consoles are blank with framebuffers

Bug #157556 reported by Linuxonlinehelp_de
2
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Ubuntu
Confirmed
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Problem: by default, consoles use 80x25 characters. This is uncomfortable for those using consoles. The usual cure is to add a vga=791 (for 17"< / or vga=0x0344 (mode for 15"SXGA Laptop)) to the kernel command line (in /boot/grub/menu.lst) in order to increase the console resolution. The cure requires framebuffers to be working. However, in Gutsy (7.10) this causes consoles to be unusable!!!

Workaround, using framebuffers:

1. sudo vi /etc/initramfs-tools/modules and add fbcon and vesafb

so my /etc/initramfs-tools/modules looks like:

fbcon
vesafb

2. sudo update-initramfs -u

3. sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer

change the line "blacklist vesafb" to "# blacklist vesafb" # perhaps switch other free like nvidiafb...

4. reboot

thats a very bad Bug in Gutsy... if Xservers do not start beginners run away...
cause nobody of them is abler to locate the problem.

DO NEVER HIDE CONSOLES!!

Revision history for this message
Francesco Potortì (pot) wrote :

Thanks for the non-obvious fix. I commented all blacklist-framebuffer because I start with sisfb.

This is a really serious problem. I realised it when I encountered a bug in qemu that does not release the mouse and the keyboard, and the only way out would have been to kill qemu from the console, but I found that my consoles were all blank!

description: updated
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Saivann Carignan (oxmosys) wrote :

Thanks for this bug report. There is reasons why framebuffer are disabled, however you should still be able to use console without framebuffers. Since you can't access consoles, can you give us more information about this particular bug?

1. Can you confirm that this bug is really usplash-related by booting your computer without usplash? You can disable usplash one time by following these steps :

   1. Press Esc during Grub boot delay to access the boot menu.
   2. Select your actual Ubuntu boot line and press "e" to edit it.
   3. Select the "kernel" line and press "e" to edit it.
   4. At the end of the line, remove "splash" and "quiet" and press "enter".
   5. Type "b" to boot the custom boot line.

2. Can you attach the file created by this command on a terminal : lspci -vvnn > lspci-vvnn.txt

Thanks for your contribution to ubuntu so far.

Changed in usplash:
assignee: nobody → saivann
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Francesco Potortì (pot) wrote : Re: [Bug 157556] Re: usplash hide console cause framebuffers blacklisted

>Thanks for this bug report. There is reasons why framebuffer are
>disabled, however you should still be able to use console without
>framebuffers.

I fear not, because I have "vga=0x305" on my /boot/grub/menu.lst.

Revision history for this message
Saivann Carignan (oxmosys) wrote : Re: usplash hide console cause framebuffers blacklisted

Francesco Potortì : Exactly, you *should* still be able to use console, but that's not the case. That's why I asked you additional informations about this problem, is it possible for you to provide the information I asked in my last comment?

Revision history for this message
Francesco Potortì (pot) wrote :

On one PC I have vga=791. I attach the output of lspci with and without usplash, both with the suggested workaround applied.

Revision history for this message
Francesco Potortì (pot) wrote :

On another PC I have vga=0x305. I had this problem before. Now I changed my motherboard and I did not check whether the problem is still there, anyway I left the workaround in place. I attach the output of lspci with and without usplash, both with the suggested workaround applied.

Revision history for this message
Saivann Carignan (oxmosys) wrote :

Thanks for these informations, lspci give details about your hardware so we can know on which hardware the problem appears. Concerning point 1, I needed to know if this bug happens when usplash is disabled to know if it is really caused by usplash or by something else so is it possible for you to start you two computers without usplash and vga=*, then try to go on a console and finally tell us if the console worked (of course, you should not have framebuffers enabled to do this test since ubuntu does not ship framebuffers enabled by default). Thanks for all the information you provided so far!

Revision history for this message
Francesco Potortì (pot) wrote :

I tried on computer 1 above. The outcome is that without the workaround, with or without usplash, I see the consoles black at startup. Once X has started, I see the consoles black with usplash, and full of random colours without usplash.

description: updated
Changed in usplash:
assignee: saivann → nobody
status: Incomplete → New
Revision history for this message
Saivann Carignan (oxmosys) wrote : Re: consoles are blank without framebuffers

Thanks for these precious informations. Since you can't access consoles even without usplash and that this bug happens with the Radeon 9200 pro graphic card, I set this bug report as a duplicate of bug 81206. further discussions should take place on that bug report. If you see that there's some missing informations on that bug report that you can provide, I invite you to do so. Concerning your comptuer #2, if you can also reproduce the problem on a fresh install of ubuntu Gutsy, I suggest you to open another bug report with a detailed description, the name of your graphic card and your lspci-nnvv.txt file for this computer. Thanks again for all the time you spent on that bug.

Revision history for this message
Francesco Potortì (pot) wrote :

Subject: Re: [Bug 157556] Re: consoles are blank without framebuffers
FCC: ~/Mail/backup/SMAIL
References: <email address hidden>
<email address hidden>
--text follows this line--
>Thanks for these precious informations. Since you can't access consoles
>even without usplash and that this bug happens with the Radeon 9200 pro
>graphic card, I set this bug report as a duplicate of bug 81206.

I think it is not a duplicate of that bug. I first experienced this
problem on an Intel ASRock motherboard, while running a "sis" driver for
xorg, and the same workaround did the job. Now I have that motherboard
no more.

Since you are suspecting the graphics chip, I additionally tried with
"computer 2" above, which mounts an ASUS P5VD2-MX motherboard with an
integrated Unichrome Pro IGP VIA P4M890 graphics chip, using the
"openchrome" xorg driver. The results are the same.

Summarising:
1) I observe no problems without a vga= specification on the kernel line
2) I observe no problems with a vga= specification and the workaround
applied
3) I observe problems with a vga= specification without the workaround

All of 1, 2, 3 above happen similarly with at least three different
graphics chips.

With at least two different graphics chip, disabling usplash makes no
functional difference. I could not try with the third one (sis on
ASRock).

Revision history for this message
Saivann Carignan (oxmosys) wrote : Re: consoles are blank without framebuffers

Thanks for these informations. Yes the graphic card as a lot to do with the bug(s). This bug is specific to some graphic card. It seems that you found more than just one computer that have similar symptoms. I think that the best for this bug would be that this one stays a duplicate and that you open a clean new bug talking about the other computer that has similar symptoms, giving hardware details and the "lspci on computer 2" attachment and also details about what happens Exactly with consoles and usplash. It will be easier for developers to read these clean separate bug reports, what do you think about this idea? Because I'm not really sure that the bug with your computer #2 is the same has bug 81206 but your computer #1 is a duplicate for sure.

description: updated
Revision history for this message
Francesco Potortì (pot) wrote :

Saïvann, I suspect your conclusions are not correct. Specifically, from the information we have got, it appears that:

1) usplash is not related to this bug: in fact, I observe the bug whether or not "quiet" and "splash" are on the kernel command line

2) graphics cards are unrelated too: in fact, I can observe this bug with all three different graphics cards on which I could try; additionally, the original reporter suggests nvidiafb, so maybe they observed it on yet on more graphics card

3) the bug is only related to whether a vga= specification is used or not

4) the bug is not a duplicate of 81206. In fact, that bug is *solved* by adding vga=791, while this one *shows up* when you specify vga=791, which is just the opposite.

Obviously, I may be wrong, but what I wrote above is the most direct consequence of the facts we have observed.

Revision history for this message
Saivann Carignan (oxmosys) wrote :

Yes you are right. I apologies for my errors. However, I suspect that loosing usplash and consoles when using vga=" and enabling frambuffers is not a bug. I think that this should be discussed with ubuntu developers that know this better than me because AFAIK, developers always told be that framebuffers were blacklisted for the very same reasons you opened that bug report, they can cause problems with consoles and else, but might be used as temporary workaround when ubuntu does not work correctly by default without framebuffers. BTW, why do you enable framebuffers?

Revision history for this message
Francesco Potortì (pot) wrote :

Starting with Gutsy, using vga=xxxx on the kernel line makes consoles blank. In order to work around this, which I consider a bug, you must enable framebuffers, as suggested by the original poster. That is why I enable them.

The reason why I use vga=xxx is that I cannot stand 80x25, when I occasionally use a console. As I reported above, using a console is sometimes the only way around a frozen X application, but I sometimes like or need to work on consoles even out of an emergency.

Francesco Potortì (pot)
description: updated
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