CrunchBang Linux

badkarma

New Member

Registered: 2011-02-22

Posts: 6

[SOLVED] Odd LCD backlight delay at Statler startup

Newish to linux, so please bear with me.  After trying about a dozen distros, I'm now running #! Statler on an Acer Aspire One D260 netbook.  When I boot the computer, it takes about 30 seconds for me to see the login prompt on the screen.  However, at some point during my boot, after the #! splash screen, the screen goes dark (as if the backlight on the LCD was switched off), and I can vaguely make out the login prompt at about 17 seconds.

To me that suggests my "boot time" is really only 17 seconds -  I can login even though the screen appears totally dark, and when the screen finally turns on I'm at my desktop.  My assumption is that there's some sequence/timing issue with how the backlight is activated.

So far, my Googling and forum searching have yielded nothing so I'm turning to the forum for help.

Any ideas where to start?

Thanks in advance!

Last edited by badkarma (2011-09-03 01:54:35)

badkarma

New Member

Registered: 2011-02-22

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] Odd LCD backlight delay at Statler startup

Found a Launchpad bug that describes my issue:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … bug/626456

"No backlight at login, and broken Plymouth on Acer Aspire One D260 (acpi)"

Tried the "acpi=off" boot parameter, as suggested in the link, but it changes the screen resolution to 800x600 instead of 1024x600.  Any ideas?

Last edited by badkarma (2011-03-02 04:49:02)

Zill

#! CrunchBanger

From: Lincolnshire, UK

Registered: 2009-10-25

Posts: 175

Re: [SOLVED] Odd LCD backlight delay at Statler startup

...#! Statler on an Acer Aspire One D260 netbook.  When I boot the computer, it takes about 30 seconds for me to see the login prompt on the screen...

Same problem here - I thought #! was just taking a long time to get to the login screen.

Any progress with a fix for this?

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Linux User #305555

Zill

#! CrunchBanger

From: Lincolnshire, UK

Registered: 2009-10-25

Posts: 175

Re: [SOLVED] Odd LCD backlight delay at Statler startup

Problem solved:

It is necessary to add kernel parameter "acpi_osi=" (with nothing behind the = sign) to the boot options in grub2.  This can be initially tested without changing any files by following these instructions:
[How to temporarily set kernel boot options on an installed OS

Once this is verified to work, the change can be made permanent by adding "acpi_osi=" to the "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=" line in file /etc/default/grub as described here:
[How to permanently set kernel boot options on an installed OS.  Ensure grub2 is updated with the following command:

sudo update-grub

My edited /etc/default/grub now contains the following line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="acpi_osi= quiet"

This has reduced the D260 boot time from 43s to 23s - quite impressive! :-)

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Linux User #305555

badkarma

New Member

Registered: 2011-02-22

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] Odd LCD backlight delay at Statler startup

@Zill - that did the trick.  Thanks so much!  20 seconds from grub to login.