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moonlitpath
moonlitpath

Posted on • Edited on • Originally published at moonlittech.blogspot.com

Cross-Distro Boot Failures and GRUB Tweaks — Part 2: Cross OS Display Issues Investigation [HP 15t dy200]

#ubuntu #devjournal #gpu #kernel

Written: December 3, 2025

Issue

My laptop froze on a blank screen when I tried to try run any version of Linux on it with a bootable USB on trial mode.

Attempts

Operating Systems tried by me:

  1. Ubuntu 24.04

  2. Ubuntu 22.04

  3. Ubuntu 20.04

  4. Linux Mint Cinnamon 21

Issues while installing:

After selecting try Ubuntu 24 (say) in the installation menu from the Bootable USB, I would get a blank screen and had to force power it off.
No external input would work. Interrupts like Ctrl + Alt + Del or Esc or Ctrl + F2 did nothing. The system seemed to have frozen completely.

However, the OS booted properly in recovery mode.

✅ Fix

  1. Insert bootable USB (even though it shows a blank screen)
  2. Run OS in recovery mode
  3. Install OS onto system
  4. Run in recovery mode
  5. Now, modify the display and power settings through GRUB

Changing Display and Power settings in GRUB

Switch off panel screen refresh, and prevent it it from entering deep power saving modes.

Steps:

  1. Enter grub 
sudo nano /etc/default/grub
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  1. Change the line: 
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i915.enable_psr=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=1"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  1. Save and exit
  2. Update grub 
sudo update-grub
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  1. reboot system 
sudo reboot
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

And done! ✅

Now the laptop runs properly in normal mode.

Other Attempts 

forcing system to use a basic VESA driver instead of the original Intel i915 driver.

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"

this works and Ubuntu normal mode works successfully!✅

Issues:

  1. All graphic rendering happens on CPU. GPU rendering doesn't take place.
  2. Video playback drops. no good quality videos
  3. Web browsers become sluggish, since animations aren't supported
  4. No system brightness control
  5. Lower resolution display
  6. Low refresh rate
  7. Massive battery drain (CPU cant enter into power saving states)
  8. Increase in heat produced

Thus nomodeset can only be just a temporary emergency boot option. not sustainable.

Other kernel parameters tried by me:

  • ❌ GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i915.enable_psr=0"

  • ❌ GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash intel_idle.max_cstate=1

  • ❌ GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i915.enable_dc=0"

  • ❌ GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash intel_iommu=off"

I also tried setting higher values for the parameter intel_idle.max_cstate however they didn't work. The issue seems to be happening when the processor enters deeper C states.

Ending note:
I am still exploring this graphics issue and will continue posting updates as I find more updates on the core cause for this issue.

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