Steam black startup screen after updateing Arch.

June 24, 2023

I get this when trying to start steam.

None of the greyed out buttons work,it will not close down from the title bar. I can move the window and resize it.

If I have opened it from the application menu when giving the kill command it seems to die and the window disappears, and a few seconds later reappears.Trying to kill with top/htop gives the same result. Rebooting gets rid of it.

Opening from the cli in a terminal gets me the same black window. Closing the terminal does not get rid of it, I have to issue a kill command from either the title bar or through top/htop.

From the cli all of these commands give a black screen as above,

steam
steam-native
steam -no-cef-sandbox
steam -no-cef-sandbox -cef-single-process
steam-native -no-cef-sandbox 
steam-native -no-cef-sandbox -cef-single-process
/usr/lib/steam/steam
LD_PRELOAD="/usr/lib/libgio-2.0.so.0 /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0" steam-native
steam --reset
steam-runtime --reset
steam steam

This black screen affects other folk. A post at the Arch forums from a day or so ago suggested removing "xdg-desktop-portal-gtk" which provided a solution for them. Not for me though,

Put brain in gear before pressing enter08:40:20-->Sat Jun 24-->~
-->pacq xdg-desktop-portal-gtk
xdg-desktop-portal-gtk 1.14.1-1
 Put brain in gear before pressing enter08:40:34-->Sat Jun 24-->~
-->pacr xdg-desktop-portal-gtk
checking dependencies...
warning: removing xdg-desktop-portal-gtk from target list
 there is nothing to do
 Put brain in gear before pressing enter08:45:00-->Sat Jun 24-->~
-->sudo pacman -Rns xdg-desktop-portal-gtk
checking dependencies...
error: failed to prepare transaction (could not satisfy dependencies)
:: removing xdg-desktop-portal-gtk breaks dependency 'xdg-desktop-portal-gtk>=1.10.0-2' required by xdg-desktop-portal-gnome
 Put brain in gear before pressing enter08:45:38-->Sat Jun 24-->~
-->sudo pacman -Rns xdg-desktop-portal-gtk xdg-desktop-portal-gnome
checking dependencies...
error: failed to prepare transaction (could not satisfy dependencies)
:: removing xdg-desktop-portal-gnome breaks dependency 'xdg-desktop-portal-impl' required by lutris
 Put brain in gear before pressing enter08:46:33-->Sat Jun 24-->~
-->sudo pacman -Rns xdg-desktop-portal-gtk xdg-desktop-portal-gnome lutris
checking dependencies...
:: inxi optionally requires mesa-utils: glxinfo: -G (X) glx info

Package (11)              Old Version  Net Change

gnome-desktop             1:44.0-1      -0.54 MiB
gnome-desktop-4           1:44.0-1      -0.57 MiB
gnome-desktop-common      1:44.0-1      -2.84 MiB
mesa-utils                9.0.0-2       -0.79 MiB
python-evdev              1.6.1-2       -0.29 MiB
python-moddb              0.8.1-1       -0.83 MiB
python-pyrate-limiter     2.10.0-1      -0.13 MiB
python-toolz              0.12.0-3      -0.77 MiB
lutris                    0.5.13-5      -5.69 MiB
xdg-desktop-portal-gnome  44.1-2        -0.64 MiB
xdg-desktop-portal-gtk    1.14.1-1      -0.48 MiB

Total Removed Size:  13.56 MiB

:: Do you want to remove these packages? [Y/n]

Removing all those did not make a difference.

I have run

DEBUGGER=strace steam
steam 2>&1 | tee /path/to/logfile

I could post the output for those but the cli output from all the commands looks pretty much the same.

The only common thread I can see, is mention of,

BRefreshApplicationsInLibrary 1: 1ms
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found


roaming config store loaded successfully - 0 bytes.
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found

(steam:4063): Gtk-WARNING **: 08:19:52.112: gtk_disable_setlocale() must be called before gtk_init()
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found

Failed to init SteamVR because it isn't installed
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found

ERROR: ld.so: object '/usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64): ignored.
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found

migrating temporary roaming config store
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found

Any help would be appreciated. Meanwhile I am of to play Shadow Tactics Blade of the Shogun which is a G.O.G. game thankfully.

June 24, 2023

I am not for sure but xdg-desktop-portal-gtk has nothing to do with as I have it installed and my steam works fine. I'll continue to see what I can find.

June 24, 2023

Oh and you might need to install xdg-user-dirs as I have that installed.

June 24, 2023

Can you post the terminal output that you get when you launch it via the terminal? If too long, give me a pastebin type link

June 24, 2023

16 minutes ago, securitybreach said:

I am not for sure but xdg-desktop-portal-gtk has nothing to do with as I have it installed and my steam works fine. I'll continue to see what I can find.

I mentioned it as both an Arch user and a Ubuntu user said deleting it worked for them.

16 minutes ago, securitybreach said:

Oh and you might need to install xdg-user-dirs as I have that installed.

I did look at the wiki page and I do not have it installed an stuff worked before. I'll install it, it may be the fix but I doubt it.

Output at Dropbox.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xtiicnzfx8p1lur/steambugclioutput?dl=0

June 24, 2023

15 minutes ago, abarbarian said:

I mentioned it as both an Arch user and a Ubuntu user said deleting it worked for them.

I did look at the wiki page and I do not have it installed an stuff worked before. I'll install it, it may be the fix but I doubt it.

Output at Dropbox.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xtiicnzfx8p1lur/steambugclioutput?dl=0

The only real error in that output is the xdg-user-dirs. The

Quote

"(steam:43027): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 13:25:26.129: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed"

is normal and doesn't matter. I would start by removing the steam directory and let it rebuild,

rm -rvf /home/bloodaxe/.local/share/Steam/

Then start steam via the terminal and see if it launches normally.

June 24, 2023

2 hours ago, securitybreach said:

I would start by removing the steam directory and let it rebuild,

Done that at least five times. Combed the pc for all possible steam files uninstalled , reinstalled , etc, etc,

Installed that " xdg-user-dirs " uninstalled steam and reinstalled makes no difference.

Guess I will have to just wait and see if any updates fix it. Meanwhile I am happy with Shadow Tactics Blade of the Shogun. As I said it is a G.O.G. game so is a stand alone no need for steam. It is a neat game.

I thought I had done a write up on it, see below.

https://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?/topic/34781-game-on-linux/page/11/#elControls_464205_menu

Edited June 24, 2023 by abarbarian

June 24, 2023

Very odd

June 25, 2023

22 hours ago, securitybreach said:

Very odd

Something has changed as there is no more mention of

sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found

Whether it is because I installed xdg-user-dir or a recent update who knows.

This is the latest cli output.

roaming config store loaded successfully - 164 bytes.
migrating temporary roaming config store

(steam:26034): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 16:01:54.047: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(steam:26034): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 16:01:54.047: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
System startup time: 3.98 seconds
BuildCompleteAppOverviewChange: 421 apps
RegisterForAppOverview 1: 7ms
RegisterForAppOverview 2: 7ms
ExecCommandLine: "'/home/bloodaxe/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '--reset'"

(steam:26034): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 16:01:54.933: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(steam:26034): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 16:01:54.933: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
[2023-06-25 16:03:50] Background update loop checking for update. . .
[2023-06-25 16:03:50] Checking for available updates...
[2023-06-25 16:03:50] Downloading manifest: https://client-update.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam_client_ubuntu12?t=151826536
[2023-06-25 16:03:50] Manifest download: send request
[2023-06-25 16:03:51] Manifest download: waiting for download to finish
[2023-06-25 16:03:51] Manifest download: finished
[2023-06-25 16:03:51] Download skipped by HTTP 304 Not Modified
[2023-06-25 16:03:51] Nothing to do

June 25, 2023

This line is kind of puzzling:

ExecCommandLine: "'/home/bloodaxe/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '--reset'"

June 25, 2023

Should look like this:

June 25, 2023

3 hours ago, securitybreach said:
This line is kind of puzzling:
ExecCommandLine: "'/home/bloodaxe/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '--reset'"

That line just shows what command you used to start steam. That would be "steam --reset"

ExecCommandLine: "'/home/bloodaxe/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam'"

Above sarted with "steam"

June 26, 2023

6 hours ago, abarbarian said:
That line just shows what command you used to start steam. That would be "steam --reset"
ExecCommandLine: "'/home/bloodaxe/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam'"
So the above was started with stream --reset

So you ran steam --reset in the above command? That just deletes saves in the userdata directory

June 26, 2023

On 6/24/2023 at 9:58 AM, abarbarian said:

From the cli all of these commands give a black screen as above,

steam
steam-native
steam -no-cef-sandbox
steam -no-cef-sandbox -cef-single-process
steam-native -no-cef-sandbox 
steam-native -no-cef-sandbox -cef-single-process
/usr/lib/steam/steam
LD_PRELOAD="/usr/lib/libgio-2.0.so.0 /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0" steam-native
steam --reset
steam-runtime --reset
steam steam

Yes I tried that command and several others as I mentioned in the first post.

15 hours ago, abarbarian said:

(steam:26034): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 16:01:54.933: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

There does not seem to be any relevant information on this type of error that I can find out there. I have given up looking. Maybe I'll post over at the Arch forums. Maybe it will fix itself. Meanwhile I still have several chapters of Shadow Tactics Blade of the Shogun which will take me ages to complete. An me ROYAL is due to go back on the road and the garden needs attention so at the moment I do not really care if shoddy old steam works or not.Thanks for the effort and help so far.

June 26, 2023

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9486

Looks like I am not the only person with this problem which has been around since May or possibly earlier.

Quote

Swivelgames commented Jun 23, 2023

@ceLoFaN Well, I and others are still running into this issue, so closing it doesn't really help x_x

l3org reacted with thumbs up emoji

ceLoFaN reacted with confused emoji

ceLoFaN reopened this Jun 23, 2023

Member

kisak-valve commented Jun 23, 2023

Hello @Swivelgames, there are several other recent and open issue reports tracking similar symptoms.

If @ceLoFaN is no longer seeing an issue on their end, then there's nothing specific to ponder here and that is not a valid basis for a Steam dev to continue investigating on this specific issue report.

kisak-valve closed this as completed Jun 23, 2023

Synaxis commented Jun 24, 2023 •

So why is steam installing aditional packages and messing with my drivers? why is it required?
sudo apt-get remove steam
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
i965-va-driver:i386 intel-media-va-driver:i386 libdrm-intel1:i386
libegl-mesa0:i386 libegl1:i386 libigdgmm12:i386 libpciaccess0:i386
libva2:i386 mesa-va-drivers:i386 steam-devices va-driver-all:i386

l3org commented Jun 25, 2023

I too have this issue on Ubuntu 22.04. The Steam UI won't start. Everything was fine before the recent updates. If I remove the .steam directory from the user account, Steam will start properly, once only. If the client is closed and restarted, the Steam UI will no longer work. Big picture mode also won't work. The tray icon is visible and the menu is there, but nothing in the menu seems to work.

June 27, 2023

Well I have progress. After a system update yesterday I started steam from the cli and got this result.

So now at least I know that I am missing out on special offers.

Taking a guess I would say the problem lies somewhere in the graphics part of the steam code.

June 27, 2023

It is very odd. What graphics card are you using?

June 27, 2023

37 minutes ago, securitybreach said:

It is very odd. What graphics card are you using?

nvidia 535.54.03-3
nvidia-settings 535.54.03-1
nvidia-utils 535.54.03-1

linux 6.3.9.arch1-1
linux-api-headers 6.3-1
linux-firmware 20230404.2e92a49f-1
linux-firmware-whence 20230404.2e92a49f-1
linux-headers 6.3.9.arch1-1

I recon it is in the steam code or in some program that they have included as a dependency. A small missing full stop or backslash etc etc.

June 27, 2023

Are you using the nvidia-dkms package? If not, that is probably the problem.

June 28, 2023

13 hours ago, securitybreach said:

Are you using the nvidia-dkms package? If not, that is probably the problem.

No I am not. As steam was working before for quite a long time why would not having nvidia-dkms be the cause of the problem.

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=225798

Quote

You install 'nvidia' if you're only using the mainline kernel (the 'linux' package).
You install 'nvidia-lts' if you're only using the LTS kernel (the 'linux-lts' package).
Same for w/e other kernel package is available with an accompanying nvidia package.

You install 'nvidia-dkms' if you're using/compiling custom kernels that do not have an accompanying nvidia package.
There is no point or benefit to using 'nvidia-dkms' otherwise (such as in any of the above mentioned cases).

See also: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA

That is still current advice.

I would stop looking for an answer for a while. If you chance upon information well and good but it is wasting too much of your valuable time. It will take me ages to finish Shadow Tactics Blade of the Shogun and I have several more G.O.G. games that I would like to finish at some time so I do not need steam at the moment. Thanks for your efforts. I'll post if a solution turns up.

Edited June 28, 2023 by abarbarian

June 28, 2023

Well I know that the nvidia-dkms package fixes a lot of black screen issues with X and other applications.

June 28, 2023

Dynamic Kernel Module Support (DKMS) is a program/framework that enables generating Linux kernel modules whose sources generally reside outside the kernel source tree. The concept is to have DKMS modules automatically rebuilt when a new kernel is installed.

June 28, 2023

1 hour ago, securitybreach said:

Referencing your DKMS post above, it seems that Abarbarian could test that theory simply by booting into a prior kernel....perhaps any kernel still available on his system, other than the current one? If Steam works again, with the prior kernel, I'd say SB is onto something. And it's an easy test that you don't have to install anything for, then subsequently remove if it fails.

June 28, 2023

4 hours ago, Hedon James said:

Referencing your DKMS post above, it seems that Abarbarian could test that theory simply by booting into a prior kernel....perhaps any kernel still available on his system, other than the current one? If Steam works again, with the prior kernel, I'd say SB is onto something. And it's an easy test that you don't have to install anything for, then subsequently remove if it fails.

Thanks guys but I do not understand why you think I need nvidia-dkms . As I said in a previous post,

Quote

No I am not. As steam was working before for quite a long time why would not having nvidia-dkms be the cause of the problem.

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=225798

Quote

You install 'nvidia' if you're only using the mainline kernel (the 'linux' package).
You install 'nvidia-lts' if you're only using the LTS kernel (the 'linux-lts' package).
Same for w/e other kernel package is available with an accompanying nvidia package.

You install 'nvidia-dkms' if you're using/compiling custom kernels that do not have an accompanying nvidia package.
There is no point or benefit to using 'nvidia-dkms' otherwise (such as in any of the above mentioned cases).

See also: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA

That is still current advice.

As to booting into a previous kernel. Would I also need the nvidia stuff that was relevant to that kernel ? It sounds complicated and may even bork my setup which is running at the moment.

There has been some progress. I now know that I may have some steam friends.

June 28, 2023

So I gave it one last go followed a forum post which suggested I do a core dump. Followed the wiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Core_dump#Examining_a_core_dump

and this excellent article

https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/disable-core-dumps-in-linux-with-systemd-sysctl/

Tried to follow the Arch wiki instructions and could get no where. Turns out that Arch disables core dumps as default but it never mentions that in the wiki anywhere. The wiki does tell you how to disable core dumps but fails to mention that they are already disabled by default.

So I wasted more time and effort.

I had one last go at uninstalling and reinstalling steam and got to here

Which turned out to be a dead end as I ended up at the same black screen mentioned in my first post. This is the last part of the cli output.

[2023-06-28 18:13:15] Nothing to do
LogonFailure No Connection
LogonFailure No Connection
roaming config store loaded successfully - 0 bytes.

(steam:13965): Gtk-WARNING **: 18:15:25.298: gtk_disable_setlocale() must be called before gtk_init()
saving roaming config store to 'sharedconfig.vdf'
CConfigStore::FlushToDisk() - RemoteStorage().FileWrite() returned false, will retry.

(steam:13965): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 18:15:26.223: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(steam:13965): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 18:15:26.223: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
saving roaming config store to 'sharedconfig.vdf'
roaming config store 2 saved successfully
BRefreshApplicationsInLibrary 1: 1ms

(steam:13965): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 18:15:30.703: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(steam:13965): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 18:15:30.703: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
System startup time: 256.54 seconds
BuildCompleteAppOverviewChange: 410 apps
RegisterForAppOverview 1: 8ms
RegisterForAppOverview 2: 8ms

(steam:13965): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 18:15:30.979: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(steam:13965): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 18:15:30.979: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(steam:13965): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 18:15:31.263: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(steam:13965): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 18:15:31.263: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(steam:13965): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 18:15:31.566: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(steam:13965): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 18:15:31.567: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(steam:13965): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 18:15:31.633: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(steam:13965): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 18:15:31.634: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
ExecCommandLine: "'/home/bloodaxe/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam'"

That is me done. I have wasted enough time on this. A pox on steam or whoever is responsible.

June 28, 2023

Because I have seen lots of posts over the years with applications showing up as a black screen and other things that the nvidia-dkms fixed. I had an issue a couple of years ago where whenever I launched startx, I would get a blank black screen. Installing that version fixed it for me after seeing a forum post mention it.

June 29, 2023

[RESOLVED] Steam opening Issues

Quote

That's the current, problematic driver.
You need to downgrade to 530.41.03-17 and linux 6.3.7.arch1-1

Might have worked for him but too much effort and danger for me to try..

steam games crash/segfault with nvidia-dkms 535.54.03-1)

Quote
[root@P14s logs]# coredumpctl list
No coredumps found.
not sure why, but i didn't disable core dumps

so seems like coredumps were deactivated at some point,

Apart from the nvidia issues the interesting thing here is that he has the same disabled core dumps. So what the heck is going on with core dumps ???????????????? I knew I had not disabled them as I have only just found out that they exist.

Steam Core Dump Nvidia

Quote

I've been seeing a lot of people post about it. Note If I continually try and launch Steam through the terminal sometimes 1 in 20 tries it will launch with the new UI. But will immediately crash a game when using in-game overlay.

There are a lot of other posts regarding steam failures. The common linking thread is they all mention the latest "nvidia 535.54.03-3" .

So I am not looking into this any further and will wait and see if the issue gets resolved in the next month or so.

Thanks for all your efforts Josh.

June 29, 2023

No problem chief, glad you got it resolved

July 1, 2023

On 6/29/2023 at 9:24 PM, securitybreach said:

No problem chief, glad you got it resolved

Well I had not resolved it when you posted the above.

However I accessed steam and could see my library etc today. The friends section would not connect but I never use it so no big deal. At the moment I am moving all my games to the freed up nvme. I have shut steam down and started it again as per the fix mentioned in the GitHub post.

Arch forum solution found in last posts.

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9692#issuecomment-1605607970

Quote

sanks64 commented Jun 24, 2023 •

I found what fixes the issue for me!

Remove these:

~/.local/share/Steam/

~/.steam/

~/.steampath

~/.steampid

Open Steam.

Login.

Go to Steam -> Settings -> Interface.

Disable "Enable GPU accelerated rendering in web views (requires restart)".

I ended up starting steam with this

$ steam -vgui

Also did the settings alteration

Quote

Go to Steam -> Settings -> Interface.

Disable "Enable GPU accelerated rendering in web views (requires restart)".

Wether the settings alteration is needed I am not sure but I made the change and I now have a nearly normal steam.

Will it keep on working ??????

Anyway the fix above may help someone.

Edited July 1, 2023 by abarbarian

July 2, 2023

Good deal. I was out of town the last couple of days visiting family.

Steam black startup screen after updateing Arch.

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