[SOLVED] Black screen after AMD drivers' update

[Daniel_AYA-AZZ]

Hello, I've been using Linux Mint 18.3 Cinnamon 64 bits the last two weeks trying to solve an abusive number of problems through this forum, but today I messes up big time...

When I turned on the PC, the screen resolution was terribly low. After a lot of searching, errors, files not found, etc., I decided to just download the AMD Catalyst for Radeon HD 6000 series (the version specific for Linux). I ran the file and it froze near the end. I restarted the PC and tried another approach (I can't tell you every single step because I was desperately searching for info everywhere). After that, it let me install the drivers and asked me to reboot. Now all I have is a black screen after the Linux Mint logo.

Compatibility mode doesn't work and neither does using nomodeset. I wanted to see if I could reinstall Linux to fix the problem, but I don't know how and, as I said, my screen doesn't display anything at all.

I would really appreciate any assistande you can give me and my apologies if I'm writing this where I shouldn't.

[WharfRat]

Hello Daniel

Welcome to Linux Mint and the Linux Mint forum

Installing anything outside the official repos is always dangerous as you have now found out.

Are you able to press the CTL-ALT-F1 keys to get to a console where you can logon

If you can logon enter cd /etc/X11 then ls -lh xorg.conf

If there is an xorg.conf file enter sudo mv -v xorg.conf xorg.conf.back

Then sudo reboot to see if that fixes it.

[Daniel_AYA-AZZ]

Thank you very much for answering so quickly. Unfortunatelly, CTRL+ALT+F1 doesn't work. I guess the keyboard isn't responding as the green light from the numpad isn't on...

Is there any other way in which I could use that command? For example, using Linux Live CD bios or something like that? (Sorry, I know how to use a computer, but I suck when it comes to being more "savvy").

And by the way, the AMD Catalyst was from the original AMD page, but I saw on the page that it was a version of 2015... and it says that it works with kernel up to 3 and I had 4 and something... I can't believed I overlooked something like that...

[WharfRat]

That file, if there is one, can be accessed from the media you used to install Mint.

So boot up the pen drive or whatever, open the terminal application and paste back the results of sudo blkid

[Daniel_AYA-AZZ]

Sorry for the delay. I was trying to upload a photo to the forum, but it's a pain using a smartphone for it.

Um... Basically, I'm at the part in which says:

Welcome to Linux Mint 18.3 Cinnamon 64-bit
Start Linux Mint
Start in compatibility mode
OEM install (for manufacturers)
Integrity check
Memory test
Boot from local drive
Press Tab to edit options

So... do I just press Tab and write the commands? I must tell you, clicking on anything leads me to the black screen, so I cannot advance further than this.

[Mattyboy]

fyi AMD Catalyst drivers do not work in Mint 18. They do in 17.3 so if you need those you'll have to install the older version.

From your live boot just select to boot to the live desktop from there you'll be able to access your drive with the install on it and run those commands, they should revert you back to the open source drivers. RE-boot back into your installed system and run a purge on the AMD drivers.

[WharfRat]

I don't remember having all those options, but its been a long time since I did an an install.

You are booting the live media - right

I guess you would choose Start Linux Mint if you're in the right place

[Daniel_AYA-AZZ]

Sorry for the delay, it was midnight where I live and I went to bed.

Anyway, as I'm still very lost at what to do or how, despite your indications, I decided to record the booting process of my PC.

First, I show what happens when I try to boot normally and then what happens when I boot the installation disk of Linux (some things are in Spanish, so if you don't understand something, please, let me know).

P.S.: However, and I don't know if this happened because I've been restarting the computer a lot, now the live CD loads a different menu from what I told you in my last post.

https://youtu.be/CsWJitTzNeY

[WharfRat]

I can see from your video that you're not booting to the cdrom even after setting it in the BIOS.

That I can't explain because it should work.

Is there some setting when choosing the boot menu for UEFI boot or something like that

Is your original installation UEFI or legacy

I forget the exact terminology

[md419]

When the screen goes black, have you tried pressing the Esc key to see if any messages appear?

[Mattyboy]

Looks like you can get GRUB... so..

Remove the DVD.
Turn on the computer and press either shift or esc key to get to the GRUB menu.
Move down to the advanced boot options and press enter.
The System will perform checks and try to repair them. It's likely it won't be able to and should then give you the option to sign into the shell.
Do so using your screen name and then your password.
Once you're logged in run the commands already given to you in the above posts.

Use

Code: Select all

shutdown -r now

to re-boot the system when you're finished.

[Daniel_AYA-AZZ]

Thank you, thank you, thank you very much to all of you!!! In case somebody else needs to now, I followed Mattyboy's steps and it turned on! It's finally on! The computer has boot in safe mode now. I'm kind of afraid of turning it off or touching anything. It is telling me to restart. Should I?

[WharfRat]

Did you check for the xorg.conf file and rename it if there was one

[Daniel_AYA-AZZ]

Yes, I did it in a terminal during the boot. I guess the file was renamed as I have opened a terminal to look for it an it says "ls: cannot access to 'xorg.conf': The file or location doesn't exist" (this is me translating from Spanish, I imagine it is more or less clear though).

[WharfRat]

OK, then cross your fingers and reboot.

[Daniel_AYA-AZZ]

Ok, I backed up the files I was worried about loosin and restarted the PC. It went well, although it still says "Cinnamon had a fatal internal error. The system is in recovery mode". I'm not going to touch anything else for now (unless you tell me otherwise).

[WharfRat]

If you're in recovery then you should be in a console, so enter cd /etc/modprobe.d then grep radeon *

Do you get anything other than

Code: Select all

[bill@XPS] /etc/modprobe.d $ grep radeon *
blacklist-framebuffer.conf:blacklist radeonfb
fbdev-blacklist.conf:blacklist radeonfb
[bill@XPS] /etc/modprobe.d $ 

[Daniel_AYA-AZZ]

Yep, some things are different. This is what it says:

Code: Select all

blacklist-fglrx.conf:# radeon conflicts with AMD Linux Graphic Driver
blacklist-fglrx.conf:blacklist radeon
blacklist-framebuffer.conf:blacklist radeonfb
fbdev-blacklist.conf:blacklist radeonfb

[WharfRat]

OK, delete those blacklist-fglrx files sudo rm blacklist-fglrx* then reboot

[Daniel_AYA-AZZ]

Ok, I did what you said, but the black screen is back... Should I repeat the process I did to fix it earlier?