M5B3 CTRL-ALT-F2 gives no terminal

[bertaerts]

Mageia 5 Beta 3 pressing CTRL-ALT-F2 does not give a terminal.
I get a black screen.
CTRL-ALT-F1 returns back to KDE like it should.

On Dell Inspiron 17R SE 7720 with nVIDIA GeForce GT 650M and proprietary nVIDIA drivers.

Apparantly I am not the only one:
https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=14697 kernel-3.19.0-3 too slow for comfort

[doktor5000]

If you use the nvidia proprietary drivers, check that you're using nomodeset kernel option, especially for grub2 where you currently need to add it manually:

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┌─[doktor5000@Mageia5]─[19:25:39]─[~]
└──╼ grep nomodeset /etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="splash nomodeset"

This is documented in Errata, see https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Mageia_4_Errata#Grub2 (second bullet).

The bug report you linked to is for a different problem.

[bertaerts]

First edit

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/etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="splash nomodeset quiet vga=792 nokmsboot resume=UUID=0970e4c4-20a0-4852-bb6b-1e24413a0015 net.ifnames=0"


Then

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update-grub2

results in /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

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       linux   /boot/vmlinuz-desktop root=UUID=af743c5f-93f8-4b43-89f8-b7725fc63605 ro  splash nomodeset quiet vga=792 nokmsboot resume=UUID=0970e4c4-20a0-4852-bb6b-1e24413a0015 net.ifnames=0


But it does not help, still no terminal with CTRL-ALT-F2...

In Mageia 4 it was vga=788

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kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz-3.14.32-desktop-1.mga4 BOOT_IMAGE=desktop_3.14.32-1.mga4 root=UUID=de54fb3b-313f-41d6-b3e3-db6dd0a929e5 splash quiet nokmsboot resume=UUID=0970e4c4-20a0-4852-bb6b-1e24413a0015 net.ifnames=0 vga=788


[doktor5000]

You're using both nokmsboot and nomodeset, please only use the latter.
And vga= shouldn't be used with grub2, that's why you have GRUB_GFXMODE. Check e.g. http://askubuntu.com/a/142332/329633

Using the nvidia driver, grub2 here and switching to tty works fine - with a 1600x1200x32 resolution.

[doktor5000]

Using the nvidia driver, grub2 here and switching to tty works fine - with a 1600x1200x32 resolution.

Small correction - only 1280x1024x32, with 1600x1200 the tty font becomes pretty much a pixel-mess. This is what it looks like:

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┌─[doktor5000@Mageia5]─[21:01:30]─[~]
└──╼ cat /etc/default/grub
# NOTE - do not manually edit the GRUB_THEME= line below (if present) unless you wish to
# add a theme of your own. It is automatically added and removed when the grub2-mageia-theme
# package is installed or removed.
# Feel free to edit or add other lines if you know what you are doing ;)
#
# After any edits to this file you must run update-grub to apply the changes.
#
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=Mageia
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="splash nomodeset"
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true
GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU=n
#GRUB_GFXMODE=auto
#GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768x32
GRUB_GFXMODE=1280x1024x32
#GRUB_GFXMODE=1600x1200x32
#GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1280x1024x32
#GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1600x1200x32
GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT=gfxterm
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false
GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y
GRUB_THEME=/boot/grub2/themes/maggy/theme.txt

Has to fiddle around with GRUB_GFXMODE and GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX quite a bit, but it's working.
Now I see that there are even two settings for GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX currently ...

Also a related note, don't go much higher on the resolution, as otherwise the boot menu will be really slow to react.

[bertaerts]

I now have:

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[bert@Dell7720Mageia5 ~]$ cat /etc/default/grub
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768x32
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=Mageia
GRUB_THEME=/boot/grub2/themes/maggy/theme.txt
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="splash nomodeset quiet resume=UUID=0970e4c4-20a0-4852-bb6b-1e24413a0015 net.ifnames=0"
GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU=n
GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y
GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT=gfxterm
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text


When the last parameter is "keep" or "1024x768x32" the screen starts flashing at random on CTRL-ALT-F2, and gets back to normal with CTRL-ALT-F1, the same effect like I described in https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15307 "Mageia 5 beta 2/3 At end of install FLASHING screen with nVIDIA" at the end of the install process.

But when booting with "keep" after the grub2 menu, I get the Mageia 4 picture with upcoming bells or balls in cauldron.
When booting with "text", the screen remains black until the splash of nVIDIA.

Please note that I am using UEFI now.
doktor5000, are you using BIOS or UEFI?

[doktor5000]

UEFI system using legacy boot. Only got grub2 because I installed to btrfs partition.
As you do UEFI, you're using grub2-efi correct?

[bertaerts]

Yes, I am using grub2-efi

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grub2-efi-2.02-0.git9752.12.mga5

I find many Ubuntu references on non working tty's like here:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/43386/how-do-i-get-my-blacked-out-ttys-back
But Mageia does not have

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/etc/initramfs-tools/modules
update-initramfs -u

And one Gentoo reference
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-7641332.html

I solved the problem in two steps. First, I emerged v86d to use uvesafb frame buffer and I appended `video=uvesafb:1920x1200-32 console=tty1' to the kernel command line. At the end of the boot process, when the nvidia driver was loaded, the tty finally shows up. However, my screen was blank until the driver was loaded. So, the second step was to append `nomodeset' to the kernel command line which was the true step that solved the problem.

How to apply this on Mageia?

[bertaerts]

https://wiki.sabayon.org/index.php?title=HOWTO:_Using_Custom_Framebuffer_Resolution_with_GRUB2

We will use Grub2 to discover the VESA modes supported by our VGA-Monitor configuration.
Reboot the system and when Grub2 is loaded switch to command line by pressing "c" key.
At the grub prompt enter the command: vbeinfo

On M5B3 I can get grub2 command line, but vbeinfo is not recognised...

http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/107479/how-do-you-pass-vga-vesa-modes-with-grub2

To show all modes you can use:

hwinfo --framebuffer in linux terminal
vbeinfo in GRUB prompt

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su
hwinfo --framebuffer

returns nothing...

[bertaerts]

https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/726285/linux/missing-vt-output-with-all-current-drivers-on-qhd-k2100m/
Check your kernel config file guys. You probably should have efifb enabled + CONFIG_X86_SYSFB=y
I had similar issue, when Xorg worked, but VT's - doesn't. Enabling CONFIG_X86_SYSFB=y solved this..
Note: I use ordinary desktop system with UEFI/no-SecureBoot.

p.s. I understand that your problems related to binary-based distros, but I've used this manual - http://gentoo-en.vfose.ru/wiki/UEFI#Kernel_Options so.. FYI.

Indeed in the kernels of M5B3 and cauldron updates, this flag CONFIG_X86_SYSFB is not configured.
Do you think making a custom kernel with this flag is worth a try?

[bertaerts]

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Processor type and features  --->
    [*] EFI runtime service support
    [*] Build a relocatable kernel
Device Drivers  --->
    Graphics support --->
        <*> Support for frame buffer devices  --->
            [*]   Enable firmware EDID
            [*]   EFI-based Framebuffer Support
        Console display driver support  --->
            <*> Framebuffer Console support
Firmware Drivers  --->
    <*> EFI Variable Support via sysfs
-*- enabler the block layer --->
    Partition Types  --->
        [*] Advanced partition selection
        [*]   EFI GUID Partition support

That is what the second link shows, and all these except "Enable firmware EDID" are set in kernel 3.19.0-dektop-5.
And the flag "CONFIG_X86_SYSFB" http://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/X86_SYSFB.html is strange, is it for x86 architecture and not for x86_64?

[bertaerts]

I made a custom kernel with flag CONFIG_X86_SYSFB based on all settings of 3.19.0-dekstop-5.
It boots and can be shutdown by the powerbutton, but nothing appears on the screen... it remains black all the time after the grub2 menu.