How to Solve the Black Screen Issue on Ubuntu 22.04

The black screen can happen for several reasons, and it’s a pretty common issue after an update, driver changes, or hardware tweaks. If you’ve booted up Ubuntu 22.04 and are staring at a blank screen (or just the cursor), don’t worry there are several ways to fix it.

1. Check for Graphics Driver Issues

If you’re using proprietary drivers (like NVIDIA or AMD), sometimes the drivers can cause conflicts, especially after updates.

How to fix it:

• Boot into recovery mode:
  1. Restart your computer.
  2. Hold Shift during boot to bring up the GRUB menu.
  3. Choose the Advanced options for Ubuntu.
  4. Select the recovery mode kernel (with (recovery mode) next to the kernel version).
  5. From the recovery menu, choose Root to get a terminal.
• Reinstall or switch drivers:
  • For NVIDIA, run: sudo apt update sudo apt install nvidia-driver-460 (replace 460 with the version that matches your card).
  • For AMD, you can try: sudo apt update sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu
• If you’re having trouble with the proprietary driver, try switching to the open source drivers for a quick fix:
  • For NVIDIA, remove the proprietary driver: sudo apt-get purge nvidia-*
  • For AMD, you can switch to the open-source driver: sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-ati

2. Update GRUB Bootloader

A misconfigured GRUB bootloader can sometimes cause a black screen. Rebuilding the GRUB config can often resolve these types of issues.

How to fix it:

• Boot into recovery mode (as mentioned above).
• In the root terminal, run the following command to update GRUB: sudo update-grub
• Afterward, reboot your system and check if the issue is resolved.

3. Check the Display Manager (GDM, LightDM, etc.)

If you’re seeing a black screen but you know your system is still running, the problem might be related to the display manager (the login screen manager like GDM or LightDM).

How to fix it:

• Boot into recovery mode and access the root terminal.
• Restart the display manager:
  • For GDM (used in GNOME): sudo systemctl restart gdm3
  • For LightDM (used in Unity, older versions of Ubuntu): sudo systemctl restart lightdm
• If the display manager is not starting properly, you can also try reinstalling it:
  • For GDM: sudo apt install --reinstall gdm3
  • For LightDM: sudo apt install --reinstall lightdm

After this, reboot your system and see if the graphical interface loads.

4. Disable Secure Boot (If Using NVIDIA or AMD)

Secure Boot can sometimes block proprietary drivers, causing a black screen after booting. If you’re using proprietary NVIDIA or AMD drivers, consider disabling Secure Boot in your system BIOS/UEFI.

How to fix it:

1. Restart your computer and press the key to enter the BIOS/UEFI settings (usually F2, Esc, or Del).
2. Look for the Secure Boot option (usually under Boot or Security).
3. Disable Secure Boot and save your changes.
4. Exit the BIOS/UEFI and try booting into Ubuntu again.

5. Reconfigure LightDM or GDM

If your display manager is corrupted, you can try reconfiguring it. Sometimes LightDM or GDM can get stuck, leading to a black screen.

How to fix it:

• Boot into recovery mode.
• Reconfigure LightDM: sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm
• Or reconfigure GDM: sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm3

This will prompt you to select the display manager of your choice. After choosing, reboot your system.

6. Try Booting with the Nomodeset Option

If you suspect that the issue is related to your graphics card, you can boot Ubuntu using the nomodeset option, which disables some advanced graphics features and can help troubleshoot video card issues.

How to fix it:

1. When booting, at the GRUB menu, select the kernel you want to boot.
2. Press e to edit the boot options.
3. Find the line that starts with linux and add nomodeset at the end of the line (it should look something like this): linux /boot/vmlinuz-<version> root=UUID=<uuid> ro quiet splash nomodeset
4. Press Ctrl + X to boot.

If the system boots up correctly, you’ll need to install or update your graphics drivers to resolve the issue permanently.

7. Reinstall Ubuntu Desktop Packages

Sometimes a missing or corrupted package can cause the black screen issue. Reinstalling the desktop environment packages can help.

How to fix it:

• Boot into recovery mode.
• In the root terminal, run: sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop sudo apt-get install --reinstall xorg
• Reboot your system and check if the issue is resolved.

8. Check for Hardware Issues

Though rare, hardware issues can also cause a black screen. If your graphics card is malfunctioning, it could be why your display isn’t showing anything.

• Try connecting to a different monitor or using a different cable.
• If possible, test your graphics card in another system to see if it’s working.

A black screen on Ubuntu 22.04 can be caused by many different issues, from driver problems to GRUB misconfigurations. The solutions above cover the most common fixes, but if none of them work, you may want to consider booting into a live USB session and backing up your data before reinstalling Ubuntu. Hopefully, one of these fixes gets your system back up and running.