I recently switched from Mint to Arch Linux (version 2025.03.01) on my Lenovo Thinkpad (21CFS0FT00) using Archinstall. After the GRUB screen, my laptop just shows "Loading Linux linux... Loading initial ramdisk..." followed by a black screen with a blinking cursor. I set SDDM as my display manager and prioritized my SSD in the BIOS boot settings. After installation, I ran `sudo pacman -Syu`, installed Firefox, and even downloaded a new theme for SDDM (Sugar Dark) through KDE Plasma. I made sure Secure Boot is disabled. I'm wondering if the issue might be with the configuration file for the Sugar Dark theme or if there's another fix. I'd love to learn from this experience rather than just reinstalling. Any suggestions?
2 Answers
You might want to check out some resources at the wiki that could give you guidance on this issue. You can find it [here](http://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/wiki/faq). Also, try searching topics related to your issue since there are likely others who've faced something similar. Just be sure to back up your work regularly, try things in a virtual machine first, and make sure you understand commands before running them!
Just a heads up, if you're stuck, you can switch to another TTY using Ctrl + Shift + 2 through 6. This might help you get back to a terminal screen where you can troubleshoot further.
I tried that, but it didn’t work with either the Ctrl method or F2 through F6.