Screen turns black during boot

Slevin · 2012-01-28 14:20:33

Hello,

I´m currently working on my first Arch setup, unfortunatly I´ve run into problems pretty early...
I´m running the latest Arch release 2011.08.19 with Kernel 3.0.3 on my Laptop with hybrid graphics(HP Pavilion dm4 1100eg)

During the boot process the screen turns black and after a few seconds turns of completely, yet despite the black screen my system seems to boot normal, as after a few seconds I can log in
as root blindly and reboot via command.
I have encountered this problem not only with Arch-Linux, but also with various live-cds like Ubuntu or Parted-Magic.

The only way I can perform a normal boot is by adding

nomodeset

or

i915.modeset=0 radeon.modeset=0

Unfortunatly this isn´t a permanent solution, because apearently Gnome-Shell won´t start, if booted with those parameters...

I have searched the wiki and forum, but the most common tips like adding i915 and intel_agp to my Modules and enabling KMS didn´t help.
Do you have any idea would could be the reason for this problem and how I can solve it?

Some infos about my graphics setup:
lspci |grep VGA:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core PRocessor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Manhattan [Mobility Radeon HD 5400 Series]

Video drivers:

xf86-video-intel 2.17.0-2
xf86-video-radeon 6.14.3

spark666 · 2012-01-28 14:56:28

Hey,try this : open /boot/grub/menu.lst and add this at the end of your kernel line

video=SVIDEO-1:d

Then reboot

Last edited by spark666 (2012-01-28 14:57:37)

Slevin · 2012-01-28 15:27:58

Thanks for your reply!
Alas this doesn´t solve my problem.

Right after:
Booting the kernel
Starting udev
done
the screen turns black

spark666 · 2012-01-28 15:43:08

i dont know what to say then.i use intel to,so that was my fix for the same problem...

lifeafter2am · 2012-01-28 15:50:36

Which card are you using? Your system is detecting two separate cards, the built-in and the stand-alone. If you aren't using the Intel built-in can you disable it in the bios?

Slevin · 2012-01-28 16:06:32

As I don´t really need the ATI card, i already checked my Bios. Unfortunately my HP notebook has a rather poor bios, with absolutely no advanced options,
hence there is no way to turn that card off via bios.
My second idea was to turn off the card with vgaswitcheroo. But this doesn´t work if i boot with nomodeset or modeset=0.

At the moment I have the radeon module blacklisted, but that doesn´t seem to help.

Do you think the second video card causes those problems?

Last edited by Slevin (2012-01-28 16:07:05)

lifeafter2am · 2012-01-28 16:17:03

It's a possibility that I wanted to explore, but it doesn't look like we can.

What happens if you only set the modeset option for one of the cards instead of both? Do you still get a blank screen?

Slevin · 2012-01-28 16:31:01

If I keep the radeon module blacklisted, I actually can boot with only i915.modeset=0
but if I remove it from the blacklist und boot with i915.modeset=0 the screen doesn´t turn black
but the boot process frezes at:

Waiting for UDEV uevents to be processed

If I try to boot without the i915.modeset=0 i always get a black screen

Last edited by Slevin (2012-01-28 19:28:05)

lifeafter2am · 2012-01-28 17:12:27

Okay ... so I think this tells us two things: 1) That radeon driver is absolutely causing a UDEV crash / hang; 2) i915 driver is also being tweaky on your system.

The problem is that you have the option of two cards, and both of them are having issues on your specific hardware. Considering that the intel driver might be harder to diagnose, have you tried using the catalyst driver for the radeon card? Basically keep the radeon driver blacklisted, and keep your modsets, but try using the catalyst driver and see if you can get it working with that.

Slevin · 2012-01-28 19:21:15

Alright, I will definitely give it a try.
I´ve read on various sites and forums, that gnome-shell has some problems with the catalyst driver - Any expericence with that?
So far I didn´t even get to start a X session, but I tested gnome-shell with ubuntu some while ago, and now want to use it witch arch.

Besides I would love to see the intel-card running, as it gives me way better batter-life and I don´t really need the power of the Ati-card.
Is there any way to, at least narrow down whats causing the problems with the intel-gpu?

Anyways, I really appreciate that you take the time to help me with my problems

lifeafter2am · 2012-01-29 04:24:24

I have zero experience with Gnome (haven't used it since about 2000) and zero experience with Catalyst ... these are just suggestions. The reason I suggested working with the radeon card is simply because you have the option of trying other drivers; which, as far as I know, is not true of the Intel cards. Basically as a stop gap to try and get you at least up and running with a good X session that works properly.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-01-28 14:20:33

Screen turns black during boot

#2 2012-01-28 14:56:28

Re: Screen turns black during boot

#3 2012-01-28 15:27:58

Re: Screen turns black during boot

#4 2012-01-28 15:43:08

Re: Screen turns black during boot

#5 2012-01-28 15:50:36

Re: Screen turns black during boot

#6 2012-01-28 16:06:32

Re: Screen turns black during boot

#7 2012-01-28 16:17:03

Re: Screen turns black during boot

#8 2012-01-28 16:31:01

Re: Screen turns black during boot

#9 2012-01-28 17:12:27

Re: Screen turns black during boot

#10 2012-01-28 19:21:15

Re: Screen turns black during boot

#11 2012-01-29 04:24:24

Re: Screen turns black during boot

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