I have a computer I have been network booting into a buster system without incident.
A few days ago I powered it off, and later in the day turned it on. It went through the early phases of the boot OK, but never showed the graphical login screen. I tried a couple of times, but it never started. Any suggestions about what to do?
I don't think I installed any software--dpkg.log doesn't show anything--in between, or updated the kernel image used in the netboot. I may have put the fob for the wireless keyboard in a different USB port, maybe USB 3 vs 2 before. But I doubt I even changed that.
The closest thing I have to an indication of the source of the problem is this message at the end of the most recent failed graphical startup:
[ 11.941] (EE) Failed to open authorization file "/var/run/sddm/{b7709304-0924-4a8a-b829-372cd2cea583}": No such file or directory
which suggests either a problem launching sddm or that /var/run isn't being properly setup. But the previous failed startup does not show that message.
I processed syslog to minimize noise difference, and compared the results for the last good boot and the first bad one.
Here are just the things that seemed notable, mostly because they appeared in only one of the files.
GOOD
=====
systemd: Mounted POSIX Message Queue File System.
systemd: Mounted Kernel Debug File System.
systemd: Mounted Huge Pages File System.
kernel: Memory: 7574244K/7824848K available (10252K kernel code, 1241K rwdata, 3320K rodata, 1592K init, 2276K bss, 250604K reserved, 0K cma-reserved)
kernel: audit: type=000 audit(000.000:8): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" profile="" name="nvidia_modprobe" pid=000 comm="apparmor_parser"
kernel: audit: type=000 audit(000.000:9): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" profile="" name="nvidia_modprobe//kmod" pid=000 comm="apparmor_parser"
systemd: Startup finished in 386ms.
sddm: Message received from greeter: Login
sddm: Reading from "/usr/share/xsessions/plasma.desktop"
sddm: Reading from "/usr/share/xsessions/plasma.desktop"
sddm: Session "/usr/share/xsessions/plasma.desktop" selected, command: "/usr/bin/startkde"
# and many more about kscreen, the greeter, and subsequent activity
BAD
===
kernel: Memory: 7574236K/7824848K available (10252K kernel code, 1241K rwdata, 3320K rodata, 1592K init, 2276K bss, 250612K reserved, 0K cma-reserved)
# the first and last numbers differ slightly from those in the GOOD scenario
kernel: audit: type=000 audit(000.000:7): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" profile="" name="man_groff" pid=000 comm="apparmor_parser"
# man_groff not in good
kernel: audit: type=000 audit(000.000:11): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" profile="" name="nvidia_modprobe" pid=000 comm="apparmor_parser"
# nvidia_modprobe is in good, but bad lacks nvidia_modprove//kmod
# The hardware this is running on has no nvidia card; it uses onboard Intel graphics.
systemd: Startup finished in 373ms.
Since I attempted several restarts, there isn't a recent Xorg.log from a successful boot. Both recent ones show problems, though not the same problem:
Most recent Xorg.0.log
[ 10.922] (--) Log file renamed from "/var/log/Xorg.pid-434.log" to "/var/log/Xorg.0.log"
[ 10.924]
X.Org X Server 1.20.4
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
[ 10.924] Build Operating System: Linux 4.9.0-8-amd64 x86_64 Debian
[ 10.924] Current Operating System: Linux family2 4.19.0-8-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.98-1 (2020-01-26) x86_64
[ 10.924] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=debian/buster/vmlinuz-4.19.0-8-amd64 initrd=debian/buster/initrd.img-4.19.0-8-amd64 root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=192.168.1.10:/var/local/family2/
[ 10.924] Build Date: 05 March 2019 08:11:12PM
[ 10.924] xorg-server 2:1.20.4-1 (
https://www.debian.org/support)
[ 10.924] Current version of pixman: 0.36.0
....
[ 10.946] (II) systemd-logind: logind integration requires -keeptty and -keeptty was not provided, disabling logind integration
[ 10.947] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card0)
[ 10.961] (--) PCI:*(0@0:2:0) 8086:0162:8086:2034 rev 9, Mem @ 0xf7800000/4194304, 0xe0000000/268435456, I/O @ 0x0000f000/64, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072
...
[ 11.515] (II) modeset(0): Output HDMI-3 using initial mode 1024x768 +0+0
[ 11.516] (==) modeset(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
[ 11.516] (==) modeset(0): DPI set to (96, 96)
...
[ 11.615] (II) modeset(0): [DRI2] Setup complete
[ 11.615] (II) modeset(0): [DRI2] DRI driver: i965
[ 11.615] (II) modeset(0): [DRI2] VDPAU driver: i965
# a series of confusing messages about input devices
# seem to say it is found, and then that it is not?
[ 11.883] (II) config/udev: Adding input device Logitech K400 (/dev/input/event3)
[ 11.883] (**) Logitech K400: Applying InputClass "libinput pointer catchall"
[ 11.883] (**) Logitech K400: Applying InputClass "libinput keyboard catchall"
[ 11.883] (II) Using input driver 'libinput' for 'Logitech K400'
[ 11.883] (**) Logitech K400: always reports core events
[ 11.883] (**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/event3"
[ 11.883] (**) Option "_source" "server/udev"
[ 11.885] (II) event3 - Logitech K400: is tagged by udev as: Keyboard Mouse
[ 11.885] (II) event3 - Logitech K400: device is a pointer
[ 11.885] (II) event3 - Logitech K400: device is a keyboard
[ 11.885] (II) event3 - Logitech K400: device removed
[ 11.904] (II) libinput: Logitech K400: needs a virtual subdevice
[ 11.904] (**) Option "config_info" "udev:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb2/2-1/2-1:1.2/0003:046D:C52B.0003/0003:046D:400E.0004/input/input9/event3"
[ 11.904] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Logitech K400" (type: MOUSE, id 9)
[ 11.904] (**) Option "AccelerationScheme" "none"
[ 11.904] (**) Logitech K400: (accel) selected scheme none/0
[ 11.904] (**) Logitech K400: (accel) acceleration factor: 2.000
[ 11.904] (**) Logitech K400: (accel) acceleration threshold: 4
[ 11.906] (II) event3 - Logitech K400: is tagged by udev as: Keyboard Mouse
[ 11.906] (II) event3 - Logitech K400: device is a pointer
[ 11.906] (II) event3 - Logitech K400: device is a keyboard
[ 11.907] (II) config/udev: Adding input device Logitech K400 (/dev/input/mouse0)
[ 11.908] (II) No input driver specified, ignoring this device.
[ 11.908] (II) This device may have been added with another device file.
[ 11.908] (II) config/udev: Adding input device HDA Intel PCH Rear Mic (/dev/input/event5)
[ 11.908] (II) No input driver specified, ignoring this device.
# many more devices reported as ignored
[ 11.918] (**) Logitech K400: Applying InputClass "libinput pointer catchall"
[ 11.918] (**) Logitech K400: Applying InputClass "libinput keyboard catchall"
[ 11.918] (II) Using input driver 'libinput' for 'Logitech K400'
[ 11.918] (**) Logitech K400: always reports core events
[ 11.918] (**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/event3"
[ 11.918] (**) Option "_source" "_driver/libinput"
[ 11.918] (II) libinput: Logitech K400: is a virtual subdevice
[ 11.918] (**) Option "config_info" "udev:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb2/2-1/2-1:1.2/0003:046D:C52B.0003/0003:046D:400E.0004/input/input9/event3"
[ 11.918] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Logitech K400" (type: KEYBOARD, id 10)
[ 11.918] (**) Option "xkb_model" "pc105"
[ 11.918] (**) Option "xkb_layout" "us"
[ 11.941] (EE) Failed to open authorization file "/var/run/sddm/{b7709304-0924-4a8a-b829-372cd2cea583}": No such file or directory
But the previous Xorg.log, also from a failure, does not report that problem. It just ends with
[ 19.272] (II) Initializing extension XVideo-MotionCompensation
[ 19.272] (II) Initializing extension SELinux
[ 19.272] (II) SELinux: Disabled on system
[ 19.272] (II) Initializing extension GLX
[ 19.283] (II) AIGLX: Loaded and initialized i965
[ 19.283] (II) GLX: Initialized DRI2 GL provider for screen 0
[ 19.283] (II) Initializing extension XFree86-VidModeExtension
[ 19.283] (II) Initializing extension XFree86-DGA
[ 19.283] (II) Initializing extension XFree86-DRI
[ 19.283] (II) Initializing extension DRI2
[ 19.284] (II) modeset(0): Damage tracking initialized
[ 19.284] (II) modeset(0): Setting screen physical size to 270 x 203
Which occurs only about 65% of the way through the Xorg.log shown above. Maybe the rest just never made it to the disk.