Maybe I’m doing something odd and if so I’ll just live with it. However since setting up my 16 and using a Dock to connect it to all my peripherals (including an external display) I get no Bios output or Grub2 video from the machine during boot. The internal panel of course works perfectly with both but if I leave the lid closed the external display doesn’t work until the prompt for encryption password during a normal boot sequence. I have checked to see if there is a preferred display output option in the BIOS but I couldn’t find one. The other option I tried was manually forcing Grub at least to use the external display with “video=DP-10:D” in the options for Grub2 however that made the system unbootable. I am working with a Framework 16 and Dell WD19S dock. Once booted into the system everything works as expected without any issues.
Using a Dell WD19TB dock, and the external display works one time out of 2.
And usually, it only shows the when the kernel is already booted. Means I can’t go into the BIOS using the external screen (actually, never tried).
I’m guessing by the radio silence that display output through the BIOS is maybe still something in it’s infancy and what I’m doing with a dock is just not supported yet? Or is there something else I can try from the Grub2 side of the house that would get it working? I do have an external SSD that I could install something like Mint or PoPOS to and boot from it to see if that works. This may be a Nobara/Fedora issue, in that case I could also try Fedora 40 on that 3rd SSD as a test as well. Will report my findings here if I get a solution or at least closer to figuring it out.
Ok troubleshooting results.
New OS did nothing to fix it so it would appear to be not software specific.
Tried using the display port connector in port 2 (one of the display output ports) and still no joy on the bios screen or Grub screen. They still only work on the internal display.
Tried using an HDMI connector again in the same port 2 location for consistency sake and got the exact same result as the display port connector. Both work btw once the OS is booted and output as expected.
Starting to believe this may be a limitation of the hardware support from the BIOS but a Framework engineer would probably need to weigh in on that front. The following is a link to the guide I was using for the display connectors as an fyi.
Did you find any solution to this issue? I got the Framework hooked to my monitor’s internal USB-C hub and am facing the same problem. Bootsequence including VeraCrypt unlock stage only shows on the internal display but not on the external display. Once the OS is loaded, everything works fine. Operating with Windows 11.
No resolution yet that I know of. A display output has to be supported by the Bios if I remember right and so far the only display that is supported and initialized by the Bios on these laptops is the internal one. Thankfully with Linux OSes they initialize the driver stack before asking for encryption passwords so other than not seeing the OS selection menu of Grub it’s not that big of a pain for me.
If you disconnect the internal screen cable (called the eDP cable) is does start using the external display.
I would prefer it, if it had output BIOS to all attached displays. It would make fault finding a lot easier, and also easier for blind people.
Grub uses the BIOS to drive the display, which is why it uses the same display as the BIOS does. At OS login, the OS can decide.
Yep same here. My old Asus motherboard had an option in the bios to pick or prioritize a display then work its way through the list if it wasn’t available. Something like that in this Bios would be ideal. I could tell it to use my external display then but still have it fall back on the eDP if none is connected.
Thanks for the hint, but I fear that disconnecting the internal screen cable is not an option for me. I am using the Framework not exclusively in clamshell mode :). Maybe someone from the developers could comment on this issue if there is something planned for a future update? I image that there should be some people interested in such a feature?!
@Chris_ITguy
I agree with you. Have the BIOS prefer external display and if none exist use laptop internal display screen. At least this way, if your laptop display has broken, you can still get into the BIOS and view stuff without having to pull the eDP cable.