Arch Linux

cmays90

Member

Registered: 2009-12-18

Posts: 31

[SOLVED] Laptop boots to black screen

I have managed to boot by adding "nomodeset" to the kernel line in grub, but that prevents me from starting X later.

Things I have tried:

• nomodeset (works, but causes issues with X)

• adding video=SVIDEO-1 :d (also TV1 and VGA1) to the kernel line)

• adding modules i915, intel_apg, drm_kms_helper to modules in mkinitcpio.conf

I am not sure why this isn't working, but when it boots, the only keys that seem to do anything at all are ctrl+alt+delete, which reboots the machine (which means that something is working and this is probably only a graphical problem).  I spent the weekend trying to debug this on my own, originally thinking it was a kernel issue, but I have since hypothesized that the issue is more than likely something to do with the integrated Intel Graphics (it's an Ivy Bridge processor, if that makes any difference).

This is a fresh installation on a new laptop (used Arch for the past 4 years), and I am at a complete loss on where to go from here.  Dmesg doesn't show anything weird when I do manage to boot with nomodeset.

Last edited by cmays90 (2013-01-29 05:32:30)

arunvragh

Member

Registered: 2007-04-17

Posts: 111

Re: [SOLVED] Laptop boots to black screen

Have you tried adding acpi_backlight=vendor to the kernel line without nomodeset etc.

Worked for me.

skunktrader

Member

From: Brisbane, Australia

Registered: 2010-02-14

Posts: 1,543

Re: [SOLVED] Laptop boots to black screen

On my machine the correct syntax is

video=SVIDEO-1:d

which is different from what you posted

cmays90

Member

Registered: 2009-12-18

Posts: 31

Re: [SOLVED] Laptop boots to black screen

On my machine the correct syntax is

video=SVIDEO-1:d

which is different from what you posted

That was very definitely a typo. Sorry about that.  Edited the original post for others who might happen to encounter a similar issue.

Have you tried adding acpi_backlight=vendor to the kernel line without nomodeset etc.
Worked for me.

THIS DID IT!  Thank you so much.  Out of curiosity, where did find this, and in the future, where could I search to find this?

Marking this post as solved.

Last edited by cmays90 (2013-01-29 05:33:12)

arunvragh

Member

Registered: 2007-04-17

Posts: 111

Re: [SOLVED] Laptop boots to black screen

I think it was sometime during the kernel version change from 2.6 to the 3 series. Can't place exactly. I could see that the system was booting, but when the scrolling changes mode the display stops. I installed vesa and tried the nomodeset argument in the kernel line- my laptop booted to 1024 X 768. I guessed it was a backlight problem and as usual Archwiki - Backlight provided the answer under the ACPI section.