I have two monitors: a big one and a smaller one. They're connected to a desktop
PC in which I have installed two operating systems in a dual boot setup: Debian
12 and Windows 11. The big monitor is problematic on both operating systems,
but it also seems slightly less problematic on Windows 11 than on Debian 12.
Since there are some issue with both operating systems I'm not sure whether the
underlying issue is in hardware (the big monitor is really exceptionally big),
firmware (drivers of the kernel of the OS) or software level (display manager,
desktop environment or whatever).
Below are some observations of how the big monitor is problematic, starting from
BIOS and proceeding to logged in desktop environments on both operating systems.
- **BIOS** (or whatever the thing should be called that allows to select a boot
drive via a lightweight and low resolution graphic user interface presumably
residing somewhere in the motherboard):
1. Initially the PC is turned off, both monitors are connected and have power.
The monitors are probably in some kind of stand-by mode, waiting for input
sigal from somewhere.
2. I press the power button on the PC and spam DELETE key on a connected
keyboard to enter BIOS. No picture ever gets to either of the monitors.
If I do the same but by having the big monitor turned off, then BIOS will
appear on the smaller monitor. I consider this evidence of that the BIOS
(firm|soft|whatever)ware is not capable of using the big monitor.
- **Debian 12**.
1. While I'm booting into the OS I have the bigger monitor turned off and only
the smaller monitor turned on (because that's the only way I can use BIOS to
select where to boot).
2. The booted OS greets me with a graphic login view of some display manager
software. I see this on the small monitor that is on. While I'm in this
display manager view, I can turn on the bigger monitor and after a while
picture appears on it too. Now I can log in to the desktop environment
(where I have i3 window manager, if that's relevant). In fact, I have to
turn on the big monitor at exactly this point, because I can't do it before
because then BIOS would be unusable, and if I do it after (i.e. once in the
desktop environment with i3 etc.) then no picture will appear on the big
monitor at any point. I consider this evidence of that the display manager
software (i.e. whatever provides the login view that precedes the normal
desktop environment) somehow does something to the system that makes the
big monitor usable.
Sometimes the big monitor goes black and remains black after proceeding
from the display manager login to the desktop environment. The only
consistent behavior I've seen here is that the big monitor appears to
work fine if I turn it on in the login view and stay there. Often picture
remains on the big monitor also after entering the desktop environment,
but sometimes it goes and stays black. Even in the case that there was
picture on the big monitor in the login view and being black in the desktop
environment, I can see `xrandr --listmonitors` list both of the monitors
(using the smaller monitor that always works at every step).
- **Windows 11**.
1. Similar to the Debian 12 boot process, I have the bigger monitor turned off
and smaller on as I move from BIOS to the booted OS. Windows 11 also greets
me with some sort of login view where I have to enter a PIN code to access
the desktop environment. I don't know if that should be called a display
manager login view like I did in the aforementioned Debian 12 case, so
let's just call it a PIN code view.
2. I don't turn on the big monitor before I've entered the PIN code. If I do,
I can't see the PIN code view on either of the monitors. The big monitor
must remain off until the OS starts moving me from the PIN code view to
the normal desktop environment which happens once the PIN code has been
entered. In this setup, the big monitor always works fine once I'm in
the desktop environment, as opposed to the Debian 12 setup where the big
monitor sometimes goes black in the desktop environment.
- **Summary**.
In BIOS, the big monitor never works.
On Debian 12, the big monitor always works in display manager login view
that precedes the normal desktop environment, but works only sometimes in the
logged-in desktop environment.
On Windows 11, the big monitor never works in the PIN code view that precedes
the normal desktop environment, but works always in the logged-in desktop
environment.
The small monitor always works at every stage: In BIOS and on either Debian 12
or Windows 11.
- **Questions.**
Does this sound like an OS kernel driver issue? If so, to fix the Debian 12
setup, should I try to look for more driver options for the big monitor or
learn to write one? I assume there is already some driver in place since I
can often use the big monitor, just not always and not consistently. I'm also
under the impression that most of the code the comprises the Linux kernel
are drivers and therefore drivers come with the kernel that the OS uses and
therefore I might not have to do anything and things should just work. If
that's the case, what can I do to expose some diagnostics that would help
pinpoint what is going wrong?
If this is an unreasonably hard problem to solve, are there some more Linux
friendly big monitor manufacturers on the market? I mean something like how
AMD is considered better GPU manufacturer for Linux than Nvidia, is there some
similar common wisdom about monitors? I like big monitors.
- **Specs.**
- motherboard: MSI Z590 PRO WIFI
- GPU: MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ti VENTUS 2X 8G OCV1 LHR
- the problematic big monitor: Asus ROG Strix XG43UQ, resolution 3840x2160
- the smaller monitor that always works: Acer KG271, resolution 1920x1080
- the dual boot setup: I have the operating systems of different SSDs, and
I switch between them by adjusting boot priority (of partitions on all the
connected disks or something?) in BIOS.
- **Side note.**
Sometimes I connect the big monitor to a different PC: A laptop with Ubuntu
24. In that setup the big monitor always gets picture at every stage of the
boot process all the way to the normal logged-in desktop environment. On that
PC there is no other operating system than that Ubuntu 24: There is no dual
boot setup. Also, in that setup I use HDMI instead of DisplayPort to connect
the monitor to the computer. In the above described problematic Debian 12
setup I use DisplayPort to connect the big monitor to the PC. However, on that
system there is another, yet much more random issue with the big monitor: It
sometimes goes briefly black but not for too long and only a few times and
only within a short overall duration of a few minutes. Once that seizure is
over (if it even happens -- there is no known method to reliably reproduce the
issue) it doesn't happen again during the same session (i.e. until I boot the
system the next day again).
PC in which I have installed two operating systems in a dual boot setup: Debian
12 and Windows 11. The big monitor is problematic on both operating systems,
but it also seems slightly less problematic on Windows 11 than on Debian 12.
Since there are some issue with both operating systems I'm not sure whether the
underlying issue is in hardware (the big monitor is really exceptionally big),
firmware (drivers of the kernel of the OS) or software level (display manager,
desktop environment or whatever).
Below are some observations of how the big monitor is problematic, starting from
BIOS and proceeding to logged in desktop environments on both operating systems.
- **BIOS** (or whatever the thing should be called that allows to select a boot
drive via a lightweight and low resolution graphic user interface presumably
residing somewhere in the motherboard):
1. Initially the PC is turned off, both monitors are connected and have power.
The monitors are probably in some kind of stand-by mode, waiting for input
sigal from somewhere.
2. I press the power button on the PC and spam DELETE key on a connected
keyboard to enter BIOS. No picture ever gets to either of the monitors.
If I do the same but by having the big monitor turned off, then BIOS will
appear on the smaller monitor. I consider this evidence of that the BIOS
(firm|soft|whatever)ware is not capable of using the big monitor.
- **Debian 12**.
1. While I'm booting into the OS I have the bigger monitor turned off and only
the smaller monitor turned on (because that's the only way I can use BIOS to
select where to boot).
2. The booted OS greets me with a graphic login view of some display manager
software. I see this on the small monitor that is on. While I'm in this
display manager view, I can turn on the bigger monitor and after a while
picture appears on it too. Now I can log in to the desktop environment
(where I have i3 window manager, if that's relevant). In fact, I have to
turn on the big monitor at exactly this point, because I can't do it before
because then BIOS would be unusable, and if I do it after (i.e. once in the
desktop environment with i3 etc.) then no picture will appear on the big
monitor at any point. I consider this evidence of that the display manager
software (i.e. whatever provides the login view that precedes the normal
desktop environment) somehow does something to the system that makes the
big monitor usable.
Sometimes the big monitor goes black and remains black after proceeding
from the display manager login to the desktop environment. The only
consistent behavior I've seen here is that the big monitor appears to
work fine if I turn it on in the login view and stay there. Often picture
remains on the big monitor also after entering the desktop environment,
but sometimes it goes and stays black. Even in the case that there was
picture on the big monitor in the login view and being black in the desktop
environment, I can see `xrandr --listmonitors` list both of the monitors
(using the smaller monitor that always works at every step).
- **Windows 11**.
1. Similar to the Debian 12 boot process, I have the bigger monitor turned off
and smaller on as I move from BIOS to the booted OS. Windows 11 also greets
me with some sort of login view where I have to enter a PIN code to access
the desktop environment. I don't know if that should be called a display
manager login view like I did in the aforementioned Debian 12 case, so
let's just call it a PIN code view.
2. I don't turn on the big monitor before I've entered the PIN code. If I do,
I can't see the PIN code view on either of the monitors. The big monitor
must remain off until the OS starts moving me from the PIN code view to
the normal desktop environment which happens once the PIN code has been
entered. In this setup, the big monitor always works fine once I'm in
the desktop environment, as opposed to the Debian 12 setup where the big
monitor sometimes goes black in the desktop environment.
- **Summary**.
In BIOS, the big monitor never works.
On Debian 12, the big monitor always works in display manager login view
that precedes the normal desktop environment, but works only sometimes in the
logged-in desktop environment.
On Windows 11, the big monitor never works in the PIN code view that precedes
the normal desktop environment, but works always in the logged-in desktop
environment.
The small monitor always works at every stage: In BIOS and on either Debian 12
or Windows 11.
- **Questions.**
Does this sound like an OS kernel driver issue? If so, to fix the Debian 12
setup, should I try to look for more driver options for the big monitor or
learn to write one? I assume there is already some driver in place since I
can often use the big monitor, just not always and not consistently. I'm also
under the impression that most of the code the comprises the Linux kernel
are drivers and therefore drivers come with the kernel that the OS uses and
therefore I might not have to do anything and things should just work. If
that's the case, what can I do to expose some diagnostics that would help
pinpoint what is going wrong?
If this is an unreasonably hard problem to solve, are there some more Linux
friendly big monitor manufacturers on the market? I mean something like how
AMD is considered better GPU manufacturer for Linux than Nvidia, is there some
similar common wisdom about monitors? I like big monitors.
- **Specs.**
- motherboard: MSI Z590 PRO WIFI
- GPU: MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ti VENTUS 2X 8G OCV1 LHR
- the problematic big monitor: Asus ROG Strix XG43UQ, resolution 3840x2160
- the smaller monitor that always works: Acer KG271, resolution 1920x1080
- the dual boot setup: I have the operating systems of different SSDs, and
I switch between them by adjusting boot priority (of partitions on all the
connected disks or something?) in BIOS.
- **Side note.**
Sometimes I connect the big monitor to a different PC: A laptop with Ubuntu
24. In that setup the big monitor always gets picture at every stage of the
boot process all the way to the normal logged-in desktop environment. On that
PC there is no other operating system than that Ubuntu 24: There is no dual
boot setup. Also, in that setup I use HDMI instead of DisplayPort to connect
the monitor to the computer. In the above described problematic Debian 12
setup I use DisplayPort to connect the big monitor to the PC. However, on that
system there is another, yet much more random issue with the big monitor: It
sometimes goes briefly black but not for too long and only a few times and
only within a short overall duration of a few minutes. Once that seizure is
over (if it even happens -- there is no known method to reliably reproduce the
issue) it doesn't happen again during the same session (i.e. until I boot the
system the next day again).
Statistics: Posted by big-monitor — 2025-02-15 12:53