Black screen flashing white cursor top left on live boot. Nvidia GPU

I ran into this recently and the following worked for me (running w/ an rtx 2060):

• when you reach the flashing cursor, use alt+f1 to open terminal
• login as user root, password root
• install the latest nvidia drivers: eopkg install nvidia-glx-driver-current
• run systemctl start lightdm to launch the desktop environment

Hope this helps

I have the same issue with a new PC and fresh install. Solution suggested by chbota does not work for me (lightdm is unable to start even after drivers). Same if I boot with "nomodeset". I guess that one of the recent hardware is the problem, most probably the graphics card.

I would appreciate some help. Solus is great and I don't want to use any other distro if possible.

Chipset: X570
GPU: Nvidia 2070 Super

chiltepin You'll need to restart lightdm not start it.

Justin well it's not running anyway, status red. But I can try, thanks.

CorvusRuber

Which kernel are you runnig ? Current or lts ?

Whichever the current iso ships with. I'm sorry if I was unclear, I'm having the problem while booting the iso from stick. I use UEFI, also booted the stick in EFI mode. Wanted to install a dual-boot setup (on a seperate device though), but cant make it to GUI.

btw: Has Solus an option to install without GUI?

chiltepin Whichever the current iso ships with.

The current ISO, as far as I remember, ships with linux 4.something (4.2 ? Really don't remember)
The problem is, the current drivers are built against the latest current kernel in the repos, which is linux 5.x (not on Solus at the moment and I'm getting old, don't remember the exact version): if you try to install them on a linux 4 kernel, bad things happen.
Full update first, drivers later.

CorvusRuber Thanks for the help, much appreciated! Makes total sense so far, but some things are still not clear to me.

If I understood you correctly, I should (booted on stick, some tty) first eopkg upgrade to update the kernel.

1. This will also install some nivdia stuff, is that a problem?
2. My Linux knowledge has gaps, but wouldn't I need to boot the new kernel? How would I do that with a bootable stick?

chiltepin

chiltepin If I understood you correctly, I should (booted on stick, some tty) first eopkg upgrade to update the kernel.

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough.
You should install as usual from usb, boot from the installed system, and from there do a full system upgrade sudo eopkg up. Note, still no driver installation: only a system install.
After that, sudo reboot. If you can boot to a DE, run the Hardware Drivers utility (DoFlicky) and install whatever it proposes you. If you can't and must resort to a terminal, sudo eopkg install nvidia-glx-driver-current and then sudo reboot again.
You should boot to a full DE afterward

CorvusRuber Thanks again, but I guess I wasn't clear too. Maybe hijacking this thread was not a good idea ...

You should install as usual from usb

Well, I can't, that's the point.

I'm trying to boot from usb, but I only get the blinking cursor (lightdm refuses to start). I tried installing the nvidia-glx drivers (with and without nomodeset), tried the nvidia-beta drivers, still nothing.
Your argument about the 5.x kernel must be it, as I was able to boot Ubuntu Budgie with 5.x kernel from usb (at least with the low graphics mode, so I could in theory install it. But I want Solus )

Is there any way to boot the current solus ISO from usb, but with a 5.x kernel?

CorvusRuber I don't think so.... I fear you'll have to wait for a ISO refresh.

Bummer. That makes me sad
Guess that will be a while.

Anyways, thank you for your time!

Boot ISO from USB
Switch to TTY when it fails (Ctrl Alt F1-6, any will do)
Login

sudo eopkg it nvidia-glx-driver-current
sudo systemctl restart lightdm

Justin Thanks, but I tried that already, also with the beta drivers. Lightdm still refuses to start.

chiltepin Which Quadro card is it?

Justin Not a Quadro in my case, sorry for thread-hijacking Thought that my case is pretty similar...

It's a Nvidia RTX 2070 Super, specifically a Gigabyte RTX 2070 Super Aorus Gaming OC

Justin Thank you, I didn't know about the dev drivers. But it has the same effect, no working GUI with eopkg it nvidia-developer-driver-current.

There is a nvidia-persistence service, which seems to be the main problem. Journal says, the service is unable to write to /dev/nvidia*, thus fails to start. I tried to set the group via chown, even tried chmod 777 with no success.

If it's interesting for you, I can upload some photos I made from the journal.

Any updates on this? I am also having the same issue, with not way to get past the terminal into the gui to install Solus. I am on the X570 platform with a Ryzen 3900x and a GTX 1080, other various threads with this issue claim you can fix it by installing nvidia drivers, but as @chiltepin has mentioned that has no effect, and neither does booting with nomodeset. This is an ongoing problem with Solus that needs to be addressed as it is unusable currently. I can provide logs or whatever devs need if anyone can take a look at this.