Wont boot on start. So, I have had this odd error when I boot my machine. Basically I get a blank screen just no display at all. I’ve been thinking that it is a driver error and basically the machine is displaying the decrypt screen on the vga port. I haven’t tested this yet however I found a work around where I just power off the PSU for like a few minutes and it will clear something in the memory an then it boots again properly.
Any way to investigate this from the command line. Boot logs etc. It’s clearly not a hardware error. Or perhaps the whole display chip isn’t powering correctly. A bad capacitor maybe. IDK I am asking for advice here anyone have any ideas. Before I start tearing my desk apart and fishing out old cables.
This is a bit confusing, you say blank screen but then you have something on vga.
If you truly have blank screen then that is usually bios related. If it goes away with no power that also aligns. Perhaps your cmos battery is going bad
Does blank screen mean you don’t get to splash screen, no grub screen, no ability to boot into bios ?
If I have a blank screen I always hit Esc to see if I can get to tty
No, no. I am assuming I have something on the VGA, because I am not seeing something on the HDMI coming from the graphics card. Like I said I haven’t tested that yet.
So yes It does go away with no power. An no I don’t get a splash screen, no grub screen, no ability to see anything. Keyboard does nothing as best I can tell. All the led’s in the box do come on though. Drives seem to spin up.
It could be a cmos battery. I am just assuming it’s software.
When you switch off power and then it works, can you run diagnostics then ?
I would remove all but one of the memory slots. Perhaps memory is going bad. Is this a computer that will give you a speaker warning if it detects bad hardware (no hard drive for example) ?
Do you have integrated graphics ? Can you switch to that ?
sure It runs fine once I do this. When you say run diagnostics do I need to do this in the bio’s or should I do it once qubes has fully boot. I am actually on it all the time, right now in fact.
So, I would have to look at the mother board manual again to confirm. If memory servers though yeah I think no ram would drop an error with an audible noise.
ram should be good but I could get some new sticks.
Diagnostics would be in bios if your motherboard has it (dell and Lenovo do). It helps rule out hardware issues. You could do the quick memory diagnostics too (complete would take hours)
I wouldn’t suggest buying new memory on a hunch. I have had issues with memory and no speaker warning
Does the computer run fine when it actually works ? It’s stable ?
The reason I think it is hardware is that clearing power solves it. I don’t believe software would cause that. Maybe a bad driver or bios setting gets stuck in a chip until power clears. All the times I’ve had an issue where a hard restart or power clearing solved the problem, has been hardware
I agree with @corny, and I would recommend to get the manual for your MB and read it closely.
OTOH:
… it could be:
a self-resetting fuse, probably in the PSU. Is it overloaded?
a temperature-related fault
a bad connection (with or without thermal effect)
a capacitor failing to discharge, or self healing
a failed battery losing charge.
If there is sometimes no initial BIOS screen display, but you can (sometimes) change settings:
make sure to enable a maximum of BIOS POST checks, and disable any FastBoot. Enable a delay for the “Wait for user to press Del/F2/etc”
Check the realtime clock
make sure that you see the boot messages. If multiple graphics are available, then they may go to a different output.
Look in the manual for either beep codes or a status LED. Often there is no buzzer on modern motherboards, but a blinkenlight does the same thing… with a special sequence for each problem.
Try watching for activity during boot - for a fan or peripheral which sometimes does not light up or move. Look specially for the PSU fan/LED behaviiur.
If there is no error output at all when it fails then:
Testing will be long and slow because it is only sometimes. Write down every change you make and number of good/bad boots. If you are curious, and want to find the problem, then try to change the smallest number of things each time.
Suspect the PSU. I always keep a spare one around…
unplug/replug everything with a socket or connector ( except maybe leave the CPU alone because of the thermal paste). Do it one at a time if you are curious…
ooops! This was meant to stay in draft. There may be more, but it would be good to know if any progress was made. If I was going to write a TLDR, it would be “try a different power supply”
I honestly suspect this. As the behavior is consistent with it. its fine for days and then suddenly I have a problem. The PSU is a gold or platinum. Either way shouldn’t be the first source of failure. It is old but I dust the whole system every year. Speaking of dusting I am probably due for that.
Any way thanks for the tips.
Since that post no problems boots fine every time.