[SOLVED] Black Screen in new Installation (Intel GMA 3650)

alphasix · 2012-06-20 23:55:53

Hi everybody,

I installed Arch on my new DN2800MT system using the Archboot installer (2012.04-2) for UEFI boot support. GRUB2 is running fine after all. The only problem is, that the screen turns black/completely off during the boot process. The installation seems to work in principle: if I wait a while, log in and type "shutdown -h now" or "reboot" the system shuts down or reboots. Just the output seems to be broken.

A video can be found on YouTube. A screenshot immediately before it turns black:

The last lines are

:: Waiting for UDev uevents to be processed
[    6.444167] gma500 0000:00:02.0: GPU: power management timed out.

Interestingly the boot of the Archboot DVD also starts with the screen turning black. Some time later the the boot process seems to fix the issue at hand: the screen comes back alive. I also posted a video of that process on YouTube. The messages on the screen when it turns back on:

This behavior of Archboot indicates that this problem can be solved somehow. I would appreciate every hint on what's wrong a lot. For modification of the installed system I can boot Archboot, mount the installation and chroot into it.

Thanks a lot guys!
Alphasix

Last edited by alphasix (2012-06-25 21:43:00)

the.ridikulus.rat · 2012-06-22 20:41:32

Install the KMS supported driver for your graphics card in your newly installed system.

DSpider · 2012-06-23 05:42:49

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel

Gusar · 2012-06-23 09:52:26

GMA3650 isn't Intel grpahics, so pointing the OP to documentation about that won't do anything good.

@alphasix: Return the machine and buy something with Intel graphics (GMA 3150). That the best solution if you value your mental sanity. If you don't value your mental sanity , you can either run without acceleration (xf86-video-fbdev) or try your luck at the emgd driver.

Last edited by Gusar (2012-06-23 09:55:23)

DSpider · 2012-06-23 10:16:46

Gusar, it's Intel graphics all right...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA

The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator, or GMA, is a series of Intel integrated graphics processors built into various motherboard chipsets.

Alphasix, you should google "GMA 3650 linux". I'm sure you'll find some other people having problems setting it up.

Gusar · 2012-06-23 10:21:40

DSpider wrote:

Gusar, it's Intel graphics all right...

Having "GMA" in it's name does not automatically make it Intel's. Think GMA500 aka Poulsbo. 3600 and 3650 are Poulsbo's successors. And are, like Poulsbo, PowerVR designs.

Last edited by Gusar (2012-06-23 10:23:38)

alphasix · 2012-06-23 15:06:30

OK, so the KMS supported drivers are emgd or xf86-video-fbdev? Acoording to the.ridikulus.rat I should install them and that would fix the problem? @Gusar: I want 1080p decoding in a system with not more than 30 Watts. The DN2800MT board is one of the few systems out there which can offer that. So I guess, I have to give emgd a try. Thanks for your hints so far. I'll keep you updated.

alphasix · 2012-06-25 21:42:05

Finally got it! It somehow picked automatically a resolution and/or frequency unsupported by the monitor. I had the idea because hwdetect also prints some monitor modes not in the display's manual. The kernel parameter

video=<conn>:<xres>x<yres>[@<refresh>]

given in the wiki article on KMS doesn't work for the gma500_gfx kernel module (the "official" pulsbo driver). I had a lucky guess:

video=<xres>x<yres>[@<refresh>]

does work.

I will give this gma500_gfx driver a try, although it doesn't have 3D support (yet). I'm not planning to use it for 3D rendering but for some intensive 2D video decoding. Let's see how it'll perform.

Gusar · 2012-06-25 22:11:40

alphasix wrote:

Let's see how it'll perform.

Quite terribly. gma500_gfx is modesetting only. You don't have even the basics of hardware accelerated video presentation, which is colorspace conversion and scaling. In the past, graphic chips used to have hardware overlays for that, and linux could support those even if there was otherwise no other acceleration. Such overlays are long gone, so if you don't have access to the 3D engine (which gma500_gfx doesn't), you have to do colorspace conversion and scaling in software.

That article on choosing a console resolution definitely should work though, I'm guessing you didn't use the right output name. By omitting the name, the resolution is simply applied to all outputs.

alphasix · 2012-06-27 00:15:24

Yeah you're right: it's totally hopeless. I now basically have two options: using an old AIF to install an older version of arch with a local repo, kernel <= 2.6.37 and Xorg <= 1.9 to get the old Intel poulsbo driver running or using Windows 7. I think the latter is the better choice.

There is only one very faint hope for a crazy solution: in the dependencies of the old pulsbo driver itself the kernel version isn't mentioned. What do you think of the idea of using the new gma500_gfx module with fbdev for xorg and the old binary driver just for VAAPI? VAAPI is in principle independent of xorg. So in theory this works, right?

[EDIT] This crazy idea has one flaw: the old drivers are i686-only (because of the binary blobs). At that time all systems with poulsbo graphics controller were 32-bit so that is reasonable. I impudently asked Intel support for the two binary blobs compiled for 64-bit. I mean: they sell a fully integrated system incompatible with their own binary driver for linux. Let's wait for the answer. If they turn me down, it means bye-bye to Linux .

Last edited by alphasix (2012-06-27 01:21:14)

Gusar · 2012-06-27 07:47:01

emgd is the driver to use. It supports kernels up to 3.3 (maybe even 3.4, who knows), but X need to be an older one, 1.10 I think. Using an older X is not that hard, and for the kernel you can use the lts one.

Mixing and matching stuff like you're thinking of can't possibly work, you'd have two drivers fighting for the control of the card.

cippaciong · 2012-07-02 17:04:22

alphasix wrote:

Yeah you're right: it's totally hopeless. I now basically have two options: using an old AIF to install an older version of arch with a local repo, kernel <= 2.6.37 and Xorg <= 1.9 to get the old Intel poulsbo driver running or using Windows 7. I think the latter is the better choice.
There is only one very faint hope for a crazy solution: in the dependencies of the old pulsbo driver itself the kernel version isn't mentioned. What do you think of the idea of using the new gma500_gfx module with fbdev for xorg and the old binary driver just for VAAPI? VAAPI is in principle independent of xorg. So in theory this works, right?
[EDIT] This crazy idea has one flaw: the old drivers are i686-only (because of the binary blobs). At that time all systems with poulsbo graphics controller were 32-bit so that is reasonable. I impudently asked Intel support for the two binary blobs compiled for 64-bit. I mean: they sell a fully integrated system incompatible with their own binary driver for linux. Let's wait for the answer. If they turn me down, it means bye-bye to Linux .

I just received (today) a CedarTrail Netbook (Atom N2800) and discovered with horror that the graphic chipset is not supported. Please let me know if Intel will give you an answer since I was thinking of directly contact them too.
Btw, how did you contact them, can you give me a mail/website/other?

Thanks

alphasix · 2012-07-03 16:26:10

Hey cippaciong, I contacted them using the online form/e-mail. They already answered: They do only support 32-Bit Linuxes on their Atom platform. I know that's weird, because the actually sell 64-Bit Atoms...

Arch Linux

#1 2012-06-20 23:55:53

[SOLVED] Black Screen in new Installation (Intel GMA 3650)

#2 2012-06-22 20:41:32

Re: [SOLVED] Black Screen in new Installation (Intel GMA 3650)

#3 2012-06-23 05:42:49

Re: [SOLVED] Black Screen in new Installation (Intel GMA 3650)

#4 2012-06-23 09:52:26

Re: [SOLVED] Black Screen in new Installation (Intel GMA 3650)

#5 2012-06-23 10:16:46

Re: [SOLVED] Black Screen in new Installation (Intel GMA 3650)

#6 2012-06-23 10:21:40

Re: [SOLVED] Black Screen in new Installation (Intel GMA 3650)

#7 2012-06-23 15:06:30

Re: [SOLVED] Black Screen in new Installation (Intel GMA 3650)

#8 2012-06-25 21:42:05

Re: [SOLVED] Black Screen in new Installation (Intel GMA 3650)

#9 2012-06-25 22:11:40

Re: [SOLVED] Black Screen in new Installation (Intel GMA 3650)

#10 2012-06-27 00:15:24

Re: [SOLVED] Black Screen in new Installation (Intel GMA 3650)

#11 2012-06-27 07:47:01

Re: [SOLVED] Black Screen in new Installation (Intel GMA 3650)

#12 2012-07-02 17:04:22

Re: [SOLVED] Black Screen in new Installation (Intel GMA 3650)

#13 2012-07-03 16:26:10

Re: [SOLVED] Black Screen in new Installation (Intel GMA 3650)

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