12.04 install black screen reason found

[Kimmeridgien]

Dear all,

I just wanted to share my discovery of the reason for the 12.04 server installation black screen I experienced:

With BIOS set to AHCI, my DVD ROM causes the problem. As long as it is connected, the below happens:

When trying to install 12.04 from CD (or USB UNetbootin), it will pass the initial language selection screen and show the Ubuntu boot/install menu. I tried disabling NOMODESET, but no difference. After that, the screen turns black (off). The same thing happens if I choose CD media test at the boot/install menu.

Disconnecting the SATA drive made the problem go away. Now I can install from USB stick using UNetbootin. (I'll just have to find out how to connect the DVD ROM again...)

I had a similar problem with Windows 7, but installing the vendor's AHCI driver solved the problem in Windows 7. In other words, the Ubuntu problem is most likely due to incompatible or missing AHCI drivers. I'm on the Intel G43 chipset, so it's not very exotic.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards

Niclas

[matt_symes]

Hi

Thanks for posting this.

Can you post the make and model of your computer/laptop ?

Kind regards

[Kimmeridgien]

Hi,

MoBo: Zotac G43ITX-A-E
CPU: E7400
RAM: 2GB
BIOS has AHCI enabled

sda: Hitachi 2.5" 500GB with Windows 7
sdb: WD 2.5" 500GB with Ubuntu 12.04 server
GRUB automatically found Windows on sda and added a boot option, but apart from this they are completely separate.

DVD ROM: Sony AD-7703S

After installing from USB stick with the DVD ROM disconnected, the system seems to be completely stable, but it still won't let me connect the DVD ROM.

I am new to Ubuntu (with some experience from OpenSuSE), so I am struggling to find my way around. I have added "ahci" to /etc/modules but it makes no difference. I have also tried "modprobe ahci" (without the DVD connected), but lsmod doesn't list "ahci".

Could I ask somebody to instruct me either how to force ahci loading at installation or how to add support for it afterwards? (Or am I misunderstanding this?)

Kind regards

Niclas

[matt_symes]

Hi


I am new to Ubuntu (with some experience from OpenSuSE), so I am struggling to find my way around. I have added "ahci" to /etc/modules but it makes no difference. I have also tried "modprobe ahci" (without the DVD connected), but lsmod doesn't list "ahci".

Could I ask somebody to instruct me either how to force ahci loading at installation or how to add support for it afterwards? (Or am I misunderstanding this?)

In Ubuntu the ahci driver should be compiled into the kernel and is not a kernel module, therefore there is no kernel module to load.

That is why
lsmod | grep ahci and
sudo modprobe ahci do not work as they are kernel module commands.

You can check this by trying to remove the module


matthew@matthew-Aspire-7540 ~/my_storage/linux-3.4.0-3.7
% sudo modprobe -r ahci
FATAL: Module ahci is builtin


and by checking there is an entry under /sys/modules for the driver.


matthew@matthew-Aspire-7540 ~/my_storage/linux-3.4.0-3.7
% ls /sys/module/ahci/drivers
pci:ahci
matthew@matthew-Aspire-7540 ~/my_storage/linux-3.4.0-3.7
%


There are two other ahci kernel modules on my install, however i don't think these apply to you. To be sure though you can test them.


matthew@matthew-Aspire-7540 ~/my_storage/linux-3.4.0-3.7
% modprobe -l | grep ahci
kernel/drivers/ata/acard-ahci.ko
kernel/drivers/ata/ahci_platform.ko
matthew@matthew-Aspire-7540 ~/my_storage/linux-3.4.0-3.7
%

You should be able to get Linux to boot with the DVD Rom if you can set SATA mode to IDE and not AHCI in the BIOS, but this may cause problems with your Windows installation.

Also, a BIOS update my help but i would research this first as flashing a BIOS is always a risky business and if a BIOS update will not help then it is a risk not worth taking.

Failing that, i would raise a bug on Launchpad and see where that takes you.

Unfortunately, i do not know enough about AHCI to give you the best counsel here.

Kind regards

[Kimmeridgien]

Hi Matt and thanks for the detailed information,

I am on the latest BIOS, but it could of course still be HW related. However I suspect it is a simple matter of missing driver support for DVDROM in AHCI mode, not only in Ubuntu 12.04 but also in OpenSuSE 12.1.

The reason why I tried to use AHCI is because some SSD drives can only be FW upgraded in this mode, so I thought I'd prepare for a future upgrade when installing the OS. I have now switched back to IDE and it works flawlessly (at least in OpenSuSE 12.1, so Ubuntu 12.04 should work too).

(The Windows 7 IDE->AHCI or AHCI->IDE conversion is done by swapping two registry entries, so that was surprisingly painless.)

Thanks again and kind regards

Niclas

[matt_symes]

Hi


(The Windows 7 IDE->AHCI or AHCI->IDE conversion is done by swapping two registry entries, so that was surprisingly painless.)

Could you post those registry entries under windows please.

That's the type of thing i may find useful in the future :D

Kind regards

[Kimmeridgien]

Hi Matt,

Here's what I found:

"
The issue here is that there are actually TWO keys that control the IDE/AHCI interface choice:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\servic es\msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\servic es\pciide

When the system is in IDE interface mode, the respective start values are:
msahci's START value is "3"
pciide's START value is "0"

When the system is in AHCI interface mode, the respective start values are:
msahci's START value is "0"
pciide's START value is "3"
"

I also found some other guy who had compiled a registry modification file with numerous other changes, but I settled for the above and it works for me.

Kind regards

Niclas

[matt_symes]

Hi

Thanks :guitar:

Kind regards