Screen suddenly goes black on ubuntu 23.04 (not at login)

[Haui111]

Hi folks!

Another day another dough... I mean problem.

System​

I run Ubuntu 23.04 on an ASUS MB with i9 and 3060ti, one Monitor over DP.

The GPU is new, the Computer ran for short periods on ubuntu 22.10 until 2-3 Weeks ago since I decided to switch from windows, got myself a gpu for gaming and made the jump.

Story so far​

It has been a bumpy ride. I needed to switch out nouveau drivers which proprietary ones just to play some games. Ran into some bugs. As some of you may know, I had some issues likely related to a reversed pipewire>>pulse audio mod. But this newest one is a bit scary, since it just happens and I lose all my work instantly:

Bug​

The screen just goes black. No remedy except forced reboot. I tried ctrl+alt+f3, f4, f5 all no dice. I admit I don't really know what I'm doing since linux desktop is just so new to me. Gonna buy myself a book soon but until then I'm stuck with the internet. I tried different DP ports, hdmi, all without luck.

Steps to remedy​

Then I looked in the syslog and found a billion things seemingly going wrong. I don't even know where to begin.

I'm gonna attach the last 10 minutes before shutdown so anyone with more knowledge than me can maybe make sense of this. Btw. I deactivated blank screen idling in the hope of it being the cause.

I must have read through this log for more than an hour now. I found a ton of warnings and a lot of errors. Some could be "mutter" not having permission for something and could lead to the perpetual black screen. Not sure though.

Thank you for any advice.

 

[Condobloke]

Did you install the GPU ?

If so, pull it out
Try again....hopefully the motherboard has onboard graphics

 

[Haui111]

Did you install the GPU ?

If so, pull it out
Try again....hopefully the motherboard has onboard graphics

I'm not sure I understand you correctly. Yes, I installed it. No, the motherboard does not have onboard graphics. Why would I want to pull out the GPU?

Edit: I'm an idiot. I'm so confused that I forgot to put in "no remedy except forced reboot". Obviously someone else would think the screen stays black forever. When I reboot, it turns back on. It happened twice so far. different times. Yesterday once, today once, while working on the machine.

 

[Condobloke]

There is obvioulsy a problem somewhere because the pc used to run ok....presumably before you installed the new graphics card and new drivers etc etc
The process of elimination would be to undo whatever was done last....and that would be the graphics card.....but if you have no onboard graphics then gives that the fritze.

Are there signs of overheating ?
Do you have a temperature indicator running?

This more likely going to be a hardware problem rather than software, I would think

 

[Haui111]

There is obvioulsy a problem somewhere because the pc used to run ok....presumably before you installed the new graphics card and new drivers etc etc
The process of elimination would be to undo whatever was done last....and that would be the graphics card.....but if you have no onboard graphics then gives that the fritze.

Are there signs of overheating ?
Do you have a temperature indicator running?

This more likely going to be a hardware problem rather than software, I would think

Thank you very much for elaborating.

I think I have done a pretty bad job of explaining. Let me try that again:

I installed the system 3 months ago and never used it much since I had a windows daily driver and a poor replacement gpu in this machine. So I wouldn't likely have encountered the problem even if it had been there.

Since then I installed the GPU, updated to 23.04, reversed the pipewire mod I had done, installed a shitton of software, resolved other issues, uninstalled other stuff and played some games.

This problem emerged yesterday once and a second time today while typing in firefox. So, my experience as a server admin and helpdesk guy does not scream hardware right out the gate. Additionally, the log reads like swiss cheese. Errors and warnings everywhere. Mostly related to stuff that relates to the window manager (I think). My problem is that I'm not used to the complexity of ubuntu desktop compared to ubuntu server. Whole new world!

I checked the temps. Nothing looks like overheating so far. SMI says 45C. The GPU is new, btw. I should not be able to play 3D games at 100 fps if this was the problem.

Looking forward to additional ideas. Thanks a lot

 

[Condobloke]

What are the chances of you reinstalling a different OS? perhaps going back to Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS ...?

I know !....an absolute pita.

i have witnessed quite a number of dramas with 23.04...some of the quite weird...defying any sort of Logic.

I will feel like a complete whacko if you do this, and it has no effect !.....but if this were on my pc, I would get the hell rid of 23.04

(I run Linux Mint 21.2 btw)...only because I got of to a bad start with ubuntu many years ago, and I have never gone back to it.)

I digress.

How do you feel about doing that ?

 

[osprey]

The issues that stand out in the log file look to me to be:

 2023-09-29T10:03:42.947746+02:00 haui-TowerPC kernel: [ 1960.706123]
audit: type=1107 audit(1695974622.940:188): pid=1414 uid=102 auid=4294967295
ses=4294967295 subj=unconfined msg='apparmor="DENIED" operation="dbus_signal"
bus="system    " path="/org/freedesktop/login1" interface="org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties"
member="PropertiesChanged" name=":1.3" ma    sk="receive" pid=5109 label="snap.firefox.firefox"
peer_pid=1476 peer_label="unconfined"




2023-09-29T10:02:53.406379+02:00 haui-TowerPC systemd[1]:
Failed to start nvidia-hibernate.service - NVIDIA system hibernate actions.


2023-09-29T10:00:31.843531+02:00 haui-TowerPC dbus-daemon[3259]: apparmor="DENIED"
operation="dbus_method_call"  bus="session" path="/org/gnome/Mutter/IdleMonitor/Core"
interface="org.gnome.Mutter.IdleMonitor" member="GetIdletime" mask="send" name=":1.48"
pid=5109 label="snap.firefox.firefox" peer_pid=3582 peer_label="unconfined"

The window manager mutter may be worried about apparmor, or vice versa.
Hibernation appears to be a problem, which is not unusual in linux.

A couple of things to try could be to cease hibernation, and just power on and power off rather than trying to hibernate. Secondly, see what happens when you take apparmor out of the picture by stopping it at kernel level with a kernel parameter: apparmor=0, which will stop it altogether.

There are actually no errors reported by the kernel, just faults and failures which point to the post-kernel boot software.

 

[lomszz]

How did you update to 23.04? Have you tried full reinstall with installation disc rather than upgrade.

 

[Haui111]

The issues that stand out in the log file look to me to be:

 2023-09-29T10:03:42.947746+02:00 haui-TowerPC kernel: [ 1960.706123]
audit: type=1107 audit(1695974622.940:188): pid=1414 uid=102 auid=4294967295
ses=4294967295 subj=unconfined msg='apparmor="DENIED" operation="dbus_signal"
bus="system    " path="/org/freedesktop/login1" interface="org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties"
member="PropertiesChanged" name=":1.3" ma    sk="receive" pid=5109 label="snap.firefox.firefox"
peer_pid=1476 peer_label="unconfined"




2023-09-29T10:02:53.406379+02:00 haui-TowerPC systemd[1]:
Failed to start nvidia-hibernate.service - NVIDIA system hibernate actions.


2023-09-29T10:00:31.843531+02:00 haui-TowerPC dbus-daemon[3259]: apparmor="DENIED"
operation="dbus_method_call"  bus="session" path="/org/gnome/Mutter/IdleMonitor/Core"
interface="org.gnome.Mutter.IdleMonitor" member="GetIdletime" mask="send" name=":1.48"
pid=5109 label="snap.firefox.firefox" peer_pid=3582 peer_label="unconfined"

The window manager mutter may be worried about apparmor, or vice versa.
Hibernation appears to be a problem, which is not unusual in linux.

A couple of things to try could be to cease hibernation, and just power on and power off rather than trying to hibernate. Secondly, see what happens when you take apparmor out of the picture by stopping it at kernel level with a kernel parameter: apparmor=0, which will stop it altogether.

There are actually no errors reported by the kernel, just faults and failures which point to the post-kernel boot software.

Thats an insanely helpful answer! Thank you so much! I had a suspicion but as I'm not familiar with the hibernation and apparmor (I never had any big issues on Ubuntu Server), it's all new to me.

I will give this a try. Does disabling apparmor systemwide have security implications? Is there a application based alternative?

 

[Haui111]

How did you update to 23.04? Have you tried full reinstall with installation disc rather than upgrade.

No, I haven't tried that yet but I am considering it since I might have done some damage due to not knowing a lot. I did that too when I was a noob on windows, havent had to reinstall to alleviate my mistakes for probably 10 yrs now since I know my way around pretty well. In Ubuntu Server I pretty much never had the issue to begin with but desktop is a completely different animal. I respect the hell out of people that run a daily driver for years and have a complex setup. I'm essentially running a full content creator setup without having a clue of ubuntu desktop. I could have seen that coming, now that I think about it.

I have also read that it is a good idea to do a fresh install when switching major versions.

Do you happen to know a way to reinstall my current apps (snaps and major apt install apps like vs code, steam, gimp, inkscape, blender, etc.) on a new OS? I figured that would make a reinstall a lot easier. Then again, I'd also need the appimages of some apps. It's pretty rough to have like 5 ways to install for someone who is used to windows.

I mean I could just make a script but I would still need to look through my installed things and find their install name. Synaptic seems to have something along those lines but I don't get how to do it yet.

 

[lomszz]

You install them same way you did before , don't worry we everyone start at some where and as noob. I would do fresh installation fully.

 

[Haui111]

What are the chances of you reinstalling a different OS? perhaps going back to Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS ...?

I know !....an absolute pita.

i have witnessed quite a number of dramas with 23.04...some of the quite weird...defying any sort of Logic.

I will feel like a complete whacko if you do this, and it has no effect !.....but if this were on my pc, I would get the hell rid of 23.04

(I run Linux Mint 21.2 btw)...only because I got of to a bad start with ubuntu many years ago, and I have never gone back to it.)

I digress.

How do you feel about doing that ?

Sorry! I overlooked your answer! Thank you very much for elaborating. I'm quite happy to not be alone with these issues although I'd prefer to not have them instead of others having them too.

Anyway, I agree. Changing OS or Reinstalling or going back to 22.04 are all viable options. But since people said a lot of the learning with linux comes with figuring out the troubleshooting steps (which log to read, which pattern means what) and making appropriate changes I thought I'd try. Also, running a relatively up to date kernel should help me with gaming, right?

In any case, if that doesn't do it, I will follow your advice and try other avenues. Mint does feel like a great idea. Only reason I didn't do it in the first place was because I use ubuntu on my server(s).

 

[Haui111]

You install them same way you did before , don't worry we everyone start at some where and as noob. I would do fresh installation fully.

You're very nice and I appreciate your friendly attitude! Asking for help about linux sometimes makes me feel like a moron.

I will strongly consider it. Thank you very much!

 

[lomszz]

Asking isn't ever stupid. Better to ask rather than for example spending couple days finding bug myself at code (I like to find everything myself hard way)

 

[Haui111]

Asking isn't ever stupid. Better to ask rather than for example spending couple days finding bug myself at code (I like to find everything myself hard way)

Can totally relate. I do that with stuff I‘m really used to. When I play a game I also tend to try it 100 times instead of asking or looking it up. And thanks again.

 

[mp.goodwin]

I have had exactly the same symptoms - also on Ubuntu 23.04: A few days ago, sudden black screen and then today (about 10 minutes after booting) sudden black screen. I am guessing it is a background install/update of the Nvidia drivers.

I will have a look at my apt and auto-update logs, and return here with info

 

[mp.goodwin]

So I find in my unattended-upgrades log:

/var/log/unattended-upgrades/unattended-upgrades.log

2023-09-29 20:24:51,168 INFO Packages that will be upgraded: firefox libnvidia-cfg1-535 libnvidia-common-535 ibnvidia-compute-535 libnvidia-compute-535:i386 libnvidia-decode-535 libnvidia-decode-535:i386 libnvidia-encode-535 libnvidia-encode-535:i386 libnvidia-extra-535 libnvidia-fbc1-535 libnvidia-fbc1-535:i386 libnvidia-gl-535 libnvidia-gl-535:i386 nvidia-compute-utils-535 nvidia-dkms-535 nvidia-driver-535 nvidia-kernel-common-535 nvidia-kernel-source-535 nvidia-utils-535 xserver-xorg/video-nvidia-535
2023-09-29 20:24:51,168 INFO Writing dpkg log to /var/log/unattended-upgrades/unattended-upgrades-dpkg.log
2023-09-29 20:25:34,418 INFO All upgrades installed

which seems to coincide with the sudden black screen. I do not remember the date of my last similar situation.

/M

 

[KGIII]

Do you happen to know a way to reinstall my current apps (snaps and major apt install apps like vs code, steam, gimp, inkscape, blender, etc.) on a new OS? I figured that would make a reinstall a lot easier.

Not really, but if you preserve the /home directory you can copy that bad boy back (after doing a clean install) over and retain all your settings and all that stuff. You'll even (ideally) be able to open your browser up and have it open all the tabs you had open before.

Just save /home (you can also preserve /home in an advanced installation, and some put /home on its own partition) to an external disk, do your installation, and copy the /home directory back. It won't reinstall your applications, but you'll have the same settings you currently have when you do reinstall your applications.

 

[Haui111]

I have had exactly the same symptoms - also on Ubuntu 23.04: A few days ago, sudden black screen and then today (about 10 minutes after booting) sudden black screen. I am guessing it is a background install/update of the Nvidia drivers.

I will have a look at my apt and auto-update logs, and return here with info

Thats crazy! Please update! Very curious.

Edit: ok thanks! I‘ll check my logs as well. Do you have particular fix in mind? I turned off the screen sleep (dont remember the correct term). Lets see if it happens again tomorrow.

 

[Haui111]

Not really, but if you preserve the /home directory you can copy that bad boy back (after doing a clean install) over and retain all your settings and all that stuff. You'll even (ideally) be able to open your browser up and have it open all the tabs you had open before.

Just save /home (you can also preserve /home in an advanced installation, and some put /home on its own partition) to an external disk, do your installation, and copy the /home directory back. It won't reinstall your applications, but you'll have the same settings you currently have when you do reinstall your applications.

Great tipp! Thank you very much. I appreciate it.