HDMI cuts out since upgrading to Ubuntu 24.04.1

Support and Help
1

As the title says, since upgrading to 24.04.1 my HDMI video/audio randomly goes dead.

One minute it works, and then it cuts out. If I reboot, it works again for a while.

Is this a known issue with 24.04.1? How can I troubleshoot this?

Hardware: Intel Pentium G4600 on a Gigabyte GA-Z270N -WIFI Mobo.

EDIT: I did a search and found many threads concerning HDMI problems with 24.04.1.

This has crippled my machine. What should I do?

Downgrade? Switch to Debian? :stuck_out_tongue:

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2

Welcome! Personally I rarely downgrade, and have never switched to Debian, fine though it is. The best course of action is to work through the problem so we can figure out a solution together. Below are some troubleshooting steps that would be relevant for this kind of issue.

Gather information

  1. First, let’s check the system logs right after a cutout occurs. Run these commands:
journalctl -b | grep -i "hdmi\|drm" | tail -n 100 | nc termbin.com 9999

Please share the URL it provides.

  1. Also, let’s check your graphics driver information:
lspci -k | grep -EA3 'VGA|3D|Display' | nc termbin.com 9999
  1. Check if running Wayland or X11
echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE
  1. Check power management status
sudo tlp-stat -s 2>&1 | nc termbin.com 9999
  1. What kernel is in use
uname -a

Can you also tell us:

  • Does this happen at predictable intervals or completely randomly?
  • Does moving the mouse/keyboard prevent or trigger the cutout?
  • Does the system remain responsive when the HDMI cuts out? (Can you SSH in or switch to a TTY with Ctrl+Alt+F3?)
  • One additional thing - could you also check if this behavior occurs with a different HDMI cable? Sometimes cable issues can manifest after system updates due to changes in how power is managed through the HDMI port.

This will help determine if it’s a GPU driver issue, a power management problem, or possibly an Xorg or Wayland display server crash.

3

Thanks much for your message. I’ve gathered all the information — twice, actually — a minute after the HDMI port goes dead.

System logs:

https://termbin.com/q9uc

https://termbin.com/pz7p

Graphics driver information:

https://termbin.com/5rt8

https://termbin.com/wehs

Wayland or X11: tty

Power management status: [EDIT: I see this failed, I guess(?) since it’s a server, not a laptop]

https://termbin.com/ikpl

https://termbin.com/4er3

Other deets:

  • Kernel: 6.8.0-50-generic #51-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sat Nov 9 17:58:29 UTC 2024 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

  • It seems to happen at predictable intervals, i.e., always around 13~15 mins after a reboot.

  • It’s a headless server running Kodi, so there is no mouse/keyboard attached.

  • The system remains responsive after the HDMI port shuts off. SSH works, and I can open a new SSH connection.

I haven’t tried a different cable yet, because it was working fine for years before this. I did try replacing the HDMI audio splitter with a new one, but the problem persists and seems to happen at regular intervals, so that’s why I began to suspect the Ubuntu update.

Any ideas?

4

Disable Variable Refresh Rate or Adaptive Sync and see if that helps.

5

If it happens at a roughly regular interval after boot, that smells like DPMS powering off the display.

You say it’s “headless” implying no graphical connection but also say the HDMI goes off?

So is this only the terminal output you’re seeing on HDMI, and no graphical output?
Then it goes blank after some time?

Can you just plug a keyboard in temporarily and press a key when it blanks?

This very much sounds like DPMS powering off the display.

There’s a good page on the Arch Linux wiki about this titled Display_Power_Management_Signaling. Here’s a snippet:

I suspect if you press a key on the keyboard, the display will wake up, and as such, you can probably disable this with setterm.

6

Thanks for your message. Hadn’t thought of this !

I tried attaching a keyboard and hitting a key, but it has no effect. HDMI AV remain off.

Maybe “headless” is the wrong word, but I originally set up this machine as an Ubuntu server, and then installed Kodi. Basically, I wanted a stand-alone machine to run Kodi. No desktop, no attached keyboard/mouse. The HDMI output goes to a home theater and I use Kodi remote on an iPad to control everything.

I tried disabling DPMS as described on that Arch Linux Wiki page. It’s been working for 35 mins now, so maybe(?) the problem has been resolved. :sweat_smile:

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