Black Screen When Installing Nvidia Drivers on Deepin Linux

FairyBoy231 · 04-22-2022, 08:43 AM

Hello everyone. This is my first post. I am trying to get Deepin Linux working on my 2009 MacBook Pro with a GeForce 9400M graphics card, and I'm having troubles. It was freezing with the open source graphic drivers, so I installed nvidia detect (sudo apt install nvidia-detect). After running nvidia-detect, it said I needed the Nvidia 340 graphics driver, so I installed the 340 graphics driver with

PHP Code:


			
sudo apt install nvidia-legacy-340xx-driver

. However, now after rebooting and seeing the Deepin splash screen, the screen just turns off and black and I can't see anything to log in. The computer isn't frozen as I'm able to access the tty by pressing FN+CNTRL+ALT+F2, log in, and then sudo reboot. I just can't see anything until the computer reboots and shows the grub menu again. What can I do to fix this? I already updated to the 5.15 kernel also. Thank you!

mrmazda · 04-22-2022, 11:11 PM

Possibly this is a Plymouth issue, assuming Plymouth is installed. I don't know which of the following may disable Plymouth in Deepin, but one or more should, by trying each separately. Strike the E key at the Grub menu, navigate to the end of the linu line (which may be wrapped one or two times), then append before proceeding with boot:

plymouth=0
noplymouth
plymouth.enable=0

If one of these solves the issue, either uninstall Plymouth, or add the one that worked to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT= line in /etc/default/grub, followed by regenerating /boot/grub/grub.cfg with update-grub or grub-mkconfig.

FairyBoy231 · 04-27-2022, 03:06 AM

Thank you for the response. I was able to enter the boot edit option, and I appended each of the no plymouth strings one at a time to the "linux" line. The first two didn't appear to do anything, while the third one did make the loading and the crypto password prompt all text based. However, after it was done unlocking the hard drive and loading, the screen still just turned off and I couldn't see anything to log in. Any other ideas?

mrmazda · 04-27-2022, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FairyBoy231

Any other ideas?

Maybe. Mac BIOS can be resistant to foreign operating systems. If Deepin installation media has an option to boot the installed system, try it. If it works, run the command sudo efibootmgr and paste here its output. After using the boot installed system method for a while, the BIOS may eventually give in and allow boot from HD to work as it should.

ondoho · 04-28-2022, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FairyBoy231

Thank you for the response. I was able to enter the boot edit option, and I appended each of the no plymouth strings one at a time to the "linux" line. The first two didn't appear to do anything, while the third one did make the loading and the crypto password prompt all text based. However, after it was done unlocking the hard drive and loading, the screen still just turned off and I couldn't see anything to log in. Any other ideas?

The question is if installing the nvidia driver also set it up properly. Blacklisting nouveau, making sure the proper Xorg drivers are also installed - yes, that might be it. Look at some logs - 'journalctl -b' and/or Xorg log (is this even under Xorg, or wayland?).

FairyBoy231 · 04-29-2022, 02:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

The question is if installing the nvidia driver also set it up properly. Blacklisting nouveau, making sure the proper Xorg drivers are also installed - yes, that might be it. Look at some logs - 'journalctl -b' and/or Xorg log (is this even under Xorg, or wayland?).

Thanks for that response. I'm not sure how to check those logs though. I can't get to a visible terminal since the screen just turns off after the Deepin splash screen.

mrmazda · 04-29-2022, 02:29 AM

Previously you were able to reach a terminal via Ctrl-Alt-F2. Is that no longer the case? If you can, then use sudo journalctl -b and less /var/log/Xorg.0.log. Or to share them:

Code:

sudo apt install pastebinit inxi mc
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | pastebinit
sudo journalctl -b | pastebinit
inxi -Faz | pastebinit

and paste the output from the pastebinits here. Use mc OFM to navigate.

FairyBoy231 · 05-02-2022, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

Previously you were able to reach a terminal via Ctrl-Alt-F2. Is that no longer the case? If you can, then use sudo journalctl -b and less /var/log/Xorg.0.log. Or to share them:

Code:

sudo apt install pastebinit inxi mc
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | pastebinit
sudo journalctl -b | pastebinit
inxi -Faz | pastebinit

and paste the output from the pastebinits here. Use mc OFM to navigate.

So, I'm technically able to get to the terminal, but I can't see anything. The only way I know I'm in a terminal is because I can type sudo reboot and the MacBook will reboot. But as far as being able to read any information, I can't. I'll try the paste bin though.

FairyBoy231 · 05-02-2022, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FairyBoy231

So, I'm technically able to get to the terminal, but I can't see anything. The only way I know I'm in a terminal is because I can type sudo reboot and the MacBook will reboot. But as far as being able to read any information, I can't. I'll try the paste bin though.

Okay, so I'm actually not sure if I can do the pastebin stuff because I can't see anything on the screen, so I can't post the output here.

mrmazda · 05-02-2022, 06:41 PM

Are you able to get a usable screen if you append nomodeset instead of *plymouth*? If yes, then:

Code:

sudo apt install pastebinit inxi mc
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old | pastebinit
sudo journalctl -b -1 | pastebinit
inxi -Faz --display :0| pastebinit

Be sure to do commands 2 & 3 above on a boot immediately after attempting a normal boot.

If no, then try adding 3 instead of nomodeset, and if that doesn't work, try nomodeset 3.

If still not, what you could try is to put the comment #7 commands in a text file on a USB stick, then after booting to a black screen, blindly mount the USB stick and execute the script that is your file on the stick. The trick here would be knowing the device name of the USB stick filesystem. Assuming you have no permanent storage except for sda, it would probably be:

Code:

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
sudo sh /mnt/thepastebinscriptimade

If still no, next would be trying booting rescue media, from which you would chroot into the installed system for further action.

boughtonp · 05-03-2022, 11:14 AM

This might be a stupid idea, but perhaps you can install something like eSpeak and have the outputs of commands spoken aloud.

FairyBoy231 · 05-13-2022, 02:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

If still not, what you could try is to put the comment #7 commands in a text file on a USB stick, then after booting to a black screen, blindly mount the USB stick and execute the script that is your file on the stick. The trick here would be knowing the device name of the USB stick filesystem. Assuming you have no permanent storage except for sda, it would probably be:

Code:

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
sudo sh /mnt/thepastebinscriptimade

Okay, sorry this took me a while to get done. I wasn't able to get the pastebin stuff working, but I was able to copy the journalctl and Xorg.0.log contents to files on the USB stick. Also, the first USB port on the MacBook Pro was actually SDC1. I am guessing the SD card slot is SDB, but I'm not sure. Anyways, here are the commands I ran:

Code:

journalctl -b > b
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log > c

After running those commands, my output for journalctl and Xorg.o.log is copied in the attached files. I wasn't able to paste it here because it said my post was too long, hence why I uploaded the text files.

mrmazda · 05-13-2022, 10:19 AM

Those logs suggest NVidia driver installation didn't go well. Best recommendation I can make is to try starting over with a fresh installation, or installing a different distro. Fixing a failed NVidia installation when black screen is a result is not within my purview. Freezing using the FOSS drivers before attempting NVidia driver installation may indicate a graphics hardware failure. Is there also an Intel IGP in this laptop? The inxi output I asked for and didn't get would answer this.

rnturn · 05-20-2022, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

Those logs suggest NVidia driver installation didn't go well. Best recommendation I can make is to try starting over with a fresh installation, or installing a different distro.

It might also help to, when doing a new install, opt for a level-3/Multi-user start up and issue startx to try out the new nVidia driver. At least that way you've got, in theory, a way to get back to where you can debug, check logs, etc. without having to type commands in blindly. I'm a little surprised, though, that Ctrl-Alt-Fn consoles were also boogered up by a bad nVidia install and perhaps level 3 boots wouldn't even help in that situation. It's something I'd try, though. Then, switch to the Graphical startup once the driver is correctly installed.

One could also write a couple of simple shell scripts to switch the runlevel5.target symbolic link to/from multi-user or graphical startup in case the nvidia driver installation causes the system to blackscreen again (some script name that's easy to type in: 'gotxt' or 'gogui', or similar).

FairyBoy231 · 05-25-2022, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

Freezing using the FOSS drivers before attempting NVidia driver installation may indicate a graphics hardware failure. Is there also an Intel IGP in this laptop? The inxi output I asked for and didn't get would answer this.

Okay, thank you. Attached is my output from inxi -Faz --display :0. Sorry for not including it earlier.