SteamOS 3.9.5 with dirlock sometimes fails to boot correctly

Start by comparing the boot journal around SDDM’s Wayland failure, its X11 fallback, and the run of /usr/lib/holo/holo-rotate-x11-screen; the issue reports that the script sometimes takes over 30 seconds. Check how SDDM handles the display setup script and whether its timeout or teardown explains the black screen. Done means reproducing the failed boot and identifying a change that lets the login screen load reliably with dirlock enabled.

Your system information

• Steam client version: 1792618285
• SteamOS version: 3.9.5
• Opted into Steam client beta?: [Yes/No] No
• Opted into SteamOS beta?: [Yes/No] No
• Have you checked for updates in Settings > System?: [Yes/No] Yes

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Already reported this issue in #771 and posting it as a new issue here.

I have dirlock enabled, so on every boot the login screen appears, no automatic loading of gamescope.

After updating to the stable 3.9.5 version, my Steam Machine failed to boot correctly twice. The Steam Machine logo appears, but then the screen just stays black indefinitely. I had to power off the machine by long-pressing the power button and restart multiple times (4-5 times) until finally, the login screen appears. After that, booting just worked normally several times, but then the exact same issue re-appeared. So far, it only appeared when I completely shut off the machine and then booted, not on restarts.

Looking into the journal, what I think happens is that after autologin fails due to dirlock being enabled, the greeter/login screen fails to be loaded. First, it attempts to start it in Wayland:

Oct 24 15:23:37 steamdeck sddm-helper-start-wayland[2006]: Starting Wayland process "weston --shell=kiosk" "sddm"
Oct 24 15:23:37 steamdeck sddm-helper-start-wayland[2006]: Failed to start "weston --shell=kiosk": Child process set up failed: execve: No such file or directory
Oct 24 15:23:37 steamdeck sddm[1753]: Greeter stopped. SDDM::Auth::HELPER_DISPLAYSERVER_ERROR
Oct 24 15:23:37 steamdeck sddm[1753]: Failed to launch the display server, falling back to DisplayServer=x11-user

Then it tries X11, but the SDDM’s helper tears it down because holo-rotate-x11-screen seems to take 30 seconds or longer based on the time stamps:

Oct 24 15:23:39 steamdeck sddm-helper-start-x11user[2116]: Running display setup script: /usr/lib/holo/holo-rotate-x11-screen
Oct 24 15:23:39 steamdeck sddm-greeter-qt6[2222]: High-DPI autoscaling Enabled
Oct 24 15:23:40 steamdeck NetworkManager[1339]: <info>  [1792848220.1233] manager: startup complete
Oct 24 15:23:43 steamdeck systemd[1]: NetworkManager-dispatcher.service: Deactivated successfully.
Oct 24 15:24:04 steamdeck systemd-resolved[1241]: Clock change detected. Flushing caches.
Oct 24 15:24:04 steamdeck systemd-timesyncd[589]: Contacted time server 85.215.189.120:123 (2.arch.pool.ntp.org).
Oct 24 15:24:04 steamdeck systemd-timesyncd[589]: Initial clock synchronization to Sat 2026-10-24 15:24:04.142240 CEST.
Oct 24 15:24:04 steamdeck systemd[1]: systemd-hostnamed.service: Deactivated successfully.
Oct 24 15:24:09 steamdeck sddm-helper-start-x11user[2116]: QProcess: Destroyed while process ("/usr/lib/holo/holo-rotate-x11-screen") is still running.
Oct 24 15:24:09 steamdeck sddm-helper-start-x11user[2116]: quitting helper-start-x11
Oct 24 15:24:09 steamdeck sddm-helper-start-x11user[2116]: Stopping server...
...
Oct 24 15:24:09 steamdeck sddm-greeter-qt6[2222]: XKeyboard extension not present on the X server
Oct 24 15:24:09 steamdeck sddm-greeter-qt6[2222]: Could not load the Qt platform plugin "xcb" in "" even though it was found.
Oct 24 15:24:09 steamdeck systemd-coredump[2259]: Process 2222 (sddm-greeter-qt) of user 969 terminated abnormally with signal 6/ABRT, processing...
Oct 24 15:24:10 steamdeck core_handler[2260]: Minidump generated at /var/lib/steamos-log-submitter/pending/minidump/.staging-1792848249-sddm-greeter-qt-2222-None.dmp

SDDM records success and stops, but the screen is still black:

Oct 24 15:24:10 steamdeck sddm[1753]: Auth: sddm-helper exited successfully
Oct 24 15:24:10 steamdeck sddm[1753]: Greeter stopped. SDDM::Auth::HELPER_SUCCESS

As far as I can tell, the only difference between a failed and a successful boot is that holo-rotate-x11-screen returns quickly. Not sure if that's really the root of the issue or why it sometimes seems to take longer.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

1. Update to SteamOS 3.9.5 stable.
2. Dirlock enabled to encrypt home directory.
3. Completely shut down Steam Machine.
4. Boot up the machine.