Kernel Boot messages broken - maybe to wrong tty?

[alienheartbeat]

Up to 10.10, the boot console would display kernel messages
(as shown after boot by dmesg)
and boot log messages (as in /var/log/boot.log)
mixed together.

From 11.04, the boot console only shows boot log messages,
the kernel messages are missing,
which leads to a mostly black screen (15-20" !) booting process.

 The kernel messages seem to be going to tty1
(can see them there when I quickly and briefly switch to tty1 at the gui login prompt).
So maybe I could fix this problem if I could get these kernel
messages back to tty7,
which I think is where boot happens?

But editing /etc/default/grub to:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="vga=795 console=tty7 loglevel=7"
does not return the kernel messages to the boot console where I can see them.

One other point that partially contradicts the above:
after the boot log msgs start appearing on the console
(after about 15-20")
some kernel messages
do actually appear on the console.

So another theory of what is happening
is that after grub exits,
the boot console is disabled in some way
until the process that writes the boot log messages starts to write to it.

Some discussion on
 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11761850
including many 'workarounds' I tried which do not work,
and links to several other discussions on this bug, mainly by server side types.

I am using Kubuntu, but others commenting on this are using Ubuntu.
I am using Desktop, but have seen discussions by those with Ubuntu Server with the same issue.
I am using 64 bit, but the same thing happens in a 32 bit virtual machine.

Am using grub 1.99-rc1 in 11.04
whereas 10.10 (which boots correctly) uses 1.98.
However both are grub2, so it is not a grub1 / grub2 difference.

Anybody suggesting that I remove 'noquiet' to fix this,
or anything similarly banal,
I will fly over there and poke them in the forehead.
This has been dealt with in the forum.

As this all worked in 10.10 and as of 11.04 no longer works,
it appears to be a regression.

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/972375/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

[This is an automated message. I apologize if it reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[alienheartbeat (reckless-symmetry)]

With the greatest possible deference to the Bug Bot,
I have no idea which package.

The problem is no doubt caused by the interaction of various processes during the boot process,
including grub, the kernel, loggers, plymouth etc.

However, out of deference and respect for the bug bot,
I will file it against Plymouth and see if that works.

[alienheartbeat (reckless-symmetry)]

I should also note that
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/972375/+editstatus
does not allow filing against multiple packages.
To require the user to make the decision in a situation like this
( where the source of the bug is not clear)
is a mistake.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[jhansonxi (jhansonxi)]

I'm encountering a similar problem with LUKS/dm-crypt passphrase prompts. They are either not displayed or displayed on the wrong tty. Bug #816267 may be related.