After 03-05-25 stable update, system boots to black screen

Support System Updates
1

Today’s update appeared to finish properly, I reboot, black screen. I didn’t even see the grub menu. The system boots and I can access it via ssh. It looks like everything is pretty good (maybe I’m missing something), but nothing is sent to the monitor. Keyboard seems to function - I can force a reboot, but I can’t get to the grub menu and apparently my usb boot is below the nvme01n1 in priority.
inxi

System:
  Kernel: 6.13.5-2-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.13-x86_64
    root=UUID=27d92548-36da-47a2-9b2f-aa2bb342d248 rw apparmor=1
    security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3
  Console: pty pts/0 DM: SDDM Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Alienware product: Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition
    v: 2.2.1 serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 3
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Alienware model: 0TYR0X v: A00 serial: <superuser required>
    part-nu: 0A8B uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: Alienware v: 2.2.1
    date: 08/09/2021
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 9 5900 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+ gen: 3
    level: v3 note: check built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm) family: 0x19 (25)
    model-id: 0x21 (33) stepping: 0 microcode: 0xA20102D
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 1 cores: 12 threads: 24 tpc: 2
    smt: enabled cache: L1: 768 KiB desc: d-12x32 KiB; i-12x32 KiB L2: 6 MiB
    desc: 12x512 KiB L3: 64 MiB desc: 2x32 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1729 min/max: 550/4788 boost: enabled scaling:
    driver: amd-pstate-epp governor: powersave cores: 1: 1729 2: 1729 3: 1729
    4: 1729 5: 1729 6: 1729 7: 1729 8: 1729 9: 1729 10: 1729 11: 1729 12: 1729
    13: 1729 14: 1729 15: 1729 16: 1729 17: 1729 18: 1729 19: 1729 20: 1729
    21: 1729 22: 1729 23: 1729 24: 1729 bogomips: 143730
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow mitigation: Safe RET
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW;
    STIBP: always-on; RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not
    affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 21 [Radeon RX 6800/6800 XT /
    6900 XT] vendor: Dell driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-2 code: Navi-2x
    process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22 pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
    ports: active: none off: HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, Writeback-1
    bus-ID: 0d:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:73bf class-ID: 0300
  Display: server: X.org v: 1.21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6 driver: X:
    loaded: amdgpu unloaded: modesetting,radeon alternate: fbdev,vesa
    dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu tty: 94x38
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 model: Gigabyte AORUS FV43U serial: <filter>
    built: 2021 res: 3840x2160 dpi: 163 gamma: 1.2 size: 941x529mm (37.05x20.83")
    diag: 690mm (27.2") ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 3840x2160 min: 640x480
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi
    device: 1 drv: swrast surfaceless: drv: radeonsi inactive: gbm,wayland,x11
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: mesa v: 24.3.4-arch1.1
    note: console (EGL sourced) renderer: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (radeonsi navi21
    LLVM 19.1.7 DRM 3.61 6.13.5-2-MANJARO), llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7 256 bits)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.304 layers: 4 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: AMD
    Radeon RX 6800 XT (RADV NAVI21) driver: N/A device-ID: 1002:73bf
    surfaces: N/A
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor wl: wayland-info
    x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 21/23 HDMI/DP Audio
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 0d:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab28 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio
    vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 16 bus-ID: 0f:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Bose Companion Speaker driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
    type: USB rev: 1.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 3-1:2
    chip-ID: 05a7:1020 class-ID: 0300
  API: ALSA v: k6.13.5-2-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off tools: aucat,midicat,sndioctl
  Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off with: nsmd status: off tools: N/A
  Server-3: PipeWire v: 1.2.7 status: off with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: off
    2: pipewire-media-session status: off 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek Killer E2600 GbE driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:2600
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 vendor: Rivet Networks Killer driver: iwlwifi
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 05:00.0
    chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp5s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, sshd, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-9:3 chip-ID: 8087:0029
    class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 4.61 TiB used: 802.57 GiB (17.0%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: KIOXIA model: KXG70PNV2T04 NVMe
    2048GB size: 1.86 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B
    speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 10904105
    temp: 34.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Seagate model: ST2000DM008-2FR102
    size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1003 scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EADS-00M2B0
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: USB
    rev: 2.0 spd: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 tech: N/A serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 1.75 scheme: MBR
  ID-4: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Lexar model: USB Flash Drive
    size: 14.62 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: USB rev: 2.0
    spd: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1100
    scheme: MBR
  SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure?
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 488.28 GiB size: 479.55 GiB (98.21%)
    used: 57.22 GiB (11.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 304 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 maj-min: 259:4
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 1.35 TiB size: 1.33 TiB (98.35%)
    used: 487.77 GiB (35.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 33.59 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 45.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 38.0 C
    mem: 40.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 0
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.26 GiB used: 1.27 GiB (4.1%)
  Processes: 376 Power: uptime: 23m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 12.49 GiB Init: systemd v: 257
    default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 2146 libs: 562 tools: pamac pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
    Compilers: clang: 19.1.7 gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.37
    running-in: pty pts/0 (SSH) inxi: 3.3.37
3

That looks strange - especially since it is an AMD CPU based system.

I can say what may or may not be functional.

Grub menu can be accessed holding the Shift during boot.

In a ssh session - you have several options

  1. You can always reboot the system to firmware setup
    systemctl reboot firmware-setup
  2. You can also run fwupdmgr using a ssh session
    fwupdmgr get-updates
    Depending on the result
    fwupdmgr update
  3. Change kernel
    • add linux612
    • remove linux613
    • add 6.14.0rc4
5

I was running 612, I added 613 just to watch grub update. I’m not familiar with fwupdmgr, I’ll report back on that. Thanks for the ideas, Back shortly

From ssh I ran sudo systemctl reboot --firmware-setup: did not bring up a screen. I ran fwupmgr and updated, had two updates, both succeeded, after reboot same issue. After the system booted, I locally tried Ctrl-Alt-F3, then username, password, typing in the blind. Came back to laptop and ssh’d into system. I now see my user on both tty3 and via ssh. The system is working, there is just zero video output.

Progress: added a displayport cable to my video card. hdmi is not recognized, displayport works fine. System is functional again, but I still don’t know why hdmi suddenly died during a reboot after a system upgrade.

6

From you initial inxi system info - it does seem like the monitor is recognized on the HDMI.

That points more to a hardware issue

  • check the GPU is correctly seated
  • check for properly connected monitor cable

That is strange - a mystery even - but I think we are looking at coincidence - a cable with flaky connectors.

Did you cold boot the system?

Power down - wait a couple of minutes - then power up?

Sometimes a warm reboot is not enough - a cold boot is required to properly reset all devices.

verification steps

I am thinking you may benefit from verifying a couple of things

That may be - not really important - more important is: Did you see any POST info firmware logo, any messages when you cold boot the system?

  • To enable grub menu in /etc/default/grub

    GRUB_TIMEOUT=5

[....]

# Set to 'countdown' or 'menu' to change timeout behavior,
# press ESC key to display menu.
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu

  • Check if you have the amd-ucode.bin in /boot

  • Check if you have amdgpu in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

     MODULES=(amdgpu)

  • Check if you have kms in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

    HOOKS=(systemd udev autodetect microcode kms modconf block keyboard keymap consolefont filesystems fsck)

  • If you change any of the above - remember to rebuild init

    sudo mkinitcpio -P
sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
7

I’m going to consider this solved. grub menu was fine, I just didn’t see anything. I now get both bios/grub screens during boot. Of the other things you mentioned the only one that I do not have is MODULES=(amdgpu) in mkinitcpio.conf, mine is MODULES=(). However since it appears that amdgpu is loaded and being used, I’m going to leave as-is. I’m starting to think coincidence is the culprit here, although I hate to attribute anything to coincidence. Methinks I need to unplug this machine and vacuum / blow some air around the inside. Again thanks, I’ll start a new thread if this is more than coincidence.

8

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