Arch Linux

ijahman

Member

Registered: 2014-10-26

Posts: 3

[KMS] Freezing during boot since update to kernel 3.17.1 (solved)

Hi,

First, my knowledge in Arch Linux is rather empirical. I have been using the distribution for 5 years now and I have always managed to find the answers to my questions on forums. It is actually the first time I am posting a message here. So I would say that I know few tricks but I have a quite limited understanding of the global architecture.

Here is the problem. I updated from linux 3.16.4 to 3.17.1 and, as I rebooted, I ended with a total black screen and no control on anything during the boot process. I had to switch off my computer the hard way. After several tries, I identified the time of the freezing as being the switch from the low resolution screen at the beginning of the boot to the higher resolution at the end of it. I later learnt that at this time KMS was concerned: late KMS start.

I managed with a boot CD and chroot to make several tests on mesa packages, xorg-server package and linux package and I concluded that, with everything up-to-date but linux downgraded to 3.16.4, it worked. When I updgraded again to linux 3.17.1, it failed. So I am pretty sure the problem comes with the upgrade to linux 3.17.1.

I read about KMS. But I found it quite difficult to understand. What I can add to my previous experience is the following. If I add in the gummiboot the 'nomodeset' option, I will not face a total black screen as explained above. The boot will still freeze but I can read the module loading. It freezes right after "reaching graphical interface" and "network". Someone on the French forum told me it was normal as the 'nomodeset' option required to have the proprietary graphical driver, that I did not have and do not intend to install. He also said the problem was probably linked to KMS. At this point, I can also use Ctrl+Alt+F5 to reach a tty console, which is convenient to reboot or do upgrades or downgrades of packages.

So, after few hours of research on my own, I think I will not save this problem alone. The solution may be on existing topics but I do not manage to synthetize it. I am not in a hurry, as I found a temporary solution (downgrading to linux 3.16.4), but I am quite interested to know the answer. If you need any information or extracts from log files, please, tell me accurately what command I should use or where I should find the correct files. Honestly, I am not very savvy with this part of Arch Linux, that is however useful for debugging.

Thanks for your help.

Last edited by ijahman (2015-02-08 09:37:23)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,729

Re: [KMS] Freezing during boot since update to kernel 3.17.1 (solved)

nomodeset does not require proprietary drivers. It simply sounds like you're set to boot to graphical.target instead of multi-user.target but your DM won't run. You get to a TTY just fine, so it seems your system is booting OK.

So KMS is broken. Give us some information about your video card.

ijahman

Member

Registered: 2014-10-26

Posts: 3

Re: [KMS] Freezing during boot since update to kernel 3.17.1 (solved)

Hi Scimmia,

My video card is an Asus GTX660 Ti-DC2-2GD5 2Gb chipset Nvidia.

VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK104 [GeForce GTX 660 Ti] (rev a1)

Schmuu

Member

Registered: 2014-06-21

Posts: 1

Re: [KMS] Freezing during boot since update to kernel 3.17.1 (solved)

I have encountered the same proble on my samsung np-530u4e. After switching back to kerner 3.16.3-1 everything wolrs fine. Has anyone yet found a solution to this?

Some information on my Hardware:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
01:00.0 Display controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Mars [Radeon HD 8670A/8670M/8750M] (rev ff)

Thanks for your help!

mpg

Member

Registered: 2013-12-10

Posts: 2

Re: [KMS] Freezing during boot since update to kernel 3.17.1 (solved)

Same problem here, also on a Samsung NP530U4E, same hardware as Schmuu.

Just as ijahman, if I pass 'nomodeset' to the kernel, I can boot just fine in text mode, but not in graphical mode.

Everything works fine as soon as I downgrade to 3.16.4.

\hbar

Member

Registered: 2014-03-15

Posts: 165

Re: [KMS] Freezing during boot since update to kernel 3.17.1 (solved)

A bug report about this problem was filed on the archlinux bug tracker: https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/42505
in which there is a link to a bug report on kernel.org: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=86551 .

Last edited by \hbar (2014-10-30 07:25:59)

ijahman

Member

Registered: 2014-10-26

Posts: 3

Re: [KMS] Freezing during boot since update to kernel 3.17.1 (solved)

Hi,

Today, I updated from linux 3.16.4 to 3.18.5 and encountered no problem. I remember having made the same test with a 3.17 and I had faced the problem described at the top of the thread.

Now, it seems fixed. I changed the status of the thread.