Grub menu not displayed

Grub menu not displayed

[Tanguy LE CARROUR]

Hi Guix,

I've been having this problem since the very beginning but, as it is not
a "must have" and it only affects 1 of my 3 computers running Guix System,
I've lived without the Grub menu for years.

When my computer boots, I only see a black screen with "Seabios […] Grub
loading […] Welcome to Grub!", but I never get the Grub menu where I can select
a previous generation. After a few seconds, it boots and I get to the
graphical session manager where I can login.

My configuration is the following:

```
  (bootloader (bootloader-configuration
                (bootloader grub-bootloader)
                (targets (list "/dev/sda"))
                (keyboard-layout keyboard-layout)))
```

My guess is that it's related to the screen resolution. So I had a look
into `gnu/bootloader/grub.scm` and saw the following:

```
 (define-record-type* <grub-theme>
 ;; Default theme contributed by Felipe López.
  grub-theme make-grub-theme
  grub-theme?
   (image           grub-theme-image
                    (default (file-append %artwork-repository
                                          "/grub/GuixSD-fully-black-4-3.svg")))
   (resolution      grub-theme-resolution
                    (default '(1024 . 768)))
   (color-normal    grub-theme-color-normal
                    (default '((fg . light-gray) (bg . black))))
   (color-highlight grub-theme-color-highlight
                    (default '((fg . yellow) (bg . black))))
   (gfxmode         grub-theme-gfxmode
                    (default '("auto"))))          ;list of string
```

Before I try to define a custom `grub-theme` record, to change the `resolution`
or the `gfxmode`, I wanted to ask you guys, for if I mess up my Grub,
I might be in big trouble! ^_^'

Any help welcome!

Regards,

-- 
Tanguy

Re: Grub menu not displayed

[Leo Famulari]

On Tue, Jan 18, 2022 at 06:24:02PM +0100, Tanguy LE CARROUR wrote:
> I've been having this problem since the very beginning but, as it is not
> a "must have" and it only affects 1 of my 3 computers running Guix System,
> I've lived without the Grub menu for years.
> 
> When my computer boots, I only see a black screen with "Seabios […] Grub
> loading […] Welcome to Grub!", but I never get the Grub menu where I can select
> a previous generation. After a few seconds, it boots and I get to the
> graphical session manager where I can login.

I have a computer where the graphical GRUB menu does not display
correctly (it's looks "scrambled").

So, my bootloader configuration looks like this:

(bootloader (grub-configuration (target "/dev/sda")
                                (terminal-outputs '(console))))

It's using an old style of the interface, but you should be able to
adapt it to use the console-mode GRUB menu. I recommend trying it.

Re: Grub menu not displayed

[Tanguy LE CARROUR]

Hi Leo,


Quoting Leo Famulari (2022-01-18 21:23:16)
> On Tue, Jan 18, 2022 at 06:24:02PM +0100, Tanguy LE CARROUR wrote:
> > I've been having this problem since the very beginning but, as it is not
> > a "must have" and it only affects 1 of my 3 computers running Guix System,
> > I've lived without the Grub menu for years.
> > 
> > When my computer boots, I only see a black screen with "Seabios […] Grub
> > loading […] Welcome to Grub!", but I never get the Grub menu where I can select
> > a previous generation. After a few seconds, it boots and I get to the
> > graphical session manager where I can login.
> 
> I have a computer where the graphical GRUB menu does not display
> correctly (it's looks "scrambled").
> 
> So, my bootloader configuration looks like this:
> 
> (bootloader (grub-configuration (target "/dev/sda")
>                                 (terminal-outputs '(console))))
> 
> It's using an old style of the interface, but you should be able to
> adapt it to use the console-mode GRUB menu. I recommend trying it.

Thanks for the advice! I'll give it a try at the week end!

Regards,

-- 
Tanguy

Re: Grub menu not displayed

[Tanguy LE CARROUR]

Hi Leo,


Quoting Leo Famulari (2022-01-18 21:23:16)
> On Tue, Jan 18, 2022 at 06:24:02PM +0100, Tanguy LE CARROUR wrote:
> > I've been having this problem since the very beginning but, as it is not
> > a "must have" and it only affects 1 of my 3 computers running Guix System,
> > I've lived without the Grub menu for years.
> > 
> > When my computer boots, I only see a black screen with "Seabios […] Grub
> > loading […] Welcome to Grub!", but I never get the Grub menu where I can select
> > a previous generation. After a few seconds, it boots and I get to the
> > graphical session manager where I can login.
> 
> I have a computer where the graphical GRUB menu does not display
> correctly (it's looks "scrambled").
> 
> So, my bootloader configuration looks like this:
> 
> (bootloader (grub-configuration (target "/dev/sda")
>                                 (terminal-outputs '(console))))
> 
> It's using an old style of the interface, but you should be able to
> adapt it to use the console-mode GRUB menu. I recommend trying it.

So, this morning, I updated my configuration to:

```
  (bootloader (bootloader-configuration
                (bootloader grub-bootloader)
                (terminal-outputs '(console))
                (targets (list "/dev/sda"))
                (keyboard-layout keyboard-layout)))
```

I reconfigured and rebooted and… got the following error right after
the "Welcome to Grub!" message:

"""
error: no video mode activated.
"""

I broke out in cold sweat and saw my life flash before my eyes…
but, after 2 seconds, the text menu showed up! \o/

Thanks for your help! :-)

-- 
Tanguy

Re: Grub menu not displayed

[Leo Famulari]

On Thu, Jan 20, 2022 at 08:16:59AM +0100, Tanguy LE CARROUR wrote:
> I reconfigured and rebooted and… got the following error right after
> the "Welcome to Grub!" message:
> 
> """
> error: no video mode activated.
> """
> 
> I broke out in cold sweat and saw my life flash before my eyes…
> but, after 2 seconds, the text menu showed up! \o/

Hooray :)

> Thanks for your help! :-)

Cheers!

Re: Grub menu not displayed

[Maxim Cournoyer]

Hello,

Leo Famulari <leo@famulari.name> writes:

> On Thu, Jan 20, 2022 at 08:16:59AM +0100, Tanguy LE CARROUR wrote:
>> I reconfigured and rebooted and… got the following error right after
>> the "Welcome to Grub!" message:
>> 
>> """
>> error: no video mode activated.
>> """
>> 
>> I broke out in cold sweat and saw my life flash before my eyes…
>> but, after 2 seconds, the text menu showed up! \o/

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but out of curiosity, do others get the
above error (and no fancy SVG background) in GRUB when using the
'nouveau' driver for nVIDIA GPUs?  Because I do.  I wonder if it's
fixable.

Thanks,

Maxim

Re: Grub menu not displayed

[Leo Famulari]

On Sun, Jan 23, 2022 at 05:07:26PM -0500, Maxim Cournoyer wrote:
> Sorry for hijacking the thread, but out of curiosity, do others get the
> above error (and no fancy SVG background) in GRUB when using the
> 'nouveau' driver for nVIDIA GPUs?  Because I do.  I wonder if it's
> fixable.

I only have integrated Intel graphics. For me, the problem system is a
Thinkpad x200s.

Re: Grub menu not displayed

[Tanguy LE CARROUR]

Hi Maxim, hi Leo,

Quoting Leo Famulari (2022-01-24 00:01:50)
> On Sun, Jan 23, 2022 at 05:07:26PM -0500, Maxim Cournoyer wrote:
> > Sorry for hijacking the thread, but out of curiosity, do others get the
> > above error (and no fancy SVG background) in GRUB when using the
> > 'nouveau' driver for nVIDIA GPUs?  Because I do.  I wonder if it's
> > fixable.
> 
> I only have integrated Intel graphics. For me, the problem system is a
> Thinkpad x200s.

Everything works as expected on my Thinkpad T200. The problem is with my
Viking D8… that uses the nVIDIA driver! Do you think it could be related?


-- 
Tanguy

Re: Grub menu not displayed

[Maxim Cournoyer]

Hello,

Tanguy LE CARROUR <tanguy@bioneland.org> writes:

> Hi Maxim, hi Leo,
>
> Quoting Leo Famulari (2022-01-24 00:01:50)
>> On Sun, Jan 23, 2022 at 05:07:26PM -0500, Maxim Cournoyer wrote:
>> > Sorry for hijacking the thread, but out of curiosity, do others get the
>> > above error (and no fancy SVG background) in GRUB when using the
>> > 'nouveau' driver for nVIDIA GPUs?  Because I do.  I wonder if it's
>> > fixable.
>> 
>> I only have integrated Intel graphics. For me, the problem system is a
>> Thinkpad x200s.
>
> Everything works as expected on my Thinkpad T200. The problem is with my
> Viking D8… that uses the nVIDIA driver! Do you think it could be related?

Seems likely, although I haven't researched the reason yet.

Maxim

Re: Grub menu not displayed

[David Lecompte]

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Le lundi 24 janvier 2022 à 08:46 +0100, Tanguy LE CARROUR a écrit :
> Everything works as expected on my Thinkpad T200. The problem is with
> my
> Viking D8… that uses the nVIDIA driver! Do you think it could be
> related?

I am using a Vikings D8 with Trisquel 9 + Guix and Debian 11 + Guix, I
can see Grub menu but only in text
mode. https://libreboot.org/docs/hardware/kcma-d8.html says only text-
mode is known to work (my D8 has coreboot but I suppose the problem is
the same). I have a GeForce GT-710 but I suspect that it isn't used at
the time Grub is loaded. Vikings told me a non-free blob would be
needed to have graphical GRUB display.

In Trisquel, I had set GRUB_TERMINAL=console in /etc/default/grub.

In Debian, I did not set anything manually, I don't know how text mode
is selected.

By the way, with nouveau I have regular system freezes with Trisquel 9
(logs show issues with stack in nouveau, can happen more than once a
day), while with Debian 11 and Mate, I only rarely (once a month or
less) have the Mate session disconnected (apparently, X server was
restarted).

Perhaps this wasn't the main question, but in case it could help.

David.


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Nouveau Nvidia driver makes the system freeze? [Was: Grub menu not displayed]

[Tanguy LE CARROUR]

Hi David,


Quoting David Lecompte (2022-01-25 12:38:02)
> Le lundi 24 janvier 2022 à 08:46 +0100, Tanguy LE CARROUR a écrit :
> > Everything works as expected on my Thinkpad T200. The problem is with
> > my
> > Viking D8… that uses the nVIDIA driver! Do you think it could be
> > related?
> 
> I am using a Vikings D8 with Trisquel 9 + Guix and Debian 11 + Guix, I
> can see Grub menu but only in text
> mode. https://libreboot.org/docs/hardware/kcma-d8.html says only text-
> mode is known to work (my D8 has coreboot but I suppose the problem is
> the same). I have a GeForce GT-710 but I suspect that it isn't used at
> the time Grub is loaded. Vikings told me a non-free blob would be
> needed to have graphical GRUB display.
> 
> In Trisquel, I had set GRUB_TERMINAL=console in /etc/default/grub.
> 
> In Debian, I did not set anything manually, I don't know how text mode
> is selected.

Good to know. Thanks for sharing! Good thing is that I'm perfectly OK living
with GRUB's text mode! :-)


> By the way, with nouveau I have regular system freezes with Trisquel 9
> (logs show issues with stack in nouveau, can happen more than once a
> day), while with Debian 11 and Mate, I only rarely (once a month or
> less) have the Mate session disconnected (apparently, X server was
> restarted).
> 
> Perhaps this wasn't the main question, but in case it could help.

Indeed, it's not related to this question, but it's totally related to
my next one! :-)

[…updating the thread's subject…]

I've had the very same "system freezes" problem since the very beginning
(I'm using Bspwm window manager on a Guix System, btw).
It mostly happens when I'm using graphical applications: Libreoffice, Grisbi and
Icecat on some JS-heavy pages (visiting Gitlab issues, most of the time).

When it freezes, I cannot switch to a different workspace and the
applications on the current workspace stop responding… but the pointer
moves normally and music keeps on playing for a few minutes.

I don't know if it's possible to disable Nouveau entirely or to use the
proprietary/evil driver, just to make sure Nouveau actually causes the issue.

Even if it only happens 2 or 3 times a month, any fix would be welcome!

Regards,

-- 
Tanguy

Re: Grub menu not displayed

[Maxim Cournoyer]

Hi Leo,

Leo Famulari <leo@famulari.name> writes:

> On Sun, Jan 23, 2022 at 05:07:26PM -0500, Maxim Cournoyer wrote:
>> Sorry for hijacking the thread, but out of curiosity, do others get the
>> above error (and no fancy SVG background) in GRUB when using the
>> 'nouveau' driver for nVIDIA GPUs?  Because I do.  I wonder if it's
>> fixable.
>
> I only have integrated Intel graphics. For me, the problem system is a
> Thinkpad x200s.

That's curious; I have a X200 (wihout the trailing 's'), and it works
fine there.

Maxim