Mac mini, Ubuntu splash screen halts video output until X is started (Re: Video output is stopped on Ubuntu 5.10 (breezy) ...)

[Eric Dunbar]

All right, just re-installed Ubuntu. I deleted the partitions the
previous install was on and allowed Ubuntu to "Use the largest free
space".

Allowed it to install. First reboot I made sure that I used video=ofonly:
Linux video=ofonly

The install worked (apparently).

Rebooted, allowed it to boot (without video=ofonly), splash screen
doesn't appear (monitor turns off), screen appears with X. If I switch
to a vt (e.g. ctrl-alt-F1) the monitor turns off. Switch back to X
(vt7) it turns on again.

Mount in the terminal gives same output as in the earlier install
(where I probably interrupted the "final" install through a sudo
reboot, blindly typed into a vt).

What's going on? Is something pooched on my particular Mac mini (seems
unlikely given that X loads and displays) or is the Mac mini still too
new for Linux to have worked out the kinks (the video card has been
around for a few years now so that seems unlikely).

Eric.

On 12/13/05, Eric Dunbar <eric.dunbar at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hmm. I just switched to vt1 and noticed a bunch of error lines, the
> last few read (I just booted without video=ofonly (openfirmware only
> option)):
>
> (the earlier errors are off the screen b/c I logged in on vt1)
> A bunch of kernel driver related stuff:
> insmod: can't read:
> '/lib/modules/2.6.12-9-powerpc/kernel/drivers/video/vgastate.ko' :  No
> such file or directory
> insmod: can't read:
> '/lib/modules/2.6.12-9-powerpc/kernel/drivers/video/vga16fb.ko' :  No
> such file or directory
> usplash: bogl-pcfb.c:194: bogl_pcfb_put: Assertion `yy >= 0 && yy < bogl_yres'
>
> So, what does this mean? My kernel hasn't been installed properly?
> Should I try re-installiing Ubuntu, again? Have I perhaps set up my
> partitions & mount points improperly?
>
> Mount:
> /dev/hda3 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
> proc on /proc type proc (rw)
> sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
> devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
> tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
> usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)
> tmpfs on /lib/modules/2.6.12-9-powerpc/volatile type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
> tmpfs on /dev type tmpfs (rw,size=10M,mode=0755)
>
> Hmm. Mount seems to suggest a few problems too? What's going on?
>
>  sudo /sbin/fdisk -l
> /dev/hda
>         #                    type name                 length   base
>   ( size )  system
> /dev/hda1     Apple_partition_map Apple                    63 @ 1
>   ( 31.5k)  Partition map
> /dev/hda2         Apple_Bootstrap untitled               1954 @ 64
>   (977.0k)  NewWorld bootblock
> /dev/hda3         Apple_UNIX_SVR2 untitled           10228516 @ 2018
>   (  4.9G)  Linux native
> /dev/hda4         Apple_UNIX_SVR2 swap                 517434 @
> 10230534 (252.7M)  Linux swap
> /dev/hda5               Apple_HFS Apple_HFS_Untitled_2 67392176 @
> 10747968 ( 32.1G)  HFS
> /dev/hda6              Apple_Free Extra                    16 @
> 78140144 (  8.0k)  Free space
>
> Block size=512, Number of Blocks=78140160
> DeviceType=0x0, DeviceId=0x0
>
> Hmm. No time to trouble shoot right now. Perhaps I should try
> re-installing once more and boot with Linux video=ofonly the first
> time around and see if I can get things working properly, at least to
> a limited extent.
>
> Eric.
>
> On 12/13/05, Eric Dunbar <eric.dunbar at gmail.com> wrote:
> > All right, I got somewhere with Linux video=ofonly (on my STOCK Mac mini)!
> >
> > I can now see what happens at boot time if I use "Linux video=ofonly".
> >
> > It seems that the Ubuntu splash screen* uses a video mode that's not
> > supported by my _graphics card_ (32 MB ATi Radeon 9200) and the video
> > signal goes dead. The monitor then goes to sleep until X starts (FYI:
> > monitor = 17" KDS Avitron AV-7TF... supports 1280x1024 at 60Hz,
> > 1152*864 at 75Hz and 1024*768 at many rates)!
> >
> > *splash screen = that fancy, graphical thing that's supposed to
> > "alleviate" users' fears, not make them think their computer died
> > ;-PPPP
> >
> > PS I'm fairly sure that the computer is not outputting a video signal
> > b/c the monitor will tell me if it's getting a signal that's outside
> > of its normal frequency & resolution range.
> >
> > PSS hardware: Mac mini 1.25 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB drive (5.2 GB for
> > Linux), no extra hardware.
> >
> > PS^3 I reinstalled the OS and STILL had the same problem.
> >
> > So, what's the solution to this? If I boot without video=ofonly I will
> > eventually get the gdm but only after a significant wait. What
> > determines what video mode the splash screen will use?
> >
> > Eric.
>