[usplash] black screen during usplash. Ubuntu boots fine

[ubuntu_demon]

I think I this bug report belongs to initramfs-tools or usplash

My girlfriends pc doesn't display the usplash. It only shows a blackscreen. Ubuntu boots fine.

This is for Edgy with 2.6.17-10-generic

I couldn't find anything obvious (to me) in the syslog.

I'm *guessing* either the monitor isn't detected properly or there should be a added a time-out somewhere.

The computer is not very fast P3, 1 ghz, 256 mb ram.

She has an old 14" monitor. This is the relevant part of xorg.conf to give more information about the monitor:

Section "Monitor"
  Identifier "Generic Monitor"
  Option "DPMS"
  HorizSync 28-40
  VertRefresh 43-56
EndSection

I tried adding a time-out in initramfs-tools (based on this guide : http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=76309). It didn't fix anything. There's a chance I have to do it at a different place.

[ubuntu_demon (ubuntu-demon)]

vga=normal as a kernel option made no difference

What log files should I provide ?

[ubuntu_demon (ubuntu-demon)]

it emits no light at all during usplash (tested in a dark room)

[ubuntu_demon (ubuntu-demon)]

The highest capable resolution is 800x600 @56 Hz

[ubuntu_demon (ubuntu-demon)]

I *think* the monitor is too old to be able to go into standby

[Laurent Bigonville (bigon)]

did you install edgy with the alternate installer?

[ubuntu_demon (ubuntu-demon)]

I updated from Dapper where usplash worked fine (as far as I can remember I didn't need to tweak anything to make usplash work properly in Dapper).

I used "$sudo update-manager -c -d" after Edgy's release on this machine (my girlfriend's machine).

[Laurent Bigonville (bigon)]

what the contents of /etc/usplash.conf ?

[ubuntu_demon (ubuntu-demon)]

/etc/usplash.conf :

# Usplash configuration file
xres=800
yres=600

[ubuntu_demon (ubuntu-demon)]

Setting /etc/usplash.conf to 640x480 doesn't help (I just tried). The monitor is able to display 800x600.

[Chazall1 (lishdigg)]

I am having the identical problems with a P4, 1gb ram and a 17" display, I have tried all the posts on how to fix the problem, to no avail. I just get a black screen. HOWEVER, today when booting I can see my curser blinking on the upper left of the screen, and it moves straight down 4 lines. No other things happening.

[Chazall1 (lishdigg)]

My screen is displaying some light, its not entirely black on both boot and boot down. I just want a splash screen!!!!

[Hervé Cauwelier (hcauwelier-deactivatedaccount)]

I had quite the same this morning, black screen but with backlight on. And I saw disk activity. Indeed booting in single user mode revealed that fsck was checking the root partition.

Is your bug similar or should I file a new one?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Mikel Ward (mikelward)]

Same problem for me with Gutsy RC1. Screen is blank for most of boot and all of shut down.

GeForce 8600 PCI-e video card. There is also a Radeon 1250 onboard that is not used.

/etc/usplash.conf has 1280x1024, which should be supported, but only up to about 75 Hz. Best mode is 1024x768@85 (which is the mode X defaulted to).

/var/log/boot is empty.

Haven't tried plugging in the onboard video card or experimenting with the screen resolution.

[Mikel Ward (mikelward)]

Reopening. Seems to affect release. Was only closed due to nobody working on it!

[zanonmark (info-marcozanon)]

Same to me, using Gutsy/i386 stable.
My laptop is a Dell Vostro 1000, with an ATI radeon XPress 1100 IGP (chipset is Ati RS485).

I had to manually edit /etc/usplash.conf and set the 1024x768 resolution, then edit grub and add "vga=0" to the kernel line. By doing so, everything seems to work fine (but I'm going to wait for the next kernel update and see if those settings will stay there).

Thanks, MZ

[zanonmark (info-marcozanon)]

editing my previous comment:

1) after editing /etc/usplash.conf I had to "sudo update-usplash-theme usplash-theme-ubuntu"
2) vga=0 is not mandatory

ZM

[Oumar Aziz OUATTARA (wattazoum)]

Hello,

Same goes for me with Futjitsu-siemens AMILO Pa 2548. The screen blacks out when usplash is activated. I did uninstall it to be sure it was a Usplash problem .
This happens on GUTSY stable fresh install ( even the liveCD is doing so) and Hardy beta 3. I will try the workaround ( modification of usplash.conf and keep you posted)

Regards

[Oumar Aziz OUATTARA (wattazoum)]

This is not an initramfs-tools bug but an Usplash bug.

[Oumar Aziz OUATTARA (wattazoum)]

I have tried changing the configuration of usplash.conf, but it doesn't change anything.

I have also tried the Mandriva live cd and it's booting fine.

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

Oumar Aziz OUATTARA or any other person who can reproduce that bug on the Hardy alpha 3 release : Thanks for your comment. Can you provide these informations :

1. The output of this command on a terminal : uname -a
2. The output of this command on a terminal : lspci | grep VGA
3. The output of this command on a terminal : cat /etc/usplash.conf

[Oumar Aziz OUATTARA (wattazoum)]

usplash.conf

# Usplash configuration file
xres=640
yres=480

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

Thanks for these informations. Can you also try with another screen to see if the problem persist? I have a nVidia Corporation GeForce 8300 GS (rev a1) and this problem does not happen for me. My screen is 19 inch, a recent model.

[Oumar Aziz OUATTARA (wattazoum)]

Just for information , I have installed Hardy on my laptop. I didn't have usplash on the live cd but I was releived to see that it was working after rebooting. I'll try with the next official hardy LiveCD .

On Gutsy , the problem exists on the LiveCD and on the installed Distribution..

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

The problem of Gutsy is another problem. The installer ( ubiquity ) doesn't generate correct values in /etc/usplash.conf file, that's another story which we should not mix up. But did you have the opportunity to test your desktop computer with another screen than the 14 " that you are using? Thanks for these informations.

[Oumar Aziz OUATTARA (wattazoum)]

I can't unfortunately test with another screen, it's a laptop and I don't have another screen.

[Jari Kankaala (jari-kankaala)]

Have the same issue on Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron). Tried alpha 3 and the daily build from 19th January. I have a Nvidia 8800GTS 512 MB graphics card and a Samsung SyncMaster 226BW. Pressing 'F6' at boot and changing --splash to --nosplash solves the issue.

The requested outputs:
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ uname -a
Linux ubuntu 2.6.24-3-generic #1 SMP Thu Jan 3 22:50:33 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Unknown device 0600 (rev a2)

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/usplash.conf
# Usplash configuration file
xres=640
yres=480

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

Jari Kankaala : Thanks for this information. Can you test if this bug persist if you install the i386 version of ubuntu? Most of time, usplash won't appear in ubuntu AMD64, this is bug #147623

[Oumar Aziz OUATTARA (wattazoum)]

Hello,

That's exactly what happened to me , I was trying with Ubuntu AMD64 and having this issue, but when I tried, even Gutsy i386, no more problem. I guess , I'll stick to i386 then.

Thank you for the information.
Regards

[Jari Kankaala (jari-kankaala)]

Saïvann Carignan: It works with the daily build (20th Jan.) 32-bit version. It can be seen just by booting the live cd but I have done an install as well. Interesting read that bug report... So is this being fixed for the 64-bit version? Anything I can do to help?

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

Thanks for your comment. bug #147623 already contains relevant informations. I sended a mail to ubuntu-developers in the ubuntu-devel mailing list about that problem. I think that we should wait for them because fixing this bug seems to need some changes that need to be seriously discussed by developers. I'll keep this bug updated.

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

Seems that from now, all people who answered has bug 147623 and bug 150930. In order to make sure that this bug is not a duplicate, can someone reproduce this bug on Hardy i386 ( not amd64 ) ? Thanks for all the time you all spent to improve this bug report.

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

To all people who can reproduce this bug on Gutsy with a i386 architecture (or with amd64 ONLY if your graphic card is not a nvidia geforce 8xxx), can you provide the following informations :

 1. The output of this command on a terminal : uname -a
 2. The file created by this command on a terminal : lspci -vvnn > lspci-vvnn.txt
 3. The file created by this command on a terminal : sudo ddcprobe > ddcprobe.txt
 4. The output of this command on a terminal : cat /etc/usplash.conf
 5. The actual resolution of your screen when running on Xserver

[Rob Caskey (rcaskey)]

I'm on Hardy, using the nvidia binary drivers, and have a Quadra which is essentially a GF8xxx, using -generic.

rcaskey@rcaskey-desktop:/var/log$ uname -a
Linux rcaskey-desktop 2.6.24-10-generic #1 SMP Fri Feb 22 18:26:06 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux
rcaskey@rcaskey-desktop:/var/log$ lspci -vnnn
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 82X38 Express DRAM Controller [8086:29e0]
 Subsystem: Dell Unknown device [1028:0214]
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Capabilities: <access denied>

00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82X38 Express Host-Primary PCI Express Bridge [8086:29e1] (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
 I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff
 Memory behind bridge: fa000000-feafffff
 Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d0000000-00000000dfffffff
 Capabilities: <access denied>

00:06.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82X38 Express Host-Secondary PCI Express Bridge [8086:29e9] (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
 Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:2937] (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
 Subsystem: Dell Unknown device [1028:0214]
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
 I/O ports at ff20 [size=32]
 Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1a.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 [8086:2938] (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
 Subsystem: Dell Unknown device [1028:0214]
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
 I/O ports at ff00 [size=32]
 Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1a.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 [8086:2939] (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
 Subsystem: Dell Unknown device [1028:0214]
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
 I/O ports at ecc0 [size=32]
 Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1a.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 [8086:293c] (rev 02) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
 Subsystem: Dell Unknown device [1028:0214]
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
 Memory at febfbc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:293e] (rev 02)
 Subsystem: Dell Unknown device [1028:0214]
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
 Memory at febfc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:2940] (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
 Memory behind bridge: f9f00000-f9ffffff
 Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1c.5 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 6 [8086:294a] (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Bus: primary=00, secondary...

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

Rob Caskey : Thanks for these informations. The bug you are experiencing is bug 147623 that appears with recent nvidia cards under ubuntu amd64. If you want, you can subscribe to that bug and wait for developers to ask testing when they will have results about that issue. You will also find workaround for your bug in the description of the bug. Thanks!

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

Is there someone else that can provide the informations I asked earlier on Gutsy with a i386 architecture (or with amd64 ONLY if your graphic card is not a recent nvidia card)?

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

Because of no answer during a long time from the initial reporter and because all other people experienced other bugs already reported in Launchpad, I set the status of this bug to invalid. ubuntu_demon, if you can reproduce the bug on latest Hardy and provide needed informations, please comment and/or re-open the bug report, I'm still here to help this bug getting complete. Thanks to everybody who contributed to this bug report.

[Claudio Moretti (flyingstar16)]

Confirmed for Intrepid 8.10 alpha6 on Dell Vostro 1500 (Intel Core2 Duo, 2GB RAM)

uname -a:
Linux claudio-laptop 2.6.27-4-generic #1 SMP Wed Sep 24 01:30:51 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/LinuxLinux claudio-laptop 2.6.27-4-generic #1 SMP Wed Sep 24 01:30:51 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

lspci | grep VGA:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8600M GT (rev a1)

cat /etc/usplash.conf:
# Usplash configuration file
# These parameters will only apply after running update-initramfs.

xres=1440
yres=900

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

Claudio Moretti : Thanks for your comment. Unfortunately, this bug is marked as invalid and concerned different hardware then the one you are using, can you open a new bug report?