Some PinePhone Pro display doesn't work after the latest update

[Danct12]

• Device: PinePhone Pro
• Kernel Version : 5.18.3-1-danctnix
• UI: any

Steps to reproduce

Get the latest image (05/02/2022 as of the current time of this issue), flash it and update. Reboot.

Expected behavior

Should boot like normal

Actual behavior

On some devices, this shows a black screen

Logfiles and additional information

No logs, I'm not sure what happened as I do not run into this issue, as well as some people in chat, but it does happen to some people.

It might be possible to get logs (dmesg, journalctl) if you have SSH and the system is still booting (without the display).

[ezra-351]

This happens for me consistently after running updates, but I can still go into shared-storage mode. If you can tell me where to find the logs you need, I can post them here.

[BillFleming]

This isn't happening on my PPP. Have an older Danctnix Posh install from around Feb or March. Updated to 5.18.3-1 kernel last week and no issues after reboot. Did an update just now and rebooted and still no issues. Currently this install is still on an SD card and I didn't purge the old uboot stuff on the sd card yet (or convert to gpt). But towboot is installed to SPI. Edit: currently no SIM card installed

Edit: Did fresh Phosh install directly to EMMC, updated and rebooted and still no issue. Latest Phosh image also boots after update on original Pinephone EMMC install.

[sado1]

I have SSH access. I see the following error in journalctl -b:

cze 22 09:41:42 danctnix phoc[3230]: [backend/backend.c:217] Found 0 GPUs, cannot create backend cze 22 09:41:42 danctnix phoc[3230]: [backend/backend.c:311] failed to add backend 'drm' cze 22 09:41:42 danctnix phoc[3230]: Failed to create server: Could not create backend

[sado1]

Downgrading to kernel linux-megi-5.17.6-1 seems to workaround the issue.

[prurigro]

So my older emmc install isn't getting the issue when I upgraded it, but a newer one flashed to an SD card is getting the issue on the same PPP... I'm not sure if the issue is the sd card or something different about it being a fresh install?

Edit: downgrading the kernel doesn't seem to have worked for me

[Danct12]

Can you post the dmesg? The error you posted isn't informative enough for tracking down the problem. @sado1

[bobjrsenior]

I'm also getting the issue unless I downgrade to linux-megi-5.17.6-1. Here's the dmesg output

[Dan-Sun]

It was the mesa package for me. I had to downgrade, reboot and update again. It seems to work on this end so far.

[CCF100]

It was the mesa package for me. I had to downgrade, reboot and update again. It seems to work on this end so far.

@Dan-Sun What mesa package version works for you?

[Dan-Sun]

@CCF100 The mesa package helped me on ppp without FDE (SD card), but I just installed the latest FDE (phosh) on emmc and nothing helped except the suggested kernel downgrade (linux-megi (5.18.4-1 => 5.17.6-1)). Maybe again a FDE problem with osk-sdl?!

Does everyone here use FDE?

[bobjrsenior]

I'm not using FDE

[slackerbob]

I am on FDE and downgrading the kernel to 5.17.6-1 worked for me, too.

[CCF100]

@CCF100 The mesa package helped me on ppp without FDE (SD card), but I just installed the latest FDE (phosh) on emmc and nothing helped except the suggested kernel downgrade (linux-megi (5.18.4-1 => 5.17.6-1)). Maybe again a FDE problem with osk-sdl?!

Does everyone here use FDE?

I use FDE

[Dan-Sun]

It probably has nothing to do with FDE or non-FDE.

My FDE is the latest release I'm using that has the problem. My non-FDE was the one in January or February that does not have the problem. So maybe it''s related to the last release. Would be great if someone with this problem and without FDE could provide more logs. I tried to get access with FDE but it's quite complicated ;)

[ghost]

On my 5.18+ kernel branch, cameras must probe successfully for the display to work. It's due to DRM sharing DSI-PHY between display and camera/V4L2 uses. Maybe it's caused by that. dmesg would confirm it.

[Danct12]

wait, so we have to make the camera modules built in or what?

[ollieparanoid]

Possibly related to serial cable being plugged (not megi's tree though): https://gitlab.com/postmarketOS/pmaports/-/issues/1603

[sado1]

On my 5.18+ kernel branch, cameras must probe successfully for the display to work. It's due to DRM sharing DSI-PHY between display and camera/V4L2 uses. Maybe it's caused by that. dmesg would confirm it.

And the reason only some people had this problem, is likely that they disabled the camera switches below the battery cover - just like I did. I've updated my kernel again, and it boots with screen working, as long as the switches are turned on.

[Dan-Sun]

Hm, I have the front camera disabled and changed it back but it doesn't work for me.

[slackerbob]

The switches don't seem to have any effect on the issue for me.

[CCF100]

The switches don't seem to have any effect on the issue for me.

Neither do they have any effect for me...

[sado1]

Could there be any other reason that one of your cameras is disabled? Did you disable any other switch? All of them are enabled in my PPP.

[slackerbob]

All of them are enabled on my ppp with fde. Though, I've never seen the ppp camera actually work, so who knows if it's broken somewhere else. Megapixels just crashes on load. I had assumed the drivers weren't live yet.

[Dan-Sun]

I use https://github.com/Biktorgj/pinephone_modem_sdk maybe its related to that?

[sado1]

I use https://github.com/Biktorgj/pinephone_modem_sdk maybe its related to that?

I use it as well, and with camera switches on, it works fine for me.

[Dan-Sun]

So it would fail for you if you turn off a switch?

I am currently trying to reproduce the problem without FDE on the SD card. I hope I can see some helpful logs.

Edit: Yeah, that's it. New installation on SD Card (no FDE) with switches turned on and update the system. Power off and disable front cam. Turn the phone back on leads to the issue. Shutdown, enable front cam again, start your phone works.

But I still can't get it running on FDE (emmc). Having the switches back on and updating the system doesn't work.

@sado1 do you use FDE?

The logs are actually already posted...

journalctl

Jul 14 20:27:56 archphonepro systemd[1]: phosh.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jul 14 20:27:56 archphonepro systemd[1]: phosh.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jul 14 20:27:56 archphonepro phoc[3520]: Failed to create server: Could not create backend
Jul 14 20:27:56 archphonepro phoc[3520]: [backend/backend.c:311] failed to add backend 'drm'
Jul 14 20:27:56 archphonepro phoc[3520]: [backend/backend.c:217] Found 0 GPUs, cannot create backend
...
Jul 14 20:27:44 archphonepro kernel: dw-apb-uart ff1b0000.serial: failed to request DMA
...
Jul 14 20:27:44 archphonepro kernel: dw-apb-uart ff180000.serial: failed to request DMA
...
Jul 14 20:27:44 archphonepro kernel: brcmfmac mmc0:0001:1: Direct firmware load for brcm/brcmfmac43455-sdio.pine64,pinephone-pro.txt failed with error -2
Jul 14 20:27:44 archphonepro kernel: brcmfmac mmc0:0001:1: Direct firmware load for brcm/brcmfmac43455-sdio.pine64,pinephone-pro.bin failed with error -2

BTW @Danct12 it would be great to remove the splash screen for future releases. It helps to see some failures right from the start. And it's more in line with the Arch principle. You could add this to the wiki how to install it instead?

Edit2: I'm going to test new installation FDE again (SD card).

Edit3: It doesn't work on FDE. It's just a blackscreen with switches on or off. So it seems to be only a FDE related problem now?! osk-sdl?

[tricepsbrachii]

Don't have much to add other than I've been having this problem too and pinning at linux-megi-5.17.6 is a workaround for now. I still need to investigate this, but it's very similar to an issue I had on PBP, where the screen would blank after loading the initramfs , preventing seeing the password entered in plymouth. It was still possible to enter the password, and after some bit of time the display would initialize (I guess). Of course, if FDE was off, everything would work fine because the screen would eventually activate during the course of the boot process.

Here is the related issue for PBP in manjaro-arm: https://gitlab.manjaro.org/manjaro-arm/applications/manjaro-arm-installer/-/issues/44

I tried adding panel_edp to MODULES~ in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf`, but that didn't help PPP boot the latest kernel. But I think it's something in this direction, since both devices are rk3399. I'll keep investigating.

[Nuss9940]

After enabling the camera switches and updating to the latest kernel, the display works fine for me

[sado1]

@sado1 do you use FDE?

I don't.

[wellDressedCodePenguin]

I can confirm Nuss9940's findings, I've written more on another issue on the Manjaro-arm Distrobution's gitlab: https://gitlab.manjaro.org/manjaro-arm/issues/pinephone/phosh/-/issues/258

I hope this helps.