Upgraded to LM21 and after log in am no longer getting a display on laptop or HDMI connection

[ww3jr]

Hi All,

My Inspiron 1525 has the stock Intel GM965 graphics card and it seems the new version of Cinnamon does not like it. Using the clever new upgrade too I upgraded from 20.3 to 21 and all went smoothly until after the reboot. I have a Acer 20 inch HDMI monitor attached via the HDMI port. After the reboot, the login display appeared on the laptop and the normal background on the Acer as would be expected. Going through the login process both displays went blank with only the mouse pointer appearing on the laptop display but not responding to any mouse action. I have another Dell 1525 without the HDMI port and it upgraded without any problems. On the 1525 with the issue, I re-installed 20.3 and all is well.

Any thoughts on how I could resolve this issue would be greatly appreciated.

An update: If I unplug the HDMI cable the laptop display comes to life and works fine.

All be well.

A further update. I applied the update to the latest version of Cinnamon and it attempts to work but it makes the Acer display the 3rd monitor and works but after a reboot or restart must be reconfigured via the diaplay app. Very fustrating....

[SMG]

My Inspiron 1525 has the stock Intel GM965 graphics card and it seems the new version of Cinnamon does not like it.

Welcome to the forum, ww3jr.

Much more than just the Cinnamon version was changed for LM21. If you would like help with your issue, we would need to see the LM21 system data from the computer with the problem.

Please open the System Reports app, and click the System Information tab on the left. Your computer's information should come up in the right pane. Then click Copy, and paste the results into a reply window here so we can see how Linux Mint views your hardware.

[ww3jr]

Thanks for the reply on this issue. below is the information you requested. Thanks!!

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System:
  Kernel: 5.15.0-47-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.2.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.4.11
    tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: Mutter dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 21 Vanessa base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
  Type: Portable System: Dell product: Inspiron 1525 v: N/A serial: <superuser required> Chassis:
    type: 8 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0U990C serial: <superuser required> BIOS: Dell v: A16 date: 10/16/2008
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 20.7 Wh (54.9%) condition: 37.7/41.1 Wh (91.9%) volts: 12.2 min: 11.1
    model: DELL X409G8 serial: <filter> status: N/A
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: Intel Core2 Duo T5750 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Core Merom rev: D cache:
    L1: 128 KiB L2: 2 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1979 high: 1995 min/max: 1000/2000 cores: 1: 1964 2: 1995 bogomips: 7979
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell Inspiron 1525 driver: i915
    v: kernel ports: active: LVDS-1 empty: HDMI-A-1,SVIDEO-1,VGA-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0
    chip-ID: 8086:2a02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
    gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1280x800 s-dpi: 96
  Monitor-1: LVDS-1 model: LG Philips res: 1280x800 dpi: 98 diag: 390mm (15.4")
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel 965GM (CL) v: 2.1 Mesa 22.0.5 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 82801H HD Audio vendor: Dell Inspiron 1525 driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:284b
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-47-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Marvell 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet vendor: Dell Inspiron 1525 driver: sky2 v: 1.30
    pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: de00 bus-ID: 09:00.0 chip-ID: 11ab:4354
  IF: enp9s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Broadcom BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY vendor: Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card
    driver: wl v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 0b:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:4315
  IF: wlp11s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 238.47 GiB used: 25.46 GiB (10.7%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Transcend model: TS256GSSD420K size: 238.47 GiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s
    serial: <filter>
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 233.18 GiB used: 25.46 GiB (10.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 4 KiB (0.0%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 6 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
  Hub-3: 3-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0001
  Hub-4: 4-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0001
  Hub-5: 5-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0001
  Hub-6: 6-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0001
  Hub-7: 7-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0001
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 44.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 fan-2: 0 fan-3: 0
Repos:
  Packages: apt: 2253
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com vanessa main upstream import backport
    2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-source-repositories.list
    1: deb-src http: //packages.linuxmint.com vanessa main upstream import backport
    2: deb-src http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb-src http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb-src http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb-src http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
Info:
  Processes: 179 Uptime: 2m Memory: 2.9 GiB used: 864.6 MiB (29.1%) Init: systemd v: 249
  runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.2.0 alt: 11/9 Client: Unknown python3.10 client inxi: 3.3.13

[SMG]

A further update. I applied the update to the latest version of Cinnamon and it attempts to work but it makes the Acer display the 3rd monitor and works but after a reboot or restart must be reconfigured via the diaplay app. Very fustrating....

If it makes your external display the 3rd monitor, what are the first and second monitors?

Is this the information with no monitors attached? That is what the data seems to suggest.

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Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell Inspiron 1525 driver: i915
    v: kernel ports: active: LVDS-1 empty: HDMI-A-1,SVIDEO-1,VGA-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0
    chip-ID: 8086:2a02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
    gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1280x800 s-dpi: 96
  Monitor-1: LVDS-1 model: LG Philips res: 1280x800 dpi: 98 diag: 390mm (15.4")
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel 965GM (CL) v: 2.1 Mesa 22.0.5 direct render: Yes

Please provide the output of

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xrandr

with the monitor attached.

[ww3jr]

Not sure I can get the system to display a terminal window to do the xrandr command. After log in I lose both displays when the hdmi display is connected. Both displays go black. I will attempt tomorrow AM and post result if successful.

The display 3 appeared after the recent upgrade of cinnamon, it worked until the system was rebooted and has not worked since.

[ww3jr]

After walking away from this for a while and sleeping on it I thought that possibly if I waited for the display issue to time out the system would come to life. Well, that is what I found this morning. Below is the result of the xrandr command.

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Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 800, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS-1 connected primary 1280x800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 331mm x 207mm
   1280x800      60.02*+  59.99    59.97    59.81    59.91  
   1280x720      60.00    59.99    59.86    59.74  
   1024x768      60.04    60.00  
   960x720       60.00  
   928x696       60.05  
   896x672       60.01  
   1024x576      59.95    59.96    59.90    59.82  
   960x600       59.93    60.00  
   960x540       59.96    59.99    59.63    59.82  
   800x600       60.00    60.32    56.25  
   840x525       60.01    59.88  
   864x486       59.92    59.57  
   800x512       60.17  
   700x525       59.98  
   800x450       59.95    59.82  
   640x512       60.02  
   720x450       59.89  
   700x450       59.96    59.88  
   640x480       60.00    59.94  
   720x405       59.51    58.99  
   684x384       59.88    59.85  
   680x384       59.80    59.96  
   640x400       59.88    59.98  
   576x432       60.06  
   640x360       59.86    59.83    59.84    59.32  
   512x384       60.00  
   512x288       60.00    59.92  
   480x270       59.63    59.82  
   400x300       60.32    56.34  
   432x243       59.92    59.57  
   320x240       60.05  
   360x202       59.51    59.13  
   320x180       59.84    59.32  
VGA-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   1600x900      60.00 +
   1280x800      59.91  
   1152x864      75.00  
   1280x720      60.00  
   1024x768      75.03    70.07    60.00  
   832x624       74.55  
   800x600       72.19    75.00    60.32    56.25  
   640x480       75.00    72.81    66.67    59.94  
   720x400       70.08  
SVIDEO-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Note the HDMI is connected but the display is blank.

Here is the resulting system report output..

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System:
  Kernel: 5.15.0-47-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.2.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.4.12
    tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: Mutter dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 21 Vanessa base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
  Type: Portable System: Dell product: Inspiron 1525 v: N/A serial: <superuser required> Chassis:
    type: 8 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0U990C serial: <superuser required> BIOS: Dell v: A16 date: 10/16/2008
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 20.7 Wh (54.9%) condition: 37.7/41.1 Wh (91.9%) volts: 12.2 min: 11.1
    model: DELL X409G8 serial: <filter> status: N/A
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: Intel Core2 Duo T5750 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Core Merom rev: D cache:
    L1: 128 KiB L2: 2 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1995 min/max: 1000/2000 cores: 1: 1995 2: 1995 bogomips: 7979
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell Inspiron 1525 driver: i915
    v: kernel ports: active: LVDS-1 off: HDMI-A-1 empty: SVIDEO-1,VGA-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0
    chip-ID: 8086:2a02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
    gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1280x800 s-dpi: 96
  Monitor-1: LVDS-1 model: LG Philips res: 1280x800 dpi: 98 diag: 390mm (15.4")
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel 965GM (CL) v: 2.1 Mesa 22.0.5 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 82801H HD Audio vendor: Dell Inspiron 1525 driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:284b
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-47-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Marvell 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet vendor: Dell Inspiron 1525 driver: sky2 v: 1.30
    pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: de00 bus-ID: 09:00.0 chip-ID: 11ab:4354
  IF: enp9s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Broadcom BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY vendor: Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card
    driver: wl v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 0b:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:4315
  IF: wlp11s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 238.47 GiB used: 33.08 GiB (13.9%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Transcend model: TS256GSSD420K size: 238.47 GiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s
    serial: <filter>
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 233.18 GiB used: 33.08 GiB (14.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 4 KiB (0.0%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 6 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
  Hub-3: 3-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0001
  Hub-4: 4-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0001
  Hub-5: 5-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0001
  Hub-6: 6-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0001
  Hub-7: 7-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0001
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 61.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 fan-2: 0 fan-3: 0
Repos:
  Packages: 2259 apt: 2253 flatpak: 6
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com vanessa main upstream import backport
    2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-source-repositories.list
    1: deb-src http: //packages.linuxmint.com vanessa main upstream import backport
    2: deb-src http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb-src http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb-src http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb-src http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
Info:
  Processes: 208 Uptime: 20m Memory: 2.9 GiB used: 1.43 GiB (49.2%) Init: systemd v: 249
  runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.2.0 alt: 11/9 Client: Unknown python3.10 client inxi: 3.3.13

I hope this helps.... Thanks

[SMG]

The first line shows the current screen is 1280x800 instead of the sum of the two connected screens. For each attached screen, *= current resolution and += preferred resolution. However, for the HDMI, there is no current resolution showing.

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Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 800, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS-1 connected primary 1280x800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 331mm x 207mm
   1280x800      60.02*+  59.99    59.97    59.81    59.91  
HDMI-1 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   1600x900      60.00 +

The inxi output is indicating the HDMI is off (which would explain why it is blank and no current resolution is showing).

Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell Inspiron 1525 driver: i915
v: kernel ports: active: LVDS-1 off: HDMI-A-1 empty: SVIDEO-1,VGA-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0
chip-ID: 8086:2a02
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1280x800 s-dpi: 96
Monitor-1: LVDS-1 model: LG Philips res: 1280x800 dpi: 98 diag: 390mm (15.4")
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel 965GM (CL) v: 2.1 Mesa 22.0.5 direct render: Yes

When you go into the Display app, is the correct make and model information showing for the Acer monitor?

[ww3jr]

Yes, the correct make and model is given. Another thing I noticed is after boot, the system report indicates that that my attention is required but when I go to see what there is nothing wrong. This thing is really messing with me...

[ww3jr]

Progress, at least a step forward.
I have an identical Inspiron 1525 that is currently running 20.3. The with the Acer display plugged into the HDMI port the system comes up, recognizes the Acer and works normally. The display function show the Acer as the second display with the Resolution of 1600 X 900, Refresh Rate of 60.0 V-sync and Rotation of Landscape. When I go to the Inspiron running 21 with the Acer plugged into the HDMI port, the Display Refresh Rate is 60.02 but no V-sync.

So having noting to lose as this is an scratch system, I aske DuckDuckGo How to turn V-Sync on in Linux Mint. Found an Intel Vsync Problem solution from 6 years ago at
community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2304. Again since this is a scratch system I followed the solution there, rebooted the system and problem solved. Well sort of. The system now thinks it has an unknown display as display 3 (not sure where that come from) but this is a step forward on coming up with a solution.

[SMG]

Yes, the correct make and model is given. Another thing I noticed is after boot, the system report indicates that that my attention is required but when I go to see what there is nothing wrong.

I seem to recall a post where someone else mentioned something similar, but I do not recall the specifics to be able to find it.

Progress, at least a step forward.
I have an identical Inspiron 1525 that is currently running 20.3. The with the Acer display plugged into the HDMI port the system comes up, recognizes the Acer and works normally. The display function show the Acer as the second display with the Resolution of 1600 X 900, Refresh Rate of 60.0 V-sync and Rotation of Landscape. When I go to the Inspiron running 21 with the Acer plugged into the HDMI port, the Display Refresh Rate is 60.02 but no V-sync.

Now I am confused. You said in your first post you said you had two computers and one without HDMI upgraded without problems to LM21 and the one with HDMI had problems. Now you are saying you have two computers with HDMI and one is running LM20.3 and the other is running LM21.

So having noting to lose as this is an scratch system, I aske DuckDuckGo How to turn V-Sync on in Linux Mint. Found an Intel Vsync Problem solution from 6 years ago at
community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2304. Again since this is a scratch system I followed the solution there, rebooted the system and problem solved. Well sort of. The system now thinks it has an unknown display as display 3 (not sure where that come from) but this is a step forward on coming up with a solution.

A solution for LM18 is not really appropriate for use in LM21. Linux Mint does not use custom xorg files nowadays like was needed for LM18. Also, your system is not using the intel display driver. It uses modesetting (which is what most modern Intel graphics use). Unless you also have a custom xorg.conf file in LM20.3, then that solution is not really relevant to this issue.

[ww3jr]

I have 2 identical Dell systems, both with HDMI ports The first system where this all began was running LM20.3 and I ran the upgrade process to 21. Restarting after the upgrade is when I noticed the issue with the external display not working. I messed with it for a while and decided to re-install the 20.3 system and reconfigure the system back to the way I had it. So now I have a stable system to use.

A friend gave me the second system so I decided to use it as my scratch system to see if I could come up with a solution to this issue. I installed 20.3 on the scratch system, it worked with the Acer display. I upgraded to 21 and the same issue presented itself. I came here to this forum for help.

Today, I got to thinking about what the difference was between 20.3 and 21. I ran the display function on the 20.3 system and noted that the refresh rate was 60Hz with V-sync was being used. Running the display function on the 21 system, V-sync was not being used so I went in search of what V-sync was and came across the solution mentioned above and decided to try it. Again this is a scratch system, if I break it, no big deal I still have my good system running 20.3. It may not be the best solution but right now it is a solution until a better one is presented.

What better way to learn these systems but to find solutions to problems. I am a retired software engineer with 40+ years in the business,

[ww3jr]

Part of learning is trial and error. I've found that my solution was not correct, it worked for a while then became unpredictable. So the search continues. Thanks to SMG for your kind support of this issue.

[SMG]

Part of learning is trial and error. I've found that my solution was not correct, it worked for a while then became unpredictable.

Could you go into more detail of what "unpredictable" means in your situation?

[ww3jr]

On system start up and log in, the acer display was not always usable. For example, if the acer display was powered up and went to sleep mode, like i forgot to power it off when shutting down the system, it would not come out of sleep mode. It was recognized as display 2 but it was black. If the Acer went into sleep mode while in use, not always would it come out of sleep mode. I tried a different display with the same results. I'm thinking to go back to 20.3 via fresh install and be done with this.

[SMG]

Were you running the 5.15 or the 5.4 kernel on LM20.3? It may be that the older kernel is a better match for your hardware.

LM20.3 is supported through April 2025 so it is perfectly fine to continue using it.

[ww3jr]

Running 5.4.0 kernel on Mint 20.3. Thanks for your help and patients with this old hack.