Odd font issue with Arch

Sacksofa · 2012-09-13 15:53:51

Hey everyone,
I just finished installing Arch and rebooted.

Unfortunately I was prompted with this screen:
http://i.imgur.com/Un4PN.jpg

That's right, it's basically unreadable. I am able to type and run commands tho.
To add a little bit of an extra challenge, Ethernet and Wifi are currently both not working.
That means I can't even SSH into the machine.

I was hoping, that someone knew some kind of "reset" command for the fonts (I assume that's where the problem lies...) that I could type in.

Thanks in advance,

Sacksofa

moderator edit: Welcome to the forums. The image is too large. I have replaced it with a link for you this time. Please read Forum Etiquette: Pasting Pictures and Code. Thanks. --fsckd

Last edited by fsckd (2012-09-13 17:05:13)

DSpider · 2012-09-13 16:22:35

Using a 2012 Arch install media, mount your root partition and edit /etc/vconsole.conf like in the Beginners' Guide: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … and_keymap

# mount /dev/sdxY /mnt
# nano /mnt/etc/vconsole.conf

Of course, the default vconsole.conf should also work:

KEYMAP=us
FONT=
FONT_MAP=

PS: If this happens because you didn't type exactly "Lat2-Terminus16" (uppercase and everything), let me know, so I can add a note to the wiki.

There already is one at the beginning:

Note that the name is case-sensitive, so please type it exactly as you see it:

Sacksofa · 2012-09-13 16:33:42

Hey DSpider,
thanks for your reply.

I just edited the vconsole.conf file to contain the default values:

KEYMAP=us
FONT=
FONT_MAP=

Unfortunately, after rebooting I got greeted by the same rectangles and squares as before.

Any ideas?

Last edited by Sacksofa (2012-09-13 17:37:20)

DSpider · 2012-09-13 16:50:49

Try:

KEYMAP=us
FONT=Lat2-Terminus16
FONT_MAP=

It could also be a KMS issue. Which bootloader do you use? For Syslinux you can press the Tab key and type "nomodeset" at the end of the string. For GRUB, you can press "e" and add "nomodeset" on the "kernel" line and press "b" to boot.

Sacksofa · 2012-09-13 17:00:14

No luck with either of those suggestions.
You wanted me to enter the argument at the end of the

linux /boot...

line right?

DSpider · 2012-09-13 17:30:51

Yes. At the end of that line.

Try "acpi=off" instead of "nomodeset" (without the quotes, obviously).

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … t_problems

Do you happen to have Intel integrated graphics, by any chance? Which model?

Sacksofa · 2012-09-13 17:53:01

No luck. I followed the guide, but I may have screwed something up when I was trying out some console fonts...

Do you think I might have to do a reinstall?
Either way, thank you for your help!

Edit:
It's an 82815 Intel Graphics Controller Chipset

Last edited by Sacksofa (2012-09-13 17:55:10)

DSpider · 2012-09-13 18:11:32

Try the linux-lts kernel:

# mount /dev/sdxY /mnt         #The root partition.
# mount /dev/sdxZ /mnt/boot    #If you have a separate boot partition.
# arch-chroot /mnt
# pacman -S linux-lts
# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Then select the LTS entry when the GRUB menu shows up. Maybe try its fallback entry, as well.

Sacksofa · 2012-09-13 18:57:51

Okay, so I just did a fresh install following the guide to the letter and I still have the same problem.
Going to try the LTS kernel now.

Edit: Same problem unfortunately :-S
I tried LTE and regular as well as both of their fallbacks.

Last edited by Sacksofa (2012-09-13 19:06:53)

Sacksofa · 2012-09-13 19:12:21

On the bright side, I got ssh installed and configured, so I could poke around and run some tests. I just need to know where to look...Any ideas?

Last edited by Sacksofa (2012-09-13 19:52:29)

cfr · 2012-09-15 00:02:23

Just to be clear, everything is OK in the grub menu? Since you edited the kernel command line, I'm assuming you could read that...

If you've just installed, you haven't yet installed any video driver or X, right? Just the base system?

What's in /etc/locale.conf?

Have you tried booting into rescue mode?

How did you install arch? E.g. did you use the latest live media or do it in some other way?

Last edited by cfr (2012-09-15 00:05:40)

Arch Linux

#1 2012-09-13 15:53:51

Odd font issue with Arch

#2 2012-09-13 16:22:35

Re: Odd font issue with Arch

#3 2012-09-13 16:33:42

Re: Odd font issue with Arch

#4 2012-09-13 16:50:49

Re: Odd font issue with Arch

#5 2012-09-13 17:00:14

Re: Odd font issue with Arch

#6 2012-09-13 17:30:51

Re: Odd font issue with Arch

#7 2012-09-13 17:53:01

Re: Odd font issue with Arch

#8 2012-09-13 18:11:32

Re: Odd font issue with Arch

#9 2012-09-13 18:57:51

Re: Odd font issue with Arch

#10 2012-09-13 19:12:21

Re: Odd font issue with Arch

#11 2012-09-15 00:02:23

Re: Odd font issue with Arch

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