Fix the black screen on Linux Mint 20 after startup.
Fix the black screen on Linux Mint 20 after startup.
I'm testing on Linux Mint 20 and Windows 10 across two separate SSDs (1TB and 500GB). My ASUS TUF A15 runs a Ryzen 7 4800H with Radeon graphics and an RTX 3050 laptop. Last night I switched to power-saving mode using the Radeon GPU while writing without a charger. After finishing, I returned to performance mode but didn’t log in again as instructed—I chose to shut down instead, hoping it would automatically switch to Nvidia GPU next time. Instead, the system failed to boot past the loading screen. It followed the standard boot sequence after selecting Mint in Grub. Each time I power on, I see the same terminal messages, the Mint logo appears, brightness adjusts, and a cursor briefly appears at the top left before nothing happens. Until the final black screen, everything seems normal. I haven’t updated any drivers yet. I’ve tried several fixes: normal shutdown, forced shutdown, CMOS reset (60 seconds), rebooting with specific Mint settings, and even using recovery mode to delete nvidia.modeset=0. Still no success. I’m worried this might be causing the issue, but everything else I did was routine. I don’t want to reinstall Mint right now because I have important files (100–300GB) without backups. I could move some data to Windows using DiskInternals Linux Reader, but there’s not enough space elsewhere. Any advice would be appreciated.
I discovered a workaround for this problem. I navigated to Linux Mint advanced options in GRUB and chose an earlier Mint release (5.15.0-48). From there, I updated the drivers and kernel (to 5.15.0-56). However, restarting caused the issue again, so I tried booting the original version (5.15.0-52) where the problem initially occurred and it resolved completely. For now, I’ll continue using the latest version that functions. I’ll share an update if a permanent fix is found.
You can add nomodeset to the end of the Grub edit line beginning with linux and having "quiet" or "splash" in that line if you typically see the boot logo. This won't solve the problem but would turn off the display software.
I didn't include it, but it didn't help either. One of the advanced settings was visible in its Grub configuration? Unfortunately, it didn't make a big difference. Appreciate the tip!
When you mention drivers, it covers the Nvidia version too. The proprietary 525 driver was released after your post, but it doesn’t work on your system either, leaving only the 515 driver functional. You’re dealing with two machines on Mint 21 experiencing the same problem, and you haven’t tried the third yet.
I don't recall specifics from a month ago, but I believe there were no problems. I updated to the most recent drivers recently without issues. The black screen problem seems resolved in the latest kernel version (5.15.0-56 to 5.15.0-57.63).