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yinon
Asked: 2017-10-26 02:26:52 +0800 CST

part of the screen (Desktop) is black [Pic inside] (happens with 17.10s on Atom n270 laptops)

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The mouse is visible on the black part, and i can drag windows from there. Print screen produces a normal pic with all the desktop as it should look like.

I have this problem with 2 atom n270 laptops, With the first one I could "fix" it temproary by connecting an external screen, then switching to CLI (Ctrl+Alt+F1) and back to the gui (Ctrl+Alt+F7). It might be a temporary fix for the second laptop too, just didn't check it.

It happens only in 17.10 versions (Ubuntu, Ubuntu mate, Lubuntu). Previous versions of Ubuntu are fine. Also Windows and Manjaro are fine.

Pic of second laptop having this: https://imgur.com/b6iTmFi

enter image description here

Possible tags: screen, screen black, monitor, laptop, monitor and laptop, monitor display, 17.10, atom, atom n270, n270, intel atom,

screen

1 Answers

  1. Moving this to an answer.

    Bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1724639

    Symptom

    Upgrading Ubuntu to Linux 4.13 Kernel or higher that have an Intel based chipset may result in portions of the screen not being drawn properly (around 80%), leaving garbled or black portions that are not readable. Oddly, mouse cursor is drawn properly on all parts of the screen.

    Work Around

    Access the system via Command Line to make change (via root) to /etc/default/grub file.

    If possible, connect via SSH. If not, hold down Left Shift key during boot to enter GRUB menu, select alternate kernel to load (in my case 4.10).

    Run:

    sudo cp /etc/default/grub /etc/default/grub.old

    This creates a backup of your grub file.

    Edit grub as root, I use nano.

    sudo nano /etc/default/grub

    Look for or add the following line:

    GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text

    I also uncommented and updated the GFX Mode (will vary on your device):

    GRUB_GFXMODE=800x600,1024x600

    Save changes and perform an update to grub:

    sudo update-grub

    You can now reboot and the desktop should load with proper settings, being completely visible.

    GRUB Boot Commands

    If you cannot SSH, nor can you select an alternate kernel, there is another option. In the GRUB boot menu, press e to edit the commands. Add the following command to end of the command list:

    set gfxpayload=text

    Ubuntu should boot and you can then edit the grub file as instructed above.

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