Desktop Mode sometimes goes Black with no response

[Justin12611]

UPDATE: After the whole Steam Recording Beta and now version 3.6.9 which is called Megafixer. The whole blank screen situation has been finally fixed!
- Simply just remove Decky Recorder (if you're still using since the maintainer will sunset the plugin for good.)
- Update your bashrc file. It's no longer necessary doing this anymore.

If you are also stuck in a boot loop if it ever happens, go to Desktop Mode by spamming "CTRL + ALT + SEMICOLON" update your Decky Prerelease and remove plugins. You can also SSH from any PC to your Deck to do certain commands to remove those folders.

When going to desktop mode, the screen goes completely black, trackpads seem to work fine but it seems that kde plasma either crashed when started or it couldn't even start the usual splash screen. All i'm left with is a black screen with no response to the desktop either, sounds do work and everything but no display was found,

To mitigate the issue, as it happens rarely for some reason, I had to prepare some quick commands via KDE connect and then use the phone to reboot the deck or go back to gaming mode which came back with the display and the OS. Oddly enough I also had to stream the Deck via Moonlight with Sunshine installed on the Deck using a flatpak, upon streaming the deck from my PC it is somehow showing a black screen with a cursor, with the performance or somehowthe slowness I pressed alt + space to invoke Krunner and then open Konsole to then reboot the device from there.

Hopefully this would be fixed later on throughout the Beta or Preview updates so hoping this may help someone who had this issue.

[EridanFresh]

I also have this problem from time to time. May I ask for the KDE connect command that solves it for you? Would prefer that over hard reset each time...

[deaddoof]

When going to desktop mode, the screen goes completely black, trackpads seem to work fine but it seems that kde plasma either crashed when started or it couldn't even start the usual splash screen. All i'm left with is a black screen with no response to the desktop either, sounds do work and everything but no display was found,

You should consider deleting your kde configs because it might be messed up. Deleting you kde configs will reset all the settings and make it default. I never done it in steam os but i have done it before.

Those files are located in the $HOME dir.

[Doppelkupplungsgetriebe]

I've been encountering this too recently. I've needed to force reboot my steam deck and then properly restart to get it to work again for a little while. Guess I'll look into deleting kde configs until it is fixed...

Originally posted by deaddoof:

When going to desktop mode, the screen goes completely black, trackpads seem to work fine but it seems that kde plasma either crashed when started or it couldn't even start the usual splash screen. All i'm left with is a black screen with no response to the desktop either, sounds do work and everything but no display was found,

You should consider deleting your kde configs because it might be messed up. Deleting you kde configs will reset all the settings and make it default. I never done it in steam os but i have done it before.

Those files are located in the $HOME dir.

What settings are reset when deleting the kde configs?

[Justin12611]

Originally posted by EridanFresh:

I also have this problem from time to time. May I ask for the KDE connect command that solves it for you? Would prefer that over hard reset each time...

There are already presets when you see the option to add command.

In this case you would need to add: reboot
so it can reboot this way, you can also try sudo reboot but yknow how that works.

For the quick back to gaming, right click on the shortcut on desktop, and click on properties, there you can find arguments where you can copy the code and paste it there. It should be simple.

The command should be this: org.kde.Shutdown /Shutdown org.kde.Shutdown.logout

Alternatively if KDE Connect doesn't work if you're in network issues, you can try to add those commands as a keyboard shortcut in settings. It can be mapped as a hotkey, let's say for example, ctrl + alt + delete or in other key as a emergency reboot / back to gaming mode. And it can be mapped to a button where you believe which button combo is right for you. Either way, ymmv.

[Justin12611]

Originally posted by deaddoof:

When going to desktop mode, the screen goes completely black, trackpads seem to work fine but it seems that kde plasma either crashed when started or it couldn't even start the usual splash screen. All i'm left with is a black screen with no response to the desktop either, sounds do work and everything but no display was found,

You should consider deleting your kde configs because it might be messed up. Deleting you kde configs will reset all the settings and make it default. I never done it in steam os but i have done it before.

Those files are located in the $HOME dir.

Do you mean this path right?

 /home/deck/.kde4/share/config/kdeglobals 

[Firxen]

I'm experiencing these crashes too. Though it's more than just visuals for me as I disconnect from Discord and my Decks fan spins to max.

It only happens to me when I have desktop mode open for several hours.

[Doppelkupplungsgetriebe]

Originally posted by Firxen:

I'm experiencing these crashes too. Though it's more than just visuals for me as I disconnect from Discord and my Decks fan spins to max.

It only happens to me when I have desktop mode open for several hours.

That sounds like a different issue. The fans don't spin up and it's not when being in desktop mode. This is more an issue with the desktop environment/display not properly starting when switching to desktop mode from game mode.

[Cyan~]

Any update? This get solved?

[Doppelkupplungsgetriebe]

I haven't encountered the issue since the 3.5.17 update, so it's possible that update resolved the issue.

[Justin12611]

Originally posted by Cyan~:

Any update? This get solved?

So far there seems to be less chance of having black screen but a reddit thread did say it was one of the decky plugins which is the Decky Recorder but then again there is small chance it would appear for some unknown reason, I am currently on stable until Decky gets everything working on Beta.

[missing]

Originally posted by Justin12611:

Originally posted by Cyan~:

Any update? This get solved?

So far there seems to be less chance of having black screen but a reddit thread did say it was one of the decky plugins which is the Decky Recorder but then again there is small chance it would appear for some unknown reason, I am currently on stable until Decky gets everything working on Beta.

Can you link that reddit thread if you can still find it?

[deaddoof]

Originally posted by Justin12611:

Originally posted by deaddoof:

You should consider deleting your kde configs because it might be messed up. Deleting you kde configs will reset all the settings and make it default. I never done it in steam os but i have done it before.

Those files are located in the $HOME dir.

Do you mean this path right?

 /home/deck/.kde4/share/config/kdeglobals 

https://community.kde.org/Solid/Projects/ScreenManagement

[code[~/.local/share/kscreen/* [/code]

The setting application is kscreen

[Justin12611]

Originally posted by MissingNerd:

Originally posted by Justin12611:

So far there seems to be less chance of having black screen but a reddit thread did say it was one of the decky plugins which is the Decky Recorder but then again there is small chance it would appear for some unknown reason, I am currently on stable until Decky gets everything working on Beta.

Can you link that reddit thread if you can still find it?

Here ya go.

[deaddoof]

Originally posted by Justin12611:

Originally posted by MissingNerd:

Can you link that reddit thread if you can still find it?

Here ya go.

I didn't read that krunner works. I guess you will need to go more nuclear with your kde settings

.config/plasma* and .local/share/kde* 

Those two directories can be delete to reset KDE.

https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/eo3q01/comment/fe9n8of/


https://discuss.kde.org/t/reset-all-plasma-settings-at-once-and-start-tiling-feature-on-command-line/9503/2

Here is a complete list

https://github.com/shalva97/kde-configuration-files

[Justin12611]

Alright everyone, there has been a workaround solution to this. Thanks to ryanrudolf the guy who made scripts for the clover bootloader for steam deck and among many more.

At first before this it is known that the main issue is caused none other by ODS and Decky Recorder which still needs fixing to do in the background.

Here's the link to the video.

As for what the command is, and you may also have to add this to your custom shortcut and kde connect commands. The following command is:

 rm -rf ~/.local/share/kscreen/ 

Following the video the bash profile will automatically apply each time you enter desktop mode. Once again this was said by deaddoof for the kscreen folder. So will leave both the other solution in case your KDE is messed up.

Originally posted by deaddoof:

I didn't read that krunner works. I guess you will need to go more nuclear with your kde settings


.config/plasma* and .local/share/kde*

Those two directories can be delete to reset KDE.

https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/eo3q01/comment/fe9n8of/


https://discuss.kde.org/t/reset-all-plasma-settings-at-once-and-start-tiling-feature-on-command-line/9503/2

Here is a complete list

https://github.com/shalva97/kde-configuration-files