Trying to boot into Manjaro (Budgie) using a laptop with broken GPU

[Dbt_rusty]

Hello all,

 

I am trying to boot into Manjaro-Budgie 18.0.4 on a HP Envy 17t-3000 CTO with the i7 2670QM.  The AMD 6770 gpu on the motherboard is toast but I am able to use windows 7 or 10 with the integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics/basic VGA drivers from windows update as long as I don't try to install the AMD drivers and disable the card via device manager. 

If I try and boot into any Linux (via USB stick) distro, it starts installing and gives me a black screen on everything except for non free drivers in Manjaro budgie (tried the Ubuntu LTS current build, elementary OS, and a few different version of Manjaro) where it says I reach graphical interface in the boot loader text but never takes me to an actual GUI.  I tried doing CTLR+ALT+F3 and doing "startx" but it gives me an error and give up code.  I just want to know how to disable the AMD card or force the Intel dedicated graphics to be the primary GPU through the CTLR+ALT+F3 command line.

 

I did a bunch of googling and almost everything I find is related to bumblebee and nvidia optimus stuff.

I found someone with a similar situation and his solution was to physically remove the power delivery for the GPU on the motherboard and I don't understand how power delivery works to verify that that would be safe for this laptop.

 

Thanks to anyone who takes time or is willing to lend their knowledge to this noob.

Have a Happy Easter everyone.

[Bananasplit_00]

Can you open up and remove the broken GPU? Or is it soldered on to the motherboard?

[Dbt_rusty]

Just now, Bananasplit_00 said:

Can you open up and remove the broken GPU? Or is it soldered on to the motherboard?

soldered

[iamdarkyoshi]

Disabling the GPU involves desoldering or knocking off parts. I'd steer away from that unless it is a last resort.

[Bananasplit_00]

4 minutes ago, Dbt_rusty said:

soldered

Well that was as far as my ideas went, don't know how to force Linux to use a certain device for video and all that

I

 call on the support of @Sauron@Sauron

 

Edited April 21, 2019 by Bananasplit_00
Editor isn't being nice to me atn

[.Apex.]

Can't you force to use Intel iGPU in BIOS?

[Dbt_rusty]

12 minutes ago, _Syn_ said:

Can't you force to use Intel iGPU in BIOS?

No option i could find. The bios is pretty barebones. 

[Chunchunmaru_]

I would edit the boot parameters to disable the Radeon driver and forcing the Intel one for everything

 

Try

Spoiler

radeon.blacklist=1 i915.modeset=1 radeon.modeset=0

press E when grub is shown to edit boot parameters, add them after quiet splash separated with a space

 

Try those boot parameters separately if putting all of them doesn't give any luck, like

 

radeon.blacklist=1 i915.modeset=1

then

radeon.modeset=0 i915.modeset=1

 

radeon.blacklist=1 only separately, same for modeset

 

If none of those still gives any luck, try amdgpu instead of radeon like amdgpu.blacklist=1... etc following all the steps again

[Dbt_rusty]

1 hour ago, Chunchunmaru_ said:

I would edit the boot parameters to disable the Radeon driver and forcing the Intel one for everything

 

Try

  Reveal hidden contents

radeon.blacklist=1 i915.modeset=1 radeon.modeset=0

press E when grub is shown to edit boot parameters, add them after quiet splash separated with a space

 

Try those boot parameters separately if putting all of them doesn't give any luck, like

 

radeon.blacklist=1 i915.modeset=1

then

radeon.modeset=0 i915.modeset=1

 

radeon.blacklist=1 only separately, same for modeset

 

If none of those still gives any luck, try amdgpu instead of radeon like amdgpu.blacklist=1... etc following all the steps again

Thanks ill give them a try

[Dbt_rusty]

Tried these. Keep getting a error saying light display manager is failing to start. 

[elsandosgrande]

Starting off, thank you and have a happy Easter as well.

 

Now, this is tricky, but I think you could do the same thing that Wendel and other do to achieve PCI passthrough, blacklisting driver modules. One post I found is https://askubuntu.com/questions/110341/how-to-blacklist-kernel-modules. If you can boot into a LiveUSB and install the OS, then mounting the partition on which it was installed will let you edit the file and you should be fine. This ArchWiki page https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Kernel_module#Blacklisting is more detailed if that helps.

 

As a last resort, you could try compiling your own kernel (it's business as usual in Gentoo, so I'm suggesting it), though I think we'll find a solution before we ever reach that (unless, of course, you're willing to try Gentoo out).

 

Anyway, good luck and I'm off to continue my homework! Please do ask for any necessary clarifications.

[Chunchunmaru_]

12 hours ago, Dbt_rusty said:

Tried these. Keep getting a error saying light display manager is failing to start. 

try to boot with nomodeset kernel parameter

[bloodthirster]

Can you use serial?

[Dbt_rusty]

1 hour ago, bloodthirster said:

Can you use serial?

I am a big noob and don't know what that is. 

[Dbt_rusty]

3 hours ago, Chunchunmaru_ said:

try to boot with nomodeset kernel parameter

Ill give that a shot. Do i just put that in the command line or in the boot parameters? 

[Dbt_rusty]

14 hours ago, elsandosgrande said:

Starting off, thank you and have a happy Easter as well.

 

Now, this is tricky, but I think you could do the same thing that Wendel and other do to achieve PCI passthrough, blacklisting driver modules. One post I found is https://askubuntu.com/questions/110341/how-to-blacklist-kernel-modules. If you can boot into a LiveUSB and install the OS, then mounting the partition on which it was installed will let you edit the file and you should be fine. This ArchWiki page https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Kernel_module#Blacklisting is more detailed if that helps.

 

As a last resort, you could try compiling your own kernel (it's business as usual in Gentoo, so I'm suggesting it), though I think we'll find a solution before we ever reach that (unless, of course, you're willing to try Gentoo out).

 

Anyway, good luck and I'm off to continue my homework! Please do ask for any necessary clarifications.

Thanks for your time and I will give these a shot

[bloodthirster]

3 hours ago, Dbt_rusty said:

I am a big noob and don't know what that is. 

Don't worry about it.  It's just serial/UART is a common way to get access to a system that doesn't have a graphics card and/or network connection.

[Sauron]

@Bananasplit_00 I'll see what I can do but gpu problems are the worst and I can't test any of this on my hardware

 

Before going for exotic solutions I would suggest trying something simple; try installing (or even just booting) a distro that doesn't come with a graphical installer or anything that relies on a graphics adapter. Some choices are Arch, Debian (minimal), Gentoo.

 

If that works, you may be able to solve your problem by simply not having a driver for your radeon card installed. Many distros come with a generic driver in their live environment which allows you to use both of your gpus, defaulting to the radeon in your case. If you install the Intel specific driver, chances are it will go straight for your iGPU. On "pure" Arch, do:

sudo pacman -S xf86-video-intel

and install xorg as detailed on the wiki page. This should work on manjaro too if you can reach a framebuffer terminal, but you should also remove the generic (or amd specific, I don't know what manjaro ships with to be honest) drivers.

generic:

sudo pacman -Rs xf86-video-vesa

amd:

sudo pacman -Rs xf86-video-amdgpu

 

If this doesn't help, blacklisting kernel modules is probably your best bet.

[elsandosgrande]

1 hour ago, Sauron said:

@Bananasplit_00 I'll see what I can do but gpu problems are the worst and I can't test any of this on my hardware

 

Before going for exotic solutions I would suggest trying something simple; try installing (or even just booting) a distro that doesn't come with a graphical installer or anything that relies on a graphics adapter. Some choices are Arch, Debian (minimal), Gentoo.

 

If that works, you may be able to solve your problem by simply not having a driver for your radeon card installed. Many distros come with a generic driver in their live environment which allows you to use both of your gpus, defaulting to the radeon in your case. If you install the Intel specific driver, chances are it will go straight for your iGPU. On "pure" Arch, do:

sudo pacman -S xf86-video-intel

and install xorg as detailed on the wiki page. This should work on manjaro too if you can reach a framebuffer terminal, but you should also remove the generic (or amd specific, I don't know what manjaro ships with to be honest) drivers.

generic:

sudo pacman -Rs xf86-video-vesa

amd:

sudo pacman -Rs xf86-video-amdgpu

 

If this doesn't help, blacklisting kernel modules is probably your best bet.

I think we should stay away from Gentoo for as long as possible (an OS that compiles everything locally is not exactly beginner-friendly material), but I am ready to provide assistance if it comes to it (user of Gentoo here).

 

[elsandosgrande]

8 hours ago, Dbt_rusty said:

Ill give that a shot. Do i just put that in the command line or in the boot parameters? 

Boot parameters, kernel command line, kernel parameters, it's all the same.