Boot fails on T61, screen stays blank

[Daniel Lehmann]

After a clean install of 11.10 and installation of nvidia-current on a Lenovo T61 the system doesn't boot. After grub the screen is blank except the cursor. Booting via recovery mode is possible though.

A boot with "linux_gfx_mode=text" and removed kernel options "quiet", "splash" and "vt.handoff=7" also freezes (see screenshot).

Workarround:
After adding "GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1024x768" to /etc/default/grub and running "update-grub" the system is booting.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: plymouth 0.8.2-2ubuntu28
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic-pae 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue Oct 18 11:41:40 2011
DefaultPlymouth: /lib/plymouth/themes/ubuntu-logo/ubuntu-logo.plymouth
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release i386 (20111011)
MachineType: LENOVO 7663PJG
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic-pae root=/dev/mapper/hostname-root ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
ProcFB: 0 VESA VGA
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic-pae root=/dev/mapper/hostname-root ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: plymouth
TextPlymouth: /lib/plymouth/themes/ubuntu-text/ubuntu-text.plymouth
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 01/21/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 7LETB0WW (2.10 )
dmi.board.name: 7663PJG
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr7LETB0WW(2.10):bd01/21/2008:svnLENOVO:pn7663PJG:pvrThinkPadT61:rvnLENOVO:rn7663PJG:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 7663PJG
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T61
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Daniel Lehmann (leh)]

It seems that booting with linux_gfx_mode=text isn't working, while booting with linux_gfx_mode=1024x768 is working. Somehow booting with mode text seems to be default for my system, maybe because the graphics card is blacklisted?

Please find attached the gfxblacklist grub is using on my system.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

You seem to have done a good deal of initial investigation into the cause of the problem - thanks for that!

There is some conflicting information in your report, in that you say recovery mode works but booting with linux_gfx_mode=text does not. The differences between recovery mode and regular mode are:
 - linux_gfx_mode=keep is never set in recovery mode
 - the 'quiet', 'splash', and 'vt.handoff=7' options are not set
 - the 'nomodeset' option is set instead
 - the system is booted straight to the recovery mode menu, without running udev or starting X

The first two of these you've already tested. The third one should have no effect here because you're using the nvidia driver, which doesn't support modesetting anyway. Only the last variable seems to not be accounted for.

Do you have the cryptsetup package installed on this system? What does 'xrandr' show as the list of supported resolutions? After setting GRUB_GFXMODE, do you see the plymouth splash screen, or do you only see X?

[Daniel Lehmann (leh)]

Thank you for your fast reply.

Yes indeed, cryptsetup is installed. I installed a full disk encrypted system via the alternate installer. I'm sorry that I forget to mentition this in the first place.
I attached the xrandr output, but I think it's not that usefull.

After setting GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768 I see plymouth and after entering the cryptsetup/luks passphrase the system boots into X.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Oh, right, xrandr output isn't useful here because it's the nvidia driver.

If setting the graphics mode is enough to let the splash be seen, then it sounds like the default mode being chosen via VBE isn't supported by your display. That's a little strange on a laptop with a built-in display, but it seems to be the case here.

I'll reassign this to grub2, to let the grub developers see if there's anything else we could be doing better here.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Marcus Tomlinson (marcustomlinson)]

This release of Ubuntu is no longer receiving maintenance updates. If this is still an issue on a maintained version of Ubuntu please let us know.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for grub2 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]