Black screen, and bad usplash.conf after installation

I confirm this in Kubuntu RC candidates. Affected two computers with different video cards. usplash.conf set to 1280x1024 when monitors are 1024x768

As a data point, my Ubuntu desktop with 1280x1024 has the following usplash.conf

xres=1024
yres=768

Which looks fine, so I don't know why higher values would be needed here really.

Fixed in my local tree, but needs testing and may be post-RC at this point.

stgraber confirmed on IRC that this also affects Ubuntu ninstalls.

Confirmed.

On my machine there's also a black screen during boot and shutdown-process.
(Toshiba Satellite Amilo Pro 100, Gutsy RC, ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 "1280x800", Intel Core Duo)

Sorry, I mixed up my machines. This bug appears on my Toshiba Satellite Pro A100.

I'm experiencing an issue with my Lenovo T60 X1400 where when I try to boot the LiveCD using either the normal boot selection or the Safe Graphics Selection, after the kernel configures itself, X tries to start "about 6 times" but fails each time. Looking at the Xorg file that was automatically configured for me indicates that the Safe Graphics mode correctly picked out the VESA driver.

I'm just worried because the issue I'm experiencing seems like the one I had with 7.04 Final and don't want it to repeat this time around. I did NOT have this problem with 7.10 Beta in Safe Graphics Mode.

This applies to 7.10 RC.

Again, this is the first time I've ever posted in a bug report, so please accept my dearest apologies for my inexperience. Thanks for everything you all do!

I forgot to post the "question" I had that lead to me writing the above comment. :) Sorry!

I wanted to know if this ticket applies to what I'm experiencing if maybe someone would kindly take the time to help me find out?

Thanks!

I reported bug #152265 with similar problems. The screen is blank while booting up, however it did appear with the livecd but at the wrong resolution (it was not widescreen).

Just to point out my laptop is widescreen with resolution 1440x900. Hardware is Mobile Intel PM965 chipset with ATI Mobility Radeon X1350 graphics.

Roel Huybrechts suggested modifying the usplash.conf to 1024x768.

So I looked in /etc/usplash.conf and found the resolution to be 1280x1024. I changed it to 1024x768 but the screen was still blank during booting up. Also the same if I changed it to 1440x900.

I was having the same issue with the black screen Dell that has a ati x1400 video card and widescreen lcd (1440x900) and was able to fix the problem using the steps below.

1) Change the resolution in /etc/usplash.conf to 1024x768
2) Add vga=791 to the kernel line in /etc/boot/menu.lst
3) sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

I found the fix at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/usplash/+bug/63558

Same experience reported by infodroid. Hardware similar, 1440x900 resolution laptop screen, PM965 chipset, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS.

Attempted fix reported by bluwShark, but no success.

Markus Korn had a similar issue with Ubuntu Desktop amd64 (20071016).
In his case the uplash.conf xres and yres are empty then his screen goes off at boot time and he's unable to see anything till X started (unable to do the check CD for example).

Hardware is a Geforce 8600GT and a VGA screen (trough a DVI->VGA adapter).

Same problem here, usplash.conf was reporting 1280x1024. I changed it down to 1024x768, but no deal. I'm on a ThinkPad T40, Radeon 7500.

But, oddly enough, the shutdown splash works. Just not the bootup one...

I have the same problem with my Compaq presario V2000 Laptop with AMD/ATI chipset. On boot up the Grub would display and then the screen would go blank. It did nothing after this. By holding ctrl/alt/F3 a command line displayed and the computer booted after this. I then received no login splash screen nor did I get a splash screen on shutdown.

Intel Celeron 1.7GHz, Intel 845GL northbridge, Intel 82801DB southbridge, Intel integrated 82845G GPU, generic 22" widescreen monitor.

No USplash.

I used "Start-up manager" to fix the problem. It was set at 1400x1050 so I changed the splash to 640x480. It also added the line "vga=791" and that may have helped.

HP ze2113us, ATI 200M - same problem as posted by Vadim Peretokin

(Usplash.conf was reporting 1280x1024. I changed it down to 1024x768, but no deal.
The shutdown splash works. Just not the bootup one)

=========
RUN THIS
=========
$ cp -p /boot/grub/menu.lst ~/menu.lst-bak && cp -p /etc/usplash.conf ~/usplash.conf-bak && sudo aptitude install startupmanager && gksudo startupmanager && echo '-- Please reboot your computer!'

--------------
REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER
--------------

==============
THEN RUN THIS
==============
$ cp -p /boot/grub/menu.lst ~/menu.lst && cp -p /etc/usplash.conf ~/usplash.conf && diff -ruN ~/usplash.conf-bak ~/usplash.conf > usplash.diff && diff -ruN ~/menu.lst-bak ~/menu.lst

--------------
THEN POST
--------------
 'usplash.diff' and/or 'menu.diff' if they're not empty (0 kb) and tell us if you can now see USplash.

Thanks :-)

experiencing problem on a N6600 with a VA1921wb via VGA and a panasonic 35" crt via s-vid.
 haven't had a chance to try above steps.

brettalton,

I have done exactly what you wrote above, then set in StartupManager 1024x768@16bits and it helped :)
usplash.diff is empty, menu.diff says:

--- /home/jump/menu.lst-bak 2007-10-19 12:09:55.000000000 +0200
+++ /home/jump/menu.lst 2007-10-19 10:24:00.000000000 +0200
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 # control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
 # command 'lock'
 # e.g. password topsecret
-# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
+## password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
 # password topsecret

 #

BTW, on my second HP ze2113us with ATI 200M I have tried another solution which also works:
1) Install ubuntu
2) Change the resolution in /etc/usplash.conf to 1024x768
3) sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

Thank you for help! :-)

I had the same problem on a IBM Thinkpad T43 (Model 2668Y3U) with an ATI Radeon Mobility X300 with a fresh install of Gutsy (desktop version).

I've solved this issue using bluwShark's procedure:
1) Changed the resolution in /etc/usplash.conf to 1024x768
2) sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

I've to mention that, when usplash had problems, boot process took 180sec. since usplash monopolized all CPU resources (check attached image).

Additional information - None of the above work to resolve the usplash issue on an Inspiron 1420 / NVIDIA GeForce 8400 on a Gutsy amd64 install. If I remember correctly when I was testing, the i386 version did not have this problem.

same problem on Acer Travelmate 4001 LMi (1024 x 768): no bootsplash at startup, but at shutdown everything was fine. and it took some minutes (more than normal) to boot.

for me worked the workaround posted by bluwShark, but even without adding a line to grub's menu.lst:

1) changed the resolution in /etc/usplash.conf to 1024x768:
   xres=1024
   yres=786
2) executed the following:
sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

now the bootsplash woks as it should, and the boot time is normal too.
so, thank you guys for helping :)
witti

I have this same problem, though I'm trying to use frame buffer. I changed my resolution than ran update-initramfs and that didn't seem to help any. I'm going to try and not use frame buffer and see what it does.

Yes, turning frame buffer off appears to allow the console to be displayed again at boot time.

Bug confirmed for Radeon Mobility U1 @ 1280x800
Workaround (as described): /etc/usplash.conf to 1024x768 && update-initramfs

Some interesting news: I made a fresh install of Gutsy (on ATI Mobility Radeon X300 1024x768) with an alternate version disk and this problem didn't appear.
I suffered from this bug on my previous installation with a live/desktop disk...

I confirm this bug. This happens also to me using a fresh install of ubuntu 7.10 final from the i386 desktop cd
I use a CRT screen (15 inchs) on an old nvdia RIVA TNT2 video card (open drivers). I haven't checked usplash.conf yet, i'll do it as soon as possible.

I also noticed that the sceen seems like non receiving a true video signal during the boot splashscreen since it's lights bink strangely. (sorry but i havent got the manual XD)

Hope this will be fixed soon :)

I can get the splash screen but during the system boot the screen turns off and then turns on again, this also happens when I restart or shutdown.

I confirm also this bug in my laptop (asus f5r, video card ati Xpress 200M, 1280x800, 60Hz). Same problem as the other guys, that means, without boot splash screen during start and shutdown of the system, and also the really slow boot(as mentioned by sirwitti). But I used the same workaround (usplash.conf set to 1024x768) and executed sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`) and everything is working fine now, boot splash is there and the whole process is much faster! So, I just would like to thank you guys very much for the help!!! See ya!

I can also confirm this on my laptop (Acer TravelMate 4001 WLMi, graphics card ATI Mobility Radeon 9700/64 Mb).

After the fix in /etc/usplash.conf and executing «sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`» it came back to normal.

I have this error on my Laptop (Asus V1S) as well, graphics card NVidia Geforce 8600M GT. I tried changing resolutions in /etc/usplash.conf to 1024x768 and executed update-initramfs, but it didn't do any good or bad.

Doing this as someone above posted:

"1) Changed the resolution in /etc/usplash.conf to 1024x768
2) sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`"

Fixed the issue for my ThinkPad T40 (Radeon 7500 as the video card).

If "sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`" doesn't work, can you please try my fix here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/150930/comments/18

Thank you.

brettalton: For clarity, that along with the other suggestions have not worked in my case. There was no difference in the config files in my case. And running startupmanager did not have any effect on the system, unless I actually changed a value.

Well that's what I was trying to get you to do: use startmanager and make USplash 640x480 and see if it works. If it does, then give us the diff file to see what has changed.

I've fixed previous bad USplash's with this method. The only thing that I can see that fixed them was startupmanager concatenated 'vga=791' to the end of the kernel options in /boot/grub/menu.lst.

I also confirm this bug on Toshiba Satelite A75-S206 (ATI Radeon Mobility 9000).

Workaround is similar to solutions described above:
1. Modify file: "/etc/usplash.conf" to 1280x800
2. Run: sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

I also am having this bug. On the 7.10 live cd I am getting it as well as on my installed OS. I am using an Nvidia 8600 GT with nvidia 100.14.X drivers installed via Envy.

I have two displays hooked up, each is 1280x1024. I tried updating /etc/usplash.conf to 1024x768, 800x600, and 640x480 and then using update-initramfs and each time the startup produced the same behavior. Grub loads and then a few lines of text and when it comes time to load the initrd it fails and I end up with a blank screen until kdm starts up. I have noticed that most people affected by this are on laptops, I however am not.

brettalton:
I tried your method and got basically nothing the diff output was basically that I used startupmanager to manually select 1280x1024 (vga=795). I'm going to try a few more things and play around with your suggestion at various resolutions to see if I can get any meaningful output to help troubleshoot this. Is there any sort of logfile specifically for initrd stuffs?

I have seen this bug with an old (~6 year) 1024x768 TFT driven by an nVidia GForce MX2 card following an install from the final Gutsy release CD. The monitor compains about the resolution before turning itself off until X comes up, which is configured fine and works perfectly.

First thing I tried was adding vga=791 to my boot params but this just triggered bug #129910 <https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/initramfs-tools/+bug/129910>. Fixed this as in my post to that bug.

Editing /etc/usplash.conf to contain the correct res and then updating my initramfs with 'update-initramfs -u' fixed the splash screen issue.

Isn't this related to (or even a duplicate of) <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/129910">bug #129910</a>?

Well I never said you should just "add" vga=791, let startupmanager do the work.

Good to hear that "sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`" is working though.

@Jonas: No. This is where tty7 (graphical USplash) does not display.

@brettalton: Yes, I understand that, but isn't that based on having a framebuffer device to display it on/in?

@brettalton :

As setting usplash.conf to a lower res (1024x768) and running "sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`" didn't work at all for me, I tried your fix and it worked perfectly fine but not "as is". I had to set display in StartUp-Manager to 640x480 res and 8 bit colordepth (i.e the lower settings).

Now, everything is ok and startup is far much faster. So, thanks a lot.

Here is my usplash.diff :

--- /home/c-cube/usplash.conf-bak 2007-10-23 15:26:46.000000000 +0200
+++ /home/c-cube/usplash.conf 2007-10-23 16:10:06.000000000 +0200
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # Usplash configuration file
-xres=1024
-yres=768
+xres=640
+yres=480

Ok the first workaround by changing the xres and yres in usplash.conf worked for me, but i also tried the other fix by brettalton on another fresh installation, here is the result (of course usplash now works)

angela@reisercoppermine:~$ cp -p /boot/grub/menu.lst ~/menu.lst && cp -p /etc/usplash.conf ~/usplash.conf && diff -ruN ~/usplash.conf-bak ~/usplash.conf > usplash.diff && diff -ruN ~/menu.lst-bak ~/menu.lst
--- /home/angela/menu.lst-bak 2007-10-23 19:03:10.000000000 +0200
+++ /home/angela/menu.lst 2007-10-23 20:52:19.000000000 +0200
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 # control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
 # command 'lock'
 # e.g. password topsecret
-# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
+## password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
 # password topsecret

 #
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@
 ## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
 ## alternatives
 ## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
-# defoptions=quiet splash locale=it_IT
+# defoptions=quiet splash locale=it_IT vga=792

 ## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
 ## e.g. lockold=false
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@

 title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
 root (hd0,2)
-kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=86357344-b0b5-4dd0-a2da-f89a361ad0b5 ro quiet splash locale=it_IT
+kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=86357344-b0b5-4dd0-a2da-f89a361ad0b5 ro quiet splash locale=it_IT vga=792
 initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
 quiet

Note that i have 2 ubuntu systems on the same hard disk for testing purposes
Hope this helps

brettalton, I have used your recipe on an Asus V1S, unfortunately with no difference. usplash.diff is embedded below, menu.lst is attached.

--- /home/rva/usplash.conf-bak 2007-10-23 21:17:28.000000000 +0200
+++ /home/rva/usplash.conf 2007-10-23 21:22:46.000000000 +0200
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # Usplash configuration file
-xres=1024
-yres=768
+xres=640
+yres=480

I first tried with 1024x768, then 640x480. My preferred/highest resolution is 1680x1050.
I run LVM.

Sorry, sent the wrong menu.lst. The diff of menu.lst and menu.lst-bak:

--- menu.lst 2007-10-23 21:23:30.000000000 +0200
+++ menu.lst-bak 2007-10-18 17:21:31.000000000 +0200
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 ## timeout sec
 # Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
 # (normally the first entry defined).
-timeout 5
+timeout 10

 ## hiddenmenu
 # Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 # control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
 # command 'lock'
 # e.g. password topsecret
-## password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
+# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
 # password topsecret

 #
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@
 ## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
 ## alternatives
 ## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
-# defoptions=quiet splash vga=769
+# defoptions=quiet splash

 ## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
 ## e.g. lockold=false
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@

 title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
 root (hd0,2)
-kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=/dev/mapper/lvmvolume-root ro quiet splash vga=769
+kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=/dev/mapper/lvmvolume-root ro quiet splash
 initrd /initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
 quiet

Brett,

For the record, using startup-manager to select each resolution/color depth does not resolve the missing splash at startup and shutdown in my configuration.

Sam Pearson's earlier post about missing consoles is interesting, in that my consoles are also missing. But mine are missing in all resolutions.

Harvey

I'm sorry to those whose USplash still isn't working. I was merely offering a "quick fix" and it only seems to be working on half of the machines that have tried.

I hope the diffs will present some useful information to the devs, but I'm sure there is a lot of data they need as well -- CPU architecture, monitor model, whether you have a fresh install of Gusty or an upgrade, etc. but also in more detail than "Intel P4 640, Dell 1905FP, upgrade".

At least they can see that as my 49th comment hits -- with 21 subscribers watching -- that this is a serious issue.

Don't forget to try "sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`" as well, as this, well, updates your initramfs :-p.

If that doesn't work, I'd try a fresh install of Gusty to help the dev out. But ONLY if you're willing.

If THAT doesn't help, run:

$ cat /proc/meminfo > ~/meminfo.txt && cat /proc/cpuinfo > cpuinfo.txt && lspci -v > ~/lspci.txt

and post the three files it created. But please do this ONLY after a fresh install and IF your USplash is still broken.

Well, I am still unable to get this working. If we are now moving onto
considering it to be hardware related here is what I have...

root@benzene:/home/mmschnei# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express DRAM
Controller (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express PCI
Express Root Port (rev 02)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family)
Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 02)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB
UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB
UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2
EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express
Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express
Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB
UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB
UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB
UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB
UHCI Controller #6 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2
EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 92)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801IR (ICH9R) LPC Interface
Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 RAID bus controller: Intel Corporation 82801 SATA RAID
Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy (rev 03)
01:00.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy Game Port (rev 03)
01:00.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Creative Labs SB Audigy FireWire Port
01:05.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Agere Systems FW323 (rev 70)
02:00.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant Unknown device 8880 (rev 0f)
04:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8600 GT (rev a1)

Additionally and I believe this could very well be relevant, I am
running two monitors. A Sharp LL-T1800 which is an 18" panel with a
native resolution of 1280x1024, my secondary panel is a Dell 1703FP, a
17" panel with a native resolution of 1280x1024. If it would be
helpful I have the binary EDID dumps from each monitor. My nVidia 8600
Gt is running the latest drivers (100.14.X), but I am fairly certain
this is lower level than that. The drivers aren't even loaded at that
point in the boot process if I am not mistaken (which I very well
could be).

On 10/23/07, brettalton <email address hidden> wrote:
> I'm sorry to those whose USplash still isn't working. I was merely
> offering a "quick fix" and it only seems to be working on half of the
> machines that have tried.
>
> I hope the diffs will present some useful information to the devs, but
> I'm sure there is a lot of data they need as well -- CPU architecture,
> monitor model, whether you have a fresh install of Gusty or an upgrade,
> etc. but also in more detail than "Intel P4 640, De...

- editing /etc/usplash.conf to 1024x768
- running sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

Seems to have worked for my Dell Latitude D600. =)

Well it seems to me that the main issue of contention here is the
detected settings being incorrect for given hardware. I am wondering
how usplash defines things like vertical and horizontal refresh rates
and if they are modifiable. Perhaps something along the lines of X's
modelines?

I'm kinda of stabbing in the dark here but it seems that some people
have gotten it working at certain resolutions but it doesn't work at
others that it seemingly should for their hardware. IE more than few
have gotten this working at 800x600 yet I doubt that the 1024x768 that
it was originally configured to run at was beyond the bounds of their
displays capabilities.

On 10/23/07, chris <email address hidden> wrote:
> - editing /etc/usplash.conf to 1024x768
> - running sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`
>
> Seems to have worked for my Dell Latitude D600. =)
>
> --
> Black screen, and bad usplash.conf
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/150930
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

--
Matt Schneider

Undergraduate Student
Materials Science and Engineering
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

Neither of the solutions posted worked for me and the diff files were empty

the problem here is its supposed to detect the correct settings and set it accordingly. however for some reason it doesn't. it worked fine on fiesty but on gutsy it doesn't detect it for some reason. on fiesty it set it to 1024 768 (this is the max resolution of my monitor). however on gutsy it gets set to 1280 1024 (gives me monitor out of range warning). the even stranger thing is it only happens with my lcd monitor. if i connect my crt monitor it works fine while still set to 1280 1024 not sure what the supported resolutions of my crt are though (gatewaty ev700). anyway i fixed it by dropping to a shell. doing

sudo nano /etc/usplash.conf

changed it to 1024 768 (yours my be different. its dependent on supported resolution)

save it

sudo dpkg-reconfigure usplash

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

then reboot my pc.

it now works fine.

specs:

ubuntu 7.10 (final release fresh install alternate cd)
mag lt565 lcd monitor
256 mb ddr
radeon xpress 200 integrated gpu (using fglrx)
2x500gb seagate sata hdd
sempron 3500+ 2.0ghz cpu (socket 939)

I have a new install of Gutsy amd64 on a brand new Thinkpad T61. The video is nVidia Quadro NVS 140M (rev a1).
I have tried all the fixes here without success. My most recent attempt was brettalton's post. The command after rebooting does not seem to have generated a menu.diff file, but it did create a usplash.diff file, which shows the following:

--- /home/jjj/usplash.conf-bak 2007-10-24 08:01:32.000000000 -0700
+++ /home/jjj/usplash.conf 2007-10-24 08:06:57.000000000 -0700
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # Usplash configuration file
-xres=1024
-yres=768
+xres=1280
+yres=1024

Now, the reason it added 1280 x 1024 in the resolutions is because startupmanager listed that as an option and I chose it. Previously I had set it to 1024 x 768 by manually editing usplash.conf.

I should add that the fresh install of Gutsy (no other OS has ever been installed) did not detect the video. It took a lot of poking to get it finally running at 1680 x 1050, which is the native resolution of the screen, including manually editing xorg.conf with the name of the video from the lspci command, and installing the nvidia-glx-new driver.

I suppose I need to go through startupmanager over and over trying various resolution and color depth options. That's a lot of options to try, though. I think the problem is related to the fact that the video card is not autodetected. Iwonder if there is a way to tell startupmanager what the video card is.

The reason I asked that is because of my experience when I built myself a new desktop several months ago. It had nVidia GeForce 6150 on the motherboard. Fedora 7 amd64 autodetected it and set the monitor to 1680 x 1050. Feisty amd64 did not detect it and set the video to 1024 x 768 VESA. I was told that each distro has a somewhat different list of video cards in a file somewhere and that is what it uses to figure out what video card to set up. If that is the case (and I don't understand much of this), then editing that file and adding my video card to it might resolve a lot of problems. But I'm just a linguistics major struggling here with little knowledge of Linux.

I`ve tried every solution offered so far, with no luck. But I found a post on kubuntuforums that solved my problem.
BTW. I have a Samsung Syncmaster 757 NF, Geforce 8500 GT, Athlon 64-bit X2 4400, 1 GB RAM...

Here is the solution I`ve found:

(before I did what follows, I used StartupManager to set the boot-splash resolution to 1280x1024 16-bit)

edit /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
add the following

    * vga16fb
    * fbcon
    * vesafb

edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer
comment out the following (prefix with #)

    * blacklist vesafb
    * blacklist vga16fb

last but not least, run the following in a terminal

    * sudo update-initramfs -u

Finally, it works...
Cheers...

Brett and others,

On a hunch I checked the date on the amd64 desktop iso I downloaded on the 18th of October last night (this was supposed to be the final release). To my amazement, it is dated 15 October. This is what people are getting when they click the download link.

So I downloaded another copy dated 18 October. This version eliminates the black screen, bad usplash.conf problem in my hardware configuration (actually solves more problems outside of the scope of this bug).

Just thought I'd share this with the masses, instead of blindly clicking the download link, click on the link that let's you choose for yourself, and take care to observe the dates of the iso's.

Brett, if you are a dev, you might want to pass a note to whomever manages the iso distribution. You'll eliminate a bunch of bug reports by getting the correct iso version into the hands of the masses.

Best regards,

Harvey

Newer versions of the .iso should eliminate these issues on some
(probably not all) of the machines during the liveCD bootup process.
However if there is a fix (I'm assuming its most likely a config file,
as opposed to a newer version of a binary), we should be able to port
this to current installs. If it is indeed a newer binary I'd hope that
it becomes available via an update sometime soon seeing as how this
issue appears to be fairly widespread.

Orange2k, I was hopeful that your solution would work for me. It is
taking a different approach, at least somewhat, than what we have been
doing thus far. I am however sad to report that I am still w/o a
splash screen or even a framebuffer working properly. When I get some
time later I may try using 16bit depth as per your solution at some
other resolutions. I have only tried it at my monitor's native
resolution (1280x1024).

On 10/24/07, Harvey Muller <email address hidden> wrote:
> Brett and others,
>
> On a hunch I checked the date on the amd64 desktop iso I downloaded on
> the 18th of October last night (this was supposed to be the final
> release). To my amazement, it is dated 15 October. This is what people
> are getting when they click the download link.
>
> So I downloaded another copy dated 18 October. This version eliminates
> the black screen, bad usplash.conf problem in my hardware configuration
> (actually solves more problems outside of the scope of this bug).
>
> Just thought I'd share this with the masses, instead of blindly clicking
> the download link, click on the link that let's you choose for yourself,
> and take care to observe the dates of the iso's.
>
> Brett, if you are a dev, you might want to pass a note to whomever
> manages the iso distribution. You'll eliminate a bunch of bug reports
> by getting the correct iso version into the hands of the masses.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Harvey
>
> --
> Black screen, and bad usplash.conf
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/150930
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

--
Matt Schneider

Undergraduate Student
Materials Science and Engineering
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

Orange2k's fix worked for me, thanks

i can also confirm that Orange2k's fix works....i have a usplash and also no blank screen afterwards and so i am able to view the compleate boot process on my screen.

Bug confirmed on my IBM Thinkpad T42 (Radeon Mobility 7500).

Giuseppe's modification of bluwShark's procedure fixed the problem:
1) Changed the resolution in /etc/usplash.conf to 1024x768
2) sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

Malaeum, I think that setting to 1280x1024 16-bit may be a bit too much, (I`ve set it later on to 1024x768) so you could try with some lower resolution in the StartupManager. With 1280x1024 the splash is too small, and besides, with that resolution, I couldn`t get the Fingerpring usplash to show up...

The main problem for this bug to happen in the first place, seems to me, was the developers decision to exclude some drivers (?) that were present in Feisty on boot-up - somebody on kubuntuforums has noticed the difference and found the way to get them back in the mentioned fix...

I`m glad it works for some people...

I'll give it another go later on. I am relatively new to Ubuntu, I had
Fiesty for all of about 5 days before Gutsy came out but I am pretty
sure that the splash screen didn't work for me there either. I just
was playing around at that point evaluating if I wanted to dump gentoo
and finally make the move to (K)Ubunutu. I'll let you know how it
goes. Thanks for the advice though, I would like to get this working.
I don't know if I actually want the splash itself but I would like to
get a FB working so I can better watch the boot process.

On 10/25/07, orange2k <email address hidden> wrote:
> Malaeum, I think that setting to 1280x1024 16-bit may be a bit too much,
> (I`ve set it later on to 1024x768) so you could try with some lower
> resolution in the StartupManager. With 1280x1024 the splash is too
> small, and besides, with that resolution, I couldn`t get the Fingerpring
> usplash to show up...
>
> The main problem for this bug to happen in the first place, seems to me,
> was the developers decision to exclude some drivers (?) that were
> present in Feisty on boot-up - somebody on kubuntuforums has noticed the
> difference and found the way to get them back in the mentioned fix...
>
> I`m glad it works for some people...
>
> --
> Black screen, and bad usplash.conf
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/150930
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

--
Matt Schneider

Undergraduate Student
Materials Science and Engineering
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

I applied orange2k's fix (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/150930/comments/56), and it just works now. Thank you, orange2k.

I still have a problem when shutting down/restarting: KDE shows black screen before the Kubuntu shutdown-splash is correctly shown; do you know if it is related or a new bug?

Can anyone confirm the comment from Harvey Muller (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/150930/comments/57). I wouldn't reinstall my system without a good reason, even though it still is quite clean :-)

Rene,

I can confirm that I should have paid greater attention to detail. I apologize to any I may have inconvenienced by communicating BAD information. On another hunch last night, I checked /etc/apt/sources.list to confirm that I was indeed using amd64, and not i386. To my horror and deep embarrassment, i386 was installed. i386 never had a problem with my hardware configuration, only amd64. I apparently burned the i386 ISO to disk twice, thinking one of them was amd64. So I went back and retrieved the correct amd64 ISO which is dated 16 October.

To make amends for my error, I performed deeper testing of both ISO architectures, and resolved the usplash problem with amd64 on the Inspiron 1420. The solution is similar to orange2k's:

    1024x748 16-bit resolution set using startupmanager
    fbcon and vesafb added to /etc/initramfs-tools/modules (vga16fb not needed in my case)
    "blacklist vesafb" commented out in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer

Harvey

I have the same problem, but I actually get an INVALID SCAN FREQ message on the black screen, presumably from the monitor (Hitachi CM772). Checked usplash.conf, and has 1024x768, well within the monitor capabilities (max 1600x1200 @ 85 Hz). So it may be a problem with the frequency setting, and not the resolution as such, which might explain why it sometimes disappears when reducing the resolution and other times not. Any idea of where the splash screen scan frequency is set?

Confirmed:
Fresh Ubuntu Gutsy Final installation, ATI Mobility Radeon M10 RV350, Laptop, 1280x800 LCD, Centrino (Pentium M Dothan).

Confirmed:

Fresh Ubuntu Gutsy 32-bit desktop version on my Asus M6R laptop (ATI Radeon 9100)

I confirm on Thinkpad X30 (Intel VGA)

I was experiencing a similar problem. Finally got the ubuntu logo and progress bar to show on boot and shutdown, but if I press ctrl+alt+f1 I am presented with a blank screen with a flashing _ cursor - ie no login prompt. Is this related, if so, any ideas for fixes?

I can confirm on a Dell E772c monitor (non-plug-n-play unfortunately). It'd be nice if they asked about monitor configurations during setup to be sure everything's OK instead of confusing users with a black screen for whole minutes.

Kuoso: Your question is a separate bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/129910

Confirmed with a Dell Latitude D610 Laptop, among other big bugs - like HAL not working - and minor troubles.

Booted in Recovery Mode and executed GDM for Gnome to work. Also I corrected the /etc/usplash.conf file and seems like it works.

The strangest thing is that during Live-CD boot I can rembemer it detected my display correctly...

My Compaq 1700US laptop screen was also not detected. I also remember it working in 1024x768 by default in Feisty, and in 640x480 (I think, guessing here) in the LiveCD of Gutsy, however not in the installed copy (like xnt).

I have a black screen during boot.
My machine is a Dell Precision M6300 with a native resolution of 1920x1200. I changed my configuration to the settings suggested but without results.
My /etc/usplash.conf is set at 1024x768.
My /boot/grub/menu.lst has
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=5ca863f6-d30f-4023-b19c-94f8930094a9 ro quiet splash locale=it_IT vga=791
And I've executed $ sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`.

Have you got any other advice? Thank you.

Just letting you know that I switched my father's computer from Ubuntu to Xubuntu and used the official Xubuntu alternative CD and his USplash still doesn't show. He has a HP Pavilion 503n with a 22" widescreen monitor. My own "fix" by using startupmanager and setting the resolution to 640x480 @ 8bits worked (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/150930/comments/18).

I'm merely posting this to let everyone know it's still occurring.

In response to Kamal's post:

I also had this black screen during boot.

There's some debate on the "vga=791" option not properly working for Gutsy. I removed it and this happened to work for me:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=8d6cb6c2-79d8-4e49-ac5d-9ad8f2d3df42 ro quiet nosplash

I disabled splash because i want to see the boot messages. But maybe this also work with the "splash" option set.

Hello!

orange2k' solution works here on Nvidia 8500GT! Non of the other solutions worked!

I had a fresh installed (from live cd, 7.10, 64bit) ubuntu.

Thanks!

startup manager worked great

 ## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
 ## alternatives
 ## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
-# defoptions=quiet splash
+# defoptions=splash vga=791

 ## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
 ## e.g. lockold=false
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@

 title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
 root (hd0,0)
-kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=245c171f-1345-4300-b6ca-05597fc41b07 ro quiet splash
+kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=245c171f-1345-4300-b6ca-05597fc41b07 ro splash vga=791
 initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
 quiet

On my father's widescreen, /etc/usplash.conf defaults to:

# Usplash configuration file
xres=1680
yres=1680

Dell Latitude D810 gutsy fixed:
Altered the resolution in /etc/usplash.conf to 1024x768 and also ran sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

Compaq Presario v5015us Gutsy fixed by changing resolution in usplash.conf and updating initramfs.

changed /etc/usplash.conf (yres had been set to 1024):

# Usplash configuration file
xres=1280
yres=800

Ran update-initramfs:

sudo update-initramfs -c -k all

Please note that when I changed resolution in usplash.conf and rebooted it still did not work. I had to update-initramfs to resolve.

None of the three workarounds here (startup-manager; usplash.conf; orange2k) work me. Graphics card is an nVidia GeForce 8600 GT running on a Dell 2405FPW display at native 1920x1200. System is a Dell Inspiron 530. I also had this problem with Fiesty and the Gutsy install (64bit) was upgraded from this.

Thanks/L

I can confirm that on Intel E6750 platform, GA-P35-DS3 mobo and Gigabyte 8600GT card the fix by Orange2k works (plus startup-manager of course).
Startup manager did not work by itself, I think it's adding the modules to initram.

Thanks Orange2k! I've been intimidated by the lack of usplash since the day Gutsy final came out!
Piotr

How come the final release is out and this hasnt been finalized? not even in the updates?

I just wanted to confirm that this bug still seems to apply to Hardy Alpha 1 - If we want Hardy to be a big success (particularly as a LTS) then we need bugs like this to be absent from Hardy.

Pat

My fault, I never resurrected my ubiquity patch after 7.10 RC. I've committed it now, so it should be in alpha-2 for testing.

Thanks Colin, that was good and speedy work :)

Pat

On Dec 3, 2007 10:27 AM, Colin Watson <email address hidden> wrote:
> My fault, I never resurrected my ubiquity patch after 7.10 RC. I've
> committed it now, so it should be in alpha-2 for testing.
>
> ** Changed in: ubiquity (Ubuntu)
> Status: In Progress => Fix Committed
> Target: ubuntu-7.10-rc => hardy-alpha-2
>
>
> --
> Black screen, and bad usplash.conf
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/150930
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

Opps!
Has is minimum two monts as it's problem cannot do resolving! ^)
How many words uses about it... :)
Hardware & Software environments writes many strings, but body persons don't has a true looks to root of the problem... It situation is ruefully and it's characteristically of Linux World!.. ;)
But this problem is elementarry developers mistakes of the Installer. An algorithm of sets horisontal frequency of monitor various users prefer is very poor.
I tink about it, in the Installer settings is it true to 1024x768 resoolution includes, as set: Hor. Freq = 50..75 Hz, but above, as about sets 85-100 Hz, is it false for NOT TUBE monitor users...
The Installer developers loss memory about LCD monitors and high restricted frequences on it!.. =)
NOTE. Hey, dear Developers!
Remember about LCD monitor' (and notebooks too) users please.
Please use conservative sets on Installer: Horiz. Freq. as 50-70 Hz and don't happy-go-lucky sets for it.
And this way is very happiness to all :)

Colin:

[Hardy / Alpha 1 / amd64 - daily 12122007]

The error is still present in the Hardy i386 and amd64 alpha 1 resease isos, including today's daily version of amd64. The only way to get past the black screen when booting the LiveCD is to hit F6 and remove 'splash' from the kernel line.

Once installed I again have to apply orange2k's fixes to get a normal splash, and tty's.

Best regards,

Harvey

ubiquity (1.7.2) hardy; urgency=low

  [ Evan Dandrea ]
  * XS-Vcs-Bzr is now Vcs-Bzr.
  * Strip out support for creating multiple users in migration-assistant.
  * Save state in between runs of migration-assistant (LP: #151126).
  * Added partman/check.d/03partition_too_small to warn the user when a
    partition isn't large enough to contain the respective part of /rofs
    (LP: #48355).
  * Modified scripts/install.py to handle ENOSPC.
  * Tore out partition_help. This may be replaced by more detailed help text,
    viewable by pressing a help button.
  * Don't set can_focus on the timezone combo box as it prevents you from
    tabbing back out of it. Thanks Sebastien (LP: #136665).

  [ Colin Watson ]
  * Copy xserver-xorg/config/display/modes to the installed system before
    reconfiguring usplash (LP: #150930).
  * Update for apt-setup 1:0.31ubuntu1.
  * Update d-i/update-control to work with the new Dpkg::Deps module in
    dpkg-dev 1.14.8.
  * Update partman extensions to cope with changes in partman-base 114
    (/lib/partman/definitions.sh -> /lib/partman/lib/base.sh).
  * Automatic update of included source packages: apt-setup 1:0.31ubuntu2,
    base-installer 1.86ubuntu1, debian-installer-utils 1.50ubuntu1,
    partman-auto 73ubuntu1, partman-base 114ubuntu1, partman-basicmethods
    36, partman-efi 14ubuntu1, partman-partitioning 54ubuntu1.

  [ Mario Limonciello ]
  * Correct a small typo in mythbuntu template. (LP: #155194)
  * Don't allow mythbuntu remote configuration pages to progress
    when "Other Remote" is selected. (LP: #157233)
  * Check for files related to mythbuntu autostart rather than assuming
    they don't already exist. (LP: #173378)
  * Don't allow the user to progress on non mythbuntu master backend roles
    unless they test their connection. (LP: #164979)
  * Allow dvb-utils to be selected during installation (LP: #130924)
  * Allow hdhomerun configuration to be installed. (LP: #153065)

 -- Colin Watson <email address hidden> Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:05:15 +0000

Great! Will this be backported to Gutsy though?

"Gutsy: In Progress"

Looks like it will.

Confirmed bug with:

Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon installed to hard disk from Desktop CD
Compaq Presario 900 Laptop
AMD 1700+ cpu, 512M ram, ATI Radeon Mobility 320M U1 video

Fixed with:

$sudo gedit /etc/usplash.conf
# Usplash configuration file
xres=1024
yres=768

Method1:
$sudo aptitude install startupmanager
$sudo startupmanager
Under Display: Resolution = 1024x768
                        Color Depth = 16 bits
Under Misc: Checked "Show bootloader menu" AND "Show boot splash"
Closed StartUp-Manager

Method2:
$sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst.bak
$sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
add vga=791 to end of kernel line
(eg: kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=............ quiet splash vga=791)

Reboot machine.

I did NOT run update-initramfs
($sudo update-initramfs -c -k all -OR- $sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`).

Grub screen works. Splash screen works. Login screen works. Splash on shutdown works.
Boot time is faster.

I reinstalled Gusty several days ago.After boot from CD, I found there was no resolution settings for usplash in the /etc/usplash.conf file.so after finishing the installation,I cleared the resolution settings for usplash by editing the usplash.conf file, then ran the command `sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r``. Now my usplash.conf file is :
#Usplash configuration file
xres=(blank)
yres=(blank)
Now there is no black screen in the booting process during which the actual resolution is 640*480.Before this re-installation ,I had tried the two ways follow below,but neither of them worked:
1,to edit the usplash.conf file ,set the resolution of usplash as 640*480,800*600,1024*768or 1280*1024 ,then run the command `sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r``;
2.to use the startupmanager.
My vga card is Intel 845 with only 8MB on-chip frame buffer size, and I use the i810 driver.and I have set the 1280*1024 resolution for my 17" LCD.

the comment by fsstar worked for me as well (thank you!). I've now got a 640x480 usplash, which is much better than a blank screen.

Additionally, I found after making the changes the machine failed to shutdown the first time around, it didn't even respond to SysRQ commands. However, this problem has not re-occured since, and I think it was just down to some system inconsistency immediately after altering the usplash settings.

Hello, guys!

I try to use all the methods but id did not help.
Want to ask you. After I type:
sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

then I get the message:

update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-uname -r
Cannot find /lib/modules/uname -r
update-uniframes: failed for /boot/initrd.img-uname -r

What is wrong?

P.S. I am sure that this bug must have highest priority because all the novice users (like me)
see that Ubuntu does not work. Nobody cares that this is only bug with resolution. Black screen is like BSOD.
I find it very strange that, because this problem is very-very popular but it cant resolved in months.

I think you have typed the command wrong.

The symbols around uname -r must be backticks (`) not quotes ('). The backtick key is next to the 1 key at the top left of the keyboard.

If you still can't get it to work, try changing `uname -r` to $(uname -r).

Oh, thank you!
I guess you right. I will try it in the evening.

Hello again!
update-initramfs now works fine, but...

I've tried to insert
xres=1024
yres=768

and I've tried to leave they blank, as ffstar said.
But it did not work

I've even tried 1680x1050 (native monitor resolution). Same result.
Have any idea?

i think
sudo dpkg-reconfigure usplash
is sufficient
(after inserting the correct resolution in usplash.conf)

I leave
xres=(blank)
yres=(blank)

and then
sudo dpkg-reconfigure usplash

Did not help

It depends of ubuntu version? I installed latest 8.04 RC 2, because 7.10 showed black screen as well.
8.04 alternate PC (Intel x86) install/live DVD said that I have incompatible system! :-)
But I am on Core 2 Duo.

May be I should use 7.10 alternate?

Guys, I am in blank despair. 2 days with unsuccesful attempts.

Please don't ask for support in bug reports. You can get support through Launchpads 'answer' section, in the official Ubuntu Forums (ubuntuforums.org) or on IRC.

Have you tried just setting xres and yres to the native (highest)
resolution of your monitor and then re-booting?

On Wed, 2008-01-09 at 18:15 +0000, warmrobot wrote:
> I leave
> xres=(blank)
> yres=(blank)
>
> and then
> sudo dpkg-reconfigure usplash
>
> Did not help
>

Yes, I insert
xres=1680
yres=1050

and then
sudo dpkg-reconfigure usplash

then
reboot

same result :-(

Ok. Thank you, guys. I think I am not ready to spent any more time for this OS.
See you next year. Viva la Vista!
:-)

Like warmrobot (and commented on somewhere higher up in this thread), I too am stuck with this bug - none of the workarounds make any difference (and if it makes any difference I'm an IT professional). While warmrobot might be asking the wrong questions in the wrong places it is pretty poor form to fob him off to somewhere else.

This is a highly visible bug, and one that leaves a very bad impression. It looks like, from some of the hardware talked about in this thread, that it's likely to effect those Ubuntu is trying hardest to snatch from the Windows world... There's also the possibility that this bug can lead to you messing up your partitions - all you need is for one of the regular fscks on a large disk and somebody to "have enough" and reboot (yeah - I done this).

If you can't get a boot up graphic working absolutely 100% then please just get rid of it - while rolling text might be cryptic it's better than ignorance about if the machine's booting or hung.

You guys realize this is not required to get your system running?

If it doesn't work, just delete the word "splash" anywhere it appears in /etc/boot/grub.conf. You will get text messages during boot instead.

And what? X did not start anyway after login.

This conversation is not helpful to anybody. I think that we should take a look at the Code of conduct : http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct

We all want to fix this issue so we need to collaborate and contribute to this bug report. To warmrobot, it's true that launchpad isn't like a forum but your contribution is always welcome. We just need to keep in mind that only cooperative argumentation can't lead to good results. It's never too late to help fixing this issue, you can test the latest Hardy release and make sure that this bug is fixed for your hardware. And if you need help, I'm sure that a lot of people just wait to take the time to look at this problem with you outside of the bug tracker. We just can't use the bug tracker like a forum because it's designed to help developers to gather important informations about bugs and get them fixed. Anyway, thanks for your participation so far.

Today in the morning I installed my old Radeon x550 instead current NVidia 6600GT. And it works! At least system is booting from LiveCD... freezing a little, but I hope that after installing everything will be fine.

I surprised a little, because considering that ATI give more headache with Ubuntu instead of NVidia. Especially on notebooks. Am I right?
Well, now I think I have to buy new videocard. I need your advice, guys. Which one will work fine with Ubuntu? 8600GT is fine? Is it anywhere list of recommended hardware?

Thank you for patience.

My configuration is

Monitor: Dell 2007WFP (widescreen 1680x1050)

MB: ASUS P5K SE
CPU: Intel® Core™2 Duo E6750
1GB Hynix
320GB Seagata SATA2
videocard is need your advice. Current is 6600GT.

This problem occurred yesterday after a system update of 10 packages,so I tried to set the 640*480 resolution in the usplash.conf file and ran the 'sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r` command ,it worked then.It seems ok today.

I think the method mentioned in the comment by timbl is better than mine.

As mentioned, none of the workarounds solved the issue for me on Fiesty or Gutsy and I was left with powersave during boot. Tonight I have downloaded the fresh Hardy Alpha 3 image (alternative 64bit) and done a clean install. I still have the same symptoms - the fix in Hardy does *not* make usplash work on my system.

Hardware details are above (a Dell Inspiron 530 with nVidia GeForce 8600 GT), let me know what I can post that will help nail this one

Thanks/L

Oh, do I need to / should I report this elsewhere specifically against the Hardy alpha 3?

wangi : Thanks for your comment. Can you confirm that ubuntu still boot? If you don't even get to your Desktop, that is another bug like bug #179336. If your computer boot but that you just don't see usplash, it looks like we're talking about the same bug.

In case it's really the usplash bug, can you copy here :
1. The content of your /etc/usplash.conf file here?
2. The result of this command in a terminal : cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep -A 4 'Section "Device"'

Thanks for these informations

Hi Saïvann, yes the system still boots fine - monitor goes into powersave, boots up, out of powersave and shows gdm. I will reply with requested information later this evening. Thanks/L

As requested:

wangi@figgate:~$ cat /etc/usplash.conf
# Usplash configuration file
xres=640
yres=480
wangi@figgate:~$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep -A 4 'Section "Device"'
Section "Device"
 Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
wangi@figgate:~$

Thanks for these informations. Can you also provide the result of that command in a terminal : lspci | grep VGA

Sure:

wangi@figgate:~$ lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8600 GT (rev a1)

Thanks/L

wangi : Can you install ubuntu for i386 architecture and see if the problem still happens? I found the existence of bug #147623 which looks a lot like your problem and only happens with AMD64 ubuntu.

Will do, downloading the ISO now. I can see the relationship and perhaps for many these are the same bugs. One difference is I boot into X fine, it's just that i'm in powersave until then. One of the dupes of this bug is a x64 only one, and when i386 is used it works.

As expected the i386 build works, although with a usplash resolution of 640x480.

(However it's got its own problems and is less usable than the x86 version without usplash - after logon at gdm your stuck on the beige screen)

wangi : Thanks for your comment and for your hard testing.

From what you say, it seems clear that your bug is the bug #147623 and not this one, this was important to confirm this. bug #147623 does already have a lot of debugging informations so I think that we should wait. Concerning the new problem that you got with Hardy i386, if you're still in shape and that you're ready to contribute more, you can search for similar bug reports and look if you can contribute to one of them by giving debugging informations. However, you can also take a break and enjoy Gutsy ;) . Thanks for your contribution so far!

Yesterday I downloaded Hardy 64-bit, and today I tried it. It still boots with no splash and no progress bar, so it looks like this problem hasn`t been fixed, yet.
Hardy (LiveCD) has (on my system) also another bug with display: when I set it to 1280x1024 resolution - 85 Hz, it switches to 84Hz (!) but thats another story and it probably doesnt belong here...

I posted this in Bug # 147623 as well (as I'm not sure which one is the most appropriate) - but I just tried Kubuntu 64 Hardy Alpha 3 and got this bug again. Booting off of the live cd with any of the default boot options results in a black screen (with monitor entering sleep mode eventually) and the system refuses to boot. I can't get into the system at all off of the live cd unless I remove 'splash' from the kernel options.

This is very unsettling, if we can't get this fixed before the 8.04, then I fear we will lose a lot of potential users (most newbies will not spend the time to learn how to fix it - they will simply give up on (K/X)Ubuntu).

I have a NVidia 8800GTS 320mb with a 22inch widescreen monitor

Let me know if/how I can help (as someone without programing skillz :S)

Pat

The black usplash screen problem with any {k}{x}ubuntu for AMD64 is bug #147623. This bug has enough information, unless you know something that has not been said in this bug report. However, you can contribute by testing new releases when this bug will be fixed. From now on, the bug is on the hand of the developers. Perhaps that it would be a good idea to speak directly to ubuntu developers about this. Thanks for your contribution.

If you are experiencing this bug and wish to verify whether it's due to the problem originally reported here, then please compare the resolution shown in System -> Administration -> Screens and Graphics (assuming you haven't changed it) with that in the file /etc/usplash.conf. They should be the same. For example, on the computer I'm using at the moment, Screens and Graphics says "Resolution: 1280x800" and /etc/usplash.conf has "xres=1280" and "yres=800".

If they are different, then this bug has recurred for some reason and I would like to know about it in this bug report.

If you find that the *live CD* does not display a splash screen while booting, or if you have an installed system that does not display a splash screen while booting but has the *same* values in Screens and Graphics and in /etc/usplash.conf as above, then this is not the same problem as this bug; instead, it is likely to be a deeper problem with the splash screen software, possibly specific to your hardware. Please report that on the 'usplash' package in Ubuntu. I'm sorry if this seems like being fobbed off (to quote an earlier commenter), but it is important to us to keep separate problems in separate bug reports, otherwise we can't keep track of what has been fixed where and things will be worse for everyone.

Thanks for your attention!

Hi Colin,
comparing these two values is impossible for me because displayconfig-gtk is not running properly (Bug 178061):
markus@markus-desktop:~$ cat /etc/usplash.conf
# Usplash configuration file
xres=640
yres=480
markus@markus-desktop:~$ displayconfig-gtk
*** Error: couldn't find any ServerLayout sections
markus@markus-desktop:~$

So I'm not sure if this is really related to the problem originally reported here.

Markus

Colin,

In a fresh installation of Hardy Desktop amd64 Alpha 4, the problem is still present on the Dell Inspiron 1420 (nVidia GeForce 8400M GS). The screen blanks during normal boot period until gdm starts. Normal behaviour returns after manual fix.

Screens and Graphics reports the expected laptop screen resolution @ 1400x900. During installation, this had to be manually configured using displayconfig-gtk (pops up automatically)

/etc/usplash.conf differs with:
xres=640
yres=480

The manual fix is the same as previously stated:

- Modify /etc/usplash.conf (xres=1400 yres=900)
- Modify /boot/grub/menu.lst (add vga=0x0365 at end of kernel line)
- Modify /etc/initramfs-tools/modules (add fbcon and vesafb on separate lines)
- Modify /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer (comment out 'blacklist vesafb')\
- run 'sudo update-initramfs -u'

If there's additional information you need, please let me know.

Regards,

Harvey

Harvey Muller : Thanks for your comment. You are using a amd64 bit ubuntu edition with nvidia geforce 8400M GS, this is a known but with nvidia cards which you can find here : bug 147623. In order to make sure that you reproduced the good bug, can you try the same with ubuntu 32 bit? Thanks for your contribution.

i install ubuntu 7.10, then i update they want some (Third-party software, Authenticate) GPG key same time i want (Java Runtime Environment-6) JRE 6. how to install JRE 6. now i try shutdown my system it will be log and come to user name & Pass word ask (both shutdown and logoff all the time) then i directly switch off my system now i restart the ubuntu 7.10 it will not enter to normal and recovery, what can i do, i want JRE install and reset my ubuntu

Saïvann Carignan:

Thank you for clarifying. I was unaware this bug report was for the Hardy Desktop i386 edition.

I've installed Hardy Desktop i386 Alpha 4 as you recommended and can confirm this bug is NOT an issue for this edition on my hardware. I will continue to watch bug 147623 instead.

The only related issue with the i386 edition is the blank ttys, but that's a different bug.

Appreciate your assistance!

Harvey

Colin Watson : Numerous comments in different bug reports says that usplash often get 640x480 resolution in Hardy. My own laptop which is always in 1440x900 resolution with Xorg did have a /etc/usplash.conf of 640x480 in Hardy Alpha 4. I suggest that we take a look at this before the final release.

bug 188764 in usplash describe the same problem, I confirmed it in usplash but if we find that this is still the ubiquity bug, we should mark it as a duplicate.

I've got the same problem, infact i can't even boot of the livecd i had to install of the alternate cd. In all honesty this is a huge bug, i could imagine alot of people being put of ubuntu because the live cd not working. If it makes a difference i using dvi.

here are my specs.

Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD501LJ
Samsung SpinPoint T 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD321KJ)
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS "Crysis Edition" 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (512-P3-E841-AE-CrysisUK)
Samsung SH-S203NRSMN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Beige/Black/Silver) - Retail
Abit IP35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Logitech Wave Keyboard USB
Logitech MX518 Gaming mouse
Dell 22 inch Widescreen Flat Panel Display with built-in Webcam (SP2208WFP)

Just to let people know who might not. If none of the work arounds here seem to help you particular computer. You can always type "sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst" Go to the this line in the document:
 "kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=048896bf-abae-4771-82cf-53eff300fe28 ro quiet splash"

Erase the word splash then save the document.
This will allow Ubuntu to boot without a splash screen at all. It will show boot text instead. Not as aesthetically pleasing perhaps but it works.

I re-installed Gutsy one week ago in my Intel845 machine with only one hard disk and let Gutsy to be my only OS,in these days ,this bug has not re -occurred.I have not changed the usplash.conf file ,because the 1280*1024 setting is correct.

I have two graphic cards.
One is nVidia 6600
Other is nVidia 8600GT

The 6600 works with usplash
THe 8600 does not work with usplash. It does work with X though.

THis is on a 7.10 xubuntu install.

Also, I noticed I don't have my text consoles when using the 8600.
When removing the 8600, and using the 6600, my text consoles and usplash work.

  Bram

Bram Stolk : That means that your bug is bug 147623. Thanks :)

I just wanted to say thanks. Ubuntu 8.04 fixed this problem for me. The half-screen I was getting on login that I had to hit CTRL+ALT+DEL to resolve is also fixed.

xserver-xorg.postinst no longer sets up xserver-xorg/config/display/modes; instead, the X server deals with mode configuration at run-time. This means that usplash.postinst no longer has anywhere to get the correct modes.

In the desktop CD case, we can cope with this since we have a running X display, and can use xdpyinfo to fish the current screen dimensions out of that (although we may also have to restrict them to valid VESA modes). Unfortunately we can't do anything about the alternate install CD case, since an X server hasn't been started at the point when usplash is configured (well, we could perhaps do X -probeonly along the same lines as xresprobe, but that feels risky at this point).

I think the best option is to have usplash.postinst use xdpyinfo to fetch screen dimensions if DISPLAY is set. That way you at least have the option of reconfiguring usplash within a running X display if it picks the wrong values, and it keeps package-specific logic out of ubiquity. It won't be pretty, but is probably about the best we can do. I'll work on this.

7.10 had xserver-xorg/config/display/modes, so the usplash task is not relevant for gutsy.

Colin Watson : The current issue with Hardy is different from the initial issue described in this bug report. I believe that we should work on this in bug 188764 or, if you prefer, set bug 188764 as a duplicate of this one.

Bouncing around between bugs is boring, but sure, whatever you like ...

I can confirm this problem is still in latest hardy, upgraded yesterday

Åskar : Thanks for your comment, can your provide the following informations?

1. Did you fix the problem while you used Gutsy with the workaround? If not, no need to go further, installing a brand new Hardy system should not have this bug, but if you already have wrong values in /etc/usplash.conf and that you upgrade, nothing will change, Hardy will keep the existing values in /etc/usplash.conf.
2. If the problem suddenly appeared with Hardy, can you attach your /etc/usplash.conf ?
3. Can you also say what is the resolution of your screen as you can see in System / Preferences / Screen Resolution ?

If the values in /etc/usplash.conf were already the same as your actual screen resolution and that you still get this bug, you might have bug 205990.

Hi Saïvann

I did not fix the problem in gutsy, I used nosplash at grub instead. So perhaps that means that this was an old usplash.conf as you say.

I changed the resolution in /etc/usplash.conf in hardy and the problem went away. My resolution is 1440x900.

Thank you for your confirmation, that means that the bug is still fixed.

# Usplash configuration file
xres=1280
yres=1024

Reflects my Ctrl-F1 thru Ctrl-F6 screen settings. While my X-Windows screen is set for 1680x1050.

My Display Adapter is a Nvidia 8600 GT

Thanks,

Bruce

Confirming for Ubuntu Hardy PPC

Fresh install on PowerBook G4 (nvidia graphics 867mhz). I changed the conf file to match my resolution but the colors are still messed up. I think they have to be increased to 16 bit color? I'm not sure how to do that however :/

The 18 month support period for Gutsy Gibbon 7.10 has reached its end of life -
http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntu-7.10-eol . As a result, we are closing the
Gutsy task.