vesafb module fails to load on boot with nvidia binary graphics driver loaded

[Vivek Saxena]

Binary package hint: plymouth

I tried to install a new splash screen in plymouth. Now I get a vesa fb device error just before the text-based splash screen shows up. The error message is displayed only for a very brief period, so I can't note it down. I am using version 270.41.19 of the NVIDIA drivers, on a Dell XPS 15 L501x notebook (Core i7 740 QM, NVIDIA GT435M, 6 GB DDR3 RAM) running Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal 64-bit and GNOME3.

Description: Ubuntu 11.04
Release: 11.04

plymouth:
  Installed: 0.8.2-2ubuntu23
  Candidate: 0.8.2-2ubuntu23
  Version table:
 *** 0.8.2-2ubuntu23 0
        500 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.8.2-2ubuntu22 0
        500 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main amd64 Packages

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: plymouth 0.8.2-2ubuntu23
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Jun 5 17:58:55 2011
DefaultPlymouth: /lib/plymouth/themes/ubuntu-sunrise/ubuntu-sunrise.plymouth
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110427.1)
MachineType: Dell Inc. XPS L501X
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB:

ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=f757329a-aa4c-4a0c-96c2-6c19fad835b5 ro vga=798 splash quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: plymouth
TextPlymouth: /lib/plymouth/themes/ubuntu-text/ubuntu-text.plymouth
UdevDb: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-05-26 (10 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 03/29/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A07
dmi.board.name: 00YWG2
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A07
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: A07
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA07:bd03/29/2011:svnDellInc.:pnXPSL501X:pvrA07:rvnDellInc.:rn00YWG2:rvrA07:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvrA07:
dmi.product.name: XPS L501X
dmi.product.version: A07
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

What new splash screen were you installing? The plymouth config in your report says you are using 'ubuntu-sunrise', which is not part of any Ubuntu package. What makes you think this is a bug in plymouth, rather than a bug in the theme you're trying to use?

[Vivek Saxena (maverick280857)]

Thanks for your reply Steve. I installed some other splash screens (one by one) through synaptic, and neither of them worked. I can confirm that if I change the splash screen from ubuntu-default, I get an error message for a brief period on the screen, which is related to some vesa fb device not being found. I am guessing that Plymouth is still incompatible with NVIDIA's proprietary video device drivers?

Other than the splash screens which show up in synaptic, I also tried getting some of those mentioned here: http://www.techdrivein.com/2011/05/5-stunning-plymouth-screen-themes-for.html.

[Vivek Saxena (maverick280857)]

Is there a specific log file for plymouth which I could show you here? It might point us to the source of the problem, as I am unable to quote the error message exactly.

To be sure, the system I faced this issue on has an NVIDIA GT435M graphics card. It's a Dell XPS 15 laptop (Core i7 740 QM, 6 GB DDR3 RAM) running Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal 64bit.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for plymouth (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

I think this looks like a regression in either the nvidia drivers or the kernel. I see that vesafb is being loaded for us via /etc/init/udev-fallback-graphics.conf, and this failing seems to be what causes the error you see; prior to natty, I believe vesafb *did* load successfully together with the binary nvidia drivers, and this is no longer working. Moving this bug to the kernel and nvidia packages.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hey maverick280857,

You filed this bug report against natty, but I see it's still open and
doesn't appear to have much activity recently. So, now that oneiric
is released and stable, this may be a good point for you to upgrade
and re-test if this issue is still present there.

If it's solved in the new release and you think it's worth backporting
the fix, please indicate that. Or if having the fix in the new release
is good enough, feel free to close out the bug (or let us know and we'll
close it.)

If it's not solved, leave the bug report open. I can't promise we'll
get to it (we get way more bugs filed than we can usually get to), but
your testing and feedback can help out if and when we do.

[bugbot (bugbot)]

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

This bug was filed against a series that is no longer supported and so is being marked as Won't Fix. If this issue still exists in a supported series, please file a new bug.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.