Blank screen after entering PIN - Manjaro and PMOS

[PegasusAndMe]

Hey Guys!

Curious if anyone else has run into this. I received one of the Manjaro CE devices a couple weeks ago now and was one in the batch that happened to come with PMOS instead of Manjaro. 

I figured flashing would be simple, so decided to give PMOS a go for a bit before flashing (since it was there and I was also interested in it). However, after a few minutes of use, I ran into an issue where after entering the PIN on the lock screen, the desktop would show for just a second, then fade to a blank black screen.

I had already setup SSH and connected to Wifi before this problem started, so I was able to verify that the device was on and response with a remote connection to it. I rebooted a couple of times and still ran into the same issue from this point forward. 

I took this as an opportunity to flash with Manjaro CE and sure enough, I have the same issue. The only difference is that the blank screen on Manjaro is gray instead of black, so it's easier to tell that it really is still on. 

In both cases, the screen fades to the blank state, so I can see the desktop for just a second before it becomes blank. 

Anyone else seen this issue and solved it?

I'll keep poking at it and update here if I figure it out or find another thread on it (I ran a quick search and didn't find anything just yet).

[PegasusAndMe]

Ok, quick update here. I forgot to mention that with both the previous PMOS and Manjaro attempts were both with Phosh. After posting this I tried two more things: Fedora with Phosh, which got past the lock screen but way too glitchy to use after that (flickering screen/backlight, etc) and then Manjaro with the latest alpha build with Plasma.

Manjaro with Plasma has made it the furthest so far. Logged into the desktop, able to get into terminal, connect to wifi, etc. Don't have a SIM yet to test call/SMS but that's not really why I got the device anyway

Still curious if anyone else has run into the issue I ran into with Phosh? Seems weird that I would get the same/similar results on multiple distros if it weren't an issue tied to Phosh itself (or maybe something else they coincidentally have in common). Yet Phosh seems to to be the furthest along in development and people are posting about it working (to an extent) all the time. Strange, yeah?

[acid andy]

That blank screen is really weird. Is this booting from an SD card or eMMC? I think I'd be trying to swap things around like trying a different SD card in case it's faulty and maybe if you've got the adapter trying to plug in an external monitor to see if anything comes on the screen. Is there some way you can alter the boot process to start in a failsafe VGA mode? Also check the Linux logs for any graphics driver errors. Just a few ideas because, well, I really have no idea.

[PegasusAndMe]

That blank screen is really weird. Is this booting from an SD card or eMMC? 

This actually happens on both eMMC and SD. First pass was PMOS on eMMC, then Manjaro on SD, followed by Manjaro and Fedora both on eMMC. Definitely following Phosh around and super strange  

So far Plasma is working though and I was able to pacman -Syu and get a full update without any issue. No on screen keyboard with Firefox or Angelfish, but now I at least have it up and running enough to troubleshoot. 

I think I'm going to attempt loading these Phosh images up in a VM, patching them, then flashing them back out to SD. Not sure how well they'll play with the Arm emulation in QEMU, but sounds like a fun thing to test out at least

[acid andy]

No idea whether it's the same thing but last night I was tinkering away at my PinePhone for hours, with it plugged into my wall charger via the Convergence adapter. It started powering off a couple of times and eventually ended up booting off my eMMC into Manjaro, ignoring the OS on my SD card.

I continued working in Manjaro for a short while and then the screen went black(ish) and as I waited, it slowly unfaded through gray towards a white colour.

It had turned out that the Manjaro power app told me the battery was at 0%, so the heavy stuff I was doing combined with the USB keyboard and touchpad I had connected obviously drained the battery (even while on charge).

So what I was trying to say was it's possible that fading gray blank screen is a (low) power issue.

[PegasusAndMe]

I got this response to the same question on Reddit and will likely try this out later. I actually ended up getting a really nice setup with PostmarketOS with Sxmo (using pmbootstrap to build it) and not having any issues there at all. 

Ok, I figured out the issue and solved it on my phone at least. The issue isn't with phosh, it is the proximity sensor. It is the sensor that turns the phone screen blank when you are talking on the phone so your face doesn't hit every button on the screen while you talk. The sensor is located just to the right of the red/green light in the upper left corner. In my case, when I swapped out my old 2gb board for the new 3 gb board I didn't put in a small rubber piece that fits around the sensor (it had fallen off and was in the packaging). Once I reinstalled that small rubber piece, I no longer have the issue with the screen going blank. Everything is working fine.

So could be this issue with the proximity sensor which makes a lot of sense. Something that may not be used the same way by Plasma or Sxmo as it is with Phosh? Phosh is the only DE I have any issues with at this point, so it's kind of strange in that sense.

[MamlinAV]

I have the same problem with my device. There is no rubber pad on my device between the proximity sensor and the screen glass.
In theory, the proximity sensor should work only during calls, but it seems that in some operating systems it is always active.