[Bug 761830] Re: grub2 still hands off to blank tty7 on non-Server command-line-only systems and some Server systems

Fri Jul 8 18:16:25 UTC 2011

I am able to reproduce this bug on Natty i386 Server by using VMware
Easy Install (in VMware Workstation 7.1.4 build-385536 on a Natty amd64
host). When I install Natty i386 Server manually (as I had always done
in the past) on the same virtual machine, this bug does not occur. I am
not sure what it is about VMware Easy Install that is triggering this
bug. The most obvious explanation would have seemed to be that VMware
Tools triggers it, since VMware Tools is automatically installed as the
final, post-boot step of VMware Easy Install, and it is only *after*
that first boot that the system boots handing off to tty7 instead of
tty1. However, manually installing VMware Tools on a manually installed
system (i.e., a system not installed with VMware Easy Install) does not
trigger the problem.

This bug seems to occur the same way in Oneiric (which was to be
expected)--testing I did today on VMware virtual machines with identical
hardware indicates that it seems to always happen on command-line only
non-Server systems (I used the Oneiric i386 20110708 daily alternate
CD), to typically not happen on Server systems (tested with the Oneiric
Server i386 20110708 daily), but to happen on Server systems installed
with VMware Easy Install (same installation media).

@Clifford Dhamanigi
To clarify, the reason it was very helpful for you to post here was not that it was uncertain if this bug affected *all* amd64 Server systems (it certainly doesn't), but because it was uncertain if it affected any Natty server systems **at all**. Clearly, it does, though it remains to be seen if, on Ubuntu Server, this bug is limited to systems installed with VMware Easy Install.

** Summary changed:

- grub2 still hands off to blank tty7 on non-Server command-line-only systems
+ grub2 still hands off to blank tty7 on non-Server command-line-only systems and some Server systems

** Tags added: amd64 oneiric

** Description changed:

- Binary package hint: grub2
+ On Natty and Oneiric non-Server command-line only systems (which can be
+ installed from the Alternate and Minimal CD's), grub2 hands off to blank
+ tty7 (as in bug 700686). As a consequence, a blank black (or purple)
+ terminal is shown, and the system does not appear to be functional. This
+ can be particularly confusing to novices, who sometimes assume that the
+ system has not successfully booted. Switching to an active virtual
+ console (for example, by pressing Alt+F1) yields a login screen and
+ makes it possible to use the machine.

- Using the Natty Beta 2 Alternate CD, I installed two command-line only
- systems, and updated each of them (with "sudo apt-get update" followed
- by "sudo apt-get upgrade"). One was with the amd64 CD, on a Sony Vaio
- VGN-NW310F. The other was with the i386 CD, on a VMware Workstation
- 7.1.4 build-385536 virtual machine (host OS: Natty amd64 with kernel
- version 2.6.38-8-generic). In both cases, when boot-up completed, I was
- on tty7 with a blank, black screen, with the exception of a blinking
- cursor at the upper-left corner. Pressing Alt+F1 through Alt+F6 gave me
- usable virtual terminals, and pressing Alt+F7 brought me back to that
- black screen. This is almost exactly the same behavior as I reported in
- bug 695658; later, a similar bug which was decided to also be about this
- issue was reported as bug 700686 and subsequently fixed, and bug 695658
- was marked as a duplicate of bug 700686. Suspecting that this may be the
- same issue (i.e., that those bugs were perhaps not fully fixed), I ran
- this command on both systems:
+ This also happens on a few Natty and Oneiric Server systems. It seems to
+ happen on all such server systems running on VMware virtual machines and
+ installed using the VMware Easy Install automatically installation
+ facility (but it does not seem to occur with VMware when the OS is
+ installed manually). The most obvious explanations specific to that
+ feature do not seem to apply (see
+ https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/761830/comments/35).
+ It would perhaps be worthwhile to investigate if the problem occurs on
+ other kinds of unattended installations.

- grep handoff /etc/grub.d/10_linux
- 
- And, confirming my suspicions, I got this out on both systems:
- 
-     GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="$GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
- vt.handoff=7"
- 
- I posted about this in bug 700686 and Colin Watson said I should open a
- new bug, so that's what this bug is. The information attached by apport
- is from the i386 system (i.e., the virtual machine). In order to make
- reporting this bug convenient, I did install two additional packages and
- their dependencies--openssh-server, and apport.
- 
- I have not yet tested this in a newly installed Ubuntu Server system.
- 
- ProblemType: Bug
- DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
- Package: grub-pc 1.99~rc1-12ubuntu1
- ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
- Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic i686
- Architecture: i386
- Date: Fri Apr 15 10:29:08 2011
- InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Beta i386 (20110413)
- ProcEnviron:
-  LANG=en_US.UTF-8
-  SHELL=/bin/bash
- SourcePackage: grub2
- UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
+ Please see bug 700686, bug 695658, and this bug's original description
+ for some (incomplete) details about the cause of this behavior (and why
+ it did not occur in previous releases). See original description and
+ comments for details substantiating the above generalizations.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/761830

Title:
  grub2 still hands off to blank tty7 on non-Server command-line-only
  systems and some Server systems

Status in “grub2” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  On Natty and Oneiric non-Server command-line only systems (which can
  be installed from the Alternate and Minimal CD's), grub2 hands off to
  blank tty7 (as in bug 700686). As a consequence, a blank black (or
  purple) terminal is shown, and the system does not appear to be
  functional. This can be particularly confusing to novices, who
  sometimes assume that the system has not successfully booted.
  Switching to an active virtual console (for example, by pressing
  Alt+F1) yields a login screen and makes it possible to use the
  machine.

  This also happens on a few Natty and Oneiric Server systems. It seems
  to happen on all such server systems running on VMware virtual
  machines and installed using the VMware Easy Install automatically
  installation facility (but it does not seem to occur with VMware when
  the OS is installed manually). The most obvious explanations specific
  to that feature do not seem to apply (see
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/761830/comments/35).
  It would perhaps be worthwhile to investigate if the problem occurs on
  other kinds of unattended installations.

  Please see bug 700686, bug 695658, and this bug's original description
  for some (incomplete) details about the cause of this behavior (and
  why it did not occur in previous releases). See original description
  and comments for details substantiating the above generalizations.

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