<<<Intro>>>
Bit of neighborly giveback. This is pretty basic info but hope it helps somebody with LG Gram or similar laptop in troubleshooting a persistent blank, black screen around Live-USB booting of MX Linux 19.4.
I have a 2020-vintage LG Gram 17 (17Z90N-R.AAC8U1); my Quick System Info (“QSI”) at the end of this post if you’d like to check it out.
This information might also help with the LG Gram 14, LG Gram 15 or LG Gram 2-in-1. In addition, I am using a variety of USB 3.0, 3.1 and 3.2 flash drives. To make my Live-USB, I used the app MX Live USB Maker (with gpt partitioning on).
<<<Some Background>>>
I describe below the particular form of the blank, black screen that I dealt with . . . and being blank seemingly terminated the boot routine . . . immediately following a grub-boot with scenarios A, B and C below:
—SCENARIO A— ENCRYPTION —
I created an encrypted MX 19.4 Live-USB. I set my USB’s encryption password by enlisting an older computer(■). When I reconnected this encrypted Live-USB to my LG Gram 17 and grub-booted with the default parameters(❖)(†), then only the blank screen appeared.
I discovered a non-robust workaround as follows: Despite the blank screen, I waited a few seconds then began typing my encryption password. This cleared the blank screen and brought up the six-dots-boot-screen (“udev done”); the system then completed its boot into MX Linux. However, I was not satisfied with this workaround, sort of a “blindfolded” password entry, in a manner of speaking.
—SCENARIO B— TEXT MENU OPTIONS —
I created a regular MX 19.4 Live-USB (unencrypted). If I grub-booted with the menu options(‡), then only the blank screen appeared.
I discovered another workaround as follows: Despite the blank screen, I waited a few seconds then began pressing [Enter] several times, something like 12 times. This cleared the blank screen and brought up the six-dots-boot-screen (“udev done”); the system then completed its boot into MX Linux. However, I was not satisfied with this workaround, sort of a “blindfolded” passage through the interactive text menus unwittingly selecting but the dozen or so default options.
My Live-USB experience was with the grub-bootloader screen (i.e. no Fn-Key options along the bottom of the screen). Check out my comments about LG Gram and gfx-syslinux bootloader down below in this post.
—SCENARIO C— BASIC WITH NO MENU OPTIONS, NO ENCRYPTION —
I created a regular MX 19.4 Live-USB (unencrypted). If I grub-booted with only the default parameters(❖)(†), then the blank screen appears — albeit only temporarily. This would resolve on its own without input from me; after a few moments, this brought up the six-dots-boot-screen (“udev done”); the system then completed its boot into MX Linux. But just waiting around for the six dots and not seeing boot pages 0-4 (dots 0-4) was again not really that robust.
Contemplating the scenarios above together as a group, something was off.
Footnotes to scenarios A, B and C:
(■) The older computer had the correct BIOS settings, ironically. See solution described in the next section.
(❖) Quiet, splasht and nosplash are the default grub-boot parameters for MX 19.4.
(†) I.e. the first or top grub menu entry called “snapshot MX-19.4_ahs_x64 (15 July 2021).”
(‡) I.e. the second grub menu entry called “Customized Boot (text menus).”
In summary, if a LG Gram owner/user wants a MX Live-USB with encryption and/or persistent options (or even just a basic USB that displays each and all of the “yellow dotted” boot screens, or orange circles on other systems), then it makes sense to clear up this particular form of the blank, black screen.
<<<What to Do or How I Solved This>>>
If you are booting MX from a Live-USB with the LG Gram or very similar laptop PC, then you have to make two changes in BIOS as follows in order to avoid the blank, black screen described above.
—STEP 1— DISABLE SECURE BOOT — Check out FAQ on Secure Boot https://mxlinux.org/wiki/help-files/mx- ... as-windows. As we’re talking about a Live-USB, no doubt you are at least a bit familiar with getting into your LG Gram’s BIOS.
- Restart then hold [F2] or [F10] until “Please Wait” blinks in the lower left of post page.
- If you used [F2], skip to the next step. If you used [F10], now press [Tab] from Boot Menu and over to App Menu. Select 1. Setup and press [Enter].
- In BIOS, there are five menu tabs: Main, Advanced, Security, Boot, and Exit.
- Right arrow [→] to the Security menu tab.
- Once in the Security menu tab, “►Secure Boot Configuration” is the first line, and it should already be selected in white text. If needed, use [↓] [↑]. Press [Enter].
- Once inside “►Secure Boot Configuration,” use [↓] [↑] to highlight “Secure Boot Option.” Press [Enter].
- Choose Disable. Press [Enter].
- [F10] to exit BIOS, saving changes. Choose [Yes] and press [Enter].
- Restart then hold [F2] or [F10] until “Please Wait” blinks in the lower left of post page.
- If you used [F2], skip to the next step. If you used [F10], now press [Tab] from Boot Menu and over to App Menu. Select 1. Setup and press [Enter].
- In BIOS, there are five menu tabs: Main, Advanced, Security, Boot, and Exit.
- Stay on the Main menu tab.
- Use [Left-Ctrl]+[ Left-Alt]+[F7] to unhide Advanced Options. Note that [Right-Ctrl]+[Right-Alt]+[F7] does not work with respect to BIOS in LG Gram. Congrats, you’ve unlocked your hidden BIOS options; but with great power comes you know.
- Use [↓] [↑] to select “Boot Features,” which now is freshly unhidden. Press [Enter].
- Once inside “Boot Features,” use [↓] [↑] to highlight “CSM Support.” Press [Enter].
- Choose Yes. Press [Enter].
- [F10] to exit BIOS, saving changes. Choose [Yes] and press [Enter].
<<<One More Discovery: CSM Support Won’t Stay Enabled; Automatically Reverts to Disabled>>>
For my LG Gram 17 laptop, the CSM Support field in BIOS keeps automatically reverting back to Disabled and won’t stay Enabled. It appears to be some kind of fortified smart feature. Fortunately, this is not a problem with respect to warding off the dreaded blank, black screen from MX Live-USB boot. Once I flipped CSM Support field just one single time to Yes, that’s all it takes to permanently cure this particular form of the blank, black screen — at least for now.
When making additional future changes to LG Gram's BIOS (e.g. boot order), I try to remember to (re-)enable CSM for good measure.
<<<Commentary: LG Gram and gfx-syslinux Bootloader Screen with Fn-Key Options>>>
For MX Live-USB on my LG Gram 17, I have not seen the gfx-syslinux bootloader with Fn-Key options along the bottom of the screen. I had expected gfx-syslinux to appear with LG Gram’s BIOS set to UEFI (secure boot off) with CSM enabled. Instead, MX Live-USB on my LG Gram went to the grub-bootloader regardless of whether BIOS was set to UEFI (secure boot off) (a) with CSM enabled or (b) without CSM.
I am not driven to using gfx-syslinux with MX Live-USB. But if as a LG Gram owner you are, you could try turning off UEFI boot, entering legacy boot and coupling that with a MBR (non-gpt) version of Live-USB. I don’t know whether that actually works.
Apart from my LG Gram and then enlisting an older computer of mine, I did get the gfx-syslinux bootloader where my old ’puter had CSM supporting UEFI boot.
<<<Quick System Info QSI for my LG Gram 17>>>
Code: Select all
Snapshot created on: 20210715_1844
System: Host: <filter> Kernel: 5.10.0-5mx-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/antiX/vmlinuz quiet splasht nosplash
Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 tk: Gtk 3.24.5 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 dm: LightDM 1.26.0
Distro: MX-19.4_ahs_x64 patito feo March 31 2021 base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)
Machine: Type: Laptop System: LG product: 17Z90N-R.AAC8U1 v: 0.1 serial: <filter> Chassis:
type: 10 v: 0.1 serial: <filter>
Mobo: LG model: 17Z90N v: FAB1 serial: <filter> UEFI: Phoenix v: C2ZE0160 X64
date: 04/07/2020
Battery: ID-1: CMB0 charge: 74.3 Wh condition: 76.0/80.0 Wh (95%) volts: 8.7/7.7
model: LG LGC-LGC type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Unknown
CPU: Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-1065G7 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Ice Lake
family: 6 model-id: 7E (126) stepping: 5 microcode: A6 L2 cache: 8192 KiB
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 23961
Speed: 1348 MHz min/max: 400/3900 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1301 2: 1302 3: 1302
4: 1301 5: 1260 6: 1302 7: 1300 8: 1300
Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
Type: l1tf status: Not affected
Type: mds status: Not affected
Type: meltdown status: Not affected
Type: spec_store_bypass
mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB filling
Type: srbds status: Not affected
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics: Device-1: Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 vendor: LG driver: i915 v: kernel
bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:8a52
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.10 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
resolution: 2560x1600~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel Iris Plus Graphics (ICL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.3.4
direct render: Yes
Audio: Device-1: Intel Ice Lake-LP Smart Sound Audio vendor: LG driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:34c8
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.10.0-5mx-amd64
Network: Device-1: Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650i 160MHz Wireless Network Adapter
driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 00:14.3 chip ID: 8086:34f0
IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives: Local Storage: total: 506.82 GiB used: 1.69 GiB (0.3%)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVLB512HAJQ-00000 size: 476.94 GiB
block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter>
rev: EXA7301Q scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sda type: USB vendor: Samsung model: Flash Drive size: 29.88 GiB
block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B serial: <filter> rev: 1100 scheme: GPT
Partition: ID-1: / raw size: N/A size: 12.15 GiB used: 23.8 MiB (0.2%) fs: overlay
source: ERR-102
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 65.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos: No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main contrib non-free
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main contrib non-free
2: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
1: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ buster main non-free
2: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ buster ahs
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list
Info: Processes: 254 Uptime: 1m Memory: 15.27 GiB used: 592.0 MiB (3.8%) Init: SysVinit
v: 2.93 runlevel: 5 default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 Shell: quick-system-in
running in: quick-system-in inxi: 3.0.36
Screenshots below of:
- + The encryption password entry page that is obscured by the blank screen in Scenario A above, +
- ++ The grub-launched Text Menu Option pages that are obscured by the blank screen in Scenario B above, and ++
- +++ The zero-dot- to four-dots-boot-screens that are obscured by the blank screen in Scenario C above. +++ {Continued in Post #2 of this thread.}
- Enter LUKS passphrase
++ Interactive Text Menu Options after Grub-Bootloader ++
- Language and Console Column Options
- Timezone and Other Options
- Persistence and Font Size Options
- Save Changes
Just putting all of this out there for other LG Gram owners or folks troubleshooting a blank screen around a Live-USB boot for MX Linux. Thank you, MX Linux, my defenestration distro of choice. Bit more in part 2 / post #2 below.
