Problems with gensplash at silent mode

[Alebo]

I installed the splashutils 1.1.9.4 as it is discribed in the gentoo wiki at http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_fbsplash

Using the verbose mode it all works fine, but on silent mode the bootmessages appear over the bootsplash with black boxes around them. Entering runlevel 3 it fully disappears.

This is my grub.conf

...
title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.11-2-gentoo-r3
root (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/kernel-2.6.11-2-gentoo-r3 root=/dev/hda3 video=vesafb:1024x768-32@60 splash=verbose,theme:emergence,fadein,tty:8,quiet,CONSOLE=/dev/tty1
initrd /boot/fbsplash-emergence-1024x768

my splash file

SPLASH_TTYS="1 2 3 4 5"
SPLASH_VERBOSE_ON_ERRORS="no"

My graphicscard is a G-Force 2 Mx 400

Did I configure something wrong? How can I get silent mode working?

[superstoned]

i have the same problem... no idea what's wrong. well, gensplash didn't work at all until yesterday, so i don't really complain

but bootsplash not only was easier to get to work, but also DID work

[spock_]

Did I configure something wrong? How can I get silent mode working?

Fixing your grub.conf might be a good start:

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title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.11-2-gentoo-r3

root (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/kernel-2.6.11-2-gentoo-r3 root=/dev/hda3 video=vesafb:1024x768-32@60 splash=silent,theme:emergence,fadein quiet CONSOLE=/dev/tty1
initrd /boot/fbsplash-emergence-1024x768 

Note the lack of commas between 'quiet' and 'CONSOLE=/dev/tty1'. These are not splash= parameters.

[Alebo]

Do I have to set a comma between "fadein" and "quiet" too?

[spock_]

Do I have to set a comma between "fadein" and "quiet" too?

Nope, no commas between these two. The sample code I included in my previous post is syntactically correct -- both 'quiet' and 'CONSOLE=/dev/tty1' are global kernel parameters, like video=something and splash=something_else, and therefore they are separated by spaces, not commas.

[Alebo]

Thanks for your quick answer. The splashscreen fades in now and the text with the black boxes around doesn't appear anymore. But the progressbar does not show any progress. It stands still at the beginning, shows 0 percent after a few seconds and never changes. Then I get a black screen for a few seconds until X starts.

[spock_]

Thanks for your quick answer. The splashscreen fades in now and the text with the black boxes around doesn't appear anymore. But the progressbar does not show any progress. It stands still at the beginning, shows 0 percent after a few seconds and never changes. Then I get a black screen for a few seconds until X starts.

Sounds like one of the known bugs in 1.1.9.4. Please upgrade to 1.1.9.5

[superstoned]

Thanks for your quick answer. The splashscreen fades in now and the text with the black boxes around doesn't appear anymore. But the progressbar does not show any progress. It stands still at the beginning, shows 0 percent after a few seconds and never changes. Then I get a black screen for a few seconds until X starts.

Sounds like one of the known bugs in 1.1.9.4. Please upgrade to 1.1.9.5

great. I hope 1.1.9.5 fixes my problem: after some time in the boot process, the splash (perfectly working until then) gets replaced by a bunch of scrolling text, while the progressbar attempts to continue working (now and then it pops up...)

[Decibels]

Ya, finally working on mine too with the new one. Looks like the text is from syslog.

[spock_]

Ya, finally working on mine too with the new one. Looks like the text is from syslog.

If the text comes from syslog, just move the silent splash to another tty, by adding tty:n to the kernel command line. For example:

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splash=silent,theme:livecd-2005.0,tty:13

If I'm not mistaken, syslog-ng uses tty12, so tty13 should be free.

[superstoned]

Ya, finally working on mine too with the new one. Looks like the text is from syslog.

If the text comes from syslog, just move the silent splash to another tty, by adding tty:n to the kernel command line. For example:

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splash=silent,theme:livecd-2005.0,tty:13

If I'm not mistaken, syslog-ng uses tty12, so tty13 should be free.

I'll try it now. tnx!

[Decibels]

Using: splashutils-1.1.9.5
Okay, Cool. Due to previous attempts to get this working on amd64 with vesafb and NOT vesafb-tng. I had other stuff in grub kernel line, like /dev/vc/1,.... so had to play with that awhile. Finally took one of the lines out of the new splashutils docs you wrote. That worked after changing the tty to 13.

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kernel /bzImage-2.6.11-gentoo-r5 root=/dev/hdb4 vga=792 splash=silent,theme:GoGentooGo,tty:13 quiet CONSOLE=/dev/tty1

Works now during boot and shutdown. Progressbar also working great also. First time had this fully working with the amd64 system fully. YA, Thanks a lot Spock!! Live long and prosper.

** Only thing noticed was that there is a small black (cursor) square in the top left corner of the screen in silent mode. But at least the syslog messages didn't come up and except for the top left corner, nothing disturbed the silent splash.

***Wonder if there is a way to not have the boot messages appear after silent splash ends on the way to the login?

****Now going to see if changing to verbose is as simple as changing the silent to verbose.
Nope. Tried several ways so far, but only comes up at the end of the boot, then works fine during shutdown in verbose. Darn, I thought we had it. Maybe I am doing something wrong.

[spock_]

** Only thing noticed was that there is a small black (cursor) square in the top left corner of the screen in silent mode. But at least the syslog messages didn't come up and except for the top left corner, nothing disturbed the silent splash.

This will be fixed once the kernels are patched with the latest versions of fbsplash (0.9.2). Even the latest gentoo-sources currently have 0.9 or 0.9.1 (I can't remember which one exactly).

***Wonder if there is a way to not have the boot messages appear after silent splash ends on the way to the login?

Not yet, but I'm working on this. This stuff is pretty tricky and in order to do it right some xorg patch will probably be necessary.

****Now going to see if changing to verbose is as simple as changing the silent to verbose.
Nope. Tried several ways so far, but only comes up at the end of the boot, then works fine during shutdown in verbose. Darn, I thought we had it. Maybe I am doing something wrong.

Have you (re-)built an appropriate initramfs image with all the necessary files included? (you know, splash_geninitramfs -g file -r resolution theme..)

[Decibels]

Have you (re-)built an appropriate initramfs image with all the necessary files included? (you know, splash_geninitramfs -g file -r resolution theme..)

Oh, that is necessary even if silent works? Will try. Sure did it before, when trying to get the silent to work, but will check.

UPDATE: Well, sure did it, maybe needed to redo it from a past error, remerge,... maybe didn't have boot mounted before???

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decibels david # splash_geninitramfs -v -g /boot/fbsplash-emergence-1024x768 -r 1024x768 GoGentooGo
o Creating directory structure..
o Copying /sbin/splash_helper..
o Copying themes..
  - GoGentooGo
o Creating initramfs image..

Wooop!! Works, when reboot. Thanks Spock!!

AMD64 Splash, vesafb (no vesafb-tng), splashutils-0.9.1, silent or verbose, Nvidia GeForce6800, kernel 2.6.11-gentoo-r5: Works.

[superstoned]

here, it now seems to work almost perfect. indeed, syslog-ng comes through with its text, but I love the fadein and the fact f2 can TOGGLE silent and verbose! Now waiting for some more nice themes and an easier way of switching themes.
thanx for the work, spock_!

[Decibels]

superstoned are you saying you can switch from silent to verbose and back to silent??
Or just switch from silent to verbose? Cause that is all I can do.

Guess needed to do the splash_geninitramfs like mentioned above to get verbose to work, even though thought had it, so put fadein back in grub line. That is Neat, quick, but if you catch it's cool.

[superstoned]

superstoned are you saying you can switch from silent to verbose and back to silent??
Or just switch from silent to verbose? Cause that is all I can do.

Guess needed to do the splash_geninitramfs like mentioned above to get verbose to work, even though thought had it, so put fadein back in grub line. That is Neat, quick, but if you catch it's cool.

well, I can test it again if it doesn't work for you (or is even not supposed to work at all ) but i remeber i saw it say hit f2 to see boot messages. then hitting f2 again, and i could see the progress again. did this a few times, i'm quite sure it did work... also, did you notice percentage text? it said booting at xx%, really neath!

[Decibels]

also, did you notice percentage text? it said booting at xx%, really neath!

Ya, that is cool, works great here also!

Tested again and no, doesn't toggle between verbose and silent. I've never seen it do that, if yours does I would
like to figure it out, just for the heck of it.

[superstoned]

also, did you notice percentage text? it said booting at xx%, really neath!

Ya, that is cool, works great here also!

Tested again and no, doesn't toggle between verbose and silent. I've never seen it do that, if yours does I would
like to figure it out, just for the heck of it.

right, i'll test it again. it might have been the splash came back by itself or went away now and then, and i accidentally thought... dunno... whatever, i'll try it

[Jakub]

also, did you notice percentage text? it said booting at xx%, really neath!

Ya, that is cool, works great here also!

Tested again and no, doesn't toggle between verbose and silent. I've never seen it do that, if yours does I would
like to figure it out, just for the heck of it.

Well, it does work for me, ie. I press F2 and I switch from silent to verbose, then F2 again -> a switch back to silent, etc. I'm not sure how I got it to work, maybe it was the kernel option

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CONFIG_INPUT_EVDEV=y

The new splashutils also have a new USE flag, +kdgraphics but I doubt it's that.


What does not work in my case, however, is the text above the progress bar (I did have it but must have changed something and now it's gone). Also, when booting, the background image appears for a second, then disappears, and then starts to reappear slowly (with the fadein option). I guess it has something to do with the fact that I use the vesafb, not vesafb-tng driver.

EDIT: The lack of messages above the progress bar is probably caused by removing splash from my default runlevel (I guess but I don't feel like rebooting to check it right now).