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Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
Hi all,
First time posting on here. I've been working on a system for several years, and have never needed to post as I've always been able to search my way around a problem.
I've had debian running on a basic windows tablet for several years. I was able to clone and remake the tablets with the required setup. The tablets were discontinued and since then it's been a world of pain. Every bottom end windows tablet I've tried has the same issue, even tablets with seemingly the same hardware specs.
The issue is that once a basic debian install is complete (jessie or stretch), the tablet boots into a black screen after grub. Adding nomodeset into the grub boot line allows the display to boot, but nothing I've tried will allow the tablet to use the graphics properly.
I've had to leave this and come back to it a number of times, so I've not got a list of all the things I've tried, but it includes uninstalling/installing intel packages etc.
Am I missing something?
Cheers for the help in advance, running out of hair to pull out...
First time posting on here. I've been working on a system for several years, and have never needed to post as I've always been able to search my way around a problem.
I've had debian running on a basic windows tablet for several years. I was able to clone and remake the tablets with the required setup. The tablets were discontinued and since then it's been a world of pain. Every bottom end windows tablet I've tried has the same issue, even tablets with seemingly the same hardware specs.
The issue is that once a basic debian install is complete (jessie or stretch), the tablet boots into a black screen after grub. Adding nomodeset into the grub boot line allows the display to boot, but nothing I've tried will allow the tablet to use the graphics properly.
I've had to leave this and come back to it a number of times, so I've not got a list of all the things I've tried, but it includes uninstalling/installing intel packages etc.
Am I missing something?
Cheers for the help in advance, running out of hair to pull out...
Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
There are some sections in the installation guide that might help you.
System requirements are here,
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/ ... 02.html.en
Information you will need is here,
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/ ... 03.html.en
The first thing I try to find out when I hear "Black Screen" is whether the system is booting, but hanging on the display manager startup.
If you can boot to single user, or get to login prompt at a tty with ctrl-alt-F2 then the problem is probably the dm or graphics setup/firmware, etc.
There's really no point trying to guess what the problem might be without hardware details, every machien is different. Might be a good idea to try and boot a live system on usb.
System requirements are here,
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/ ... 02.html.en
Information you will need is here,
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/ ... 03.html.en
The first thing I try to find out when I hear "Black Screen" is whether the system is booting, but hanging on the display manager startup.
If you can boot to single user, or get to login prompt at a tty with ctrl-alt-F2 then the problem is probably the dm or graphics setup/firmware, etc.
There's really no point trying to guess what the problem might be without hardware details, every machien is different. Might be a good idea to try and boot a live system on usb.
resigned by AI ChatGPT
Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
Hi bw123, thanks for the reply.
The tty isn't available, but Linux has booted up. My understanding is using nomodeset in grub forces the graphics to use bios settings rather than kernel settings. As this allows a graphical display to work, I assume it's a graphics/kernel issue. How would you go about debugging this?
Thanks
The tty isn't available, but Linux has booted up. My understanding is using nomodeset in grub forces the graphics to use bios settings rather than kernel settings. As this allows a graphical display to work, I assume it's a graphics/kernel issue. How would you go about debugging this?
Thanks
Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
nomodeset is kind of old-fashioned way to work around the problem, I don't think modern hardware/drivers will run X correctly with it anymore. They require kernel modesetting to function correctly? but since you can boot with it, gather some hardware info.
lspci -v is fine for me, some people prefer output from pkg inxi
It can be quite a lot of output, so use code tags on forum, or post to paste.debian.net and give the forum the link.
It's not debugging, it's installation, you need to ID the hardware and set it up correctly. You don't mention how old is the machine? or much of anything else, atom windows tablet is pretty vague... you mentioned intel, okay what do you want a scooby snack?.
you said 'basic debian install' I'm not sure what that means? please use stretch/stable.
p.s. found this on a websearch for https://duckduckgo.com/html/?q=kernel+p ... +nomodeset
https://askubuntu.com/questions/716957/ ... eters-mean
lspci -v is fine for me, some people prefer output from pkg inxi
It can be quite a lot of output, so use code tags on forum, or post to paste.debian.net and give the forum the link.
It's not debugging, it's installation, you need to ID the hardware and set it up correctly. You don't mention how old is the machine? or much of anything else, atom windows tablet is pretty vague... you mentioned intel, okay what do you want a scooby snack?.
you said 'basic debian install' I'm not sure what that means? please use stretch/stable.
p.s. found this on a websearch for https://duckduckgo.com/html/?q=kernel+p ... +nomodeset
https://askubuntu.com/questions/716957/ ... eters-mean
The newest kernels have moved the video mode setting into the kernel. So all the programming of the hardware specific clock rates and registers on the video card happen in the kernel rather than in the X driver when the X server starts.. This makes it possible to have high resolution nice looking splash (boot) screens and flicker free transitions from boot splash to login screen. Unfortunately, on some cards this doesn't work properly and you end up with a black screen. Adding the nomodeset parameter instructs the kernel to not load video drivers and use BIOS modes instead until X is loaded.
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Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
The reason I didn't post more details about the hardware is because I've tried this on half a dozen different, bottom end, intel atom windows tablets. As I mentioned before, I had this working fine on a previous tablet with near identical specs.
By basic installation I mean I downloaded "debian-9.5.0-i386-DVD-1.iso" to a usb stick, ran through a basic install. This worked fine on the several old tablets I had, the new ones have been bought within the last few months. Most of the new ones had a cherrytrail atom processor, so I also bought one with a baytrail atom processor same as the old tablet, but they all behave the same.
I'm currently away from home. When I've got access to the tablets I'll get the hardware information from a new tablet (not working) and an old tablet (working) for comparison.
I can also take the clone I used for my old tablet, copy onto a new tablet, and the result is the tablet works as expected as long as I edit the grub file with nomodeset.
By basic installation I mean I downloaded "debian-9.5.0-i386-DVD-1.iso" to a usb stick, ran through a basic install. This worked fine on the several old tablets I had, the new ones have been bought within the last few months. Most of the new ones had a cherrytrail atom processor, so I also bought one with a baytrail atom processor same as the old tablet, but they all behave the same.
I'm currently away from home. When I've got access to the tablets I'll get the hardware information from a new tablet (not working) and an old tablet (working) for comparison.
I can also take the clone I used for my old tablet, copy onto a new tablet, and the result is the tablet works as expected as long as I edit the grub file with nomodeset.
Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
As requested here are the outputs from three tablets:
http://paste.debian.net/1047672
Thanks for your help, what would you recommend next to try and "fix" my install issue?
http://paste.debian.net/1047672
Thanks for your help, what would you recommend next to try and "fix" my install issue?
Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
Your display devices aren't loading any driver, you need to load the i915 like in the old machine's output. I would install the intel pkg, then rebuild the initramfs. Try and boot to single user mode, without the 'nomodeset' parameter.nz_kiwi wrote:As requested here are the outputs from three tablets:
http://paste.debian.net/1047672
Thanks for your help, what would you recommend next to try and "fix" my install issue?
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$ apt policy xserver-xorg-video-intel
xserver-xorg-video-intel:
Installed: 2:2.99.917+git20161206-1
Candidate: 2:2.99.917+git20161206-1
Version table:
*** 2:2.99.917+git20161206-1 500
500 http://deb.debian.org/debian stretch/main amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
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$ ls /usr/share/doc/xserver-xorg-video-intel/
changelog.Debian.gz copyright README xorg.conf
changelog.gz NEWS.gz README.Debian
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$ lspci -v | grep -m 2 -e Kernel
Kernel driver in use: i915
Kernel modules: i915
Anything show up with grep dmesg for error, firmware, intel, etc...
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# dmesg | grep drm
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Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
The i915 driver is part of the kernel; the xserver-xorg-video-intel package provides the Intel DDX driver and Debian actually recommend uninstalling that in favour of Xorg's builtin modesetting driver if the hardware is recent.bw123 wrote:Your display devices aren't loading any driver, you need to load the i915 like in the old machine's output. I would install the intel pkg, then rebuild the initramfs.
@OP: do the devices work if you try a distribution with a newer kernel?
deadbang
Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
All the later tablets I've tried have had this problem with the earlier kernel and the later kernel that installs with Debian 9.5
Is the lack of display driver because of using nomodeset?
Is the lack of display driver because of using nomodeset?
Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
Yes, but but modesetting driver isn't listed as available either by lspci. I was hoping the OP would imitate me and show some output, or maybe find a problem with apt when trying to install it. The lack of modules capable in lspci output is a little odd. Man page says that has been available since kernel 2.6 or so. The "kernel modules: " line is missing for all entries, not just display device, so no, that would not be from 'nomodeset' parameter.Head_on_a_Stick wrote: The i915 driver is part of the kernel; the xserver-xorg-video-intel package provides the Intel DDX driver and Debian actually recommend uninstalling...
If you don't want to show any info like kernel ver, versions of pkgs installed, and the dmesg output it's going to be hard to help. Those things could be related to the problem. I showed you how it works for me on stretch, that's the best I can do.
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Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
I posted the entire output of lspci, the kernel information wasn't in there, I haven't withheld any information. Why would it be missing?
Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
On the old tablet with old kernel:
New tablet with new kernel (fresh install of Debian 9.5):
New tablet with old kernel (error exists, needs nomodeset):
Old tablet with old kernel (no error exists):
New tablet with new kernel (error exists, needs nomodeset):
Any suggestions?
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uname -a
Linux debian 3.16.0-4-686-pae #1 SMP Debian 3.16.36-1+deb8u2 (2016-10-19) i686 GNU/Linux
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uname -a
Linux debian 4.9.0.7-686-pae #1 SMP Debian 4.9.110-3+deb9u2 (2018-08-13) i686 GNU/Linux
Code: Select all
$ lspci -v | grep -m 2 -e Kernel
Kernel driver in use: iosf_mbi_pci
Kernel modules: xhci_hcd
Code: Select all
$ lspci -v | grep -m 2 -e Kernel
Kernel driver in use: iosf_mbi_pci
Kernel modules: i915
Code: Select all
$ lspci -v | grep -m 2 -e Kernel
Kernel driver in use: iosf_mbi_pci
Kernel modules: i915
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Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
The Debian stretch kernel is not new, it is ancient.
I think the current version is 4.18 or something.
I think the current version is 4.18 or something.
deadbang
Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
That's the kernel that installs with the stable 9.5.
The old tablet, which had very similar hardware, runs on kernel 3.16.
How I can I work out why the new tablets do not work on either kernel when the old one does?
The old tablet, which had very similar hardware, runs on kernel 3.16.
How I can I work out why the new tablets do not work on either kernel when the old one does?
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Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
Yes, I know. The latest version of the kernel found in Debian stable is very old, try a different distribution's live ISO and see if their newer kernel makes stuff work.nz_kiwi wrote:That's the kernel that installs with the stable 9.5
deadbang
Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
I'm really only wanting them to be a screen and processor, with a bit of BT usage. Everything works except for the screen, which is a bit fundamental...
What about installing the latest Sid kernel alongside the latest stable, and then grub boot into it?
Do you mean try mint or another Linux distribution, or try Sid?Head_on_a_Stick wrote: Yes, I know. The latest version of the kernel found in Debian stable is very old, try a different distribution's live ISO and see if their newer kernel makes stuff work.
What about installing the latest Sid kernel alongside the latest stable, and then grub boot into it?
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Re: Intel Atom Windows Tablet "Black screen" issue
You should probably try the backported kernel instead, you can install the metapackage so you get (delayed) updates.nz_kiwi wrote:What about installing the latest Sid kernel alongside the latest stable, and then grub boot into it?
https://backports.debian.org/
deadbang