# Console Font Fuzzy / Grub Not Displaying / Etc. [SOLVED]

## cazort

I recently built a 2.6.25-gentoo-r6 kernel; previously I was working with 2.6.24-gentoo-r8.  I changed some of the options...

One big problem...sometimes when I boot the new kernel, the console is totally blank on all terminals except the one where X is running.  Sometimes it works.  Other times (it has been doing this more recently) it displays with a really fuzzy/unreadable console font for a split second, and then clears.  When I halt the system or reboot, the console turns black and displays only a cursor in the upper left.

Here's the weird thing.  Since this has happened, grub no longer appears.  But I know it's loading...and I can move the cursor up and down to select the other (old) kernel, and it selects the right one 100% of the time.  I just see nothing other than a black screen.

Now, when the old kernel boots, upon initial booting the console font is totally blurry and unreadable.  When it gets to "loading console font" in the startup, suddenly it clears up.

What is going on here?  The whole thing is really puzzling (and a bit scary) to me.  I want to be able to see grub again...that's a major problem if I can't see it, in case something goes wrong at that stage of the booting.  I worry that I've somehow screwed up something in by BIOS or some other "hardware" part of my system, because I don't understand how the kernel should be able to screw up grub?

Any thoughts?  Anyone experienced anything like this before?

Edit: I also noticed that direct rendering in X is no longer working, but still works when I boot with the 2.6.24 kernel.  As far as I'm checked, I think I have enabled all the relevant options ???

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## yabbadabbadont

If you are using a framebuffer, try disabling it and using a plain 80x25 text console instead.  Just as a test.

Edit: you could try removing any "video=" or "vga=" lines in your grub.conf before rebuilding the kernel.

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## cazort

 *yabbadabbadont wrote:*   

> If you are using a framebuffer, try disabling it and using a plain 80x25 text console instead.  Just as a test.

 

I am not using a framebuffer; just a regular 80x25 like you recommend.

 *Quote:*   

> Edit: you could try removing any "video=" or "vga=" lines in your grub.conf before rebuilding the kernel.

 

Also...there have never been any lines like that in my grub.conf.

Edit: I am using a splashimage, just the default Gentoo splashimage...if that makes any difference.

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## cyrillic

 *cazort wrote:*   

> Edit: I am using a splashimage, just the default Gentoo splashimage...if that makes any difference.

 

What happens if you comment-out (or remove) the splashimage line from grub.conf ?

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## cazort

 *cyrillic wrote:*   

>  *cazort wrote:*   Edit: I am using a splashimage, just the default Gentoo splashimage...if that makes any difference. 
> 
> What happens if you comment-out (or remove) the splashimage line from grub.conf ?

 

I just tried this.  I also updated grub to the latest version and ran a grub-install.  Now grub displays, and the console font displays properly in the terminals (when using the old kernel).  I have yet to try the new kernel...could this have strictly been a problem with grub?  Was the kernel update a coincidence?

Anyway, thanks for the help!

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## cyrillic

 *cazort wrote:*   

> ...could this have strictly been a problem with grub?  Was the kernel update a coincidence?

 

Yes to both questions.

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## HyperQuantum

 *cazort wrote:*   

> Now, when the old kernel boots, upon initial booting the console font is totally blurry and unreadable.  When it gets to "loading console font" in the startup, suddenly it clears up.

 

I have a similar problem. The grub screen displays normally, but when my (default & latest) kernel boots, the text that appears is blurry and almost unreadable. And when "loading console font" appears, all is readable again.

This started happening after my latest grub update (and yes, I did grub-install after that). Now if this is really a problem with grub, then why has this version (0.97-r6) been marked stable?

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## njcwotx

Ditto this, checking bugzilla.

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## cazort

 *HyperQuantum wrote:*   

> The grub screen displays normally, but when my (default & latest) kernel boots, the text that appears is blurry and almost unreadable. And when "loading console font" appears, all is readable again.
> 
> This started happening after my latest grub update (and yes, I did grub-install after that). Now if this is really a problem with grub, then why has this version (0.97-r6) been marked stable?

 

People make mistakes or are hasty sometimes, but more often they miss bugs because the bugs are rarely encountered.  Some bugs appear only under very specific circumstances: specific hardware, specific versions of software, and specific configurations of the system.  Such combinations may be very unlikely.  For example, I would not have noticed this bug if I had not had a splash screen, and I did not notice it until I updated to a specific version of grub.  And someone else might be using the same version of grub with a splash screen but not encounter the bug because their hardware is different.  You could have hundreds of people testing away and never encounter a certain bug...but when you release to a broad user base by marking it stable, the bug may start to show up.  Keep in mind that Gentoo has a small user base, and only a portion of them are actually testing software that has not been marked as stable.

A great thing you can do is to contribute to the development of gentoo by participating in bugzilla.  It can be a bit intimidating to a n00b, but it's worth doing it because you learn a TON, and because you actually contribute:

https://bugs.gentoo.org/

It's amazing how many bugs a typical user encounters that have not been reported.

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## njcwotx

turns out I had no splash screen file for me but it was looking for it, somehow my splash.xpm.gz got deleted after a emerge system and world.

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## HyperQuantum

 *cazort wrote:*   

> People make mistakes or are hasty sometimes, but more often they miss bugs because the bugs are rarely encountered.

 

I know. I just couldn't imagine that this problem was not more widespread.

Apparently this is bug 200505.

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## snilsson

For me the solution was to:

```
mount /boot

emerge --config grub

/boot  (when asked for) 
```

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## lindegur

splash.xpm.gz has been moved from /boot/grub to /usr/share/grub. This is why it will not be found after the grub update. It looks as follows: When the splashimage is not found, then strange console fonts appear during boot. 

Either you delete the splashimage line from grub.conf as cyrillic proposed or you modify it as follows

```
splashimage=(hd0,2)/usr/share/grub/splash.xpm.gz
```

If you have partitioned your hard disk as proposed in the gentoo handbook, /usr/share is no more on the same partition as /boot, so make sure you add also (hd0,2) as shown above to grub.conf. In grub terms hd(0,2) is the third partition of your first harddisk, hda3 in Linux words.

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## BonesToo

great post, thanks everyone.  I just upgraded my entire system, gcc , 2.6.20 to 2.6.25, and all, and ran into the same problem.  I updated the splash path and reinstalled grub image and boom working again.     :Very Happy:    Thanks again.

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