fbsplash not working, tried guides and tr-shooting[solved]

[Virtrex]

I followed http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_fbsplash to the letter, tried forums hints and leads to other users, but my consoles remain completely graphic-less. I will post all information I can think of.

grub.conf

[jbro]

I'm not very new to gentoo but got this working after almost giving up, so may be able to help

what si the output of

[d4rkwingduck]

what video card are u using ? i had the same problem just because i used vesafb instead of radeonfb

[Virtrex]

I'm using Nvidia. If there's a special driver or kernel option I need for that I didn't see it in any howto guides.

[jbro]

Could be - what model card are you using?, And what version of splashutils?

[Virtrex]

lspci returns

[jbro]

It does have it's own drivers but people tend to have trouble having tham and nvidia-kernel for X drivers,

I am running splashutils 1.1.9.8 - You could try that version,

Otherwise try the nvidiafb just to see if that works and go from there

[Virtrex]

I emerged splashutils-1.1.9.8. This did not change anything.

I looked in /dev and noticed I have no vesafb device listed at all. That would account for the error:

[jbro]

nvidiafb should be in the same place as the vesa-fb stuff, device drivers - graphics i think it is, not on linux at the moment so i cantt check

[Virtrex]

[jbro]

I have an option

[Virtrex]

I recently switched to kernel 2.6.9-r9 because I was having trouble with 2.6.12 . Don't quite remember what that trouble was, but I thought 2.6.9 is enough to to bootsplash and framebuffer images. I could start using 2.6.12 again, but it seems to me that this problem is in the way I set up the splash software, since I've had this problem with all kernels and with two different video cards, plus I've tried bootsplash/framebuffer and fbsplash separately. I can't shake the feeling that there's just something subtle I'm missing when I set up the software.

I'll probably try 2.6.12 again since I like being updated. I noticed that the framebuffer software I use that /does/ work (I've used "fbi" to look at images in virtual consoles with nothing but permissions problems) are acessing the device "/dev/fb0", so come to think of that, I guess there isn't a "vesafb" device.

Speaking of which, I tested fbi recently and I don't have a working "/dev/fb0" device anymore. I need to compile that into the kernel, right?

[St. Joe]

[torio]

Do you try changing
this :

[Virtrex]

Thank you for the suggestion. I have been having a wierd scan anomaly at the top of my screen and this might be what's causing it. I will fix this promptly.

I compiled the 2.6.12 kernel and found >> Device Drivers >> Graphics Support >> Nvidia Framebuffer Support -- in it no problem. As it turns out, no kernel I can emerge from before 2.6.12 has Nvidia Framebuffer Support, but the new kernel has problems with X. *sigh*

Regardless, even with the new kernel and Nvidia Framebuffer Support compiled into the kernel, I am still not seeing any Framebuffer or Bootsplash images. I feel like I'm not trying hard enough but there's not much I can do without any leads. If anyone has ANY ideas or advice or leads, especially if you will need more information about my system, please ask and tell. To give you any system info I will probably need exact instructions on how to extract and copy it, so be specific. Thanks if you can help!

[torio]

Ok, if you have an Nvidia card and you compiled the kernel with support for nvidia framebuffer i asume that you chage your line in grub.conf (replace vesafb with nvidiafb o whatever the name is)
if you don't welll DO IT ,
also try to remove the vesafb suport, leave only the nvidia framebuffer sup..
If you can post some machine spec's could be usefull (cpu, video card, mobo)
hope i help, bye bye

[Virtrex]

I did change "vesafb" to "nvidiafb" after I compiled support into the kernel. I don't remember if I disabled vesafb support though. Will do.

As for machine specs, I can post the output of "lspci" if that's enough. Anything else and I may need specific instructions. I'm still kinda new at this after all.

lspci:

[Dragonlord]

i have an nvidia card in one of my pcs and got the bootsplash working after some fighting. i don't know if it helps you but i can give an outline of what i did.

- one thing i noticed is that i could not use vesafb-tng or all went wrong. in 'make menuconfig' maked sure that the vesa driver 'vesafb' is selected, not 'vesafb-tng'.
- used 'video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x31B' in the kernel command line.
- did 'rc-update add bootsplash default'.
- did 'rc-update del consolefont'. i needed to do this always as this for some reason totally wrecks vesa if used

this has been what i had to do to get it working. maybe it's of use to you.
_________________
DragonDreams: Leader and Head Programmer

[Virtrex]

Thanks for the tip. I'm pretty sure nothing I do will help though untill I find out if/why the framebuffer device is not in /dev. I used to use FBI to view images in the virtual console (outside of the window manager), so I knew for a fact that framebuffer was working and could display images, but just wouldn't work for fbsplash and bootsplash. WIth kernel 2.6.9, however, the framebuffer device that always worked -- "/dev/fb0" -- is no longer working, and likewise neither is FBI.

Important note: I am now working on this with two kernels, which may make it confusing. In 2.6.9, X works and framebuffer doesn't with vesafb nor nvidiafb. In 2.6.12 X doesn't work but framebuffer does with nvidiafb, except that I've only gotten to change the fontsize but have no images.

Another important thing of note, just recently after altering the 2.6.9 kernel a few times I've gotten a new message in the module loading phase of bootup:

[Dragonlord]

i'm using the newest gentoo-source kernel, and with that it worked. i think this is 2.6.13 but i am not sure, have to look up the config. if it helps you i can post the kernel config file. you have to compile in the kernel all the framebuffer stuff or it will not work. kinda tricky but if you got it right it works. i still wish for that the kernel makers once add a functionality for modules to 'tell' what they need if something fails. it would make solving a problem that much easier.
_________________
DragonDreams: Leader and Head Programmer

[Virtrex]

Odd little things like that in general /would/ make some things easier. Anyway, I would /like/ to get framebuffer working in my 2.6.9 kernel, but I can work on the newer one for now. I've been trying to get this stuff working through several kernels and two different video cards, so if its because I haven't compiled the kernel exactly right I'm not at all surprised. So by all means please post your kernel config and let me know if all I need to know is in "Device Drivers --> Graphics Support" or if its more complicated.

[Dragonlord]

i have the following, and i think most of that is necessary to get it working. try if it helps.

[Virtrex]

Well, I tried configuring my kernel according to what you posted and modified my grub. Same result as before. I'm seriously convinced that the problem is something subtle with my splash configuration, not my kernel. If anyone has any idea how I should fiddle with my splash stuff, please share. My grub now is:

[Virtrex]

I was fiddling around with grub, and I noticed that dmesg reported only part of the kernel command line

[Virtrex]

I could swear I posted a follow-up on this weeks ago, but here it is.

The problem turned out to be a kernel command line error. The kernel command line will not work if it is not all on one line. Nano will separate it if it is longer than the screen and you will have to concacenate it.

This grub option: