NVIDIA does not work with framebuffer drivers

[Jeremy LaCroix]

On my Latitude E6420 running Kubuntu 12.10 (64-bit) with all updates, there is no splash screen. Instead, I just see text. This laptop has Nvidia graphics, though Optimus is disabled so that is not the issue.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: plymouth 0.8.4-0ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-17.27-generic 3.5.5
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-17-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Oct 8 13:57:54 2012
DefaultPlymouth: /lib/plymouth/themes/kubuntu-logo/kubuntu-logo.plymouth
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Beta amd64 (20121004)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Latitude E6420
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-17-generic root=UUID=20af3c8e-df88-479d-bc6f-da96a47b5fdf ro quiet splash
ProcFB:

ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-17-generic root=UUID=20af3c8e-df88-479d-bc6f-da96a47b5fdf ro quiet splash
SourcePackage: plymouth
TextPlymouth: /lib/plymouth/themes/kubuntu-text/kubuntu-text.plymouth
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 08/15/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A15
dmi.board.name: 0PH12P
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 9
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA15:bd08/15/2012:svnDellInc.:pnLatitudeE6420:pvr01:rvnDellInc.:rn0PH12P:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct9:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Latitude E6420
dmi.product.version: 01
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

The plymouth splash doesn't display because according to the information attached to your bug report, it has no framebuffer to display it on. This is a direct result of a recent change to the nvidia-graphics-drivers package. Reassigning.

[emptythevoid (emptythevoid)]

This exact thing is happening to me using regular Ubuntu 64-bit on a Dell Precision M6500. Works just fine if using noveau, but goes text-only if using nvidia-current-update

[emptythevoid (emptythevoid)]

Also confirmed that this seems specific to boot-only. When shutting down or restarting, I see the normal ubuntu logo and activity indicator dots animating just fine.

[Jeremy LaCroix (j-jlacroix)]

As for me, I don't see it during boot or shutting down.

[emptythevoid (emptythevoid)]

I just upgraded a completely up-to-date 12.04 64-bit install with latest proprietary nvidia drivers from x-swat that was displaying splashes at both boot and shutdown, to 12.10 and now both splashes are failing (text-only)

[John Clark (clarkjc)]

I was able to restore the splash screen:

* Edit /usr/share/nvidia-current/nvidia-current.grub-gfxpayload and comment out the line that blacklists all Nvidia graphics cards
* sudo update-grub-gfxpayload
* sudo update-grub

WARNING: You may experience graphics memory corruption, system crashes, hangs, loss of data, and other unpleasant experiences. If you are not comfortable with the risk, don't change this.

[John Clark (clarkjc)]

If you choose to use the workaround in comment #7, the Nvidia driver will yell at you in the kernel log, too:

NVRM: Your system is not currently configured to drive a VGA console
NVRM: on the primary VGA device. The NVIDIA Linux graphics driver
NVRM: requires the use of a text-mode VGA console. Use of other console
NVRM: drivers including, but not limited to, vesafb, may result in
NVRM: corruption and stability problems, and is not supported.

[Mark Fraser (launchpad-mfraz)]

Had the plymouth splash screen working in 12.04, but now I've had to resort to this website http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Fix-the-Big-and-Ugly-Plymouth-Logo-in-Ubuntu-10-04-140810.shtml to get it back in 12.10.

[John Clark (clarkjc)]

Note that the warning in comment #8 also applies to the method described in comment #9 because it uses the uvesafb module.

[Alberto Milone (albertomilone)]

Yes, the warnings in comment 8 are the reason why I disabled grub's framebuffer with Nvidia (as Nvidia suggested). At least to me, system stability wins against a pretty bootsplash.

[emptythevoid (emptythevoid)]

Do we know if nvidia is looking to rectify this problem on their end? I know its a minor thing, the boot screen, (and I agree, system stability always wins) but I think it's one of those small bits of polish that need to be there if possible.

[Collin O'Reilly (collin-o)]

Same problem except with Ubuntu Gnome Remix 12.10 x64 - DELL Precision M4600 with nvidia Quadro 1000M. Boot splash was fine until I installed nvidia drivers.

[zzecool (zzecool)]

I have the same exact problem with my Nvidia ( i always had it ) plus that as i can see in boochart plymouthd takes 50 seconds to load .......

[zasq (zasq)]

I have the problem on a Dell Inspiron 1501: no plymouth splash on boot, everything okay when shutting down. But: I have a radeon graphics card, not nvidia...

[karl (karl-sebastian-liebich)]

For me it works neither on boot nor shutdown.. I have no dell but a desktop machine.

[Shock (mmiron)]

This used to work on 12.04. What changed and why? Does anyone know?

[karl (karl-sebastian-liebich)]

afaik the nvidia driver has changed

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

As per discussion with Alberto, this is not a critical bug but rather a lack of feature support in the nvidia driver.

NVIDIA does not support running on framebuffer drivers, and testing has proven that doing so leads to system instability in many cases. People can switch on the drivers manually if they really wish to do so, as per the directions above, but it is not a supported configuration.

We won't be switching this on in the distro until NVIDIA supports it - like Alberto said, system stability is higher in importance.

[Christopher Ure (cure1245)]

Out of curiosity, why has it only started in 12.10? I was running the NVIDIA drivers in Precise and never had this issue. Did they remove the framebuffer support in a recent driver upgrade?

[Tim Lunn (darkxst)]

my understanding was its just a packaging change you can re-enable via instructions in comment #7.

[Swâmi Petaramesh (swami-petaramesh)]

The instructions in bug #1063969 comment #7 allowed me to re-enable graphical splash on all of the 3 following NVidia configs - and all keep properly working framebuffer text consoles 1-6 :

- Toshiba Satellite L735-101 : NVIDIA GPU GeForce 315M (GT218)
- Dell Inspiron 9300 : NVIDIA GPU GeForce Go 6800 (NV41)
- Asus M3N78-VM Motherboard with integrated NVIDIA GPU GeForce 8200 (C77)

Works perfectly, so why does this damn NVidia drivers package blacklist framebuffers ?

[hegemon8 (pantokrata2)]

Same on my Samsung rv511, Kubuntu 12.10 64bit and nvidia 315m, but had that issue in 12.04 with beta nvidia drivers. apart from a boot screen and additional drivers in system settings still convincing me that the driver isn't in use, while it is, not much of a issue for me. System itself seems to work ok with effects. But hours spend on forums trying to solve it... Thats another story :)

[Jeremy LaCroix (j-jlacroix)]

I think the biggest issue with this bug is that without the splash screen, I see errors and ugly all over the screen. It doesn't bother me personally, because my system works fine. But to a new or inexperienced user, this may make them think something is wrong. At the very least, this error text needs to be hidden. Users should NEVER see such things unless they press tab or escape to show boot messages. I don't care if it's just a blank screen for now, but at least hide the messages.

[Tim Lunn (darkxst)]

Jeremy, you should actually be getting a text-based splash screen, when plymouth can't access a framebuffer.

[Jeremy LaCroix (j-jlacroix)]

@Tim, I wish that were the case for me.

On 11/23/2012 06:50 PM, Tim wrote:
> Jeremy, you should actually be getting a text-based splash screen, when
> plymouth can't access a framebuffer.
>

--
Jay LaCroix
A+, Network+, Server+, Linux+, Novell CLA, LPIC-1
(P) 248.520.4062
(E) <email address hidden>
http://www.jaylacroix.com

[Tim Lunn (darkxst)]

Jeremy, in that case file a bug against plymouth for the issue, since Its really a different bug

[Jeremy LaCroix (j-jlacroix)]

@Tim, I just checked and it appears to be shut down that shows errors, the errors in startup go by so fast I cannot read them. Is that a known issue?

[John Clark (clarkjc)]

I saw the following in the release notes for version 319.17 of the NVIDIA driver (http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-display-amd64-319.17-driver.html):

"* Added initial support for restoration of efifb consoles on UEFI systems where the primary display is driven over VGA or TMDS (e.g. DVI, HDMI, or LVDS)."

It looks like NVIDIA is doing something about this, but their priority is UEFI systems where they have to support interoperating with a framebuffer backed console.

[dino99 (9d9)]

That version is no more supported; please open a new bug report if the actual archive found version also has the same issue.

[Yanpas (yanpaso)]

Recreated