[SOLVED] Failed to start Light Display Manager

johnny · 2021-06-12 16:50:14

I am brand new to bunsenlabs, and I have a brand new bunsenlabs install. Lightdm, and thus xorg and openbox, won't start. But I can ctl-alt-f1 into tty1. Running 'systemctl status lightdm.service' shows:

lightdm.service - Light Display Manager
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/lightdm.service; indirect; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2021-06-12 11:05:24 CDT; 9min ago
     Docs: man:lightdm(1)
  Process: 1536 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ "$(cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager 2>/dev/null)" = "/usr/sbin/lightdm" ] (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 1538 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/lightdm (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
 Main PID: 1538 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Jun 12 11:05:24 kolohe systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Service RestartSec=100ms expired, scheduling restart.
Jun 12 11:05:24 kolohe systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
Jun 12 11:05:24 kolohe systemd[1]: Stopped Light Display Manager.
Jun 12 11:05:24 kolohe systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Jun 12 11:05:24 kolohe systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jun 12 11:05:24 kolohe systemd[1]: Failed to start Light Display Manager.
Jun 12 11:05:24 kolohe systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Triggering OnFailure= dependencies.
Jun 12 11:05:24 kolohe systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Failed to enqueue OnFailure= job, ignoring: Unit plymouth-quit.service not found.

I did a some looking around on the internet for a solution. The Endeavour website suggests:

lightdm [can] have an issue where it happens that it starts faster than X is ready, or the GPU driver is not fully loaded, one solution is to set logind-check-graphical=true inside lightdm.conf
uncomment the line #set logind-check-graphical=false and change from false to true like so:
logind-check-graphical=true

My machine is an AMD Threadripper 3970x cpu with an AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT gpu. I thought there was a good chance that some services, like lightdm, might be getting ahead of others. So I made the suggested change.

Now Lightdm.service will start, but it only does so in the background and does not bring up a greeter. After moment, however, tty1 appears. Now, running 'systemctl status lightdm.service' shows:

lightdm.service - Light Display Manager
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/lightdm.service; indirect; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Sat 2021-06-12 11:36:16 CDT; 6min ago
     Docs: man:lightdm(1)
  Process: 1498 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ "$(cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager 2>/dev/null)" = "/usr/sbin/lightdm" ] (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 1503 (lightdm)
    Tasks: 3 (limit: 19660)
   Memory: 3.2M
   CGroup: /system.slice/lightdm.service
           └─1503 /usr/sbin/lightdm

Jun 12 11:36:15 kolohe systemd[1]: Starting Light Display Manager...
Jun 12 11:36:16 kolohe lightdm[1503]: Could not enumerate user data directory /var/lib/lightdm/data: Error opening directory '/var/lib/lightdm/data': No such file or directory
Jun 12 11:36:16 kolohe systemd[1]: Started Light Display Manager.

Looking for this answer on the internet has been a bit of a dead end. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Last edited by johnny (2021-06-13 10:59:38)

rbh · 2021-06-12 17:24:36

I assume you have installed BL Lithium.
Have you enabled Debian backports and installed latest drivers from Debian backports?
Buster stable drivers for AMD/ATI graphics chips, is from 20190114, while Buster backport drivers is from 20210315. Might make a difference.

Have you tried to run the the live session from the iso?

Have you tried other linux dists?

Last edited by rbh (2021-06-12 17:25:05)

johnny · 2021-06-12 19:00:14

I have not enable backports; I will try that.

The live session from the iso has the same problem.

I run Arch Linux with KDE Plasma -- no problems.

johnny · 2021-06-12 21:34:04

Quick update: I was hopeful that the 'firmware-amd-graphics' package from the buster-backports repository would do the trick, but, alas, no... it did not.

As with my comment above, the lightdm error is still there:

Could not enumerate user data directory /var/lib/lightdm/data: Error opening directory '/var/lib/lightdm/data': No such file or directory

I verified that the directory referenced above does not exist. I know that lightdm is supposed to create that directory during installation, therefore, one theory is something went wrong during lightdm installation. However, I also have the same problem with the live iso, so that throws a wrench into that theory.

I tried reinstalling lightdm. Nothing changed. Still the same problem.

rbh · 2021-06-13 08:42:01

You also installed backported kernel? According to https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= … RX-6900-XT, you need at least kernel 5.9.12.

The Linux hardware database, had no entry for the card..

if you alreadey tried newer kernel, the only solution I can see is to revert to Arch Linux for the moment. But, you can run BL in your VM's..

johnny · 2021-06-13 10:58:43

rbh... that worked. Thank you.

In the end I upgraded both 'firmware-amd-graphics' and 'linux-image-amd64' from buster-backports. I did not need to alter the original lightdm.conf file as mentioned above.

Last edited by johnny (2021-08-28 22:21:04)

mainboycherry · 2021-07-26 17:41:23

I'm also having this problem with BL Lithium and have no experience running tty.
how can do you upgrade the 'firmware-amd-gpu' and 'linux-image-amd64' from buster-backports.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

damo · 2021-07-26 17:48:44

If you can start a tty ( eg Ctrl-Alt-F1) and log in, then edit your sources

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

and add the backports line

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports main

Ctrl-O to save, Ctrl-X to exit

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -t buster-backports <package>

vvim · 2024-01-02 11:26:58

Just to add for solutions: I had the exact same issue today.

Got a HP ProBook 450 G6, downloaded BunsenLabs to install it from a USB key. No apparent issues during install, but at the first boot it gave the same error

"Failed to start Light Display Manager"

so no windows manager.

I pressed [CTRL] [ALT] [F1] to go in a terminal mode, logged in with my user/password and updated the system:

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade

rebooted the system afterwards and the windows manager started fine now.

Happy Bunsenlabsing :-D

#1 2021-06-12 16:50:14

[SOLVED] Failed to start Light Display Manager

#2 2021-06-12 17:24:36

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to start Light Display Manager

#3 2021-06-12 19:00:14

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to start Light Display Manager

#4 2021-06-12 21:34:04

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to start Light Display Manager

#5 2021-06-13 08:42:01

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to start Light Display Manager

#6 2021-06-13 10:58:43

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to start Light Display Manager

#7 2021-07-26 17:41:23

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to start Light Display Manager

#8 2021-07-26 17:48:44

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to start Light Display Manager

#9 2024-01-02 11:26:58

Re: [SOLVED] Failed to start Light Display Manager

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