Monitor loses signal on XBMC start

CharlieBra7o · 2014-03-01 20:05:25

Software:
* XFCE4
* XBMC 12.3

Cables:
Intel IGP output "DP1" <cable> Monitor
Intel IGP output "HDMI2" <cable> AVR <cable> Monitor
(AMD graphics card (not used/installed on arch) also connected to monitor via DP)

This is my setup which worked perfectly fine until a few days ago after I rebooted. Now the instance I start XBMC my monitor loses its signal and there is no way getting it back except for a reboot. I can hear the XBMC menu sounds and can still control everything, but this is the end of monitor output (both DP & HDMI) until I reboot the whole system - even logging out via SSH or changing to another TTY doesnt bring the signal back.

I tried:

* suspending and resuming the system - no signal on any output/input

* restarting x session

* disabling and re-enabling monitor using xrandr

* disconnecting either one of the HDMI cables and then removing xfce+xbmc config files / reinstalling xbmc - still no signal on DP1 after xbmc start

* un-/reinstalling XBMC with various pacman parameters and removed ~/.xbmc and /usr/share/xbmc manually, as well as ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/displays.xml but the problem still remains.

* changing SCREENMODE in ~/.xbmc/userdata/guisettings.xml to WINDOW instead of DESKTOP

* restoring my old displays.xml and edited a couple of lines just now and then I could start XBMC normally without losing the monitor signal, but after putting the system into suspend and waking it up again there was no signal again (never had that before). From that moment on XBMC starting cuts off the monitor signal again

* ~/.xbmc/temp/xbmc.log doesnt show anything unordinary...

I really am completely out of ideas by now. It's a complete pain to have to reboot EVERYTHING every time I try if I fixed the problem. I hope someone can help me debug this weird issue - according to Google I seem to be the only person in the world to have this problem

Last edited by CharlieBra7o (2014-04-15 09:18:50)

Rexilion · 2014-03-03 13:30:30

Check /var/log/Xorg.0.log and dmesg for output. Please post both output's here. Make sure you reproduce the issue.

CharlieBra7o · 2014-03-03 20:37:01

Thank you for answering, this is the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file: http://sprunge.us/FTXQ?sh

Log explained:

It starts with a fresh session, then I started XBMC. From this point on the DP1 output is completely dead. The HDMI2 only shows XBMC with 1920x1080 as it runs through the AVR (1080p) first for the sound and then to the monitor. XBMC started in WINDOW mode as I changed the guisettings.xml manually to do that. Putting it to DSEKTOP (fullscreen) mode (\) worked also, then putting it back to WINDOW lost the HDMI2 signal, too. I tried switching between DP1 and HDMI2 on the monitor but nothing. Sometimes the monitor kinda gets the HDMI2 signal back (doesnt show "no signal" but is still black).
I then tried manually changing around resolutions and disabling/re-enabling the outputs with xrandr but it does not get the signal back.
Even restarting X server which I did at the end of the log file didnt bring the signal back.

The XBMC log looks completely identical to the one on my laptop (has the exact same software), on which it runs perfectly fine - so that shouldnt be the problem..?

A few weeks back, when everything worked fine it didnt matter if the HDMI cable from the AVR was connected to the monitor or not. I dont like to put it in as I only need it for sound and it doesnt even support the full resolution of my monitor... However, when the cable was connected between AVR-Monitor XFCE display manager showed HDMI2 as available, but XBMC didnt show it as option for sound output. I have no idea if that has anything to do with the problem, I just wanted it to be said - maybe someone can make any sense out of it...

This whole thing just seems completely random to me...

EDIT: Im keeping the 1st post up to date with the things Ive tried to fix the problem. Please have another look at that

Last edited by CharlieBra7o (2014-03-03 20:57:34)

CharlieBra7o · 2014-03-04 19:55:02

The problem isprobably originated in the home directory of my user. I found that out after creating a new one with a blank home directory and starting XBMC - worked!
However, I cannot tell you which files/directories exactly are responsible for this issue. I tried (re)moving them one by one and moving them back that way, starting XBMC each time to see if it would work. Some constellations would work but after rebooting the problem re-occured. I now pretty much have removed every directory beginning with a "." (dot) except .config (which holds the XFCE4 config files). The .config dir wasnt the problem at all to my surprise... After I could run XBMC again without losing the signal I restored my original .xbmc dir - and it worked with that one, too! However after a reboot the problem was there again... I now started again with a fresh .xbmc directory and it still works after rebooting... So for now this is the "solution" I will stick to. But to be honest I still have no clue what exactly caused the problem since I didnt remove any files which had anything to do with neither XFCE/Xorg nor XBMC...

Thanks a lot to Namarrgon who helped me figure this out for about 3 hours yesterday!!!

Last edited by CharlieBra7o (2014-05-13 17:38:20)

CharlieBra7o · 2014-05-13 17:40:53

Unfortunally this problem re-occured several times now and randomly disappeared a few reboots later... sometimes it works gain after 3 reboot, sometimes still doesnt after the 30th reboot - I still have no clue how to fix this problem...
If ANYONE has ANY idea what I could try next... PLEASE HELP ME :'(

Arch Linux

#1 2014-03-01 20:05:25

Monitor loses signal on XBMC start

#2 2014-03-03 13:30:30

Re: Monitor loses signal on XBMC start

#3 2014-03-03 20:37:01

Re: Monitor loses signal on XBMC start

#4 2014-03-04 19:55:02

Re: Monitor loses signal on XBMC start

#5 2014-05-13 17:40:53

Re: Monitor loses signal on XBMC start

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