Arch Linux

tam1138

Member

Registered: 2007-09-10

Posts: 238

monocolor screen unless/until I manually set refresh rate

I'm currently using refind to dual boot Windows and Arch.  When the machine starts up, I get a solid grey screen: no graphics from refind at all, but it *is* the color of refind's background.  And it's responsive, so I can use the arrow keys and such to select the OS I want to boot (provided I remember the layout and am careful with my fingers).  When I choose Windows, eventually the desktop comes up.  When I choose Arch, nothing comes up.... until I log in (blind) at the console and start X with a .xinitrc that specifies the refresh rate.  This all started when I got a new monitor that supports both high (144 Hz) and variable (FreeSync) refresh rates: Nixeus NX-EDG27.  The working refresh rate set by both Windows and Linux is 120 Hz.  Other relevant hardware specs: i5-3570k, Intel DZ75ML-45k motherboard, 16G RAM, GeForce 660 GTX (pity me).

Questions:

- My hypothesis is that some component of the system (probably motherboard? maybe video card?) is too old and/or too dumb to pick a suitable refresh rate, which results in the useless output until one is picked by Windows or manually set by .xinitrc.  Is this a reasonable hypothesis?

- If it is a reasonable hypothesis, is it possible to get refind to set the refresh rate itself?  I couldn't find anything to this effect in my search through its documentation, but I totally could have missed something.

- If it's not a reasonable hypothesis, what should I look at instead?

Thanks.