Dead screen when installing qubes on system76 thelio

User Support Hardware Issues
1

I just received my new computer from system76, it’s a Thelio Prime with a nvidia GPU. I transferred my encrypted qubes SSD into it, and booted it up. At first the system didn’t recognize my drive as bootable, but after enabling “CSM” (compatibility support module) in my bios, it now recognizes my drive. But when i boot into it, i get a black screen, no text. But i know the monitor is getting a signal, because my monitor doesnt turn itself off. If i type in my encryption password, the computer’s fans spin up, and the screen starts to slowly turn blue, starting at the bottom of the screen.

At first i thought maybe i needed to reinstall qubes to make it work. So i whipped out my trusty qubes installation usb, and plugged it in. I booted into the usb, and i get as far as the installer’s kernel command menu (black screen white text, options like "Install Qubes OS R4.2.4). but if i click any option, i get a few seconds of journal logs, followed by a black screen that slowly turns blue (again from the bottom first).

I also have a TAILS usb, and it does the same thing when i boot this computer from it. so maybe this isn’t specific to qubes. Anyone seen this before?

2

Maybe it’s a problem with NVIDIA driver.
Try to add the these kernel command line options in the GRUB:

nomodeset modprobe.blacklist=nouveau

Like this:

3

Great idea, that seemed to do something because i can launch the qubes installer if i add those options to the kernel. However i dont have the chance to add kernel options when booting from my encrypted SSD.

Should i reinstall qubes on that SSD? I have a backup to restore from if needed.

4

I don’t know why you don’t have an image at GRUB for your old Qubes OS installed on SSD.
You can boot from some Live OS (for example, you can use the Qubes OS installer and then switch to the console TTY using Ctrl+Alt+F2), mount your old Qubes OS boot partition there and edit the GRUB file directly.

5

Update, i installed qubes to a separate unused hard drive i had lying around, and it boots fine without any kernel args. So I’m going to try it on my main ssd, overwriting my old install. Wish me luck!

1 Like
6

Update, turns out the blue screen glitch was specific to my monitor. If i switch monitors, i no longer need nomodeset.

1 Like
7

This is interesting - does the monitor work in bios and grub, but not for gui? Is it the same with other computers?
I remember seeing this with ancient CRT screens, but not with any modern ones…