plymouth hangs system

[zoesdad]

Hi Folks –


New to the forum. I have a question about Linux Cinnamon. I had some Unix experience as a programmer way back in the SCO Unix days (I’m in my late 70’s now) and so some Unix things are returning to memory (just some things however –lol).

System: Kernel: 5.4.0-66-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.6 wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal

Problem:

(1) Ran system from a LiveCD on my PC, ran OK so then did the install to the hard drive. I set up the dual boot with Windows 7.

(2) Upon Linux Boot/Init from the HDD the system would show the mint splash logo, the logo would later disappear, and then no login screen would appear. Had to power PC OFF/ON to recover.

(3) But I found that if I did Ctrl-Alt-Enter while splash logo on screen, the boot/init would continue and the login screen would appear and I could log in and then system would run fine.

(4) I learned a little about plymouth and plymouthd and found that if I made the line change below to the file:


usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/init-premount/plymouth

new line of code ------> /sbin/plymouthd --mode=boot --attach-to-session --pid-file="/run/plymouth/pid" --debug-file="/pdPMXdebug.txt"

old line of code -----> /sbin/plymouthd --mode=boot --attach-to-session --pid-file=/run/plymouth/pid

the system would Boot/Init OK with the new line of code. In this case the mint logo also does still appear, but is preceded and followed by some debug code on the screen (in addition to the debug code entered into the file pdPMXdebug.txt ).

Apparently just turning on the debug option for plymouthd is enough to prevent the system hang. It’s as if after the logo plymouthd has some problem which is circumvented if plymouthd is in debug mode.


I couldn’t find any information about this problem. Just wondering why that behavior on a brand new installation.

 

[Deleted member 108694]

have you tried adding nomodeset to the grub
open the terminal (use Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut) and then use the following command to open the grub configuration file in your text editor: I think Mint uses Xed as it's text editor - if not just change where it says xed to whatever text editor you have

sudo xed /etc/default/grub

You’ll have to use your password to open this file. Once you have the text file opened, look for the line that contains: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash".

Change this line to: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"

Save the file and run

sudo update-grub

now reboot and see if it will boot as it should if it does not boot up you can always change the grub back - just remember to update the grub if you change it back

Does you machine run a NVIDIA Card?

 

[zoesdad]

hi Lord Boltar -

Thanks a lot. I changed the grub file as you suggested to add nomodeset, and I changed back the file:

usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/init-premount/plymouth

to remove the --debug-file="/pdPMXdebug.txt" statement to change it back to the original with no debug argument.

The system boots up and now does not hang and the login screen appears. My graphics card info is:

Device-1: AMD R580 [Radeon X1900 GT] driver: N/A bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 1002:724b
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: ati,fbdev unloaded: modesetting,radeon,vesa
resolution: 1400x1050~77Hz
OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 11.0.0 128 bits) v: 4.5 Mesa 20.2.6 compat-v: 3.1
direct render: Yes

So it looks like my graphics card does not support whatever it is that boot/init does early on to display the splash logo. If you set nomodeset the systems gets past the problem, but it looks like with a degraded driver (I guess).

But if I change grub to eliminate splash altogether, the system boots/init without the splash screen, but
this time with a proper video driver after the system is initialized.

So it appears that the system does in fact have a good video driver for my card, but that won't be loaded if you attempt to use a splash screen.

Anyway - something like that. But it looks like I'm good to go.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Deleted member 108694]

I can see in this line - Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: ati,fbdev unloaded: modesetting - your driver starts to load then it is unloaded for modesetting - the nomodeset bypasses modesetting

 

[zoesdad]

OK - I see what you are saying. Right there and I didn't notice "unloaded".

Thanks again.