[Bug 770371] Re: Splash screen in text mode at boot up

Tue Jun 28 19:57:53 UTC 2011

I've an intel i5-460M and a nvidia GT 425m card, with the latter not in
use. I've the same issue: although the splash screen has a background
color (blue for Kubuntu), the splash screen is a text-only splash.

On my previous installation, I upgraded from Maverick to Natty. In Maverick, the splash screen was working fine, after the upgrade the above problem began to occur.
When using the Maverick kernel (2.6.35-28) to boot into Natty, the splash screen works fine. I've looked at the differences between the initrd of maverick and natty, and the only differences were the kernel files (/lib/modules/*).

A fresh installation of Natty did not help, the problem still exists.

I've compared debug logs (add plymouth:debug as boot option, it will
generate a log at /var/log/plymouth-debug.log) of two identical systems
running maverick and natty, and the problem is that the intel driver is
not loaded or something:

The relevant output on maverick is:
[./plugin.c]                                create_backend:creating renderer backend for device /dev/dri/card0
[./plugin.c]                                   load_driver:Attempting to load driver 'i915'

Natty shows:
[./plugin.c]                                create_backend:creating renderer backend for device /dev/dri/card0
[./plugin.c]                                   load_driver:Attempting to load driver '(null)'
[./plugin.c]                                   load_driver:drmOpen failed
[ply-renderer.c]                             ply_renderer_open:could not open rendering device for plugin /lib/plymouth/renderers/drm.so
[./plugin.c]                                create_backend:creating renderer backend for device /dev/fb0
[./plugin.c]                                   open_device:could not open '/dev/fb0': No such file or directory
[ply-renderer.c]                             ply_renderer_open:could not open rendering device for plugin /lib/plymouth/renderers/frame-buffer.so
[./plugin.c]                                   open_device:could not open '/dev/fb0': No such file or directory
[ply-renderer.c]                             ply_renderer_open:could not open rendering device for plugin /lib/plymouth/renderers/vga16fb.so
[ply-renderer.c]                             ply_renderer_open:could not find suitable rendering plugin
[main.c]             add_default_displays_and_keyboard:could not open renderer /dev/fb
[main.c]         add_display_and_keyboard_for_terminal:adding display and keyboard for /dev/tty7

Looking in the source code (apt-get source plymouth), the message comes from plymouth-0.8.2/src/plugins/renderers/drm/plugin.c:473.
`null` refers to the driver name, and is defined in the line above (472) by calling find_driver_for_device("/dev/dri/card0").
Reasons why that function may return NULL:
- /dev/dri/card0 does not exist
- /dev/dri/card0 is not a character device (unlikely)
- /sys/dev/char/XX:YY/device/driver does not exist (run `stat -c'%t.%T' /dev/dri/card0` to get XX:YY)
- The previous link in /sys/... did not point to a valid driver (i915)

When booting with the options `quiet splash` options removed, and `nosplash break=top` added (drops to a shell before running local-top scripts like plymouth), I checked some stuff:
- cat /proc/modules: no modules seems to be loaded
- ls -l /dev/dri/card0: missing AHA! PROBLEM FOUND!

Next, I try to load the i915 driver manually:
    modprobe i915
When done, I pressed Ctrl + D (exit) and w00t: the nice splash screen finally shows up!

Now I need to find a way to fix this in a proper way.

** Attachment added: "/var/log/plymouth-debug.log on an ugly splash screen"
   https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/plymouth/+bug/770371/+attachment/2183984/+files/plymouth-debug.log

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to plymouth in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/770371

Title:
  Splash screen in text mode at boot up

Status in “plymouth” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: plymouth

  Upgraded to Kubuntu 11.04 and noticed that the splash screen was in text mode where it was working with 10.10. The splash screen shown at shut down works. Using Intel mobile 945GME.
  lspci:
  00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
          Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device 022f
          Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
          Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
          Latency: 0
          Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
          Region 0: Memory at 98280000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
          Region 1: I/O ports at 60f0 [size=8]
          Region 2: Memory at 80000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
          Region 3: Memory at 98300000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
          Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
          Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
                  Address: 00000000  Data: 0000
          Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2
                  Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
                  Status: D0 NoSoftRst- PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
          Kernel driver in use: i915
          Kernel modules: intelfb, i915

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
  Package: plymouth 0.8.2-2ubuntu22
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
  Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic i686
  Architecture: i386
  Date: Mon Apr 25 17:23:59 2011
  DefaultPlymouth: /lib/plymouth/themes/kubuntu-logo/kubuntu-logo.plymouth
  InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
  MachineType: Acer Aspire one
  ProcEnviron:
   LANGUAGE=
   LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
  ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=e4864edf-7cd6-4c8a-b697-039216d05c63 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
  SourcePackage: plymouth
  TextPlymouth: /lib/plymouth/themes/kubuntu-text/kubuntu-text.plymouth
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-25 (0 days ago)
  dmi.bios.date: 11/28/2009
  dmi.bios.vendor: Acer
  dmi.bios.version: V1.25
  dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
  dmi.board.name: Aspire one
  dmi.board.vendor: Acer
  dmi.board.version: V1.25
  dmi.chassis.type: 10
  dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
  dmi.chassis.version: V1.25
  dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAcer:bvrV1.25:bd11/28/2009:svnAcer:pnAspireone:pvrV1.25:rvnAcer:rnAspireone:rvrV1.25:cvnAcer:ct10:cvrV1.25:
  dmi.product.name: Aspire one
  dmi.product.version: V1.25
  dmi.sys.vendor: Acer

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/plymouth/+bug/770371/+subscriptions