Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

[zenarcher]

I'm running Kubuntu Lucid Beta 1 (64 bit) with the proprietary Nvidia video driver. It's been really annoying when I boot up and get the ugly Kubuntu screen, especially since I encrypt my hard drive. I don't even see the box for entering my passphrase, due to the large, low-color Kubuntu screen. I just have to enter the passphrase, which does work, at least.

Anyway, doing some searching around,I found a real easy fix for the Kubuntu start up screen. Maybe I'm the last one to find it, but if you're using the proprietary Nvidia graphics driver and don't like the looks of the Ubuntu/Kubuntu screen, here's an easy way to fix it!

Here is what you have to do to get Plymouth working with proprietary Nvidia drivers:

Step 1: we must edit the /etc/default/grub file.

Open a terminal and paste this:

$ sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

On line #18, uncomment (uncomment = remove the “#” in front of the line “#GRUB_GFXMODE=640×480” and change the resolution to whatever you want (in my particular case, I changed it to 1680x1050). Here is how it should look:

GRUB_GFXMODE=1680x1050

Step 2: edit the /etc/grub.d/00_header file.

$ sudo gedit /etc/grub.d/00_header

And find the following line: “gfxmode=${GRUB_GFXMODE}” (it’s line 103 on my computer) and under it, paste this:

set gfxpayload=keep

Step 3: update Grub 2:

To update the GRUB, simply run the following command:

$ sudo update-grub

Once you complete the above steps, restart the computer and you should see the nice Plymouth screen

Here's where I found the information:

http://www.sucka.net/2010/03/nvidia-...04-lucid-lynx/

It really worked great for me and so much easier to enter my passphrase at startup!

Hope it helps someone else!

Cheers,
zenarcher

[blackpaw]

Re: Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

Thanks zenarcher, that *sorta* worked for me I changed my to match my LCD - 1280x1024 and the boot menu looks rally crisp and tiny now - fine by me. The logo progress looks better to - no longer a huge pixelated image, but a clean crisp one.

However I only see it for a split second - when starting I get a lot of black screen, the boot image for a split second, then more black and then I'm (auto) logged on.

[zenarcher]

Re: Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

Thanks zenarcher, that *sorta* worked for me I changed my to match my LCD - 1280x1024 and the boot menu looks rally crisp and tiny now - fine by me. The logo progress looks better to - no longer a huge pixelated image, but a clean crisp one.

However I only see it for a split second - when starting I get a lot of black screen, the boot image for a split second, then more black and then I'm (auto) logged on.

Happy that was some help for you. I wasn't aware of the split second appearance issue. I encrypt the hard drive on all my systems, so the screen stays up while I type in my passphrase and remains until I finish doing so.

Cheers,
zenarcher

[dibl]

Re: Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

Thanks for this post zenarcher -- it's a nice contribution.

[zenarcher]

Re: Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

Thanks for this post zenarcher -- it's a nice contribution.

Happy to help and give back a bit for all the help I've received here.

Cheers,
zenarcher

[dibl]

Re: Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

Heh -- I guess "choices have consequences", huh?

I set my GRUB_GFXMODE to 1600x1200, and the Plymouth Kubuntu splash is now absolutely gorgeous on my Samsung SyncMaster 1100 CRT.

Unfortunately, the boot menu itself is reduced to a near-microscopic bit of fuzz in the upper left corner of the screen -- I have to put on my glasses to see which line is highlighted. Hmmmm -- further study of Grub 2 seems to be needed here .....

[Snowhog]

Re: Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

Did you include step 2?

Step 2: edit the /etc/grub.d/00_header file.

$ sudo gedit /etc/grub.d/00_header

And find the following line: “gfxmode=${GRUB_GFXMODE}” (it’s line 103 on my computer) and under it, paste this:

set gfxpayload=keep

[oscarrodas]

Re: Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

I tried the command: sudo gedit /etc/default/grub but get the message: sudo: gedit: command not found, am I doing something wrong?

[skunk]

Re: Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

Replace gedit with kate

[dibl]

Re: Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

Did you include step 2?

Step 2: edit the /etc/grub.d/00_header file.

$ sudo gedit /etc/grub.d/00_header

And find the following line: “gfxmode=${GRUB_GFXMODE}” (it’s line 103 on my computer) and under it, paste this:

set gfxpayload=keep

Yep, I did it exactly as described.

I'm going to fiddle with other resolutions -- these things are different for different combinations of GPUs and monitors.

[LinuxRocks]

Re: Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

Anyone figure out how to get the splash to be centered on the screen?

Looks really good, but the graphic is split in the middle and showing up on the right and left of my screen. Kind of like a dual monitor setup sort of.

Thanks!

Joe

[azenz]

Re: Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

I had read this solution in another place and tried it but it only causes my boot menu screen to become high resolution, the blue Kubuntu boot splash w/ encrypted OS partition password entry box that comes after that is still low-res and 16 colours. Any ideas?

[Guest]

Re: Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

...Here's where I found the information:

http://www.sucka.net/2010/03/nvidia-...04-lucid-lynx/

It really worked great for me and so much easier to enter my passphrase at startup!

Hope it helps someone else!

Cheers,
zenarcher

Hey guys, I noticed a good amount of 404 errors coming from this thread. Zenarcher originally posted this in the ubuntuforums and copy/pasted it here with a broken link. Here's the correct link.

http://www.sucka.net/2010/03/nvidia-...04-lucid-lynx/

gotta stay on top of those google crawl errors :P

cheers!

[zenarcher]

Re: Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

Thanks for noticing and fixing that broken link! I hadn't noticed the error when I posted here. It has been a good fix for me, as I'm using it on three machines here all with Nvidia graphics cards. I encrypt my hard drives, so it looks a lot better when I'm trying in my passphrase at boot up and I actually see the box for entering the passphrase.

Regards,
zenarcher

[ccnjim]

Re: Fixing Really Ugly Plymouth When Using Proprietary Nvidia Driver

I don't know if I'm missing dependencies. But that didn't fix it for me. After update grub I get 3 memory leak lines at the end of the process.

jim@krash:~$ sudo kate /etc/default/grub
[sudo] password for jim: 
Error: "/var/tmp/kdecache-jim" is owned by uid 1000 instead of uid 0.
Error: "/tmp/kde-jim" is owned by uid 1000 instead of uid 0.
kate(2255)/kdecore (services) KMimeTypeFactory::parseMagic: Now parsing "/usr/share/mime/magic"
kate(2255)/kdecore (services) KMimeTypeFactory::parseMagic: Now parsing "/home/jim/.local/share/mime/magic"
Error: "/tmp/ksocket-jim" is owned by uid 1000 instead of uid 0.
QInotifyFileSystemWatcherEngine::addPaths: inotify_add_watch failed: No such file or directory
QFileSystemWatcher: failed to add paths: /home/jim/.config/ibus/bus
Bus::open: Can not get ibus-daemon's address. 
IBusInputContext::createInputContext: no connection to ibus-daemon 
jim@krash:~$ sudo kate /etc/grub.d/00_header
Error: "/var/tmp/kdecache-jim" is owned by uid 1000 instead of uid 0.
Error: "/tmp/kde-jim" is owned by uid 1000 instead of uid 0.
kate(2269)/kdecore (services) KMimeTypeFactory::parseMagic: Now parsing "/usr/share/mime/magic"
kate(2269)/kdecore (services) KMimeTypeFactory::parseMagic: Now parsing "/home/jim/.local/share/mime/magic"
Error: "/tmp/ksocket-jim" is owned by uid 1000 instead of uid 0.
QInotifyFileSystemWatcherEngine::addPaths: inotify_add_watch failed: No such file or directory
QFileSystemWatcher: failed to add paths: /home/jim/.config/ibus/bus
Bus::open: Can not get ibus-daemon's address. 
IBusInputContext::createInputContext: no connection to ibus-daemon 
jim@krash:~$ sudo update-grub
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-19-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-19-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Windows 7 (loader) on /dev/mapper/isw_eccibegcgb_xp1
You have a memory leak (not released memory pool):
 [0x1cc8200]
You have a memory leak (not released memory pool):
 [0x21dd200]
You have a memory leak (not released memory pool):
 [0x16399c0]
done
jim@krash:~$ sudo reboot