Laptop only boots Windows on external monitor, but Linux works fine on both

Mar 31, 2018
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The laptop is ASUS K501UX with dual graphics Intel HD 520 and nVidia GeForce GTX 950M

The problem is that Windows works only on external screen and there is no option to change to a laptop screen. On booting I get a black screen, even no splash screen. But, if I boot to Linux from a USB drive the internal screen works normally.

Now, sometimes when I turn off and on and off and on and off and on... the screen starts working when booting into windows. I used to put it to standby and most of the time there was no problem. And I think it also had something to do whether it was on battery or cable when it goes to standby.

But lately nothing helps, once it is turned off or to standby the internal screen usually does not come back and I have to use the external. I have tried BIOS update, drivers update etc. then lost my patience and decided to reinstall Windows.

I have made a recovery USB while it was hooked up on the external display and reinstalled Windows. It worked normally for three or four booting procedures, so I went home where I don't have an external monitor. But then, you've guessed it, back to black. After a couple of off/on/off/on/off/..../on I managed to get it up and running. By the way, I sometimes close the lid right after I turn it on and then after a couple of seconds open it. One of those times the screen was on. (Don't know if this is of the essence at all)

So, then, I found on a forum somewhere that the users started reporting problems after the update of Intel 520 drivers version 15.46 and that the version 15.45 was fine. So, I found those old drivers and installed them. Before turning off I installed Puppy Linux on my USB drive and disabled nVidia device.

After the installation of drivers I rebooted but again black screen. So I started booting into Puppy and it worked, no problems. I was using Puppy for a couple of times when, after one turning on, the ASUS logo appeared and so I was able to get into Windows again. This time, I updated the drivers on Intel 520 via the "Update driver..." option in Device manager, but right after the update procedure was done, the screen flickered and turned black. I made no actions since and I am using Puppy for now, since my external screen is at my office.

I have read all the posts here about similar matters and most of the time the problem seems to resolve itself, none have found a usable solution. So to recap:
- The flat cable is working fine, it's NOT a hardware problem.
- I have flashed BIOS to a most recent version.
- I have tried various drivers older and new.
- I have tried all of the simple solutions such as Fn+F8, or Ctrl+Shift+Win+B and similar

I do believe that it is some kind of a problem with either Windows updates, drivers for Intel, drivers for nVidia or some strange conflict between those two.
 
Mar 31, 2018
4
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20
I have an update about this issue. I took it to the IT guys in my company and they could not solve the issue as well, they only had little time for my private laptop anyway. But they found a workaround: Immediately after I press the power button to turn it on I must CLOSE the lid and wait for about 30 seconds for the boot process to reach the Windows login screen. Then I can open the lid and the screen will turn on. I have tried this last night and it worked. I hope that the issue will solve itself with some Windows update in the future but until then at least I have a way to use it.