For Desktop, Start.win then no HDMI signal

[Joe Casullo]

I'm trying to get to the EISY desktop, I followed the wiki instructions and got to the command prompt.  I entered start.win and the admin password, at this point the screen goes black and my monitor says "No HDMI Signal".  I had an HDMI signal all along until it tried to open the desktop environment.

Does anyone know what is wrong and how to fix this?

Thanks

 

[ISY4Me]

I am not completely sure if I am addressing your question, but I have found that the HDMI monitor has to be turned on before the EISY is powered up to avoid getting that message. 

As the unit boots you will see all the start up actions and will end with a login: prompt.  From there you type start.win and the desktop should start within a few seconds. 

[Joe Casullo]

The monitor is powered on an I see the boot activity. I login and type start. win, then the screen goes blank. 
I’m guessing an HDMI driver for the desktop is not installed or corrupted. 
Thanks for the response. 

[ISY4Me]

1 minute ago, Joe Casullo said:

The monitor is powered on an I see the boot activity. I login and type start. win, then the screen goes blank. 
I’m guessing an HDMI driver for the desktop is not installed or corrupted. 
Thanks for the response. 

When I started using the desktop, I did not have to configure anything.  It recognized my HDMI monitor, keyboard and mouse… that was visible during the boot display text.

Just to be sure… you are typing “start.win” with no spaces?

[Joe Casullo]

Yes, start.win then I accept the licences and enter the password, then it goes blank and I lose the HDMI signal. 

[ISY4Me]

I run the desktop every time I work on any EISY issue and I have never seen that behavior.

Hopefully, someone has and can assist.

[Joe Casullo]

Thanks for trying. 

[elvisimprsntr]

Is it possible eisy is detecting  your monitor resolution and refresh rates via the data display channel (DDC), then attempts to enter the highest resolution and rate, but you have a HDMI cable which cannot support that resolution and frame rate?

Options?

 

1. Connect same monitor and cable to another system to confirm what maximum resolutions and rates it works at?

2. Replace with an HDMI cable that is rated for at least the maximum resolution and refresh rate that your monitor supports.

3. Look for a config file that allows you to force it to use a lower resolution and refresh rate.  

Edited March 10, 2023 by elvisimprsntr

[Joe Casullo]

Thanks, I’ll try that. 

[Joe Casullo]

I tried two monitors and various HDMI cables with a laptop, all cables and monitors work at the full monitor resolution of 1680x1050.  So I know the cables and monitors are okay but the HDMI still signal stops after I invoke the desktop with the start.win command.  The only way to get the HDMI signal to come back, even for the command line, is to power down the EISY.

Does anyone know how I can keep the HDMI port alive or how to change the configured resolution?

Thanks.

 

 

[bpwwer]

When you get the blank screen try

CTRL-ALT-F1

That should take you back to the text console.   That might show something to indicate what's wrong.

CTRL-ALT-F9 will switch back to the X-Windows screen

You can also check the /var/log/messages file for drm messages.  Mine looks like

Mar 10 11:04:33 eisy kernel: vgapci0: child drmn0 requested pci_enable_io
Mar 10 11:04:33 eisy syslogd: last message repeated 1 times
Mar 10 11:04:33 eisy kernel: [drm] Unable to create a private tmpfs mount, hugepage support will be disabled(-19).
Mar 10 11:04:33 eisy kernel: [drm] Got stolen memory base 0x0, size 0x0
Mar 10 11:04:33 eisy kernel: drmn0: successfully loaded firmware image 'i915/icl_dmc_ver1_09.bin'
Mar 10 11:04:33 eisy kernel: drmn0: [drm] Finished loading DMC firmware i915/icl_dmc_ver1_09.bin (v1.9)
Mar 10 11:04:33 eisy kernel: sysctl_warn_reuse: can't re-use a leaf (hw.dri.debug)!
Mar 10 11:04:33 eisy kernel: [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20200917 for drmn0 on minor 0
Mar 10 11:04:34 eisy kernel: drmn0: [drm] HDMI-A-3: EDID is invalid:
Mar 10 11:04:34 eisy kernel:    [00] ZERO  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Mar 10 11:04:34 eisy syslogd: last message repeated 7 times
Mar 10 11:04:34 eisy kernel: VT: Replacing driver "efifb" with new "fb".
Mar 10 11:04:34 eisy kernel: start FB_INFO:
Mar 10 11:04:34 eisy kernel: type=11 height=1200 width=1920 depth=32
Mar 10 11:04:34 eisy kernel: pbase=0x4000040000 vbase=0xfffffe0115a40000
Mar 10 11:04:34 eisy kernel: name=drmn0 flags=0x0 stride=7680 bpp=32
Mar 10 11:04:34 eisy kernel: end FB_INFO

 

[Joe Casullo]

CTRL-ALT-F1 and CTRL-ALT-F9 do not work because the HDMI port completely shuts down, my monitor says "no signal".  I checked the messages file and there are no drm messages.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

[bpwwer]

When the eisy starts up it's using VGA emulation for the text console.  When you run start.win, it switches to using the i915 drm driver's framebuffer graphics and I believe X windows is configured to use the framebuffer driver and not the i915's native X windows driver.

Can you ssh into the box?  If so, after running start.win, run dmesg from the ssh console.   That should show the drm driver starting.  

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the freebsd port of the i915 driver. I used to work on the Linux i915 driver full time before I retired. 

[DennisC]

This may be out in left field but.........are you using a TV or computer monitor? Are you using admin/admin for the login?

Try toggling the monitor ports if on a TV.

I seem to remember something I read about the user needing to be add to the video group. This shouldn't apply if still using the original admin login.

[Joe Casullo]

I did ssh into the box and ran dmesg, see the attached file for the output. 

DennisC, I am using an old tv but it works for all my other desktops.  I did login with admin/admin and I did switch monitor ports, still no go.

Next I will take the EISY up to my monitor and see it that makes a difference.

Thanks guys. 

dmesg output.txt

[bpwwer]

If you ssh in to the eisy using the same account that you used from the console.  After running start.win, go to the ssh session and try the following:

sysctl compat.linuxkpi

That will list the i915 and drm tunable parameters and their current value. 

The i915 driver is pretty good about detecting monitors, but some monitors do have bugs that can cause problems.  Possibly the driver is unable to get the supported mode list from the monitor and is defaulting to it's built-in list.  And maybe the highest resolution on the built-in list isn't supported by the monitor.

What's the output of

xrandr -d :0

 

 

[Joe Casullo]

See attached for the outputs.  Looks like the HDMI ports repot disconnected.

 

outputs.txt

[bpwwer]

The fbinfo from your dmesg shows the resolution as 1680x1050.  That's a strange resolution even for a TV (or at least a north american TV).   Although it is a valid mode.  It's not a standard HD resolution.

What model of TV are trying to use?

[Joe Casullo]

I'm using an old Samsung but I also tried a new 4K tv with the same results.  I'm going to try my monitor next.

[Joe Casullo]

I tried my brand new monitor and the same thing happens, loss of HDMI signal. 

 

[bpwwer]

That's very strange.

Have you powered down the eisy and restarted it?  The only thing I can think of at this point is that the graphics hardware is in a hung state and needs to be power cycled to reset it.

 

[Joe Casullo]

I always remove power when I shutdown and I've done this at least ten times. 

Is there a HDMI hardware self test or video test that I can run.

Thanks

 

[bpwwer]

Unfortunately, none of the tools that I've used in the past to debug issues with i915 seem to be available for FreeBSD.

Two more things you can try

1. There are two HDMI ports on the eisy, have you tried both?

2. After running start.win, try unplugging and re-plugging in the hdmi cable.  The driver is supposed to detect that and reset when it detects a cable being plugged in.  Maybe even switch it back and forth between the two HDMI connectors on the back.

And maybe try a different HDMI cable if you have one.  It's possible that when it switches to a high resolution, the cable can't handle it if it's an old or very cheap HDMI cable.

 

P.S. I thought I had left the days of debugging i915 issues behind

[Joe Casullo]

I tried both HDMI ports and many cables that work with my other servers, but no go.  I managed to capture an error message on the screen before it went black, it is this.

kIdstat: can't find module i915kms: No such file or directory

loading display drivers ...

I assume this is a major issue and may be the cause of my problems, can I reinstall the i915 modules.

Thanks Bpwwer. 

[bpwwer]

Yes, that would do it.

The start.win script is running

sudo kldstat -m i915kms

sudo kldload i915kms

So the first time after a boot, it may display that error as the driver isn't loaded, but then it does try to load the driver.  You can try running those from the command line.  After the sudo kldload i915kms is loaded, the screen should switch from VGA emulation to a graphical console screen (most noticeable because the text gets smaller).  

In your case, I'm expecting this will probably give the same black screen results.

You can also try running the 'sudo kldload i915kms' from a ssh session and see if it generates any error messages.

 

The i915kms kernel module should be in /boot/modules  and is installed as part of the package drm-510-kmod-5.10.163_1 so you can try re-installing that package

sudo pkg install -f drm-510-kmod-5.10.163_1