Problems rebooting with nvidia-drivers. Grub does not load.

ratten · n00b Joined: 25 Mar 2014 Posts: 8

Hi all,

I have a strange Problem on my 64BIT Gentoo install.
Reboot from my 64Bit install does not work anymore...Grub is not loading.
I have to turn off PC(complete poweroff) and turn it on again to have grub
displaying the boot menu. This is after i load "modprobe nvidia" and start X.
If i don't load Video-driver and just do a restart from console everything works
fine and reboot works without problems.

Background:
I have several operating systems running and two of them
beeing Gentoo(32Bit and 64BIt) Version.
The Problem only occurs on the 64Bit gentoo install.

After booting in my 64Bit gentoo i...:
--- emerged the Nvidia drivers(as i did on my 32Bit Gentoo)
--- modprobed nvidia module
--- started X(works fast and without problems)

...everything seemed to run fine but when rebooting system
Grub does not load.
This only happens if nvidia module was loaded and restart is
done from desktop environment.
If i don't load nvidia module and perform restart the machine initializes
correctly and Grub shows boot menu.

Questions:
---Has anyone experienced similar behaviour?
---Does anyone have an idea on how to fix/workaround it?

Best regards,

Ratten
_________________
“If I made one person happy, it's all been worth it” -Tony Clifton

TomWij · Retired Dev Joined: 04 Jul 2012 Posts: 1553

It appears your BIOS and/or graphics card firmware does not properly initialize the graphics card on boot; and therefore, it'll do something like this where the bad memory state from the previous boot affects the current boot. Doing a power cycle, where the memory will empty, you'll start with a good memory state; so, in other words, either change the display mode GRUB shows in (as that causes to load a different resolution, which might get GRUB to work properly) or try different nvidia-drivers versions (as that might leave a better memory state behind).

Did this work before on your Gentoo?

RazielFMX · l33t Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 835 Location: NY, USA

Is this an UEFI or BIOS based boot?

The only recent change I am aware of is that with the recent nvidia-driver update in portage, the 32 bit driver is no longer installed by default on 64 bit systems. I doubt this matters but I don't know how your system is set up.

ratten · n00b Joined: 25 Mar 2014 Posts: 8

@TomWij
No...graphic is initialized. If I power of copmpletely and then power on machine, graphic output is present and the Bootloader shows up with menu.
When i boot Sabayon(64BIT), Debian7(64BIt), Arch(32BIt) or Gentoo32Bit-version and then reboot everything is ok and machine initializes correctly and bootloader shows up
quickly and fully functional.
Only when i start gentoo64-BIt and then RESTART the machine initializes graphic card but boot loader never shows up. have to turn off/on PC to get it
working again.

@RazielFMX
It is a Bios Boot PC. One thing i know is that i used Kernel-config-file from 32Bit Gentoo and enabled 64Bit Kernel in it before compiling current Gentoo64Bit-kernel.
Will Re-configure/Re-compile Kernel starting from a fresh standard config...I will post update afterwards...
_________________
“If I made one person happy, it's all been worth it” -Tony Clifton

RazielFMX · l33t Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 835 Location: NY, USA

As an aside, the default multilib use flag is back on nvidia-drivers.

krinn · Watchman Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 7470

ratten · n00b Joined: 25 Mar 2014 Posts: 8

Ok guys, thanks for all the answers but i have to seriously apologize to all of you.
I completely misinterpreted the situation. I'm really sorry...i hate it when this happens...

What happened?
Well...I didn't work on the problem machine for a while but today started a new investigation run.

Here the results so far:
-nvidia-driver is not responsible for my reboot problem.
-Responsible must be kernel in combination with external USB-Drive.

I have a sabayon fallback system on another partition and tested my gentoo with sabayon kernel.
I tested boot/reboot behaviour and it is now absolutely clear that kernel must be the problem.
Grub config for sabayon-kernel and gentoo-kernel are identical.

Sabayon kernel boots/reboots gentoo allways correctly and fast.
Gentoo-kernel however boots system fast only on first boot after connecting machine to power-supply.
External-USB-drive is then automounted correctly and accessible.
All following reboots take long or do not work at all(have to dis/re-connect power-supply to make it work)
and also the ext-USB drive is not initialized. Have to dis/reconnect Ext-USB-drive from power-supply
to make it work and to be able to mount it.
Problem is somehow caused when powering down for reboot the first time. USB-drive is getting unmounted and LED
starts blinking slowly and regularely but somehow it seems that ext-USB-HD is in a "frozen" state causing my reboot
problem(long boot/reboot delay or no boot at all until taking machine from power supply).
Gentoo shows no boot/reboot problem when external-USB-drive is not connected at all.

I must have some weird kernel option enabled/disabled when i compiled my kernel that causes the problem.
I do not see another explanation as the sabayon-kernel shows no problem at all with same grub config.

I'm really sorry for starting the Thread so lousy.

So!...The problem is definitely caused when system shuts down with mounted Ext-USB-drive.
Have recompiled kernel now 2 times with some different options but no change...
What could cause a HD attached over USB to get into such a "frozen" state so it only
recovers when de/reattached to power supply?

I will search for sabayon-kernel .config file the next days...maybe a comparison to my .config
will bring some results...

Sorry again ...if someone has any idea and maybe even explanation please post...
_________________
“If I made one person happy, it's all been worth it” -Tony Clifton