[SOLVED] Black screen at boot hides grub (but boot still works)

lucmove · 12-04-2018, 10:25 PM

That happens sometimes: I boot up and never get to see the grub menu because the screen is completely black, as if it's turned off. Google shows me many similar stories, but not quite the same because the machine won't boot in those cases. Mine does. It remains black for a while then it comes on when (or because?) there is a Luks crypto prompt for a password.

It doesn't happen every time, which makes things even more mysterious for me. Does anyone here know why that happens?

I wonder if I should have posted this in the Hardware section.

TIA

ondoho · 12-05-2018, 02:23 PM

my monitor is slow to switch on, sometimes the boot is already past the POST when it finally comes on.
maybe a similar problem here?
can you still enter the passwd?

lucmove · 12-05-2018, 03:20 PM

Could be, but it doesn't happen most of the time.
Yes, I can enter the password and boot up.

KenJackson · 12-06-2018, 10:29 AM

You're PC isn't by chance a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop, is it? There's a known bug in the Intel graphics driver that has no priority.

lucmove · 12-06-2018, 10:33 AM

No, it's a desktop of no particular brand provided by a systems integrator. Asus motherboard and Intel CPU.
The video card is Intel though. So maybe you're on to something.

KenJackson · 12-06-2018, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucmove

Asus motherboard and Intel CPU.
The video card is Intel though. So maybe you're on to something.

Here's some stuff displayed by the dmesg command on mine. Grep for some of this stuff to see if it's the same on yours.

Code:

[114397.621804] [drm:drm_atomic_helper_wait_for_flip_done [drm_kms_helper]] *ERROR* [CRTC:41:pipe B] flip_done timed out
[114397.722850] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[114397.722857] vblank wait timed out on crtc 1
[114397.723037] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 779 at drivers/gpu/drm/drm_vblank.c:1084 drm_wait_one_vblank+0x161/0x170 [drm]
[114397.723040] Modules linked in: xt_CHECKSUM ipt_MASQUERADE tun bridge stp llc ...
[114397.723178]  cfg80211 dcdbas joydev i2c_i801 dell_smm_hwmon rfkill r592 snd_timer ...
[114397.723251] CPU: 0 PID: 779 Comm: Xorg Tainted: G     W      4.19.5-300.fc29.x86_64 #1
[114397.723254] Hardware name: Dell Inc. Inspiron 1525        /0U990C, BIOS A13 06/27/2008
...

lucmove · 12-06-2018, 01:22 PM

I think I don't have any of that.

Code:

dmesg | grep -i warning
[    5.975821] ACPI Warning: SystemIO range 0x0000000000000428-0x000000000000042F conflicts with OpRegion 0x0000000000000400-0x000000000000047F (\PMIO) (20160831/utaddress-247)
[    5.975826] ACPI Warning: SystemIO range 0x0000000000000540-0x000000000000054F conflicts with OpRegion 0x0000000000000500-0x0000000000000563 (\GPIO) (20160831/utaddress-247)
[    5.975829] ACPI Warning: SystemIO range 0x0000000000000540-0x000000000000054F conflicts with OpRegion 0x0000000000000500-0x000000000000057F (\_SB.PCI0.LPCB.GPBX) (20160831/utaddress-247)
[    5.975831] ACPI Warning: SystemIO range 0x0000000000000530-0x000000000000053F conflicts with OpRegion 0x0000000000000500-0x0000000000000563 (\GPIO) (20160831/utaddress-247)
[    5.975833] ACPI Warning: SystemIO range 0x0000000000000530-0x000000000000053F conflicts with OpRegion 0x0000000000000500-0x000000000000057F (\_SB.PCI0.LPCB.GPBX) (20160831/utaddress-247)
[    5.975835] ACPI Warning: SystemIO range 0x0000000000000500-0x000000000000052F conflicts with OpRegion 0x0000000000000500-0x0000000000000563 (\GPIO) (20160831/utaddress-247)
[    5.975836] ACPI Warning: SystemIO range 0x0000000000000500-0x000000000000052F conflicts with OpRegion 0x0000000000000500-0x000000000000057F (\_SB.PCI0.LPCB.GPBX) (20160831/utaddress-247)
[    5.975838] ACPI Warning: SystemIO range 0x0000000000000500-0x000000000000052F conflicts with OpRegion 0x0000000000000500-0x000000000000050F (\_GPE.GPIO) (20160831/utaddress-247)

I can't reboot, I've got pots on the stove I can't turn off right now. Will check again later. Thanks.

mrmazda · 12-06-2018, 11:57 PM

Some BIOS POST too fast. Some displays wake up slowly, some very much too slowly, if at all, until they get a mode change command from the kernel. When slow display and fast POST combine, things can happen that cannot be seen. Maybe all you need is a longer GRUB_TIMEOUT= in /etc/default/grub/ (followed by updating grub.cfg).

lucmove · 04-02-2019, 12:33 PM

I know Linux forum people get all up in arms when we exhume an old thread, but I thought I should come around and let you know that I've found out what was happening.

I have a second monitor that I use very seldom, and the "black screen at boot hides grub" problem only happens when I do have the second monitor connected and turned on.

So grub or whatever must be showing on the second monitor, which takes a little longer to light up and display image than the primary one. That's all I know, but I think it's enough.

This is SOLVED. Thank you for your attention.