yeah I missed that part, of course it was the problem, sorry to didn't see that...

2 Likes
16

That's all good, I should've thought of it sooner with all this gdm3 talk. It seemed I wasn't clear in my initial description for what my fixes tried to do :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

1 Like
17

Maybe try a sudo apt reinstall gdm3 in Terminal.

18

He don't need it anymore, it work now, he just need to mark this topic as resolved :wink:

2 Likes
19

Hi, The problem of booting into Zorin os still remains. The problem now is that I still have to run these commands in grub anytime I want to use my computer:

grub> set root=(hd4,gpt2)
grub> linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.17.0-23-generic root=UUID=[MY_LINUX_DRIVE'S_UUID]
grub> initrd /boot/initrd.img-6.17.0-23-generic
grub> boot

to get into Zorin. i.e:

Thanks!

20

Use the usb key and run a live session, here you can make a boot repair

2 Likes
21

Like a bootable USB with the Zorin os installer on it?

Sorry I don't quite know what a USB key is :sweat_smile:.