I've an intel i5-460M and a nvidia GT 425m card, with the latter not in use. I've the same issue: although the splash screen has a background color (blue for Kubuntu), the splash screen is a text-only splash.
On my previous installation, I upgraded from Maverick to Natty. In Maverick, the splash screen was working fine, after the upgrade the above problem began to occur.
When using the Maverick kernel (2.6.35-28) to boot into Natty, the splash screen works fine. I've looked at the differences between the initrd of maverick and natty, and the only differences were the kernel files (/lib/modules/*).
A fresh installation of Natty did not help, the problem still exists.
I've compared debug logs (add plymouth:debug as boot option, it will generate a log at /var/log/plymouth-debug.log) of two identical systems running maverick and natty, and the problem is that the intel driver is not loaded or something:
The relevant output on maverick is:
[./plugin.c] create_backend:creating renderer backend for device /dev/dri/card0
[./plugin.c] load_driver:Attempting to load driver 'i915'
Natty shows:
[./plugin.c] create_backend:creating renderer backend for device /dev/dri/card0
[./plugin.c] load_driver:Attempting to load driver '(null)'
[./plugin.c] load_driver:drmOpen failed
[ply-renderer.c] ply_renderer_open:could not open rendering device for plugin /lib/plymouth/renderers/drm.so
[./plugin.c] create_backend:creating renderer backend for device /dev/fb0
[./plugin.c] open_device:could not open '/dev/fb0': No such file or directory
[ply-renderer.c] ply_renderer_open:could not open rendering device for plugin /lib/plymouth/renderers/frame-buffer.so
[./plugin.c] open_device:could not open '/dev/fb0': No such file or directory
[ply-renderer.c] ply_renderer_open:could not open rendering device for plugin /lib/plymouth/renderers/vga16fb.so
[ply-renderer.c] ply_renderer_open:could not find suitable rendering plugin
[main.c] add_default_displays_and_keyboard:could not open renderer /dev/fb
[main.c] add_display_and_keyboard_for_terminal:adding display and keyboard for /dev/tty7
Looking in the source code (apt-get source plymouth), the message comes from plymouth-0.8.2/src/plugins/renderers/drm/plugin.c:473.
`null` refers to the driver name, and is defined in the line above (472) by calling find_driver_for_device("/dev/dri/card0").
Reasons why that function may return NULL:
- /dev/dri/card0 does not exist
- /dev/dri/card0 is not a character device (unlikely)
- /sys/dev/char/XX:YY/device/driver does not exist (run `stat -c'%t.%T' /dev/dri/card0` to get XX:YY)
- The previous link in /sys/... did not point to a valid driver (i915)
When booting with the options `quiet splash` options removed, and `nosplash break=top` added (drops to a shell before running local-top scripts like plymouth), I checked some stuff:
- cat /proc/modules: no modules seems to be loaded
- ls -l /dev/dri/card0: missing AHA! PROBLEM FOUND!
Next, I try to load the i915 driver manually:
modprobe i915
When done, I pressed Ctrl + D (exit) and w00t: the nice splash screen finally shows up!
Now I need to find a way to fix this in a proper way.
I've an intel i5-460M and a nvidia GT 425m card, with the latter not in use. I've the same issue: although the splash screen has a background color (blue for Kubuntu), the splash screen is a text-only splash.
On my previous installation, I upgraded from Maverick to Natty. In Maverick, the splash screen was working fine, after the upgrade the above problem began to occur.
When using the Maverick kernel (2.6.35-28) to boot into Natty, the splash screen works fine. I've looked at the differences between the initrd of maverick and natty, and the only differences were the kernel files (/lib/modules/*).
A fresh installation of Natty did not help, the problem still exists.
I've compared debug logs (add plymouth:debug as boot option, it will generate a log at /var/log/ plymouth- debug.log) of two identical systems running maverick and natty, and the problem is that the intel driver is not loaded or something:
The relevant output on maverick is: backend: creating renderer backend for device /dev/dri/card0 Attempting to load driver 'i915'
[./plugin.c] create_
[./plugin.c] load_driver:
Natty shows: backend: creating renderer backend for device /dev/dri/card0 Attempting to load driver '(null)' open:could not open rendering device for plugin /lib/plymouth/ renderers/ drm.so backend: creating renderer backend for device /dev/fb0 open:could not open rendering device for plugin /lib/plymouth/ renderers/ frame-buffer. so open:could not open rendering device for plugin /lib/plymouth/ renderers/ vga16fb. so open:could not find suitable rendering plugin displays_ and_keyboard: could not open renderer /dev/fb and_keyboard_ for_terminal: adding display and keyboard for /dev/tty7
[./plugin.c] create_
[./plugin.c] load_driver:
[./plugin.c] load_driver:drmOpen failed
[ply-renderer.c] ply_renderer_
[./plugin.c] create_
[./plugin.c] open_device:could not open '/dev/fb0': No such file or directory
[ply-renderer.c] ply_renderer_
[./plugin.c] open_device:could not open '/dev/fb0': No such file or directory
[ply-renderer.c] ply_renderer_
[ply-renderer.c] ply_renderer_
[main.c] add_default_
[main.c] add_display_
Looking in the source code (apt-get source plymouth), the message comes from plymouth- 0.8.2/src/ plugins/ renderers/ drm/plugin. c:473. for_device( "/dev/dri/ card0") . char/XX: YY/device/ driver does not exist (run `stat -c'%t.%T' /dev/dri/card0` to get XX:YY)
`null` refers to the driver name, and is defined in the line above (472) by calling find_driver_
Reasons why that function may return NULL:
- /dev/dri/card0 does not exist
- /dev/dri/card0 is not a character device (unlikely)
- /sys/dev/
- The previous link in /sys/... did not point to a valid driver (i915)
When booting with the options `quiet splash` options removed, and `nosplash break=top` added (drops to a shell before running local-top scripts like plymouth), I checked some stuff:
- cat /proc/modules: no modules seems to be loaded
- ls -l /dev/dri/card0: missing AHA! PROBLEM FOUND!
Next, I try to load the i915 driver manually:
modprobe i915
When done, I pressed Ctrl + D (exit) and w00t: the nice splash screen finally shows up!
Now I need to find a way to fix this in a proper way.