Linux - NewbieThis Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question?
If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
A few months ago, I installed Linux on a computer I built several years ago. First I installed Fedora, but had this strange problem where after the grub menu, the monitor would say "No signal". I would hold the power button to shut down the computer and try again, and after several attempts it would boot successfully. I continued having this problem, so I switched to Linux Mint to see if this solved the problem. It did not.
The problem seems totally random. Sometimes it boots successfully first try. Sometimes I have to try up to six or seven times. Usually it "catches" after the second or third restart.
I have tried different monitor, different HDMI cable, and tried connecting the HDMI port on the motherboard, and none of it helped, so it is not a graphics problem.
I am currently dual booting with Windows 7 on one hard drive and Linux Mint on the other. I used Windows 7 for years and it never had a problem like this.
When I can get Mint to boot, it works perfectly fine. No crashes or anything to suggest a hard drive or memory or CPU problem.
I have been dealing with this for several months, and its getting a little old! I love Linux Mint otherwise, especially it's Cinnamon desktop, but I would like to resolve this issue. What on earth could be causing a problem like this?
Thank you for those links! I tried the journalctl --list-boot command as specified in the article. One thing I noticed is it doesn't list multiple boots each day. Apparently, the failed boots are not being recorded.
As for the log files, I admit I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I quickly used grep to search the boot log for "error" and "fail" looking for any problems, and didn't find anything. I will keep looking through the other logs to see if anything fishy comes up.
...tried connecting the HDMI port on the motherboard
Instead of what? Are you normally using a PCIe graphics card? If so, you may see improvement by changing the "Primary Video Adapter" setting in the BIOS.
What's the motherboard model number? If Asus has a BIOS update available, try it.
Have you tried having the Grub menu stay on screen for a period before proceeding? Does result of selection improve if you keep the menu onscreen 12, 25, 60 or more seconds?
Something else to try, set the BIOS to do a long POST instead of fast boot.
Try turning off the ASUS powerup graphic if it's enabled now.
Try eliminating graphical boot. To test, strike the E key at the Grub menu, navigate to the end of the line that begins with linu, append a space and plymouth.enable=0, then proceed with boot. If that doesn't help, try noplymouth instead. If neither work, try a few others, such as video=1920x1080 or video=1440x900 or vga=791 or nomodeset, just to see if any of them produce a reliable result. If any do, whatever works can be applied to /etc/default/grub, and/or the alternative video options GRUB_TERMINAL= and/or GRUB_GFXMODE= in /etc/default/grub can be utilized.
Thank you for those links! I tried the journalctl --list-boot command as specified in the article. One thing I noticed is it doesn't list multiple boots each day. Apparently, the failed boots are not being recorded.
As for the log files, I admit I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I quickly used grep to search the boot log for "error" and "fail" looking for any problems, and didn't find anything. I will keep looking through the other logs to see if anything fishy comes up.
Code:
sudo journalctl -b # current boot
sudo journalctl -b -1 # previous boot
sudo journalctl -b -2 # two boots ago
sudo journalctl -b -3 # three ....
#
but how far is it getting?
is it just the display that doesn't work?
intermittent post/boot doesn't scream out "faulty ram" to me
but memtest would rule that out
Code:
sudo apt install memtest86+
will add memtest86+ to grub menu
or you can usually find it on liveCDs boot menu
or stand-alone http://www.memtest.org/
OK I ran memtest for over 2 hours. It completed two passes and found no errors.
Quote:
it could be something simple like a dead cmos battery
Actually I changed the CMOS battery around the time I installed linux a few months ago. I cant quite remember if it was right before or after I installed Mint, but it is a new battery.
OK... So today I tried booting Mint (after I ran memtest) and got the "No signal" message. I had to leave the room for a few minute, and when I came back, it had finished booting. I have tried leaving it for several minutes before and it hadnt helped, so I'm not sure why it worked this time.
I looked at the boot logs in "journalctl -b 0" and I found something interesting. In today's boot that went to "No Signal" for several minutes, I see a number of messages in red stating "watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#0 stuck for 22s! [kworker/0:2:92]". There were a whole bunch of the exact same warning, some of them stating CPU#1 had locked up, others saying CPU#0.
I did not remember seeing this in the log last night, so I compared this boot to "-b -1", and did not see this message anywhere.
Basically, yesterday's normal startup does not show any "CPU stuck" error, today's startup, which stalled for several minutes, does. Could this indicate the problem?
Basically, yesterday's normal startup does not show any "CPU stuck" error, today's startup, which stalled for several minutes, does. Could this indicate the problem?
I believe so, but have no more idea now what to do that what I already wrote, other than searching the web for the CPU stuck error message with accompanying solution or troubleshooting steps.
This reminds me of one of the computers I built that had a similar booting issue. What I found out was the reboot button on the case went bad and caused random boot fails and other times it would boot fine. Does it boot fine with Windows or any other LINUX disto?
OK... So today I tried booting Mint (after I ran memtest) and got the "No signal" message. I had to leave the room for a few minute, and when I came back, it had finished booting. I have tried leaving it for several minutes before and it hadnt helped, so I'm not sure why it worked this time.
I looked at the boot logs in "journalctl -b 0" and I found something interesting. In today's boot that went to "No Signal" for several minutes, I see a number of messages in red stating "watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#0 stuck for 22s! [kworker/0:2:92]". There were a whole bunch of the exact same warning, some of them stating CPU#1 had locked up, others saying CPU#0.
I did not remember seeing this in the log last night, so I compared this boot to "-b -1", and did not see this message anywhere.
Basically, yesterday's normal startup does not show any "CPU stuck" error, today's startup, which stalled for several minutes, does. Could this indicate the problem?
do any stacktraces follow the "lockups"?
what filesystem(s) ?
right now I'm wondering if fsck is running, and causing the lockups
basically we need "lines" above and below those Lockups
This reminds me of one of the computers I built that had a similar booting issue. What I found out was the reboot button on the case went bad and caused random boot fails and other times it would boot fine. Does it boot fine with Windows or any other LINUX disto?
It never has this problem booting to Windows. However, I had this exact problem when I first installed Fedora. Its one of the reasons (there were others) that I switched to Mint. I was hoping switching to Mint would fix this, but it didn't.
It never has this problem booting to Windows. However, I had this exact problem when I first installed Fedora. Its one of the reasons (there were others) that I switched to Mint. I was hoping switching to Mint would fix this, but it didn't.
That rules out a hardware problem. That means there are issues with the boot loader (Grub). If you have Windows and Linux on one computer it can cause all kinds of issues including this. The only other thing is the settings in the BIOS might need to be changed. Disable secure boot then try to boot. If still no good, try changing in the BIOS to boot in Legacy mode. Then try booting. If all fails you can try a different distro, like MX Linux or one of the Ubuntu flavors like Xubuntu, Kubuntu.
This is making me drift away from the idea of a hardware problem
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMagicCookie
However, I had this exact problem when I first installed Fedora. Its one of the reasons (there were others) that I switched to Mint. I was hoping switching to Mint would fix this, but it didn't.
This could be a bug in the kernel
it might only be triggered with certain "older hardware" combinations
the stack traces ( which should be in the dmesg ) will begin to narrow things down
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.
Have to try several times to get Linux to boot
