Random laptop screen blanking

[atom6502]

OK, this one is weird and driving me slowly insane.

I get highly intermittent screen blanking on my ASUS X441M laptop. The display will just blank out for around 1 second and then come back. It is hardly terminal but it is scary as hell especially when I have six laptops that have died on me since July and had to buy two replacements of which this is one.

The blanking is totally random and I can find no clear circumstances in which it happens. It just blanks at random, usually once a day but I can run fine for two days and then have, say, three blanks on the third day.

To see if it was hardware or software I ran the old Windows game "Neverwinter nights" in PlayonLinux to see if the screen ever blanked. It NEVER blanked when in WINE mode and I played the game intensively for weeks to test!

I also installed Kubuntu on the machine to test and I did not get the screen blanking so it is something to do with/in MX-Linux. I also do not want to install MX-Linux from scratch especially when I could just re-introduce the problem by installing something.

I restored from a snapshot and... the blanking is back. It did not blank when I first installed MX-Linux so it must be something I have installed or a setting I have changed but I am hanged if I can find it.

I have tried changing power settings and screen blanking options in KDE system settings to no avail. I am 90% certain screen blanking only happens when using the laptop when plugged into the mains, I never seem to get it when running off battery, but... I need to use the laptop from the mains as my tuition business is now 100% online and this need to be my main use laptop.

I have also switched kernels to no avail. This's maddening and a bit 'Chinese water torture.' I also cannot find anything online that describes my laptop's symptoms in any OS. It is really scary when it happens! I have another ASUS x441(B) with an AMD A6-9220 with the exact same snapshot install and no screen blanking.

Help very gratefully received. System info below.
Many thanks in advance.

Code: Select all

Snapshot created on: 20220620_1305
System:
  Kernel: 5.17.0-4.1-liquorix-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc 
  v: 10.2.1 
  parameters: audit=0 intel_pstate=disable hpet=disable 
  BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.17.0-4.1-liquorix-amd64 
  root=UUID=<filter> ro audit=0 
  intel_pstate=disable hpet=disable quiet splash 
  Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.20.5 tk: Qt 5.15.2 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 7 dm: SDDM 
  Distro: MX-21.1_KDE_x64 Wildflower October 20  2021 
  base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK 
  product: VivoBook 14_ASUS Laptop X441MAR_X441MA v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: X441MAR v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: American Megatrends v: X441MAR.301 date: 01/21/2021 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 31.8 Wh (99.1%) condition: 32.1/34.6 Wh (92.8%) 
  volts: 10.8 min: 10.8 model: ASUSTeK ASUS Battery type: Li-ion 
  serial: N/A status: Not charging 
CPU:
  Info: Dual Core model: Intel Celeron N4020 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: Goldmont Plus family: 6 model-id: 7A (122) stepping: 8 
  microcode: 1C cache: L2: 4 MiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 4377 
  Speed: 2448 MHz min/max: 800/1101 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 
  1: 2448 2: 1825 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
  Type: mds status: Not affected 
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
  Type: spec_store_bypass 
  mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl 
  Type: spectre_v1 
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  Type: spectre_v2 status: Vulnerable: eIBRS with unprivileged eBPF 
  Type: srbds status: Not affected 
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel GeminiLake [UHD Graphics 600] vendor: ASUSTeK 
  driver: i915 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3185 
  class-ID: 0300 
  Device-2: IMC Networks USB2.0 VGA UVC WebCam type: USB driver: uvcvideo 
  bus-ID: 1-5:7 chip-ID: 13d3:5a11 class-ID: 0e02 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: 
  loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa display-ID: :0 screens: 1 
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.2x8.0") 
  s-diag: 414mm (16.3") 
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 res: 1366x768 hz: 60 dpi: 112 
  size: 309x173mm (12.2x6.8") diag: 354mm (13.9") 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 600 (GLK 2) 
  v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.5 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Celeron/Pentium Silver Processor High Definition Audio 
  vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci_intel_apl bus-ID: 00:0e.0 
  chip-ID: 8086:3198 class-ID: 0403 
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.17.0-4.1-liquorix-amd64 running: yes 
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK 
  driver: r8169 v: kernel port: e000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8136 
  class-ID: 0200 
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: AzureWave driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel port: e000 
  bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:0042 class-ID: 0280 
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 738.17 GiB (79.2%) 
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Seagate model: ST1000LM035-1RK172 
  size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B 
  speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> rev: 0001 
  scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 205.68 GiB size: 201.39 GiB (97.92%) 
  used: 91.33 GiB (45.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2 
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 256 MiB size: 252 MiB (98.46%) 
  used: 4.7 MiB (1.9%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 40 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 9.77 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) 
  priority: -2 dev: /dev/sda4 maj-min: 8:4 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 1300 
Repos:
  Packages: 3237 note: see --pkg apt: 3221 lib: 1827 flatpak: 16 
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ bullseye main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
  1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-updates main contrib non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
  1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main contrib non-free
  2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main contrib non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/element-io.list 
  1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/element-io-archive-keyring.gpg] https://packages.element.io/debian/ default main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/librewolf.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] http://deb.librewolf.net bullseye main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
  1: deb http://mirror.poliwangi.ac.id/mxlinux/mx/repo/ bullseye main non-free
  2: deb http://mirror.poliwangi.ac.id/mxlinux/mx/repo/ bullseye ahs
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
Info:
  Processes: 242 Uptime: 1h 9m wakeups: 2 Memory: 3.67 GiB 
  used: 2.13 GiB (58.1%) Init: SysVinit v: 2.96 runlevel: 5 default: 5 
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 alt: 10 Shell: bash 
  default: Bash v: 5.1.4 running-in: quick-system-info-mx inxi: 3.3.06 
Boot Mode: UEFI

[JayM]

What kernel is Kubuntu using?

I see you have the Liquorix 5.17.0-4 kernel. Does it happen with the newest Debian 5.17 kernel? (MX Package Installer, Popular Applications, Kernels.)

A web search shows that a lot of people are having this issue in Windows. Many or the recommended solutions are to update the video driver. In Linux the video drivers are contained in the kernels.

[atom6502]

Hmm. I tried various kernels and I did update. I have kernel 'hopped' on this.
I cannot see any Debian 5.17 kernel in the repos, mind. I will, however, try the generic kernel from the kernel vault.
Thanks. It is worth a try!
Please note that due to the highly intermittent nature of this I may not be able to give feedback for some time.

[atom6502]

What kernel is Kubuntu using?

I see you have the Liquorix 5.17.0-4 kernel. Does it happen with the newest Debian 5.17 kernel? (MX Package Installer, Popular Applications, Kernels.)

A web search shows that a lot of people are having this issue in Windows. Many or the recommended solutions are to update the video driver. In Linux the video drivers are contained in the kernels.

BTW, well done on finding this problem with Windows. I could not find ANYTHING online on this!
As it is, I have found 5.18 in the Debian backports. I have installed and am running on it now. I will report in due time.

The kernel in Kubuntu was 5.15, BTW. Actually, it did have some odd very flash screen blanking but it seemed to be related to window switching and I figured a feature of the 'new and improved' KDE used in Kubuntu that seemed to be a mass of bugs! It was also far less noticable or scary.
OK, as I say, thanks for that I am trialing 5.18.

[Huckleberry Finn]

... I restored from a snapshot and... the blanking is back. It did not blank when I first installed MX-Linux ...

Just create a new user with "MX User Manager" and try with that (if you can) for some time.

... am 90% certain screen blanking only happens when using the laptop when plugged into the mains...

If it was the vice versa, I'd directly say "tlp" .. you could even remove it but on MX-21 the related file is already "completely" commented out .

Other than trying with the new user (one by one, to catch the culprit :) ) you can try

Code: Select all

intel_iommu=off

either just for that boot (press E on Grub ...) , or paste into Kernel Parameters box in "MX Boot Options".

[atom6502]

Eh? My previous reply with "thank you" has gone.

???

OK, well, thank you (again) Huckleberry. I tried the boot option and.... got screen blanking still. So I am going to have to create a blank user. I will try and run with this user using pure defaults and see what happens (though the KDE defaults do not suit me well and I change a lot of settings so this will be awkward.)

Thanks again. I will report my test findings.

[Huckleberry Finn]

Since there's nothing to lose, you can also:

Code: Select all

sudo sysv-rc-conf

and (navigate with the arrow keys and use the space bar to uncheck/check)

uncheck all columns for tlp , reboot, try with your normal user (with power adapter on, to see what happens )

[Huckleberry Finn]

... In fact, I'd do this also: Try some completely different (non-Debiian & non-KDE) distros at least on live session. Say, some Arch based distros (whichever you like most) with Xfce / Fluxbox etc.. (or Solus or Fedora ... )

Of course (if you don't feel lazy) you can try MX AHS, too (for it's Xfce and to first see whether it was something due to Plasma).

So, if you see the same issue there, then it may be something specific to those model of adapters etc.. (sudden fluctuation in voltage or so ... )

[atom6502]

Thanks Huckleberry but the 'solution' to my problem came to me last night. [I have had a horrible cold and not been thinking straight.]

Re-install Kubuntu and run that.

It's not that I am a great fan of Kubuntu, I prefer MX Linux, but I have little choice but to run Kubuntu on at least one major use laptop. That's because I have got Linux converts here in Indonesia! But... I have moved recently and it is much harder to visit and physically support those I have passed MX Linux onto. Support is going to have to be much more via whatsapp messaging which is THE comms standard here.

I have to install a distro that is "install, set up once, leave it alone" for people. MX Linux is that... right up until the next major release and then everyone will rush back to Windows. So Kubuntu has to step in and nobody minds "As long as it just works." Which means I need to be running Kubuntu myself to encounter any issues on that distro and get them fixed for when I get the whatsapp message from a convert; "How do I?"

My original plan was put MX Linux on this Intel X441 and Kubuntu on the A6 X441. Then the light went on, "Or, why not just roll with Kubuntu with the Intel and leave MX Linux on the A6?" *Slaps feverish head*

Done. And in the process I have learned how to get Kdenlive to install on Kubuntu properly first time and how to get Tor to launch which is exactly what I will need to pass onto my converts!

So many thanks. Good try. I will not marked as solved as we never found it out but just rolling with Kubuntu on this one machine is actually the smart move here. MX Linux is on everything else!