blank screen after kernel upgrade from 5.4.10 to 5.5.0-1

This forum is for supported devices using an ARMv7 Samsung SoC.

blank screen after kernel upgrade from 5.4.10 to 5.5.0-1

Postby m040601 » Tue Jan 28, 2020 7:43 pm

blank screen after kernel upgrade from 5.4.10 to 5.5.0-1 on Samsung XE303c12 (snow)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've been running the mainline kernel for a couple of months. Since the panfrost driver inclusion performance of this little underrated machine has been very satisfying :D . Nothing like some years ago.

- Arch installed on the internal emcc.
- kernel partition is on /dev/mmcblk0p1
- root partition is on /dev/mmcblk0p2
- never flashrom'd or touched anything else (mmcblk0boot1/0), Google still owns my bootloader :x


(By the way, the wiki on this device needs an update (see bottom of this post NOTE1))

After C-d to boot, the screen goes into dark black (shuts off).
Nothing changes after a couple of minutes..
It seems it doesnt boot at all.
No Control-Alt-F keys work to change console.
I have a fixed ip address assigned by the router to this computer.
But, it doesnt show up in the network, so I cannot ssh from other computers in the network.

The only way I found to solve this, was to boot from a rescue (Arch) usb stick.
Tried fsck, no problems.I then mounted the root (/dev/mmcblk0p2) and then chrooted into it (arch-chroot). Tried reinstalling the same new versions again , 5.5.0-1, same problem.
I then decided to downgrade these two:
- linux-armv7-chromebook, https://archlinuxarm.org/packages/armv7 ... chromebook
- linux-armv7, https://archlinuxarm.org/packages/armv7h/linux-armv7
by copying the packages (5.4.10 ) from another system pkg cache, and pacman -U ...
Problem solved.

This has happend to me before a couple of months ago (running from USB sticks).
By the way, during pacman kernel upgrades that message:


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')ou need to flash a new kernel / Do you want to do it now ? y/N You can do it later with dd if=/boot/vm... of=...



is, to me, somewhat confusing and scrolls too fast. I need to be fast to press that "y" ; otherwise the upgrade just finishes without a new kernel being reflashed. If I wasnt paying attention, I didnt even noticed there was a kernel upgrade, and that I need to do this later by myselfe (the dd if=... of=...) to get that same kernel. Could the timeout be increased for the y/N message ? Could the message be made more prominent ? Some dashes or extra lines ?


NOTE1: wiki information on, https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv ... chromebook

I need to do another forum post, detailing my up to date , experience (very happy) with this almost 10 year old underrated chromebook, but for now just notice:

1. the section "Suspend when closing the lid" is no longer needed

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')nstall acpid and pm-utils: pacman -S acpid pm-utils


There's no need for installing acpi, nor uneeded extra utilities. The latest mainline kernels support suspend (to RAM) almost flawless in this chromebook. I havent had any issues, even suspending with X and firefox etc. . Change /etc/systemd/logind.conf to your taste and that's it.

2. the section "User permissions for backlight control" needs an update

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')o allow all users to modify the backlight control at /sys/class/backlight/pwm-backlight.0/brightness, create and edit the file /etc/tmpfiles.d/brightness.conf with these contents:

f /sys/class/backlight/pwm-backlight.0/brightness 0666 - - - 800


There is no "pwm" there:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'ls -l /sys/class/backlight/backlight/

-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 Jan 28 19:30 actual_brightness
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 Jan 28 19:30 bl_power
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root video 4096 Jan 28 18:28 brightness
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jan 28 19:30 device -> ../../../backlight
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 Jan 28 18:28 max_brightness
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 Jan 28 19:30 power
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 Jan 28 19:30 scale
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jan 28 18:28 subsystem -> ../../../../../class/backlight
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 Jan 28 18:28 type
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 Jan 28 18:28 uevent
')

A recomendation to install,
brightnessctl (armv7h) | Packages | Arch Linux ARM
https://archlinuxarm.org/packages/armv7h/brightnessctl

would be very helpfull to other users. It's on the pkg repos, simple and clean app, and works both on console and X. Easly bindable with xcape, sxhkd, etc No need for custom made scripts or c code.
m040601
 
Posts: 28
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2020 6:36 pm
Top

Re: blank screen after kernel upgrade from 5.4.10 to 5.5.0-1

Postby stronnag » Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:12 pm

Same problem with 5.5.0-1 and solution.
stronnag
 
Posts: 44
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:51 am

Re: blank screen after kernel upgrade from 5.4.10 to 5.5.0-1

Postby vacant » Wed Jan 29, 2020 9:18 am

I assumed the flash had misfired. Unfortunately I have the ggb(?) flag set for an instant boot so it doesn't wait for a ctrl-D or ctrl-U. At some stage years ago I opened the chromebook and fiddled with the tab.

Nothing on the forum at that time so escape-refresh-power to restore ChromeOS from chromeos_12105.100.0_daisy_recovery_stable-channel_snow-mp-v4.bin, making a card for ArchLinuxARM, then using that to install Arch to the internal MMC.

Obviously same result once I pacman -Suy a new kernel.

I'm just watching out for the next release http://nl.mirror.archlinuxarm.org/armv7h/core/

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'You need to flash a new kernel / Do you want to do it now ? y/N
')

Hmm, when this happens I have plenty of time to respond "y" - I wasn't even aware of a time out.

I've never had sound working with the mainline kernel. That would be nice but not what I use it for as my daily device.

Anyway .... I agree, what a great little machine. After years of abuse, carrying about with a thumb and two fingers the case has cracked in multiple places. The cable to the screen sometimes shorts and produces purple colours (fixed by opening and closing a few time or ripping off the surround and poking the cable). It's been like this at least the last four years but carries on.
vacant
 
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:27 am

Re: blank screen after kernel upgrade from 5.4.10 to 5.5.0-1

Postby stronnag » Wed Jan 29, 2020 6:49 pm

You can also build the Arch Arm install disk on any machine (e.g. x86_64) as `cgpt` is available anywhere (e.g extracted from a .deb), boot the media then chroot into the extant install and either copy over the install kernel or `pacman -U ` a saved package. Saves all that tedious chromos business.
stronnag
 
Posts: 44
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:51 am

Re: blank screen after kernel upgrade from 5.4.10 to 5.5.0-1

Postby vacant » Mon Feb 03, 2020 12:24 pm

Posted from 5.5.1-1, all booted up. :D
vacant
 
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:27 am

Re: blank screen after kernel upgrade from 5.4.10 to 5.5.0-1

Postby ak404 » Mon Feb 24, 2020 6:57 am

there is a blank screen but the kernel goes right through it. I'm so glad i caught this thread since i had one system that I had reserved with a not too far mainline kernel. Panfrost is very good thank you for you post.

I am happy too. One thing is I have another system mostly for chromeos kernel so I never kept it upgraded. Accelerations not the greatest. But maybe I can change the least amount of stuff and see it work super well who knows. :D

the kernel seems smart too, it seems we won't need to switch the cgpt -i partition variable even. and I think it relies on the firmware/modules directory all there. So if you do take a look into the arch linux most recent armv7 image you can grab those directory and make sure it transfer fully should boot.
ak404
 
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2017 5:54 am

Re: blank screen after kernel upgrade from 5.4.10 to 5.5.0-1

Postby JohnM » Sun Apr 12, 2020 8:53 pm

I experienced exactly the same problem when upgrading from kernel 5.5.11-1 to 5.6.2-1. After reverting to 5.5.11-1 all is good again.
JohnM
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2020 8:48 pm

Re: blank screen after kernel upgrade from 5.4.10 to 5.5.0-1

Postby vacant » Sun Apr 12, 2020 9:43 pm

+1

blacklisted this kernel, waiting to try the next version when it appears

EDIT 24 April - posting from 5.6.7-1 OK
vacant
 
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:27 am

Re: blank screen after kernel upgrade from 5.4.10 to 5.5.0-1

Postby JohnM » Sat Apr 25, 2020 11:21 am

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vacant', 'E')DIT 24 April - posting from 5.6.7-1 OK


Excellent. Many thanks for confirming. I'll upgrade.
JohnM
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2020 8:48 pm
Top

Re: blank screen after kernel upgrade from 5.4.10 to 5.5.0-1

Postby m040601 » Sun Apr 26, 2020 7:23 pm

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') experienced exactly the same problem when upgrading from kernel 5.5.11-1 to 5.6.2-1.


yeap, me too. Same thing again.


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '5').6.7-1 OK


Haven't tried this yet. I'm gonna wait a little longer. There's also a problem with the dhcp update frome verson 8. to version 9 on x86 arch. So l'm holding these two for now.
m040601
 
Posts: 28
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2020 6:36 pm
Top

Next

Return to Samsung

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests