Arch Linux

lgolebio

Member

From: Poland / Wroclaw

Registered: 2008-07-28

Posts: 101

Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

Hi
I have noticed very weird behaviour. Booting arch and after couple of minutes I am not able to switch to console when I press CTRL+ALT+F1 or F2 or F3. The screen is not even blank it is disabled (no backlight). I can only enter CTRL+ALT+F1 after the arch is booted for one minute or less. If I wait longer, it is not possible any more.

Laptop M1530
nvidia 8600M GT (proprietary driver)
3.2.13-1-ARCH
XFCE

System is up to date.

bjornoslav

Member

Registered: 2011-11-01

Posts: 137

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

Same happens to me today and I'm not sure why.

GPU nVidia 8500 GT, proprietary diver, up-to-date system. Maybe it's a kernel regression.

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asus ux303la, core i5@1.6ghz, 8 gb ram, 500gb hdd, hd4400 gpu, crux x64 with openbox

swanson

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2011-02-05

Posts: 759

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

Sometimes with Nvidia, if you have vga=xxx at the kernel line it might mess things up with tty's. It did for me and prop. drivers, the console was there but I had to drive while blind.

lgolebio

Member

From: Poland / Wroclaw

Registered: 2008-07-28

Posts: 101

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

@swanson, you are probably right, I have removed vga=865 from grub. It looks like it solved the problem, but I need high resolution in console. Without vga=865 it is very low and unacceptable

Last edited by lgolebio (2012-03-28 18:13:32)

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,424

Website

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

but I need high resolution in console. Without vga=865 it is very low and unacceptable

I use uvesafb for that - works perfectly with my nvidia card (proprietary driver)  on my 1680x1050 display...

---

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lgolebio

Member

From: Poland / Wroclaw

Registered: 2008-07-28

Posts: 101

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

Ok, I think it works ok, I changed from vga=865 to vga=0x360. It looks like it is now working perfectly.

=EDIT=
NOPE, problem still exists. I've even tried uvesafb....and the result is the same. WTF ?

Last edited by lgolebio (2012-03-28 18:52:39)

swanson

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2011-02-05

Posts: 759

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

To get uvesafb working you need some magic with initrd image I think; like this; http://blog.samat.org/comment/17522

EDIT; it's for debian but the principles should be the same.

EDIT #2; first stop for wisdom, the Arch wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uvesafb , of course!

Last edited by swanson (2012-03-28 19:34:48)

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,424

Website

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

To get uvesafb working you need some magic with initrd image I think; like this; http://blog.samat.org/comment/17522

EDIT; it's for debian but the principles should be the same.

No: you just need to follow the guide in the wiki. It works.

---

Arch + dwm   •   Mercurial repos  •   Surfraw

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swanson

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2011-02-05

Posts: 759

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

You didn't see my edit # 2. Wiki should always be the first stop. I'll never learn!

lgolebio

Member

From: Poland / Wroclaw

Registered: 2008-07-28

Posts: 101

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

I did read the wiki, but as I said the result is the same. After couple of minutes problems comes back.

pjezek

Member

From: Praha - CZ

Registered: 2005-05-19

Posts: 79

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

Which DM you have been using? I was confronted with a very strange behaviour of temporary frozen desktop when used LXDM. WM doesn't matter, the problem was present in any WM session... I also found a mess between eth0 and wlan0 net connetions when activated simultaneously (both accepted in nm-applet). All the troubles faded after a change LXDM by Slim... But this can be specific for me and my configuration...

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swanson

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2011-02-05

Posts: 759

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

Yes, I'm using slim too (svn version) and it's ok here. Although X is on tty4 since I disabled ttys 4-6.

swanson

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2011-02-05

Posts: 759

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

After couple of minutes problems comes back.

This is weird! What does your inittab look like? Could nouveau or nvidiafb be involved? Screensaver (DPMS)? Could a check of processes and loaded modules (lsmod) give anything? Just rambling ...

lgolebio

Member

From: Poland / Wroclaw

Registered: 2008-07-28

Posts: 101

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

#
# /etc/inittab
#

#  Runlevels:
#    0    Halt
#    1(S)	Single-user
#    2    Not used
#    3    Multi-user
#    4    Not used
#    5    X11
#    6    Reboot

## Only one of the following two lines can be uncommented!
# Boot to console
id:3:initdefault:
# Boot to X11
#id:5:initdefault:

rc::sysinit:/etc/rc.sysinit
rs:S1:wait:/etc/rc.single
rm:2345:wait:/etc/rc.multi
rh:06:wait:/etc/rc.shutdown
su:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin -p

# -8 options fixes umlauts problem on login
c1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 tty1 linux
c2:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 tty2 linux
c3:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 tty3 linux
c4:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 tty4 linux
c5:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 tty5 linux
c6:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 tty6 linux

# Serial Virtual Console for KVM and others VMs
#s0:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 9600 ttyS0 linux

# Hypervisor Virtual Console for Xen and KVM
#h0:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 hvc0 linux

ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now

# Example lines for starting a login manager
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/xdm -nodaemon
x:5:respawn:/usr/sbin/gdm -nodaemon
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/kdm -nodaemon
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/slim >/dev/null 2>&1

# End of file

[lukasz@lukaszdell ~]$ cat lsmod
cat: lsmod: Nie ma takiego pliku ani katalogu
[lukasz@lukaszdell ~]$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
button                  3614  0 
vboxnetflt             16959  0 
vboxdrv               195339  1 vboxnetflt
snd_pcm_oss            33792  0 
aes_i586                6940  1 
cryptd                  6925  0 
aes_generic            25702  1 aes_i586
rfcomm                 28783  8 
bnep                    7258  2 
coretemp                4574  0 
loop                   14755  2 
nvidia              10882707  32 
uvcvideo               57039  0 
videodev               71453  1 uvcvideo
media                   8641  2 videodev,uvcvideo
btusb                   9857  2 
bluetooth             132355  23 btusb,bnep,rfcomm
arc4                    1086  2 
b43                   317649  0 
r852                    8968  0 
mac80211              203227  1 b43
cfg80211              147716  2 mac80211,b43
ssb                    42035  1 b43
sm_common               6446  1 r852
nand                   41786  2 sm_common,r852
nand_ecc                3256  1 nand
nand_ids                3597  1 nand
snd_hda_codec_idt      49045  1 
mtd                    25909  2 nand,sm_common
sdhci_pci               8912  0 
i2c_i801                7063  0 
iTCO_wdt                9941  0 
crystalhd              45520  0 
dell_laptop             8040  0 
rfkill                 12470  5 dell_laptop,cfg80211,bluetooth
firewire_ohci          27507  0 
firewire_core          43511  1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t               1095  1 firewire_core
snd_hda_intel          20114  4 
pcmcia                 31502  2 ssb,b43
iTCO_vendor_support     1577  1 iTCO_wdt
joydev                  7439  0 
intel_agp               8720  0 
i2c_core               16816  3 i2c_i801,videodev,nvidia
pcspkr                  1375  0 
sdhci                  20030  1 sdhci_pci
mmc_core               71470  4 sdhci,sdhci_pci,ssb,b43
snd_hda_codec          76464  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_idt
dcdbas                  4276  1 dell_laptop
dell_wmi                1217  0 
pcmcia_core            10114  1 pcmcia
evdev                   7278  15 
intel_gtt              11513  1 intel_agp
agpgart                22255  3 intel_gtt,intel_agp,nvidia
snd_hwdep               4942  1 snd_hda_codec
sparse_keymap           2660  1 dell_wmi
video                   9716  0 
r592                   10387  0 
memstick                5550  1 r592
battery                 5053  0 
thermal                 6531  0 
ac                      1796  0 
serio_raw               3357  0 
psmouse                62706  0 
wmi                     7263  1 dell_wmi
snd_mixer_oss          12807  2 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                60595  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_page_alloc          5869  2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer              15438  1 snd_pcm
snd                    44501  14 snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm_oss,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_idt
soundcore               5018  2 snd
fuse                   58501  4 
sky2                   41836  0 
cpufreq_conservative     4349  0 
cpufreq_powersave        674  0 
cpufreq_ondemand        5120  2 
acpi_cpufreq            5113  1 
mperf                   1027  1 acpi_cpufreq
processor              23026  3 acpi_cpufreq
freq_table              2079  2 acpi_cpufreq,cpufreq_ondemand
ext4                  380969  4 
crc16                   1091  2 ext4,bluetooth
jbd2                   60529  1 ext4
mbcache                 4281  1 ext4
hid_a4tech              1648  0 
usbhid                 31263  0 
hid                    66559  2 usbhid,hid_a4tech
uvesafb                20123  1 
sd_mod                 26211  5 
sr_mod                 13244  0 
cdrom                  31373  1 sr_mod
pata_acpi               2388  0 
ata_generic             2391  0 
ata_piix               18270  0 
ahci                   17529  5 
libahci                16783  1 ahci
uhci_hcd               19673  0 
libata                146606  5 libahci,ahci,ata_piix,ata_generic,pata_acpi
scsi_mod              113115  3 libata,sr_mod,sd_mod
ehci_hcd               36010  0 
usbcore               122469  6 ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd,usbhid,btusb,uvcvideo
usb_common               622  1 usbcore

I'm using gdm-old 2.20.11-1, I'l try to change it with another one, maybe that's the problem.

=EDIT=
Changed to SLIM, the problem was not solved. I guess it is kernel related issue.

Last edited by lgolebio (2012-03-29 09:52:20)

killer1804

Member

From: Russia, Zlatoust

Registered: 2010-07-26

Posts: 56

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=136751
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=173214
https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/28939

lgolebio

Member

From: Poland / Wroclaw

Registered: 2008-07-28

Posts: 101

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

I see. Well then, we are up to nvidia developers. Rome was build faster then nvidia fixes bugs in drivers....

bjornoslav

Member

Registered: 2011-11-01

Posts: 137

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

Try to disable DPMS by editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf and adding

Option         "DPMS" "false"

to the Monitor and Device sections. It will disable turning off your monitor after a preset time, but you can use this command to turn off the monitor:

xset dpms off

if you have the package xorg-xset installed.

For example, this is a part of my xorg.conf:

...

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    Option         "NoLogo" "true"
    Option         "DPMS" "false"
    Option         "RandRRotation" "true"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "ServerLayout0"
    Option "BlankTime"  "0"
    Option "StandbyTime" "0"
    Option "SuspendTime" "0"
    Option "OffTime" "0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

...

Tweak these settings as you wish.

---

asus ux303la, core i5@1.6ghz, 8 gb ram, 500gb hdd, hd4400 gpu, crux x64 with openbox

lgolebio

Member

From: Poland / Wroclaw

Registered: 2008-07-28

Posts: 101

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

@bjornoslav, it is not related to dpms. It's a nvidia driver bug. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=136751, post #15.

bjornoslav

Member

Registered: 2011-11-01

Posts: 137

Re: Ctrl + Alt + F1/F2/F3.. not working (blank screen)

Sorry, I had a similar problem with upgrade, but on a PC with GeForce 8500GT, solved by updating everything and renaming xorg.conf to xorg.conf.old and running nvidia-xconfig as root.

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asus ux303la, core i5@1.6ghz, 8 gb ram, 500gb hdd, hd4400 gpu, crux x64 with openbox