4.3.0 - Intel Arc graphics : Black screen at post-install reboot

User Support Hardware Issues
1

I had this problem some time ago, which has a workaround, I think, and which is fixed in the latest code but not in the current installation ISO.

I do not understand why there are so few mentions of it here.

My GPU was Arc Pro B50, Marek saw it on Lunar Lake series.

I am curious to know:

Did anyone else have the same problem? and what GPU?
Do most other Arc gpus using Xe have enough on-board firmware to work?
Should I be looking at the timeline for 4.3.next, to see when the official installer will carry the fix - and how could I do that??

Multiple questions - all remarks welcome!

Details, workaround, etc.

I am about to reinstall, so it came to mind. Not a big issue for me, and maybe it is very rareā€¦ but maybe many folk just give up?

Issue with commit: No graphics output after first reboot at installation Ā· Issue #10523 Ā· QubesOS/qubes-issues Ā· GitHub

Work-around: Post-installation Issue With Dell Pro 14 - #9 by phceac

2

Did you install with kernel-latest?

3

Yes, almost certainly (not 100% sure for the most recent install, and I did not keep careful records.)

There is a weird unsolved screen corruption problem which I make occasional attempts to resolve, and ā€˜latestā€™ has been my choice, hoping/assuming itā€™s a kernel driver problem:
Qubes issue 10661

It should be excellent hardware for Qubes, but I would not currently recommend Intel Arc Pro B50, especially after Intel pulled a big bait&switch, and downgraded the number of VFs to 2, for unknown reason.

4

Damn, I just received mine and struggling in the mudā€¦

5

There is a pretty useful guide somewhereā€¦ I will have a look to see if I can find it.

IIRC, it was quite nice, once I got it to load xe drivers on the PF, but to load stub drivers on the 2 x VF, so they could be passed through to a pair of qubes.

I did not do a lot of testing thoughā€¦ wish I had the time :frowning:

1 Like
6

Iā€™ll soon be testing with a weekly build to check if that could help.
I have the ā€œblocked cursorā€ at the launch of the installer. Setting inst.vnc at the grub and setting the IP lead to an error of the VNC service :confused:

1 Like
7

If it is 4.3.1, and you have another GPU for installation, then:

  1. the firmware copy problem is fixed, but
  2. It is necessary to blacklist xe driver for the first reboot after main installation (add rd.driver.blacklist=xe xe.blacklist=1 on your kernel command line.
  3. Then do full update, after the graphical installer is finished.

( entries from memory - please verify!)

1 Like
8

I also had a similar problem some days ago, though it was possile to run without gpu. like nomodeset=0.
Later just updating my BIOS by flash updating solved the issue.
It was a dell latitude 5500.

1 Like
9

Iā€™ve managed to have the VNC installer working with these kernel parameters: inst.text inst.xdriver=vesda nomodeset. But itā€™s not failing to boot to finalize the configurationā€¦

WIPā€¦

10

Okay I managed to have it working, Iā€™m writing a post about it. Stay tuned.