Black screen on boot

[LNXlady]

I installed Maui and get a black screen on boot. If I add radeon.modeset=0 to the grub entry, it boots into the desktop but the only option for resolution is 1024x768, which isn't really usable. The correct resolution should be 1440x900. If I boot into recovery mode, I can set the resolution to that but not with a regular boot. I've applied all updates. Help, please?

Code:

@ASUS-Maui:~$ inxi -F
System:    Host: ASUS-Maui Kernel: 4.4.0-34-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
          Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.7.4
          Distro: Ubuntu 1 xenial
Machine:   Mobo: ASUSTeK model: K30BF_M32BF v: Rev X.0x
          Bios: American Megatrends v: 0302 date: 08/25/2014
CPU:       Quad core AMD A10-6700 APU with Radeon HD Graphics (-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB
          clock speeds: max: 3700 MHz 1: 1800 MHz
          2: 1800 MHz 3: 2300 MHz 4: 2300 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Richland [Radeon HD 8670D]
          Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 drivers: fbdev,ati (unloaded: vesa,radeon)
          Resolution: 1024x768@76.00hz
          GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.8, 128 bits)
          GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0
Audio:     Card-1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller
          driver: snd_hda_intel
          Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Trinity HDMI Audio Controller                                          
          driver: snd_hda_intel                            
          Sound: ALSA v: k4.4.0-34-generic                  
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
          driver: r8169
          IF: enp4s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full
          mac: 54:a0:50:86:70:59
          Card-2: Realtek RTL8821AE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
          driver: rtl8821ae
          IF: wlp5s0 state: down mac: dc:85:de:c5:29:c3
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (1.7% used)
          ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB
          ID-1: / size: 48G used: 8.3G (19%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda7
          ID-2: swap-1 size: 8.39GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 22.2C mobo: N/A
          Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0
Info:      Processes: 210 Uptime: 1:09 Memory: 1450.7/7168.5MB
          Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.2.35

[Pliny.D.Elder]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver

[LNXlady]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver

Well yes, I've seen that but it isn't very helpful. Unless Maui does it differently than Ubuntu, the radeon driver (which that page says supports my card) should be the one used by default. Whatever is used by default isn't working, which is why I have to add the radeon.modeset=0 to get it to boot with graphics. The page doesn't say anything about what to do if the radeon driver does not work. Unless I'm overlooking it? The radeon drive is working on Netrunner 14 on the same computer but the newer version isn't. I need to get better than 1024x768 resolution somehow.

[LNXlady]

So...could I post this on the Netrunner forums too and maybe get some help there, or is that not allowed? There are very few posts here so I'm not sure why mine is being ignored. I know that's not typical of the Netrunner team.

[leszek]

Sorry for the late answer. Currently on vacation so not able to check in regulary.

Back to your problem. In general the free driver shipped with the kernel should support your card. If it does not work and you get a black screen it might be worth checking the /var/log/Xorg.1.log that should be the log file of your non working boot after you booted up with nomodeset.
Take a look for E: marked lines as these are the important error messages.

Of course there are other logs there aswell like the sddm.log or you can also check journalctl for the general kernel log.

[LNXlady]

Sorry for the late answer. Currently on vacation so not able to check in regulary.

Back to your problem. In general the free driver shipped with the kernel should support your card. If it does not work and you get a black screen it might be worth checking the /var/log/Xorg.1.log that should be the log file of your non working boot after you booted up with nomodeset.
Take a look for E: marked lines as these are the important error messages.

Of course there are other logs there aswell like the sddm.log or you can also check journalctl for the general kernel log.

I hope you can take a look at this for me when you get back home, then. There is no Xorg.1.log, only a Xorg.0.log and a Xorg.0.log.old. Neither had E: lines anywhere in them. The sddm.log file was blank. I looked at journalctl but had no idea what I was looking for.

[leszek]

OK then we need to go into a little more details here.
Does the login screen appear at all when normally booting or not?
If not then I am out of ideas. Because usually it should then show anything in the logs.

[LNXlady]

OK then we need to go into a little more details here.
Does the login screen appear at all when normally booting or not?
If not then I am out of ideas. Because usually it should then show anything in the logs.

No, if I take out the radeon.modeset=0 part, I don't get the login screen. After grub, the screen goes black and stays that way. I can't get a tty or anything and have to REISUO to shutdown.

[leszek]

How about removing the splash and quiet lines with e on grub and boot with ctrl+f1?
Does something show up?

[LNXlady]

How about removing the splash and quiet lines with e on grub and boot with ctrl+f1?
Does something show up?

I removed quiet splash but ctrl+f1 didn't do anything so I hit ctrl+x to boot but still got the black screen immediately, no login screen.