black boot

[lucazade]

after the latest updates I get a black screen during bootup... it seems related to the vt.handoff=7 feature of grub.
Infact removing this I can see at least the virtualterminal during bootup.
Maybe it is not correctly patched the latest release of grub (2.00-5ubuntu1)

anyone get the same?

opened this bug-report:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...2/+bug/1053269

[Shimapan]

Same here. Boot screen worked fine before, but after the upgrade to Quantal I now have a black screen during the boot screen, with the monitor going into "no signal" mode. Login screen works fine again.
This already happened when Quantal still had Grub 1.99, and it's still the same with Grub 2.00 now.

[oshunluvr]

You need to correctly configure your graphics mode in Grub.

[Shimapan]

It would seem that the upgrade somehow messed up the Grub graphics settings.
So, how do you configure your graphics mode in Grub? I found no module in Systemsettings for that.

[oshunluvr]

On my system all I had to do was put


GRUB_GFXMODE=1280x1024


in /etc/default/grub

[Shimapan]

Is there anywhere a list with the resolutions Grub2 supports?
My resolution is 1920x1200.

[lucazade]

reverting to -21 kernel fixes the issue..

[oshunluvr]

Is there anywhere a list with the resolutions Grub2 supports?
My resolution is 1920x1200.

I belive your resolution is limited by your framebuffer not by grub, so your resolution should work.

[dibl]

I believe the framebuffer's resolution capabilities are controlled/limited by the capabilities of the GPU. I'm not sure how much of this remains -- it shows how to learn the capabilities of your hardware.

[Shimapan]

I believe the framebuffer's resolution capabilities are controlled/limited by the capabilities of the GPU. I'm not sure how much of this remains -- it shows how to learn the capabilities of your hardware.

I'm not using the proprietary driver, so this does not apply. Anyway, I've now properly configured Grub2 with gfxmode and gfxpayload, using safe values, just to be sure, and updated Grub. The generated config file was fine.
However, the black screen (no signal) still remains - it seems that the problem is unrelated to Grub. Possibly a kernel issue.

[SteveRiley]

It appears that GRUB is hell-bent on removing any traces of the ability to configure pure text-mode boot.

[Shimapan]

It appears that GRUB is hell-bent on removing any traces of the ability to configure pure text-mode boot.

For the Grub settings file manual, enter this at a console:
info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'

From the manual:
`GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX'
Set to `text' to force the Linux kernel to boot in normal text mode

Thus, edit your /etc/default/grub file and add the entry:
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text

To apply the change, run:
sudo update-grub2

I don't see how this is related to the matter at hand, however.

[SteveRiley]

I don't see how this is related to the matter at hand, however.

It matters because graphics can be challenging enough just to get running correctly in X. Having to mess with a completely separate mechanism for configuring graphics modes for boot loader just seems like an unnecessary complication. I'd wager that most of these "black screen at boot" problems -- which have existed for a very long time -- would go away if boot loaders simplified themselves.

[dibl]

You are right, Steve --- this is a "legacy" issue, for sure.If I remember correctly, some graphics systems trigger their power-saving mechanisms during boot, resulting in the display coming up turned off. Maybe it would be worth trying the "noapic", "nolapic", and "noacpi" boot options on that machine. (Of course "noacpi" has other ramifications ...).

[Shimapan]

You are right, Steve --- this is a "legacy" issue, for sure.If I remember correctly, some graphics systems trigger their power-saving mechanisms during boot, resulting in the display coming up turned off. Maybe it would be worth trying the "noapic", "nolapic", and "noacpi" boot options on that machine. (Of course "noacpi" has other ramifications ...).

I don't see why I should suddenly need to use any of these options, when I *never* had to use them before. Up to Precise, the boot screen displayed just fine. It's exclusively now with Quantal that I have a black screen during boot all of a sudden, with the monitor reporting "no signal". It's got something to do with the boot-related files in Quantal, and it looks like it's got nothing to do with Grub.