Black screen instead of password prompt for boot encryption

[Dekker500]

WIth Ubuntu 14.04.1, when booting, I used to be presented with a screen asking for a passphrase (see attached) for my boot disk encryption. After entering the passphrase at that screen, it then presented me with my Ubuntu login.

Ever since upgrading to 14.10, this screen is now black (actually, a version of deep red/black that matches the original screen, as in the attachment). Typing my passphrase at this screen WORKS, but is challenging since there is no feedback for failed attempts.

Pressing escape (or other combinations) do not seem to do anything.

In an attempt to identify the problem package, I followed instructions at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1850379 and modified it some, and managed to display my grub screen, but the black screen only appears after the grub screen is passed. I'm not 100% convinced about which package it is failing on...

Note that this only appeared after upgrading to 14.10 from 14.04.1.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10
Package: cryptsetup 2:1.6.1-1ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-18.25-generic 3.16.3
Uname: Linux 3.16.0-18-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Mon Sep 29 15:04:18 2014
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-08-28 (32 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140722.2)
SourcePackage: cryptsetup
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to utopic on 2014-09-18 (11 days ago)
crypttab:
 sda5_crypt UUID=ffad5181-ff9f-4281-a4c8-a57d78fa1813 none luks,discard
 # cryptswap1 UUID=2ca882ab-a547-4f5f-ae93-fee5f03fbfb9 /dev/urandom swap,offset=8,cipher=aes-cbc-essiv:sha256
 ubuntu--vg-swap_1 UUID=a61a95e6-1e84-4d98-bd6d-eaefe74eaf36 /dev/urandom swap,offset=8,cipher=aes-cbc-essiv:sha256

[Dekker500 (dekker-crater)]

In case it matters, this is what the screen looks like (not a true black)

[Dekker500 (dekker-crater)]

Additional Information: Performing a hard reset while at the black screen reboots, prompts for grub profile, then presents a cryptsetup password prompt screen which is text-based. Since the filesystem is not loaded, this hard-reset appears to do no harm, however rebooting twice is onerous...

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Pierre Cardoso (gonnalose)]

Could be a duplicate of
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/plymouth/+bug/1359689

[Dekker500 (dekker-crater)]

Yes, this does seem to be a duplicate of https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/plymouth/+bug/1359689.

I tried their suggested workaround and it worked for me, or at least it now boots in text mode and prompts for the password successfully every boot.

For posterity sake, here was the fix/workaround required:

$ sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Include the following parameter

GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=wxh

$ sudo update-grub

[Dekker500 (dekker-crater)]

Small update: The GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX setting I used was "text" (yes, literally "text"). The wxh was actually supposed to be the graphics resolution "640x480" but for me, that left it in graphical mode and failed to allow me to enter my password. Using "text" forced it into text mode, which works (but is not pretty)

[Maris Radu (marisradu)]

I have the same issue with a ProBook 455 G2 (http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/hardware/201404-14968/) on 14.04, 14.10 and 15.04 (beta 2).

I can also confirm that Dekker500 workaround worked in 14.10 and 15.04 beta 2.

[MinTeH (s-mint)]

Switched to fglrx-updates for graphic drivers (for R9 290 on 15.04) and I got this issue. Had to use the GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX workaround.

[Silvian Cretu (silvian-cretu)]

I have the same issue, since Kubuntu 14.04 until Kubuntu 15.10 (I've upgraded from release to release).
I'm running Kubuntu on a Dell Latitude E6530 and I have /home encrypted