x server fails to start after system updates

Question

I rebooted my system after a few months (since april 2020).

Just before reboot, i had updated the whole system (kernel, nvidia drivers etc) and since then, the x server fails to start normally.

I use XDM + i3wm combination for my daily usage.

The log files at /var/log/xdm.log and Xorg.n.log are empty as well as the ones inside ~/.local/share/xorg.

The output from most recent boot (journalctl -b) can be found here http://sprunge.us/96m4nD

I'm unsure on how to proceed on this issue. I've tried

• recreating the xorg.conf file from scratch using nvidia-xconfig
• removing and reinstalling all nvidia+xorg packages
• trying sddm/lxdm instead of xdm

Any help would be appreciated!

---

If I disable the XDM service, and fallback to getty shell to execute startx manually, the command just shows the default output, with no errors but the system gets frozen.

I've also enabled the debug-shell.service from systemctl, and the Ctrl+Alt+F# don't respond either, so I can't get access to the debug shell.

---

EDIT/Update

I guess there is some issue only when I have multihead (multi-monitor) setup. When I disconnected my secondary screen from the gpu, the system started responding normally.

Reconnecting the screen back again leaves the whole system frozen. Still no clue on why this happens.

Answer 1

I'm unsure on how to proceed on this issue.

You can start by actually reading the log file you provided:

May 09 04:05:25 arch-hedwig systemd[1]: Starting X-Window Display Manager...
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig systemd-udevd[1451]: *** stack smashing detected ***: terminated
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig audit[1451]: ANOM_ABEND auid=4294967295 uid=0 gid=0 ses=4294967295 pid=1451 comm="systemd-udevd" exe="/usr/bin/udevadm" sig=6 res=1
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: audit: type=1701 audit(1620513328.703:117): auid=4294967295 uid=0 gid=0 ses=4294967295 pid=1451 comm="systemd-udevd" exe="/usr/bin/udevadm" sig=6 res=1
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig systemd[1]: Created slice system-systemd\x2dcoredump.slice.
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig audit: BPF prog-id=24 op=LOAD
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig audit: BPF prog-id=25 op=LOAD
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig audit: BPF prog-id=26 op=LOAD
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig systemd[1]: Started Process Core Dump (PID 1455/UID 0).
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig audit[1]: SERVICE_START pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 msg='unit=systemd-coredump@0-1455-0 comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success'
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: audit: type=1334 audit(1620513328.773:118): prog-id=24 op=LOAD
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: audit: type=1334 audit(1620513328.773:119): prog-id=25 op=LOAD
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: audit: type=1334 audit(1620513328.773:120): prog-id=26 op=LOAD
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: audit: type=1130 audit(1620513328.773:121): pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 msg='unit=systemd-coredump@0-1455-0 comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success'
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig systemd-coredump[1456]: Process 1451 (systemd-udevd) of user 0 dumped core.
                                                    
                                                    Stack trace of thread 1451:
                                                    #0  0x00007f289d501ef5 raise (libc.so.6 + 0x3cef5)
                                                    #1  0x00007f289d4eb862 abort (libc.so.6 + 0x26862)
                                                    #2  0x00007f289d543f38 __libc_message (libc.so.6 + 0x7ef38)
                                                    #3  0x00007f289d5d38ba __fortify_fail (libc.so.6 + 0x10e8ba)
                                                    #4  0x00007f289d5d3884 __stack_chk_fail (libc.so.6 + 0x10e884)
                                                    #5  0x00007f289d91ce95 sd_event_wait (libsystemd-shared-248.so + 0x1ebe95)
                                                    #6  0x00007f289d91d72c sd_event_run (libsystemd-shared-248.so + 0x1ec72c)
                                                    #7  0x00007f289d91d8c0 sd_event_loop (libsystemd-shared-248.so + 0x1ec8c0)
                                                    #8  0x00005557597ba17c n/a (udevadm + 0x1f17c)
                                                    #9  0x00005557597bab1c n/a (udevadm + 0x1fb1c)
                                                    #10 0x00007f289d8d53e0 n/a (libsystemd-shared-248.so + 0x1a43e0)
                                                    #11 0x00007f289d91be20 n/a (libsystemd-shared-248.so + 0x1eae20)
                                                    #12 0x00007f289d91c136 sd_event_dispatch (libsystemd-shared-248.so + 0x1eb136)
                                                    #13 0x00007f289d91d699 sd_event_run (libsystemd-shared-248.so + 0x1ec699)
                                                    #14 0x00007f289d91d8c0 sd_event_loop (libsystemd-shared-248.so + 0x1ec8c0)
                                                    #15 0x00005557597ae760 n/a (udevadm + 0x13760)
                                                    #16 0x00007f289d4ecb25 __libc_start_main (libc.so.6 + 0x27b25)
                                                    #17 0x00005557597ae90e n/a (udevadm + 0x1390e)
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0x710556006a5bb64d: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: CPU: 1 PID: 252 Comm: systemd-journal Tainted: P           OE     5.12.1-arch1-1 #1
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: Hardware name: System manufacturer System Product Name/ROG STRIX Z390-F GAMING, BIOS 1502 02/21/2020
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: RIP: 0010:kmem_cache_alloc+0x10e/0x2e0
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: Code: 48 39 f2 75 e7 48 8b 01 48 83 79 10 00 48 89 04 24 0f 84 92 01 00 00 48 85 c0 0f 84 89 01 00 00 8b 4d 28 48 8b 7d 00 48 01 c1 <48> 8b 19 48 89 ce 48 33 9d b8 00 00 00 48 8d 8a 00 02 00 00 48 0f
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: RSP: 0018:ffffa809c0377d70 EFLAGS: 00010206
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: RAX: 710556006a5bb625 RBX: 0000000000000050 RCX: 710556006a5bb64d
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: RDX: 0000000000028401 RSI: 0000000000028401 RDI: 00000000000330f0
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: RBP: ffff892880385300 R08: 0000000000000120 R09: 0000000000000000
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: R10: 0000000000000010 R11: 00000000f7d1450a R12: 0000000000000dc0
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: R13: ffffffffb7f7ca4a R14: ffff892887122c40 R15: 0000000000000dc0
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: FS:  00007f0eccc87a40(0000) GS:ffff8937adc40000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: CR2: 00007f0ecb442bf8 CR3: 000000010b87c005 CR4: 00000000003706e0
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: Call Trace:
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel:  __delayacct_tsk_init+0x1a/0x30
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel:  copy_process+0xb63/0x1cd0
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel:  kernel_clone+0xbb/0x400
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel:  __do_sys_clone+0x60/0x80
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel:  do_syscall_64+0x33/0x40
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel:  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: RIP: 0033:0x7f0ecd5f1045
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: Code: 48 85 ff 74 3d 48 85 f6 74 38 48 83 ee 10 48 89 4e 08 48 89 3e 48 89 d7 4c 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 54 24 08 b8 38 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 85 c0 7c 13 74 01 c3 31 ed 58 5f ff d0 48 89 c7 b8 3c 00 00 00
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: RSP: 002b:00007fff657dad48 EFLAGS: 00000206 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000038
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f0ecb443640 RCX: 00007f0ecd5f1045
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: RDX: 00007f0ecb443910 RSI: 00007f0ecb442bf0 RDI: 00000000003d0f00
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: RBP: 00007fff657dae00 R08: 00007f0ecb443640 R09: 00007f0ecb443640
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: R10: 00007f0ecb443910 R11: 0000000000000206 R12: 00007fff657dadfe
May 09 04:05:28 arch-hedwig kernel: R13: 00007fff657dadff R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 00007f0ecb443640

So, systemd attempted to start the X-Window Display Manager (which starts the X server and provides the login screen), detected "stack smashing", and terminated the process.

Which either means your update introduced something in the drivers that fails hard, or that systemd is a bit overeager to terminate stuff.

Try to downgrade everything X related to the version you had before (you have logs for the update to help you with that). See if it works. If it does, it's probably some bug in what you upgraded.

Conversely, try to downgrade systemd to the version you had before. If it works, systemd detects now something that is valid behaviour from the X drivers as bad behaviour, so file a bugreport against systemd.