Ubuntu

computer stops displaying, goes blank

Asked by James Elliott

I recently installed a security update using "software update". The kernel went from 4.2.0 to 4.4.0, it was successful but upon reboot the computer will, after a little while, lock up. The screen goes blank and cannot be restored. I hold the reset button and reboot. What can I check for a log of the error message or root cause to resolve discover what the issue is? BTW: my display GPU is a RADEON R9 390 and I have the proprietary driver installed not the X Org open source driver.

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James Elliott
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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

if you boot back to the 4.2 kernel, is it OK?

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James Elliott (jim1863) said : 		#2

No, it is the same. All is well until shortly after I start either Chromium or Firefox. The screen usually goes blank and system becomes unresponsive after I scroll down or watch a video. uname -a shows 4.2.0.latency. I think it was on 4.4.0.generic the first time. I booted it twice to try different web browsers and the second time the resolution was lower. The system seems to be trying to recover.

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James Elliott (jim1863) said : 		#3

Good news! This morning I disabled extensions and plugins to the web browser and it stopped blanking out and disabling the system. So I began to re-enable some of them and I am still trying to find the cause. It might be awhile before I isolate the web browser add on that is causing it.

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James Elliott (jim1863) said : 		#4

I reinstalled Ubuntu Studio 14.04 and received all updates to that LTS. Then I switched back to the proprietary AMD GPU driver and all is well again. The "Radeon" driver or XOrg stack does not support AMD Radeon model R9 290 so it is necessary to install the proprietary driver fglrx .