Black Screen with Movable Mouse Pointer after Logging into my Xfce Session in Linux Mint 22 Wilma
Reboot/Retry
Sometimes this issue is only erratically reproducible, and you might be lucky to get a working session at least.
Remove obsolete Intel Video Drivers
Xfce forum admin suggested to remove the driver package.
The kernel has built-in intel driver support that is more recent than the actual driver package and better supports newer intel graphics chips.
sudo apt remove xserver-xorg-video-intel package && sudo reboot
If the drivers are not obsolete, revert/reinstall using sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-intel.
Disable Screensaver and Update Software
- switch to a non-graphical console using Ctrl+Alt+F1,
- if there is no cursor, try typing any key to make a prompt appear, and
- log in,
- remove the blackbox screensaver and update kernel and software:
sudo apt remove blackbox
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
After a successful upgrade, use Ctrl+Alt+F7 to switch back to the graphical desktop session.
So far, so good. Problem solved, next startup without problems.
However, the next day, the problem occurred again.
I retried the same solution/workaround, but still only a black screen with movable mouse pointer after Ctrl+Alt+F7.
Start X session explicitly in a console session:
- switch to text console using Ctrl+Alt+F1,
- as there was no cursor, type any key,
- log in at the login prompt,
- ensure software is up to date:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
- explicitly start the graphical system:
startx or startxfce4
- switch back to the graphical desktop session using Ctrl+Alt+F7
- type or click anywhere and wait for the desktop session to initialize.
This is generally not a good idea.
Killing running startx, startxfce or lightdm processes isn’t either.
Cons:
- two conflicting X sessions
- respawning apps with no additional debug information
BIOS/Kernel Fixes
- update UEFI BIOS
- upgrade kernel
- downgrade kernel
- switch to default kernel
- switch to vendor-provided kernel (e.g. 6.11.0-120029-tuxedo #29~24.04.1tux2)
find and fix potential configuration errors or incompatibilities
- see
~/.xsession-errors
- delete or rename existing error file to remove irrelevant noise
- reproduce the error
- check the file again:
tail ~/.xsession-errors
- has_option commannd not found
Black Screen (Xfce) Issues in Linux (Mint)