KDE Edit Mode and Window Selection are Blank

MoonstarCoding · October 16, 2025, 12:32am

I have been having this weird issue with KDE Plasma 6 on my Arch Machine in which my KDE widget screens and window/desktop select are just completely blank. I can’t create a new panel, time widget, or even customize my desktop to any reasonable degree due to this bug. I can’t even pinpoint when it happened either, which is my initial method of tracking down bugs like this.

In the event that I need to, I am willing to uninstall KDE plasma entirely and then reinstall it. I never did customize the desktop because of lack of time, so it is prime time to reinstall if needed. I just wanted to avoid purging my /home directory, so no OS flash to fix the issue.

System Info:

                   -`                    hutchm6@MoonGPC 
                  .o+`                   --------------- 
                 `ooo/                   OS: Arch Linux x86_64 
                `+oooo:                  Host: B650M Pro RS WiFi 
               `+oooooo:                 Kernel: 6.17.1-arch1-1 
               -+oooooo+:                Uptime: 9 mins 
             `/:-:++oooo+:               Packages: 1347 (pacman), 31 (flatpak) 
            `/++++/+++++++:              Shell: zsh 5.9 
           `/++++++++++++++:             Resolution: 2560x1440 
          `/+++ooooooooooooo/`           DE: Plasma 6.4.5 
         ./ooosssso++osssssso+`          WM: kwin 
        .oossssso-````/ossssss+`         Theme: Breeze-Dark [GTK2], Breeze [GTK3] 
       -osssssso.      :ssssssso.        Icons: breeze-dark [GTK2/3] 
      :osssssss/        osssso+++.       Terminal: konsole 
     /ossssssss/        +ssssooo/-       Terminal Font: FiraCode Nerd Font Mono 12 
   `/ossssso+/:-        -:/+osssso+-     CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (32) @ 5.763GHz 
  `+sso+:-`                 `.-/+oso:    GPU: AMD ATI 0e:00.0 Raphael 
 `++:.                           `-/+/   GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Lite Hash Rate 
 .`                                 `/   Memory: 7431MiB / 63364MiB

Package List:

❯ pacman -Q | grep -E 'plasma|kde|kwin|qt6|qt5'

kde-cli-tools 6.4.5-1
kde-gtk-config 6.4.5-2
kdeclarative 6.19.0-1
kdeconnect 25.08.2-2
kdecoration 6.4.5-1
kded 6.19.0-1
kded5 5.116.0-1
kdenlive 25.08.2-1
kdeplasma-addons 6.4.5-1
kdesu 6.19.0-1
kdsoap-qt6 2.2.0-1
kwin 6.4.5-4
kwindowsystem 6.19.0-1
kwindowsystem5 5.116.0-1
libblockdev 3.3.1-1
libblockdev-crypto 3.3.1-1
libblockdev-fs 3.3.1-1
libblockdev-loop 3.3.1-1
libblockdev-mdraid 3.3.1-1
libblockdev-nvme 3.3.1-1
libblockdev-part 3.3.1-1
libblockdev-swap 3.3.1-1
libdbusmenu-qt5 0.9.3+16.04.20160218-7
libplasma 6.4.5-2
libqaccessibilityclient-qt6 0.6.0-1
phonon-qt6 4.12.0-5
phonon-qt6-vlc 0.12.0-5
plasma-activities 6.4.5-1
plasma-activities-stats 6.4.5-1
plasma-browser-integration 6.4.5-1
plasma-desktop 6.4.5-4
plasma-disks 6.4.5-1
plasma-firewall 6.4.5-1
plasma-integration 6.4.5-4
plasma-meta 6.4-4
plasma-nm 6.4.5-1
plasma-pa 6.4.5-1
plasma-systemmonitor 6.4.5-1
plasma-thunderbolt 6.4.5-1
plasma-vault 6.4.5-1
plasma-welcome 6.4.5-1
plasma-workspace 6.4.5-3
plasma-workspace-wallpapers 6.4.5-1
plasma5support 6.4.5-1
polkit-kde-agent 6.4.5-1
polkit-qt5 0.200.0-1
polkit-qt6 0.200.0-1
poppler-qt6 25.09.1-1
python-pyqt6 6.9.1-3
python-pyqt6-sip 13.10.2-1
python-pyqt6-webengine 6.9.0-1
qca-qt5 2.3.10-3
qca-qt6 2.3.10-3
qt5-base 5.15.17+kde+r123-2
qt5-declarative 5.15.17+kde+r21-1
qt5-multimedia 5.15.17+kde+r2-1
qt5-speech 5.15.17+kde+r1-1
qt5-svg 5.15.17+kde+r5-1
qt5-tools 5.15.17+kde+r3-2
qt5-translations 5.15.17-1
qt5-wayland 5.15.17+kde+r57-1
qt5-x11extras 5.15.17-1
qt6-5compat 6.10.0-1
qt6-base 6.10.0-1
qt6-connectivity 6.10.0-1
qt6-declarative 6.10.0-1
qt6-imageformats 6.10.0-1
qt6-location 6.10.0-1
qt6-multimedia 6.10.0-1
qt6-multimedia-ffmpeg 6.10.0-1
qt6-networkauth 6.10.0-1
qt6-positioning 6.10.0-1
qt6-quick3d 6.10.0-1
qt6-quicktimeline 6.10.0-1
qt6-scxml 6.10.0-1
qt6-sensors 6.10.0-1
qt6-shadertools 6.10.0-1
qt6-speech 6.10.0-1
qt6-svg 6.10.0-1
qt6-tools 6.10.0-1
qt6-translations 6.10.0-1
qt6-virtualkeyboard 6.10.0-1
qt6-wayland 6.10.0-1
qt6-webchannel 6.10.0-1
qt6-webengine 6.10.0-1
qt6-websockets 6.10.0-1
qt6-webview 6.10.0-1
qt6pas 6.2.10-1
qtkeychain-qt6 0.15.0-3
quazip-qt6 1.5-1
xdg-desktop-portal-kde 6.4.5-2

❯ pacman -Q | grep -E 'mesa|egl|vulkan|nvidia|wayland|xorg'

bambustudio-nvidia-bin 02.02.02.56-1
bambustudio-nvidia-bin-debug 02.02.02.56-1
egl-gbm 1.1.2.1-1
egl-wayland 4:1.1.20-1
egl-x11 1.0.3-1
eglexternalplatform 1.2.1-1
freeglut 3.6.0-2
kwayland 6.4.5-2
lib32-mesa 1:25.2.4-2
lib32-nvidia-cg-toolkit 3.1-10
lib32-nvidia-utils 580.95.05-1
lib32-vulkan-icd-loader 1.4.328.1-1
lib32-wayland 1.24.0-1
linux-firmware-nvidia 20251011-1
mesa 1:25.2.4-2
mesa-utils 9.0.0-7
nvidia 580.95.05-2
nvidia-cg-toolkit 3.1-8
nvidia-utils 580.95.05-1
opencl-nvidia 580.95.05-1
qt5-wayland 5.15.17+kde+r57-1
qt6-wayland 6.10.0-1
vulkan-icd-loader 1.4.328.1-1
vulkan-tools 1.4.328.1-1
wayland 1.24.0-1
wayland-protocols 1.45-1
wayland-utils 1.2.0-2
xorg-fonts-encodings 1.1.0-1
xorg-server 21.1.18-2
xorg-server-common 21.1.18-2
xorg-setxkbmap 1.3.4-2
xorg-xauth 1.1.4-1
xorg-xdpyinfo 1.4.0-1
xorg-xkbcomp 1.4.7-1
xorg-xmessage 1.0.7-1
xorg-xprop 1.2.8-1
xorg-xrandr 1.5.3-1
xorg-xrdb 1.2.2-2
xorg-xset 1.2.5-2
xorg-xwayland 24.1.8-1
xorgproto 2024.1-2

ngraham · October 16, 2025, 8:33pm

Does it start working if you use the Integrated AMD GPU rather than the above NVIDIA GPU?

MoonstarCoding · October 17, 2025, 12:42am

Issue appears to be consistent with AMD and Nvidia. Issue also resolves if I open a temporary boot session into an Endeavour OS environment on this hardware. It is something specific to my base OS, hence why I was originally planning to flash it.
I was originally thinking it could be the Nvidia driver, myself.

MoonstarCoding · October 18, 2025, 2:38pm

Issue appears to be consistent with AMD and Nvidia. Issue also resolves if I open a temporary boot session into an Endeavour OS environment on this hardware. It is something specific to my base OS, hence why I was originally planning to flash it.
I was originally thinking it could be the Nvidia driver, myself.

MoonstarCoding · November 6, 2025, 12:55pm

Update: I just flashed the OS and fixed it. Was too annoying to wait on a dead post.

mycomputerstinkslol · July 15, 2026, 12:04pm

Having the same issue with Ryzen 7 5700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. NVIDIA GPUs just don’t really seem to like to get along with anything.

Would be awesome if anyone knew a fix aside from flashing OS. Mine too did this after working absolutely fine. Reinstalling drivers no dice. Probably flashing mine too. Hopefully it won’t do it again.

johnandmegh · July 16, 2026, 5:05am

Hi - are you also using Arch Linux? Just checking as I haven’t experienced that issue myself, with daily use of a device with Fedora KDE installed and an Nvidia graphics card (using proprietary drivers) for about two and a half years now.

Maybe there’s some incomplete configuration state that the Nvidia driver can get into with Arch’s DIY approach that is handled in other OSes?

mycomputerstinkslol · July 27, 2026, 6:13pm

Kubuntu 26.04 LTS, actually. KDE Plasma 6. I did, ultimately, end up flashing the OS- it’s been fine since.

I have a hunch something along this setup did not get correctly installed, something possibly got corrupted because absolutely no matter WHAT I did it would not fix it. This alone isn’t an indicator of any corruption, but the way my entire OS was acting was just… not right. Has worked flawlessly since reinstall.

OS install was pretty new already- maybe it didn’t install correctly in the first place? Swapped from Windows and that itself was a pain. Nothing I care about is on my boot drive.

This GPU has also had issues in the past. Probably time for a new one, but this market and my wallet say no. COULD have been the wrong driver? Which in that case is on me.

And none of this rules out your possibility either. Kubuntu has a very highly customizable setup that has many great options for graphical interfaces (I like my PC to look pretty ) and something having access to an incomplete config state that it shouldn’t have could be one of like. MANY things that can cause something like this.

This problem’s a real thinker. It seems that if possible, OS reset is the best way to go. You can find portable HDD/SSD drives for relatively cheap, and Seagate has never let me down. Hopefully a better fix arises. This was the only thread I found that was describing my problem to a T, and it looks like OP and I were only able to resolve our issues with a fresh OS reinstall

mycomputerstinkslol · July 30, 2026, 7:05am

I also want to follow up and say that this sounds like a very lovely setup you have, and I wish you all the luck with it. Fedora can be very smooth! I like my Kubuntu for its customization