I've been running Mint 17.3 on a laptop for some time ... with nary a problem or complaint. Recently I got a hand-me-down PC (Sony PCG-11211L) with a bad hard drive ... it was at least 8 years old, so it wasn't exactly a premature failure. I replaced the hard drive and installed Linux Mint 18.2, dedicating the entire drive to the new OS. The installation went smoothly, and all seemed normal, until I restarted the computer. Initially I get the normal VAIO logo, then the screen goes black while the computer boots up. Then I hear the "chime" that signals that startup is complete, but the screen remains black.
A couple of items that may (or may not) point to a possible explanation. This machine has an Nvidia Geoforce graphics card with CUDA (whatever that is). I found an article about updating Nvidia drivers with Ubuntu based systems like Mint, but it appears that one has to do this while running Linux, and at the moment I can't run Linux. Second, the install disk also presented a black screen until I used the compatibility mode.
Any ideas would be appreciated!
Thanks.
[Solved] Black Screen on Startup
Forum rules
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
[Solved] Black Screen on Startup
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Re: Black Screen on Startup
Does it boot into Mint desktop using a live DVD or USB flash drive?
"Tolerance is the refuge of men without conviction."
"Common sense is not so common" - Voltaire
"Common sense is not so common" - Voltaire
Re: Black Screen on Startup
CUDA is nvidia graphics. I have a PCG-71811L with NVIDIA GeForce 410M. Works fine on LM Cinnamon 18.3 64-bit.
"Tolerance is the refuge of men without conviction."
"Common sense is not so common" - Voltaire
"Common sense is not so common" - Voltaire
-
slipstick
- Level 6
- Posts: 1071
- Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2012 9:56 pm
- Location: Somewhere on the /LL0 scale
Re: Black Screen on Startup
Try to use nomodeset as shown here (scroll down to "Solving freezes during the boot sequence") :
https://linuxmint.com/rel_sylvia_cinnamon.php
https://linuxmint.com/rel_sylvia_cinnamon.php
In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they ain't.
Re: Black Screen on Startup
It's fixed, and I kinda know how and why. The problem was caused by Nvidia GeForce. I was trying all kinds of things to find a solution, and I'm not exactly sure what was the silver bullet.
I shut the machine down and restarted with the installation disk in the dvd drive. When Mint started I went to the menu and selected compatibility mode, since that starts without video hardware acceleration. When I restarted the machine, the display was working and the welcome screen appeared. There was a folder labelled Drivers, which I opened, then selected update drivers. At some point another screen appeared showing an open source driver for nvidia, as well as two nvidia drivers. One was a legacy driver (3.04) and the other (3.40) which was marked as recommended. The open source driver had been selected at install, so I replaced that with the recommended driver. That solved the problem.
I'm not sure that booting from compatibility mode was what made things work. Maybe it was something else, or some combination of things. Regardless, I'm a happy camper this morning. I do wish I could be sure how I got to the update driver function, as others may encounter the problem I had. If I figure that out (don't anyone hold their breath!) I will be sure to add that to this thread.
Thanks to all who replied to my post.
I shut the machine down and restarted with the installation disk in the dvd drive. When Mint started I went to the menu and selected compatibility mode, since that starts without video hardware acceleration. When I restarted the machine, the display was working and the welcome screen appeared. There was a folder labelled Drivers, which I opened, then selected update drivers. At some point another screen appeared showing an open source driver for nvidia, as well as two nvidia drivers. One was a legacy driver (3.04) and the other (3.40) which was marked as recommended. The open source driver had been selected at install, so I replaced that with the recommended driver. That solved the problem.
I'm not sure that booting from compatibility mode was what made things work. Maybe it was something else, or some combination of things. Regardless, I'm a happy camper this morning. I do wish I could be sure how I got to the update driver function, as others may encounter the problem I had. If I figure that out (don't anyone hold their breath!) I will be sure to add that to this thread.
Thanks to all who replied to my post.