I am having an issue with trying to run 11.4 and 12.1 Milestone (enter number here). When I try to run the Live image or the FULL install CD the backlight on my screen only works for a few moments and then I get a dark screen. The images on the screen are still there if you look closely but the backlight is not powered on. This issue makes it impossible to run the system and as a result I have never been able to run 11.4 and have been unable to test 12.1. I would love to have this bug to be cleared-up in time for 12.1’s final release if at all possible since I can’t be the only person that is running into this frustration. A work around would be good but I would love to work with someone and provide any and all info to help fix this. To be honest I just don’t even know what is the cause of this trouble… is it the Linux kernel? Xorg? a driver?.. I don’t know. I have been googling this problem since 11.4 was in Milestone stages.
I am running an eMachines E525 (i know it is a low end machine but being out of work for over 2 years it is all I could afford). Here is what I have been able to find:
When I bought this laptop I googled the model number to see if it was known to work well with Linux and found this info on LinLap.com that said everything worked exept the brightness controlls. This was exactly true with 11.2 and 11.3 but somehow I think there is a chance that whatever caused that issue has gotten worse and now there is NO brightness at all under 11.4 and 12.1. Here is the link to the LinLap.com page that gives some specifics on my hardware: Acer eMachines E525 [LinLap - Linux Laptop Wiki]
If you have the Intel GMA 4500, try the following:
At boot, as soon as the screen goes “black” (no backlighting), close the lid, then re-open. On the Intel GMA HD, this presents a working display at your correct geometry. Should this work for you, search this (Install/Boot/Login) forum for “black screen”, and you will find some alternate ideas.
As for Ubuntu, I can state categorically that Ubuntu 10 .04.1 LTS (the L-something between -Karmic and -Maverick) works correctly with these Intel Graphics adaptors. 10.04.1 LTS uses kernel 2.6.23-22 → -33, and this same kernel works with LinuxMint. The 2.6.34 through 2.6.37 kernels have this same problem, so openSUSE 11.3 and 11.4, as well as Fedora 14 experience the “black screen” at boot.
Once you get past the boot, you may need some attention to Xorg, so try the lid close/open first.
SeanMc98: Thank you for your response… I have followed your advice with closing the lid and opening it up again. It did not activate the backlight. I am still battling with this… I am very worried because I have been unable to use 11.4 because of this issue and if it continues in 12.1 I will basically be forced to use another distro just because of this silly bug. I have recorded my attempt at your suggestion and uploaded the video to YouYube. You can see the problem in action here: No backlight bug with openSUSE 11.4 - YouTube
Thank you for your response… I have followed your advice with closing the lid and opening it up again. It did not activate the backlight. I am still battling with this… I am very worried because I have been unable to use 11.4 because of this issue and if it continues in 12.1 I will basically be forced to use another distro just because of this silly bug. I have recorded my attempt at your suggestion and uploaded the video to YouYube. You can see the problem in action here: No backlight bug with openSUSE 11.4 - YouTube
I will post to bugzilla once I have some real info on this bug. So far I have no info at all as to what this issue is… once I have something to report I will.
A far as I remember there is an option to boot suse installer with certain drivers disabled (watch carefully what drivers are loaded before yast launches).
try disabling this video driver and use other (maybe even generic vesa).
You will probably have performance hit though, but maybe you will manage to get it working once suse is installed using proprietary driver?
I had similar problem with Ubuntu years ago. It was turning my screen off before running installer (desktop geforce 8600GT).
Well Linus just posted to Google+ on Aug 28th this bit about 3.1 and backlights on intel laptops:
"Linux 3.1-rc4 is out.
Most noticeable thing for most users is likely the lack of warnings about duplicate sysfs files for backlight control on intel laptops. And if that kind of solid regression fixing doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what will."
I don’t know if this means that 3.1 will fix my issue or not but maybe it will? It seems that no one knows for sure what is happening with 11.4 on my system. If the Linux 3.1 kernel fixes this issue that will make me very happy because I hate the feeling of being stuck with 11.3 (Not that 11.3 is bad).
I did has a few issues with a install of 11.4 on a Intel laptop with a 4500. An update to a kernel from kernel:HEAD repository did worked it out. You might want to try it if you believed it has fixed upstream in a recent kernel. I believe the current one is 3.1-rc6.
Should I use the 11.3 kernel:head repo or the Factory kernel:head repo? I have never used this repo before. I know that the one time I tried the Tumbleweed repo it changed my kernel and it caused the blacklight to turn off too. I just told GRUB to boot to the old kernel and then removed the Tumbleweed repo and did a zypper dup and all went back to normal… SO I am willing to try this repo to see if the newest rc 3.1 kernel works… maybe then I can upgread to 11.4. I would love to upgrade as I have never ran it before.
Sounds like the problem I have with my Acer Travelmate 5735Z since 2.6.38-rc8. (I think this bug report is about it, but it’s down ATM, so I can’t check: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=31522). I can “fix” this bug by once pressing the Brightness-Down key. Doesn’t annoy me very much, but it’s sure embarrassing. At least, people can’t boot into my notebook easily …
don’t know if it will make any good for you, but using the “nomodeset” option on the kernel command line solve some video problems on some installs. simply type it as boot on the option line to try
Use the repo for your distro… If you are running 11.3, then you want to install the one from 11.3… if you are using 11.4, then you should install the repo from 11.4… I know that from 11.4 I had to weak the installation (hand removing a few packages), but it should be peaceful enough.
Your post made me hopeful and so I tried that “fix” on the E525 and it didn’t do anything for me. darn! I wish I could check out that bug report on kernel.org… maybe it would give me an idea of what is happening with my hardware. Too bad kernel.org is down! I really want to make a bug report for this beg on bugzilla.novell.com but I know they don’t like it when you put up a bug report without any info on what is really happening.
Your post made me hopeful and so I tried that “fix” on the E525 and it didn’t do anything for me. darn! I wish I could check out that bug report on kernel.org… maybe it would give me an idea of what is happening with my hardware. Too bad kernel.org is down! I really want to make a bug report for this beg on bugzilla.novell.com but I know they don’t like it when you put up a bug report without any info on what is really happening.
Well I tried “nomodeset” at boot and even though it took about 10 min to boot, the backlight did stay on but the screen looked blurry and out of focus. At least that would allow me to install it but it is far from a real fix. At least now we are getting somewhere… I got a little bit of info while I was booted into the 11.4 live KDE image with nomodeset.
I got a screenshot of the sysinfo:
Also I did a lsmod to see what moduals were loaded:
I am sure you are right but I know I have gotten quite a bit of negative emails from people in the past not happy with nontechnical bug reports. Granted none of that was here in the openSUSE community but I have been running Linux and BSD systems for about 7 years and know how people react to that. Also, if you go to to openSUSE:Submitting bug reports - openSUSE you will see the first thing it basically says is:
According to that I am not a “developer” and therefore would be considered a “Non-technical user”… it says to try the forums FIRST… So, here I am. Ideally I will make a little progress and get a little help as to what is going on so I can make an effective bug report that has a good chance of having someone look at it and respect the issue enough to work on it. In order for me to be a good community member, I feel, it is important to play by the rules so I don’t get upset that no one is listening to me and so no one else gets annoyed with me not following procedure.
I hope I clarified myself a little bit as to why I have not made a bug report yet… It seems we are making progress and a bug report will be on it’s way soon. Thank you for your help and your advice.
On 2011-09-19 04:56, Druonysus wrote:
> I hope I clarified myself a little bit as to why I have not made a bug
> report yet… It seems we are making progress and a bug report will be
> on it’s way soon. Thank you for your help and your advice.
Well… I have written tons of bugreports on SUSE, I don’t know how many. I
have some experience. Yes, it is recommended to ask first in the mail lists
or the forums. And, if the people here tell you to report, do it!
The devs will take a long time to get round to your report, maybe months.
If there is a chance to have it solved before 12.1 is released, you have to
report now. Don’t worry about not having sufficient info: they will ask for
what they need from you that hasn’t occurred to any of us to ask.
You have more than enough to report now. Trust me.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)
You did what was asked and consulted experience users here, and they tell you to file a bug report, so just do it
Developers reading bugzilla know better what they need and will point you to web pages that explain how to gather data.
When I wrote above I had to make short and sweet intro so lesser words was prime directive. The purpose was to give links where to go for those that know well what they want, and those that have no idea where to start. Now I added “and experienced users”, to make clear that is not only developers.
Also, don’t forget us, and post bug report here, so that we stay informed.
