Random black screen after fresh install on HP Spectre

Hi guys!

I’m getting black screen during startup (caps lock doesn’t work) on my hp spectre ( https://www.amazon.in/dp/B077BHT61N/ )

Previously I was getting it when thunderbolt plugged in. I tried system update, Now I’m getting it even with/without charging plugged in. Fallback initramfs is also behaving randomly now.

Any ideas how to debug it? Didn’t find anything in boot.log.

1 Like

Give us output of

inxi -Fxxxza
2 Likes

Just me but whenever I start experiencing random weirdness like that I test a different kernel. It's always good to have more than one installed regardless.

3 Likes
System:
  Kernel: 5.9.1-zen2-1-zen x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen 
  root=UUID=653b750f-6587-41db-b3c9-60caa745580f rw rootflags=subvol=@ 
  splash loglevel=3 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 4.6.7 tk: GTK 3.24.23 wm: muffin dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Garuda Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Convertible System: HP 
  product: HP Spectre x360 Convertible 13-ap0xxx v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 31 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: HP model: 8514 v: 09.72 serial: <filter> UEFI: AMI v: F.40 
  date: 11/29/2019 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 1.5 Wh condition: 57.2/57.2 Wh (100%) volts: 15.9/15.4 
  model: HP Primary type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Charging 
  Device-1: hid-0018:04F3:2812.0001-battery model: ELAN2514:00 04F3:2812 
  serial: N/A charge: N/A status: N/A 
CPU:
  Info: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-8565U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake family: 6 model-id: 8E (142) stepping: B (11) 
  microcode: CA L2 cache: 8192 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 31999 
  Speed: 4511 MHz min/max: 400/4600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 4511 2: 4558 
  3: 4491 4: 4299 5: 4298 6: 4513 7: 4294 8: 4286 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled 
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable 
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
  Type: spec_store_bypass 
  mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
  Type: spectre_v1 
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, 
  IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB filling 
  Type: srbds status: Vulnerable: No microcode 
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: i915 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:3ea0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: intel unloaded: modesetting 
  alternate: fbdev,vesa display ID: :0 screens: 1 
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x2160 s-dpi: 48 s-size: 2032x1143mm (80.0x45.0") 
  s-diag: 2331mm (91.8") 
  Monitor-1: eDP1 res: 3840x2160 hz: 60 dpi: 336 size: 290x170mm (11.4x6.7") 
  diag: 336mm (13.2") 
  Message: Unable to show advanced data. Required tool glxinfo missing. 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP High Definition Audio 
  vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: sof-audio-pci 
  alternate: snd_hda_intel,snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci bus ID: 00:1f.3 
  chip ID: 8086:9dc8 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.9.1-zen2-1-zen 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP CNVi [Wireless-AC] driver: iwlwifi 
  v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 00:14.3 chip ID: 8086:9df0 
  IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 8.16 GiB (1.7%) 
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends 
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Toshiba model: N/A size: 476.94 GiB block size: 
  physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> 
  rev: AAHA4102 scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw size: 107.42 GiB size: 107.42 GiB (100.00%) 
  used: 8.16 GiB (7.6%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 
  ID-2: /home raw size: 107.42 GiB size: 107.42 GiB (100.00%) 
  used: 8.16 GiB (7.6%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 
  ID-3: /var/log raw size: 107.42 GiB size: 107.42 GiB (100.00%) 
  used: 8.16 GiB (7.6%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 10 (default 60) cache pressure: 75 (default 100) 
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 488.2 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 
  dev: /dev/zram0 
  ID-2: swap-2 type: zram size: 488.2 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 
  dev: /dev/zram1 
  ID-3: swap-3 type: zram size: 488.2 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 
  dev: /dev/zram2 
  ID-4: swap-4 type: zram size: 488.2 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 
  dev: /dev/zram3 
  ID-5: swap-5 type: zram size: 488.2 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 
  dev: /dev/zram4 
  ID-6: swap-6 type: zram size: 488.2 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 
  dev: /dev/zram5 
  ID-7: swap-7 type: zram size: 488.2 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 
  dev: /dev/zram6 
  ID-8: swap-8 type: zram size: 488.2 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 
  dev: /dev/zram7 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 87.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 298 Uptime: 1m Memory: 15.26 GiB used: 1.60 GiB (10.5%) 
  Init: systemd v: 246 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.0 clang: 10.0.1 Packages: 
  pacman: 1063 lib: 248 Shell: Zsh v: 5.8 running in: gnome-terminal 
  inxi: 3.1.06

Hmm try uninstalling

sudo pacman -R xf86-video-intel

Then reboot

1 Like

Just tried that, out of four reboots twice it went to black screen and twice it booted just fine.

I will try to figure that out, need to do it without messing up my boot :slight_smile:

1 Like

It's pretty simple. install an alternate kernel and headers like this:

sudo pacman -S linux-lts linux-lts-headers

Then you swap kernels after a reboot via the grub boot menu.

It's really not that hard.

4 Likes

Thank you @tbg.

lts kernel just worked fine and I am not having any issues.

Yes its pretty simple. Previously I was trying to look for 5.8 kernel, didn't go for lts.

I'm not sure if this in scope of this forum or not - how can we figure whats wrong with the newer kernel?

Ya, that's a little more complicated. If you want to go down that rabbit hole research "how to bisect a kernel".

So glad that sorta fixed things for you. Test the newest kernels out in a few weeks maybe things will have improved.

Glad to be of assistance.

Welcome to the forum BTW. :smile:

3 Likes