[resolved] grub2 gfxpayload command

[doctordruidphd]

Does anyone have a working example of a grub2 linux menuentry using the gfxpayload command? If so, please post your menuentry from grub.cfg. All I can get is a blank screen.

Please, not looking for man pages or links. That gobblygook hasn't helped. I need to see an example of something that actually works.

Or confirmation that it doesn't work, or isn't supported yet.

Thanks.

[Snowhog]

Re: grub2 gfxpayload command

Sorry, but here is a relevant link that address the issue directly.

Grub2 and framebuffer

[doctordruidphd]

Re: grub2 gfxpayload command

Thanks. There are several examples there, all of which I have tried, and all of which dump me to a blank screen.

Which may be part of the reason the live cd's don't work on my system, too. The vga= commands do work. Curiouser and curiouser.

[verndog]

Re: [resolved] grub2 gfxpayload command

Does anyone have a working example of a grub2 linux menuentry using the gfxpayload command? If so, please post your menuentry from grub.cfg. All I can get is a blank screen.

Please, not looking for man pages or links. That gobblygook hasn't helped. I need to see an example of something that actually works.

Or confirmation that it doesn't work, or isn't supported yet.

Thanks.

menuentry "Kubuntu 9.10" {
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,11)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set e5ab8bdc-50cc-4fbe-aecd-7a52fb024301
gfxpayload=1024x768
linux /vmlinuz root=UUID=e5ab8bdc-50cc-4fbe-aecd-7a52fb024301 ro splash
initrd /initrd.img
}

[doctordruidphd]

Re: [resolved] grub2 gfxpayload command

Thanks for the example.

I tried that, as well as the suggestions in the previous post. While they all "work", in terms of getting grub to understand the gfxpayload command, all I can get is a blank screen. It boots, and the splash screen comes up, but all of the CTRL-ALT-F# text screens go to blank screens.

I had similar problems with the older vga= options, but some update at some point fixed it.

I suspect that this may be related to the (unknown) reasons why the live cds don't work, as well.
I have tried pretty much all of the options, no luck. I am beginning to think that the problem has something to do with the way ubuntu packages the kernels, because the same vintage kernels and programs on sidux work fine.

[Qqmike]

Re: [resolved] grub2 gfxpayload command

This is not my area; have you checked to see what Herman says (he's a GRUB graphics guy):
http://members.iinet.net/%7Eherman54...ashimages.html
(you gotta scroll down through it)
http://grub.enbug.org/gfxterm

[doctordruidphd]

Re: [resolved] grub2 gfxpayload command

Interesting info.

Yeah, I've tried that. It's a more fundamental problem with the way k/x/l/ubuntu (I've tried them all) is handling video, in the absence of the proprietary NVIDIA driver --namely, not handling it at all on my system. For its part, grub2 seems to be doing what it is supposed to. Just no video. One of those things where I have no idea where the bug is, or if it even is a bug, and not just a basic incompatibility.

[verndog]

Re: [resolved] grub2 gfxpayload command

If you add "vga=773" (or whatever you use), do you then get text? Ignore the grub2 warning message, it still works.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: [resolved] grub2 gfxpayload command

If you add "vga=773" (or whatever you use), do you then get text?

The vga=options work in grub2 on the hard disk, but not for the CDs. None of the vga= options shown in vbeinfo, nor "nomodeset", nor "vga=vesa" (I don't remember the exact syntax of that one, but it didn't work), nor just removing all the options. It just hangs at a blank screen. This is with 64-bit disks. The 32-bit just won't boot at all. And I do have 2 video cards in sli configuration; this happens even if I remove the slave card.

The interesting thing is that the Sidux and OpenSUSE disks, both of which use their own versions of the 2.6.31 kernel, come up perfectly. Oh yeah, and the alternate CD dies, too, in the same place - first the language menu, then the selection menu, then plunk, dead. But the live cds DO work in virtualbox, so the cds are OK. Useless for system maintenance, though.

Now what grub2 on the hard disk does, if I try using the gfxpayload option, is it displays the splash screen if splash is enabled, otherwise just a black screen, until the kdm greeter comes up. Then trying any of the ALT-F# screens just goes black. But the vga= options work properly.

Well, don't anyone lose any sleep over it. I've been fighting this problem since jaunty, and there doesn't seem to be a fix. If someone KNOWS what the problem is, I'd be glad to hear it, but otherwise there probably isn't much point to pursuing it. It may just be that for some reason, ubuntu-packaged kernels don't like DELL/NVIDIA boards.

Edit: For what it's worth or not, the latest knoppix disk works properly, too -- another debian sid, if I'm not mistaken.

[verndog]

Re: [resolved] grub2 gfxpayload command

I don't know if you have ever compiled the kernel, and its not hard, but if you can get hole of one of the other kernel configuration file and compare it to ubuntu's you might be able to see what Component Categories was changed.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: [resolved] grub2 gfxpayload command

but if you can get hole of one of the other kernel configuration file and compare it to ubuntu's you might be able to see what Component Categories was changed.

Yep, comparing sidux and kubuntu, the config files located in /boot show differences in the framebuffer and console settings. I have no idea what all that stuff really means, but I am supposing that it could affect the way the system handles video outside of the proprietary NVIDIA driver. Probably not much I can do about it without a lot of time, including having to recompile for every kernel update, and certainly nothing I can do about it for the live cds.