Boot, immediate blank (freeze?) on Samsung UMPC [SOLVED]

apsabelhaus · 2013-02-16 04:36:01

Hello Arch Community!

I'm a longtime linux user making the switch to Arch for my newest computer. It's a Samsung NP-Q1EX, one of their UMPCs from about 2009. General info about the underlying guts:

VIA Nano U2500 (64-bit, 1.2 GHz)
2 GB DDR2 RAM
VIA Chrome9 HC3 integrated graphics
1024x600 screen w/touch
I'm using the 2013-2 install media.

This graphics chipset is notoriously terrible under linux when people try to use X, but I'm having trouble even getting the command line up for more than a few seconds from the basic Arch install media. The boot process seems to work fine, and I get dumped to the command line. At that point, I have about 2-5 seconds before the screen blanks out, and the computer becomes unusable. During this time period, everything works fine - I can even get a command or two to run if I type quickly - and I can also do a Ctrl-Alt-FX to switch to other ttys. However, as soon as this screen blanking happens, the Ctrl-Alt-FX doesn't do a darn thing. If I didn't know better, I would say it was trying to run X.org, and that was crashing the system / segfaults and such - but I know that the Arch install doesn't do a GUI!

Another piece of info: I have an Xubuntu 11.10 rescue install on a flashdrive, and when I use it, I get different results. That distro jumps right into XFCE, and I get crazy screen nonsense due to incorrect drivers and whatnot. However, I can Ctrl-Alt-F1 into another terminal and play around perfectly fine (I backed up some files this way.) So, it appears that Ubuntu without X works fine.

I tried all the suggestions I could find about KMS, graphics modes, and all that: nothing on the "Beginner's Guide -> Troubleshooting Boot" page made a difference.

I truthfully have no idea what to try next. Does anyone have suggestions for pinpointing the problem? Is there a way, for example, to step through the kernel's initialization? Maybe try a different default shell? Unfortunately, the computer doesn't have an Ethernet port, so I can't SSH in and see what's going on. Is there a way to have the boot process on the install media save a log somewhere?

Thanks for the suggestions! If I get this going, I hope to come here often and help out with other questions as I can

-Drew

Last edited by apsabelhaus (2013-03-20 16:58:20)

the sad clown · 2013-02-16 04:44:26

Not sure how quick a typist you are, but you could try 'journalctl -f' and see what it spits out before it comes to a crash.

Edit: argh. You are trying a live media. Better minds than mine need to help you.

Last edited by the sad clown (2013-02-16 04:48:18)

chubs · 2013-03-03 06:26:27

You might be having the same problem I just had with a VIA chipset. See if blacklisting viafb does the trick.

funkypotatoe · 2013-03-03 12:22:13

Same problem here with old pc i'm using temporary. Nvidia 6600gt, 2gb ram and no more info about hw. Just tried to install arch, everything was fine untill boot. But i don't even have few seconds to type. My screen blanks out after systemd messages start appearing with debug mode enabled in grub.

Spider.007 · 2013-03-03 12:58:36

Maybe booting in single user mode (append 1 to kernel line) helps? That should drop you in the initcpio with some basic commands available to debug things. Does your Sysrq key still work with a black screen?

funkypotatoe · 2013-03-03 13:02:47

User mode 1 gives the same result. Booting from livecd, chrooting to arch and installing nvidia-304xx drivers resolved my problems.

Spider.007 · 2013-03-03 13:05:27

funkypotatoe wrote:

User mode 1 gives the same result. Booting from livecd, chrooting to arch and installing nvidia-304xx drivers resolved my problems.

So you are actually hijacking someone elses thread with a different problem? Cause apsabelhaus is already booting from a live-cd where no nvidia binaries are installed, and I don't see any nvidia hardware in his setup either

funkypotatoe · 2013-03-03 13:32:32

Spider.007 wrote:

funkypotatoe wrote:
User mode 1 gives the same result. Booting from livecd, chrooting to arch and installing nvidia-304xx drivers resolved my problems.
So you are actually hijacking someone elses thread with a different problem? Cause apsabelhaus is already booting from a live-cd where no nvidia binaries are installed, and I don't see any nvidia hardware in his setup either

Are you sure it is another problem ? After installing base system screen doesn't work straight after boot up process. Installing proper video drivers helped me, blacklisting viafb module (via integrated graphic) helped in a topic linked before. Looks like problem with loaded video driver in default configuration.

apsabelhaus · 2013-03-20 03:47:04

YES! Awesome, thank you chubs! Blacklisting the 'viafb' module does the trick, now my terminal stays up! I never would have thought a "graphics" module would cause an issue with command line stuff

I look forward to installing and getting Arch going on this machine!

chubs · 2013-03-20 13:46:19

Glad it worked for you -- I still haven't found a way to get viafb working properly, so I'm just not using a framebuffer (kind of annoying!)

If that's all you need, please mark the thread as SOLVED.

apsabelhaus · 2013-03-20 16:59:22

Done! Thanks again Let me know if you find a solution to the framebuffer issue. As of now, I'm going to try and see if I can get at least one driver for X working (sighh...)

Arch Linux

#1 2013-02-16 04:36:01

Boot, immediate blank (freeze?) on Samsung UMPC [SOLVED]

#2 2013-02-16 04:44:26

Re: Boot, immediate blank (freeze?) on Samsung UMPC [SOLVED]

#3 2013-03-03 06:26:27

Re: Boot, immediate blank (freeze?) on Samsung UMPC [SOLVED]

#4 2013-03-03 12:22:13

Re: Boot, immediate blank (freeze?) on Samsung UMPC [SOLVED]

#5 2013-03-03 12:58:36

Re: Boot, immediate blank (freeze?) on Samsung UMPC [SOLVED]

#6 2013-03-03 13:02:47

Re: Boot, immediate blank (freeze?) on Samsung UMPC [SOLVED]

#7 2013-03-03 13:05:27

Re: Boot, immediate blank (freeze?) on Samsung UMPC [SOLVED]

#8 2013-03-03 13:32:32

Re: Boot, immediate blank (freeze?) on Samsung UMPC [SOLVED]

#9 2013-03-20 03:47:04

Re: Boot, immediate blank (freeze?) on Samsung UMPC [SOLVED]

#10 2013-03-20 13:46:19

Re: Boot, immediate blank (freeze?) on Samsung UMPC [SOLVED]

#11 2013-03-20 16:59:22

Re: Boot, immediate blank (freeze?) on Samsung UMPC [SOLVED]

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