I have just installed KDE 4.11 on my up-to-date Arch Linux system (having version 4.10.5 before).

After having run Linux, login with the SLiM login manager, and started X, KDE works fine until just after the loading process, when it shows an animation. At that moment, when it's time to show the desktop, together with the taskbar, icons, ecc,  Plasma Desktop crashes: the background becomes black, all the bars, menu, ecc, desappear; there's only the window of the KDE Crash Handler that inform me that Plasma Desktop Shell closed unespectedly because of a received Segmentation fault signal.

The strange thing about this crash is that it seems that the desktop doesn't close completely. In fact, I am writing just from the computer with the bugged software: this is because I can open windows, for example typing Ctrl-Alt-T for the terminal, from which I can then open Firefox, which I am now using to write this; I can even press the power button of my laptop in order to get the logout window, and shutdown the computer from there.

But there's another much more interesting thing: just after the KDE loading process, and the appearence of the crash message, I can see the whole desktop under the Crash Handler window appearing and desappearing every few seconds! Desktop --> Black Screen --> Desktop --> Black Screen --> ... It seems crazy! I cannot stop this behaviour unless I interact in a certain way with the desktop: for instance, left-clicking on the background, left-clicking on the KDE Start Button, right-clicking on the taskbar, ecc, but not, for example, clicking on or moving the open windows. When these interactions are done, the desktop desappears forever, and the background remains black.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Install KDE 4.11
2. Login in the operating system
3. Wait for the loading of the KDE desktop
Actual Results:  
Plasma Desktop doesn't work, since it has received a Segmentation fault signal.

Expected Results:  
KDE should simply have loaded correctly.

The KDE Crash Handler generated a crash report for me, which I'm posting here:

Application: plasma-desktop (4.11.00)
KDE Platform Version: 4.11.00
Qt Version: 4.8.5
Operating System: Linux 3.10.7-1-ARCH i686
Distribution (Platform): Archlinux Packages

-- Information about the crash:
You find it above in this page

The crash can be reproduced every time.

-- Backtrace:
Application: Plasma Desktop Shell (plasma-desktop), signal: Segmentation fault
Using host libthread_db library "/usr/lib/libthread_db.so.1".
[Current thread is 1 (Thread 0xb5426740 (LWP 418))]

Thread 3 (Thread 0xae3b4b40 (LWP 437)):
#0  0xb76f4424 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
#1  0xb6bc4c5b in pthread_cond_wait@@GLIBC_2.3.2 () from /usr/lib/libpthread.so.0
#2  0xb0d93ed2 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtScript.so.4
#3  0xb0d93f1f in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtScript.so.4
#4  0xb6bc0ee0 in start_thread () from /usr/lib/libpthread.so.0
#5  0xb5f6201e in clone () from /usr/lib/libc.so.6

Thread 2 (Thread 0xa6bafb40 (LWP 440)):
#0  0xb76f4424 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
#1  0xb5f5748b in poll () from /usr/lib/libc.so.6
#2  0xb593531b in g_poll () from /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0
#3  0xb5926408 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0
#4  0xb5926548 in g_main_context_iteration () from /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0
#5  0xb6d7b9af in QEventDispatcherGlib::processEvents(QFlags<QEventLoop::ProcessEventsFlag>) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#6  0xb6d4aec3 in QEventLoop::processEvents(QFlags<QEventLoop::ProcessEventsFlag>) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#7  0xb6d4b1e9 in QEventLoop::exec(QFlags<QEventLoop::ProcessEventsFlag>) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#8  0xb6c39b1d in QThread::exec() () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#9  0xb6d2b354 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#10 0xb6c3c40f in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#11 0xb6bc0ee0 in start_thread () from /usr/lib/libpthread.so.0
#12 0xb5f6201e in clone () from /usr/lib/libc.so.6

Thread 1 (Thread 0xb5426740 (LWP 418)):
[KCrash Handler]
#6  0xb5fbc396 in __strlen_sse2 () from /usr/lib/libc.so.6
#7  0xb6c87228 in QString::fromUtf8(char const*, int) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#8  0xb0a42e37 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#9  0xb0a4420e in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#10 0xb09e5a98 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#11 0xb09e7320 in QDeclarativeBinding::update(QFlags<QDeclarativePropertyPrivate::WriteFlag>) () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#12 0xb09e6318 in QDeclarativeBinding::setEnabled(bool, QFlags<QDeclarativePropertyPrivate::WriteFlag>) () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#13 0xb09eb5db in QDeclarativePropertyPrivate::setBinding(QObject*, int, int, QDeclarativeAbstractBinding*, QFlags<QDeclarativePropertyPrivate::WriteFlag>) () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#14 0xb09eb710 in QDeclarativePropertyPrivate::setBinding(QDeclarativeProperty const&, QDeclarativeAbstractBinding*, QFlags<QDeclarativePropertyPrivate::WriteFlag>) () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#15 0xb08f7913 in QDeclarativeAnchorChanges::execute(QDeclarativeActionEvent::Reason) () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#16 0xb08f06a3 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#17 0xb08ec630 in QDeclarativeState::apply(QDeclarativeStateGroup*, QDeclarativeTransition*, QDeclarativeState*) () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#18 0xb09044c6 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#19 0xb0904e93 in QDeclarativeStateGroup::setState(QString const&) () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#20 0xb09050db in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#21 0xb0905596 in QDeclarativeStateGroup::componentComplete() () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#22 0xb0974570 in QDeclarativeItem::componentComplete() () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#23 0xb09f0aa1 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#24 0xb09f1097 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#25 0xb09aa199 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#26 0xb09aa88d in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#27 0xb099133f in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#28 0xb0aed7f2 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#29 0xb6d610b7 in QMetaObject::activate(QObject*, QMetaObject const*, int, void**) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#30 0xb0af1b8d in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#31 0xb09a91c7 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#32 0xb0af2164 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtDeclarative.so.4
#33 0xb6d610b7 in QMetaObject::activate(QObject*, QMetaObject const*, int, void**) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#34 0xb6db0045 in QAbstractItemModel::rowsInserted(QModelIndex const&, int, int) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#35 0xb6d45a7a in QAbstractItemModel::endInsertRows() () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#36 0xae5b6645 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libtaskmanager.so.4
#37 0xb6d610b7 in QMetaObject::activate(QObject*, QMetaObject const*, int, void**) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#38 0xae5a7d95 in TaskManager::TaskGroup::itemAdded(TaskManager::AbstractGroupableItem*) () from /usr/lib/libtaskmanager.so.4
#39 0xae5aa3aa in TaskManager::TaskGroup::add(TaskManager::AbstractGroupableItem*, int) () from /usr/lib/libtaskmanager.so.4
#40 0xae58b4af in ?? () from /usr/lib/libtaskmanager.so.4
#41 0xae58f6a0 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libtaskmanager.so.4
#42 0xb6d610b7 in QMetaObject::activate(QObject*, QMetaObject const*, int, void**) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#43 0xae5b0895 in TaskManager::TaskManager::taskAdded(TaskManager::Task*) () from /usr/lib/libtaskmanager.so.4
#44 0xae5b16e9 in TaskManager::TaskManager::windowAdded(unsigned long) () from /usr/lib/libtaskmanager.so.4
#45 0xae5b30e1 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libtaskmanager.so.4
#46 0xb6d610b7 in QMetaObject::activate(QObject*, QMetaObject const*, int, void**) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#47 0xb75dc895 in KWindowSystem::windowAdded(unsigned long) () from /usr/lib/libkdeui.so.5
#48 0xb75de1db in ?? () from /usr/lib/libkdeui.so.5
#49 0xb75ede67 in NETRootInfo::update(unsigned long const*) () from /usr/lib/libkdeui.so.5
#50 0xb75ef12d in NETRootInfo::event(_XEvent*, unsigned long*, int) () from /usr/lib/libkdeui.so.5
#51 0xb75dde07 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libkdeui.so.5
#52 0xb74be1f0 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libkdeui.so.5
#53 0xb74be270 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libkdeui.so.5
#54 0xb6d3dfbe in QAbstractEventDispatcher::filterEvent(void*) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#55 0xb62f7261 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtGui.so.4
#56 0xb59260de in g_main_context_dispatch () from /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0
#57 0xb5926488 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0
#58 0xb5926548 in g_main_context_iteration () from /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0
#59 0xb6d7b98f in QEventDispatcherGlib::processEvents(QFlags<QEventLoop::ProcessEventsFlag>) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#60 0xb62f741e in ?? () from /usr/lib/libQtGui.so.4
#61 0xb6d4aec3 in QEventLoop::processEvents(QFlags<QEventLoop::ProcessEventsFlag>) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#62 0xb6d4b1e9 in QEventLoop::exec(QFlags<QEventLoop::ProcessEventsFlag>) () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#63 0xb6d5098e in QCoreApplication::exec() () from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
#64 0xb6245e44 in QApplication::exec() () from /usr/lib/libQtGui.so.4
#65 0xaf947937 in kdemain () from /usr/lib/libkdeinit4_plasma-desktop.so
#66 0x0804f3ab in _start ()

The Crash Handler says that "the automatically generated crash information lacks important details and it is probably not helpful".

Anyway, I don't think it might be an hardware issue, but if you think so, note that my Packard Bell dot s netbook has got an Intel Atom N570 processor, 1 GB of DDR3 RAM, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 (an integrated video controller), 1024x600 screen resolution.

Regarding the software, instead, you can see it from the report: I'm running Arch Linux with Linux 3.10.7.