Found workaround for some Baytrail/Cherry trail tablets (blank screen)

[Combeynot]

Hi everybody,

First, big thank to all who made android x86 possible.

May be this has already been found:

I have a bay trail tablet (Haier W800 same as Nextbook 8) and a HP 608 G1 (cherry trail atom x5 z8500).

Without nomodeset, I wasn't able to boot any recent iso from android-x86.org nor other places nor other linux... Only remix os for asus N3150I-C worked with video acceleration on Cherry trail.

When KMS kicks in, blank screen always on both tablets.

I found a very simple workaround by forcing kms to change resolution when it starts. For it, kernel simply needs to start with any other compatible resolution, for instance with:

set gfxpayload=1024x768

(or "800x600" for 1280x800 tablets)

Now any recent iso boots with video acceleration, even remix os, nougat !

Should work on some dell venue 8 pro, Lenovo miix 2 8... etc...
And should work on other linux systems.

Hope it will help.

[Chih-Wei Huang]

2016-10-10 23:35 GMT+08:00 Combeynot <comb...@gmail.com>:
> First, big thank to all who made android x86 possible.
>
> May be this has already been found:
>
> I have a bay trail tablet (Haier W800 same as Nextbook 8) and a HP 608 G1 (cherry trail atom x5 z8500).
>
> Without nomodeset, I wasn't able to boot any recent iso from android-x86.org nor other places nor other linux... Only remix os for asus N3150I-C worked with video acceleration on Cherry trail.
>
> When KMS kicks in, blank screen always on both tablets.
>
> I found a very simple workaround by forcing kms to change resolution when it starts. For it, kernel simply needs to start with any other compatible resolution, for instance with:
>
> set gfxpayload=1024x768

Did you mean to add it to grub.cfg?
I'm a little surprised that the mode setting
is affected by that.
I don't have any device with this issue
so no chance to test it.
Anyway, thank you for sharing it.

> (or "800x600" for 1280x800 tablets)

Could you set it to the native resolution?
(i.e. 1280x800)

> Now any recent iso boots with video acceleration, even remix os, nougat !
>
> Should work on some dell venue 8 pro, Lenovo miix 2 8... etc...
> And should work on other linux systems.

I also suggest you report the finding to
kernel dri-devel list so the developers
could find a proper solution.

[Combeynot]

> Did you mean to add it to grub.cfg?

Yes, at the beginning of grub.cfg or in the menu entry.

 

> Could you set it to the native resolution?
> (i.e. 1280x800)

If I set it to native resolution, it goes back to blank screen.

It seems that KMS or something is looking for best resolution when it starts.

And that seems to be what's helping.

 

> I also suggest you report the finding to
> kernel dri-devel list so the developers
> could find a proper solution.

Ok. I could check that ubuntu 16.04.1 is also starting with video acceleration, on both tablets, with this trick.

Before, I could only start with nomodeset.

[c.zitze...@gmail.com]

Doesn't work on my Miix2 8

[Jan Dula]

i can confirm that this works on miix 2 8" with set gfxpayload=800x600. thanks a lot

[Jose Luis s]

Hi all.

Maybe related with this topic.......
In my case, I have 3 Chuwi tablets, all of them has a sort of dual boot bios based in profiles (Insyde bios) to boot Windows and Android (android-ia), if I select android profile, then iso's need nommodeset settings and also no HW accel GUI. but if I select Windows profile, then boot directly into GUI accelereated.

Reviewing what differences those profile, I've found that some entry is set to "PCI" in one case and "ACPI" in the other.

Maybe it would be usefull.....

[c.zitze...@gmail.com]

Indeed, set gfxpayload=800x600 works on the Miix 2 8''

But touchscreen doesn't work.

Am Dienstag, 11. Oktober 2016 06:06:57 UTC+2 schrieb Combeynot:

[Jan Dula]

touch stopped working in RC2, in R1 touch still won't work and 3G modem stopped working too.

everything works in RC1 and older

[Vaidotas]

set gfxpayload=800x600 - stretched console text until video KMS switch, everything works correctly.
Tried with 1280x800 (native resolution) - correct screen size right away, but on video switch screen goes blank, as always.
Using Lenovo Miix 2 8 tablet with BIOS 1.10 (90CN27WW) with one of recent Android-x86 6.0 releases.
Looks like video only works correctly after switching from different resolution. Very strange. If someone needs logs or some debugging done - I could help.

Thank you Combeynot, now I finally have dual booting Windows/Android tablet.

[Combeynot]

> Reviewing what differences those profile, I've found that some entry is set to "PCI" in one case and "ACPI" in the other.

 Interesting. I also noticed that adding acpi_osi= in kernel parameters, makes power and volume buttons work.

 Tried other options, but it didn't change anything. The way acpi is configured in uefi/bios may be linked to the screen problem.

[youling 257]

my tablet 1920x1200，gfxpayload no use，if use nomodeset，can see bootanimation，but very obtuse、slow 

[Farooq Hussain]

Sadly this solution did not work for me. 

Acer Iconia W4-820, Intel Atom Z3740

[Farooq Hussain]

Hi,

I have Acer W4 820 with "Intel Atom Z3740", and have the same exact issue of device going into blank screen. Only way to have a display is by adding nomodeset in kernel parameters.

THIS !! your post has made me excited again, Now I am in office and tablet is in my home. I am ding to try this on my tablet. Will try once I am in home with my tablet.

Will update the result sooon !!! Hoping for the good....

On Tuesday, 11 October 2016 09:36:57 UTC+5:30, Combeynot wrote:

[youling 257]

4.9 rc3 kernel ，can't see bootanimation，black screen，isn't gfxpayload problem.

my tablet 1920x1200，gfxpayload no use，if use nomodeset，can see bootanimation，but very obtuse、slow，4.9 rc3 kernel .

nomodeset will disable Hardware Acceleration ，Disable the graphics card

[youling 257]

Adding the nomodeset parameter instructs the kernel to not load video drivers and use BIOS modes

在 2016年11月4日星期五 UTC+8上午6:58:38，youling 257写道：

[youling 257]

gfxpayload，must no use .

[Combeynot]

It's really working as a temporary workaround on some tablets, not all....

I understand it's not the case for youling but could be for others.

Le dimanche 13 novembre 2016 08:04:00 UTC+1, youling 257 a écrit :

gfxpayload，must no use .

[Raymond Lai]

I can confirm this workaround is working on my deserted Livefan F8C (z3735d, 2GB, 64GB) using Android 6.0r1 x64.

I didn't stop the boot process by jump into the BIOS and choose GRUB, but let it go from boot screen (which should be EFI framebuffer) to GRUB which I streamlined through rEFInd's menu, as F8C uses 32 bit UEFI, and 32bit rEFInd cannot detect 64bit kernels.

As a bonus, adding clocksource=tsc seems also fixed the problem that touchscreen stops functioning randomly. It does still stops functioning sometimes but switching the screen off and on with power button seems to cause the touchscreen to go back working.

Many thanks to the tip, for Making My Old Tablet Great Again™ ;)

2016年10月11日火曜日 12時06分57秒 UTC+8 Combeynot:

[György Pejović]

Works on my Linx 810b (Bay Trail-T, Z3735F)

Thank you!

[Татьяна Коновалова]

Hello! I have Z3740 tablet Asus M80TA, I was trying set nomodeset and set gfxpayload and set i915.modeset=1  and other options on android x86 4.4 and android x86 5. I was always have blank screen. However, recently I tried Android x86 6.0 and its just work on tablet without any options )))

[Combeynot]

Hi everybody,

Found this simple patch :
https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/next/linux-next.git/commit/?id=bb98e72adaf9d19719aba35f802d4836f5d5176c

Tested on kernel 4.9 and cherry trail.
This solved the problem for me. No more blank screen.
I don't need the workaround any more.

Should be in future 4.10...

[Terence Wu]

在 2016年10月11日星期二 UTC+8下午12:06:57，Combeynot写道：

Thank you. I confirmed this works with Lenovo MIIX 310-10ICR with cherry-trail z8350F 

[Farooq Hussain]

How to get this fix