[solved] Virtual terminal font is wrong after update of nvidia drivers

scott_fakename · 2024-10-05 02:11:54

I did an update last night that included upgrading nvidia from 560.35.03-9 -> 560.35.03-10, and everything works EXCEPT, that when I'm booting up, after systemd is finished scrolling out its statuses and it switches to getty, the terminal font changes and the text becomes huge. If I log in and run

setfont Lat2-Terminus16

Then it fixes and goes back to the right size, and I have that set in my vconsole.conf:

$ cat /etc/vconsole.conf 
FONT=Lat2-Terminus16

But it still un-fixes itself every boot. Downgrading back to 560.35.03-9 fixed the issue.

Has anyone else seen this issue and have a workaround, or should I just wait for the next nvidia and hope it's fixed?

Last edited by scott_fakename (2024-10-05 15:42:28)

seth · 2024-10-05 06:46:08

The rebuild just fixed https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … -/issues/1

What do you mean by "huge"? 80x25?

scott_fakename · 2024-10-05 06:58:13

I don't know the specific size it is now, just "several times larger than it was before." It used to be the font size left hundreds of lines and columns but now I have like, maybe three dozen lines on my monitor. I don't have it in front of me at the moment.

I'll try updating tomorrow.

seth · 2024-10-05 07:08:28

stty size

It might be that the 6.11 kernel broke the nvidia framebuffer, the 560.35.03-9 driver broke nvidia (so you're running on the simpledrm device) and the fix confronts you w/ the broken framebuffer.
Try to add "nvidia_drm.modeset=1 nvidia_drm.fbdev=1" to the https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Kernel_parameters (fbdev might break the output altogether, so try a transient change at the bootloader first)

scott_fakename · 2024-10-05 15:42:12

Bad:

$ stty size
45 160

Good:

$ stty
90 320

I guess nvidia_drm.fbdev=1 is the new default, I was reading somewhere. I set it to 1 explicitly in my kernel command line and it had the same behavior, so I tried setting it explicitly to nvidia_drm.fb=0 and it works as it used to now.

seth · 2024-10-05 18:15:00

nvidia_drm.fb=0 or nvidia_drm.fbdev=0 ?

modinfo nvidia_drm | grep fb

scott_fakename · 2024-10-05 18:25:48

$ modinfo nvidia_drm | grep fb
parm:           fbdev:Create a framebuffer device (1 = enable (default), 0 = disable) (EXPERIMENTAL) (bool)

I got it to "work" by setting nvidia_drm.fbdev=0

Last edited by scott_fakename (2024-10-05 18:46:11)

seth · 2024-10-05 18:27:51

Literal "nvidia_drm.fb=0" would be inert, it's either a typo on the forum or coincidence (or a fluke on a race condition)

scott_fakename · 2024-10-05 19:14:17

Right, it would go to the init or something since it's an unknown argument, but I got it working by setting it specifically to

nvidia_drm.fbdev=0

to disable it. I don't think fbdev is doing anything for me so disabling it seems fine.

Edit: Oh i see why you're mentioning "fb"; yep that was a copy paste error. It's disabled with fbdev=0, not fb.

Last edited by scott_fakename (2024-10-05 23:23:59)

stefan · 2024-10-19 09:44:17

Hello,

I’m also seeing this “big font” issue, just did not find the time to address this earlier. Sorry.

Before adding a kernel parameter, I have a different thought:

As the OP said, it looks like the console font is changed “after systemd is finished scrolling out its statuses and it switches to getty,” — so would it be possible to just disable this setting of the font?

Because, I’m rather annoyed by the fact that the font changes, than by the font itself. I find both readable, and I only look at the tty for loggig in, so the effort to change the font seems entirely wasted on me.

Is there any idea how to do that?

Thank you very much
Stefan

Last edited by stefan (2024-10-19 09:44:59)

seth · 2024-10-19 12:10:45

If the OPs fix works it's probably less a font change and more because the framebuffer device changes (probably resulting in a resolution change)
The fonts are defined in /etc/vconsole.conf and the mkinitcpio "consolefont" hook would move the font into the initramfs.

scott_fakename · 2024-10-19 15:38:53

In my case I have sd-vconsole in my HOOKS in mkinitcio.conf; it takes effect, but when it hands off from initramfs and starts up the nvidia frame buffer it seems not to respect my /etc/vconsole font.

Arch Linux

#1 2024-10-05 02:11:54

[solved] Virtual terminal font is wrong after update of nvidia drivers

#2 2024-10-05 06:46:08

Re: [solved] Virtual terminal font is wrong after update of nvidia drivers

#3 2024-10-05 06:58:13

Re: [solved] Virtual terminal font is wrong after update of nvidia drivers

#4 2024-10-05 07:08:28

Re: [solved] Virtual terminal font is wrong after update of nvidia drivers

#5 2024-10-05 15:42:12

Re: [solved] Virtual terminal font is wrong after update of nvidia drivers

#6 2024-10-05 18:15:00

Re: [solved] Virtual terminal font is wrong after update of nvidia drivers

#7 2024-10-05 18:25:48

Re: [solved] Virtual terminal font is wrong after update of nvidia drivers

#8 2024-10-05 18:27:51

Re: [solved] Virtual terminal font is wrong after update of nvidia drivers

#9 2024-10-05 19:14:17

Re: [solved] Virtual terminal font is wrong after update of nvidia drivers

#10 2024-10-19 09:44:17

Re: [solved] Virtual terminal font is wrong after update of nvidia drivers

#11 2024-10-19 12:10:45

Re: [solved] Virtual terminal font is wrong after update of nvidia drivers

#12 2024-10-19 15:38:53

Re: [solved] Virtual terminal font is wrong after update of nvidia drivers

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