Comment 0 for bug 1434581

When I first came across this issue I thought it was the same as bug #1316035 (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/1316035), but this bug seems to be about X and it is reporting xorg-server as the package with the issue. I've seen a report on the certification program already on this, but it was lacking follow-up and suggested a bug report, question 255332 (https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu-certification/+question/255332). I've already asked about this on the forums, and received no replies.

I originally encountered this issue due to having a bunch of Dell servers that I was testing with kernel 3.13 on 12.04. The text console is so slow that it is unusable when using vi or doing an operation similar to dpkg -l |grep xorg. Comparing the exact same system with kernel 3.2 or 3.11 loaded and running lsmod, vesafb is listed and performance is excellent. It is not listed on the 3.13 system. The same issue exists on 14.04 with the 3.13 or 3.16 kernel.

Attempting to do modprobe vesa or modprobe vesafb returns modprobe: FATAL: Module vesa not found and modprobe: FATAL: Module vesafb not found respectively.

Attempting to use uvesafb on this hardware results in a black screen. Attempting to use vga16fb results in good performance, but I am locked to 640x480. I tried to use fbset to force higher resolutions, but it either results in a distorted display or tells me there is not enough memory.

I need a 1280x1024 console with performance equal to 12.04 with kernels 3.2-3.11. The server I'm using for testing is a Dell R320.

This appears to be regression as I can duplicate it by simply doing a fresh install of 12.04.1 and not having the issue, while doing a fresh install of 12.04.5, 14.04.1, or 14.04.2 results in a very slow console.