[Solved] Light grey console when using ATI graphics card

dj pixus · 2019-04-09 15:29:23

Hi there! I have a strange problem, that apparently nobody had before.
I boot up the Arch Linux live CD, everything works fine until the console comes up. The background color is almost white, with a BIT darker text on it. It is very hard to read. The colored fonts look like having a thick fog in front of the screen. The problem only appears with an ATI Radeon VGA card. If I put in a Geforce, everything is right. I don't know if all Radeons have the problem but mine is a HD 6450.

Last edited by dj pixus (2021-03-26 23:46:26)

seth · 2019-04-09 20:21:18

Does the effect exist when passing

nomodeset

OR (not both together)

radeon.backlight=0

to the kernel?
Do you happen to have yet another radeon card?

with an ATI Radeon VGA card

Does this mean the output is VGA (like "analogue")?

(Fyi, the background is supposed to be black, text to be white)

dj pixus · 2019-04-10 05:50:07

Thank u, i will try them as soon as i get to the machine. By VGA i meant it has a VGA output, but at the moment it is being used with HDMI. I have got 1 other Radeon but it does not fit in the low profile house. But I will somehow try that too.

dj pixus · 2019-04-10 15:56:19

So: tried both solutions, none of them worked. Then i fired up the other card which is a HD3850. With that everything looked good and enabling the backlight option had no effect. The strangest thing is that the 6450 now works fine, too! I did not change anything in the hardware config, nor in the BIOS settings. So it looks like this problem solved itself. I don't like these type of things because it may occur again in the future...

seth · 2019-04-10 19:25:29

Badly seated GPU?
Underpowered (does it have a 6/8-pin power supply?)

(For VGA I could also imagine a bent pin, but rather not w/ HDMI)

dj pixus · 2019-04-11 12:11:15

The card has no dedicated power connector, it gets power only from the bus. It cannot be the output connector because all the outputs had the issue. Also with a bad vga connector it would be darker, not lighter. And the POST and the Arch starting menu looks ok, so it must have some compatibility thing with the OS.

seth · 2019-04-11 13:36:43

And the POST and the Arch starting menu looks ok

That's actually the most relevant thing (trust me: bent VGA connectors can cause all sorts of weird stuff - it's not like a "weak signal")

Unfortunately there's no testing possible anymore, but in case it happens again, try booting "nomodeset". radeon.fastfb=0|1 and radeon.deep_color=0|1 might be worth tries.

dj pixus · 2019-04-13 10:18:49

Ok, I will try it next time it gets bad. Thank you!

Arch Linux

#1 2019-04-09 15:29:23

[Solved] Light grey console when using ATI graphics card

#2 2019-04-09 20:21:18

Re: [Solved] Light grey console when using ATI graphics card

#3 2019-04-10 05:50:07

Re: [Solved] Light grey console when using ATI graphics card

#4 2019-04-10 15:56:19

Re: [Solved] Light grey console when using ATI graphics card

#5 2019-04-10 19:25:29

Re: [Solved] Light grey console when using ATI graphics card

#6 2019-04-11 12:11:15

Re: [Solved] Light grey console when using ATI graphics card

#7 2019-04-11 13:36:43

Re: [Solved] Light grey console when using ATI graphics card

#8 2019-04-13 10:18:49

Re: [Solved] Light grey console when using ATI graphics card

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