How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

brunob · 2020-02-07 22:24:07

Hi there,

Despite searching online for a while now, I can't find any useful information to get HDMI working on my Acer Chromebook 15. It used to work when I was running lubuntu. Years back I was a happy user of #! but left when it was no longer maintained. When I discovered BL I switched back. Works like a charm and quite happy with it. It's just this HDMI issue I cannot solve

Any help appreciated!

EDIT 1: HDMI works fine when using the BL Lithium live ISO
EDIT 2: resolved the issue by installing Lithium. It remains a mystery for me as to why
Helium didn't recognise the HDMI

output of neofetch:

        `++          ...@... 
      -yMMs          ----------------- 
    `yMMMMN`         OS: BunsenLabs GNU/Linux 9.8 (Helium) x86_64 
   -NMMMMMMm.        Model: Auron_Yuna 1.0 
  :MMMMMMMMMN-       Kernel: 4.9.0-11-amd64 
 .NMMMMMMMMMMM/      Uptime: 1 hour, 14 minutes 
 yMMMMMMMMMMMMM/     Packages: 2276 
`MMMMMMNMMMMMMMN.    Shell: bash 4.4.12 
-MMMMN+ /mMMMMMMy    Resolution: 1920x1080 
-MMMm`   `dMMMMMM    DE: XFCE 
`MMN.     .NMMMMM.   WM: Openbox 
 hMy       yMMMMM`   WM Theme: Beam 
 -Mo       +MMMMN    Theme: Beam [GTK2/3] 
  /o       +MMMMs    Icons: Paper-Bunsen [GTK2/3] 
           +MMMN`    Terminal: x-terminal-emul 
           hMMM:     CPU: Intel Celeron 3205U (2) @ 1.5GHz 
          `NMM/      GPU: Intel Integrated Graphics 
          +MN:       Memory: 1504MB / 3825MB 
          mh.         
         -/          ████████████████████████

output of lshw (video controller part):

                  
    description: Laptop
    product: Auron_Yuna
    vendor: GOOGLE
    version: 1.0
    serial: 123456789
    width: 64 bits
    capabilities: smbios-2.7 dmi-2.7 smp vsyscall32
    configuration: boot=normal chassis=laptop
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       product: Auron_Yuna
       vendor: GOOGLE
       physical id: 0
       version: 1.0
       serial: 123456789
     *-firmware
          description: BIOS
          vendor: coreboot
          physical id: 0
          version: MrChromebox-4.9
          date: 01/04/2019
          size: 1MiB
          capacity: 8128KiB
          capabilities: pci pcmcia upgrade bootselect acpi

...
...

*-display UNCLAIMED
             description: VGA compatible controller
             product: HD Graphics
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
             version: 08
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: vga_controller bus_master cap_list
             configuration: latency=0
             resources: memory:e0000000-e0ffffff memory:d0000000-dfffffff ioport:1800(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff

output of xrandr:

 xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 1920 x 1080, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 1920 x 1080
default connected 1920x1080+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1920x1080     77.00*

Last edited by brunob (2020-02-14 23:53:45)

damo · 2020-02-07 23:04:37

Is that the entire xrandr output?

Do you have the necessary firmware installed for your machine? I don't know what is needed BTW )

ohnonot · 2020-02-08 06:21:34

Something's off.
Your xrandr should show more, lshw says something about an unclaimed diplay...
Full xrandr output should look something like this:

$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1680 x 1050, maximum 32767 x 32767
HDMI1 disconnected primary (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI2 connected 1680x1050+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 430mm x 270mm
   1680x1050     59.88*+
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02  
   1280x960      60.00  
   1152x864      75.00  
   1024x768      75.03    70.07    60.00  
   832x624       74.55  
   800x600       72.19    75.00    60.32    56.25  
   640x480       75.00    72.81    66.67    59.94  
   720x400       70.08

Then please also:

lspci -k | grep -iEA5 'vga|3d|display'

brunob · 2020-02-09 00:16:15

damo wrote:

Is that the entire xrandr output?
Do you have the necessary firmware installed for your machine? I don't know what is needed BTW )

Yes, that's all there is. I didn't install any additional firmware.

brunob · 2020-02-09 00:19:12

ohnonot wrote:

Something's off.
Your xrandr should show more, lshw says something about an unclaimed diplay...
...
Then please also:
lspci -k | grep -iEA5 'vga|3d|display'

I am afraid that is all xrandr is willing to share with me.

below the output from lspci:

~$ lspci -k | grep -iEA5 'vga|3d|display'
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics (rev 08)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation HD Graphics
	Kernel modules: i915
00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Audio Controller (rev 08)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Audio Controller
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel

damo · 2020-02-09 00:35:30

Some simple things to try...

1) Make sure the HDMI cable/connection is OK. Try a different cable, or try it on a different machine.

2) If xrandr is not detecting the HDMI display, disconnect the HDMI cord and power down the laptop and the monitor. While the laptop is shutdown, connect the HDMI port and turn on the monitor. Then turn on the laptop.

ohnonot · 2020-02-09 06:36:32

brunob wrote:

                  
    description: Laptop
    product: Auron_Yuna
    vendor: GOOGLE
    version: 1.0
    serial: 123456789
    width: 64 bits
    capabilities: smbios-2.7 dmi-2.7 smp vsyscall32
    configuration: boot=normal chassis=laptop
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       product: Auron_Yuna
       vendor: GOOGLE
       physical id: 0
       version: 1.0
       serial: 123456789
     *-firmware
          description: BIOS
          vendor: coreboot
          physical id: 0
          version: MrChromebox-4.9
          date: 01/04/2019
          size: 1MiB
          capacity: 8128KiB
          capabilities: pci pcmcia upgrade bootselect acpi

...
...

*-display UNCLAIMED
             description: VGA compatible controller
             product: HD Graphics
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
             version: 08
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: vga_controller bus_master cap_list
             configuration: latency=0
             resources: memory:e0000000-e0ffffff memory:d0000000-dfffffff ioport:1800(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff

brunob wrote:

I am afraid that is all xrandr is willing to share with me.

brunob wrote:

I didn't install any additional firmware.

It might be something MrChromebox specific.
Do they have a forum or wiki?

brunob · 2020-02-09 11:04:32

ohnonot wrote:

It might be something MrChromebox specific.
Do they have a forum or wiki?

I doubt this - it used to work fine when I had Lubuntu installed. (also using MrChromebox).
But I will have a look if there are any HDMI related issues reported with MrChromebox

Last edited by brunob (2020-02-09 11:05:38)

brunob · 2020-02-09 11:13:48

brunob wrote:

ohnonot wrote:
It might be something MrChromebox specific.
Do they have a forum or wiki?
I doubt this - it used to work fine when I had Lubuntu installed. (also using MrChromebox).
But I will have a look if there are any HDMI related issues reported with MrChromebox

On second thought, you might be onto something.
Just to make sure I wanted to update the firmware and got this. Will have to try to fix this first!

~$ cd; curl -LO https://mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh && sudo bash firmware-util.sh
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
  0   185    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--     0
100  1078  100  1078    0     0   2286      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--  2286

Getting device/system info...

Unable to read current firmware; cannot continue.

Either add 'iomem=relaxed' to your kernel parameters,
or trying running from a Live USB with a more permissive kernel (eg, Ubuntu).

See https://www.flashrom.org/FAQ for more info.

brunob · 2020-02-12 20:02:11

update:

Good and bad news. the good news is that HDMI works just fine when I boot the Chromeboot with an ubuntu kernel. (same machine, same MrChromebox BIOS, same hdmi cable, etc..) So I conclude it is a Bunsenlabs issue.

Bad news - still doesnt seem to work under BunsenLabs

in ubuntu:

~$ lspci -k | grep -iEA5 'vga|3d|display'
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics (rev 08)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation HD Graphics
        Kernel driver in use: i915
        Kernel modules: i915
00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Audio Controller (rev 08)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Audio Controller

~$ xrandr

 Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192
eDP-1 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 345mm x 194mm
 
...
HDMI-1 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 160mm x 90mm
   1920x1080     50.00*+  60.00    60.00    50.00    59.94  
   1920x1080i    60.00    50.00    59.94  
   1280x1024     60.02  
   1280x720      60.00    50.00    59.94  
   1024x768      75.03    70.07    60.00  
   800x600       72.19    75.00    60.32    56.25  
   720x576       50.00    50.00  
   720x576i      50.00    50.00  
   720x480       60.00    60.00    59.94    59.94  
   720x480i      60.00    60.00    59.94    59.94  
   640x480       75.00    72.81    60.00    59.94    59.94  
   720x400       70.08

Last edited by brunob (2020-02-12 20:04:42)

brunob · 2020-02-12 20:11:59

update2:

okay... finally "some" good news! rebooted while hdmi cable was connected to the TV. my screen is now mirrored on the tv.. thats good!

still a bit weird when i run xrandr .. no mention of HDMI monitor whatsoever!

~$ xrandr 
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 1920 x 1080, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 1920 x 1080
default connected 1920x1080+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1920x1080     77.00*

any ideas????

rbh · 2020-02-12 20:54:03

Any difference if you boot lithium_dev.iso live session?

brunob · 2020-02-12 23:18:41

rbh wrote:

Any difference if you boot lithium_dev.iso live session?

I'll have a look (this might take a while as I have to find some time to copy it to the usb drive etc.

brunob · 2020-02-12 23:24:13

brunob wrote:

update2:
okay... finally "some" good news! rebooted while hdmi cable was connected to the TV. my screen is now mirrored on the tv.. thats good!
still a bit weird when i run xrandr .. no mention of HDMI monitor whatsoever!
any ideas????

some more info:

When i plug in the HDMI cable before I switch the chromebook on, the HDMI is already working before Bunsenlabs is booted. (i.e. I see the GRUB bootmenu selectot mirrored on my TV) when I boot Bunsenlabs, it just keeps mirroring. The sound is not playing in the TV. When I pull out the HDMI cable and plug it back in after some time, the screen is mirrored again.

when start the Chromebook without the HDMI Cable and boot Bunsenlabs, there is no sign of HDMI recognition whatsoever.

ohnonot · 2020-02-13 18:18:28

brunob wrote:

HDMI works just fine when I boot the Chromeboot with an ubuntu kernel. (same machine, same MrChromebox BIOS, same hdmi cable, etc..) So I conclude it is a Bunsenlabs issue.

You can try running BL with
a) a backported Debian kernel
b) a Ubuntu kernel

brunob · 2020-02-13 20:21:08

rbh wrote:

Any difference if you boot lithium_dev.iso live session?

Woopwoop... tried lithium:

user@debian:~$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192
eDP-1 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 345mm x 194mm
   1920x1080     60.02*+  60.01    59.97    59.96    59.93  
  
   ....
 
   360x202       59.51    59.13  
   320x180       59.84    59.32  
HDMI-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
user@debian:~$

Didn't connect the cable, but it is recognizing the HDMI!

so what do I do now... wait for the release of Lithium?

Last edited by brunob (2020-02-13 20:22:02)

brunob · 2020-02-13 20:23:42

ohnonot wrote:

brunob wrote:
HDMI works just fine when I boot the Chromeboot with an ubuntu kernel. (same machine, same MrChromebox BIOS, same hdmi cable, etc..) So I conclude it is a Bunsenlabs issue.
You can try running BL with
a) a backported Debian kernel
b) a Ubuntu kernel

I am afraid that would be a bit beyond my comfort zone I would have to figure out how to do that.

edit: ok, did some googling - installing another kernel seems doable. Question I have: my installation of BL runs on kernel 4.9. When I tried the Lithium live iso, hdmi worked fine. Lithium uses kernel 4.19. Could I just try to install 4.19? or would that mess everything up? thanks!

Last edited by brunob (2020-02-13 22:33:17)

damo · 2020-02-13 22:58:59

Getting Started -> How to install a newer kernel version in BunsenLabs

https://backports.debian.org/

Debian wrote:

You are running Debian stable, because you prefer the Debian stable tree. It runs great, there is just one problem: the software is a little bit outdated compared to other distributions. This is where backports come in.
Backports are packages taken from the next Debian release (called "testing"), adjusted and recompiled for usage on Debian stable. Because the package is also present in the next Debian release, you can easily upgrade your stable+backports system once the next Debian release comes out. (In a few cases, usually for security updates, backports are also created from the Debian unstable distribution.)
Backports cannot be tested as extensively as Debian stable, and backports are provided on an as-is basis, with risk of incompatibilities with other components in Debian stable. Use with care!
It is therefore recommended to only select single backported packages that fit your needs, and not use all available backports.

You can add backports if you run bl-welcome again.

rbh · 2020-02-14 16:15:51

brunob wrote:

so what do I do now... wait for the release of Lithium?

Depends on your system, how bad you need hdmi and your linux knowledge.

But, first of all, add backports repo as John suggested and install latest kernel in backports.
Probabley that wil fix it. If not, upgrade to Lithium.

It ain't that difficult...

brunob · 2020-02-14 23:49:50

rbh wrote:

It ain't that difficult...

True... as long as it runs smoothly

So I did backport it and installed the new kernel. Everything looked ok, until I rebooted. When I tried to log in (after booting the kernel from the Grub menu), it didn't log me in and the openbox login screen just popped up again.

So I booted the safety image ... just to get the message "Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked." I also tried booting the older kernels, booting worked fine, but I just got stuck on the openbox login screen.

I solved this by booting the lubuntu image, mounting and chrooting the BL partition and resetting the root password. Booting BL worked this time. and I could log into openbox as root. Via bash I could login as a normal user, so my user account and the root account did work. However, trying to log into openbox as normal user still resulted in a quick black screen being thrown back to the login screen.

Anyway, logging in as root and running xrandr showed the HDMI was still not recognised. So even if I would have gotten in as normal user - my HDMI issue would still not be solved using the more recent kernel.

so, lazy as I am, I just installed Lithium and HDMI seems to work just fine!

conclusion: from a practical point of view my issue is solved (yay!) From a technical point of view it is not clear why the HDMI was not recognised in Helium.

thanks all for the help!

Last edited by brunob (2020-02-14 23:51:41)

#1 2020-02-07 22:24:07

How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#2 2020-02-07 23:04:37

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#3 2020-02-08 06:21:34

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#4 2020-02-09 00:16:15

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#5 2020-02-09 00:19:12

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#6 2020-02-09 00:35:30

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#7 2020-02-09 06:36:32

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#8 2020-02-09 11:04:32

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#9 2020-02-09 11:13:48

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#10 2020-02-12 20:02:11

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#11 2020-02-12 20:11:59

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#12 2020-02-12 20:54:03

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#13 2020-02-12 23:18:41

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#14 2020-02-12 23:24:13

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#15 2020-02-13 18:18:28

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#16 2020-02-13 20:21:08

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#17 2020-02-13 20:23:42

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#18 2020-02-13 22:58:59

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#19 2020-02-14 16:15:51

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

#20 2020-02-14 23:49:50

Re: How to get HDMI working (Acer Chromebook15)

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