No video display, SuSE kernel-xen-2.6.11.4-21.7

No video display, SuSE kernel-xen-2.6.11.4-21.7

[Robbie Dinn]

Thread moved from the xen-user to xen-devel mailing list

Ian, I have done some limited testing, I will do some more,
but I wanted to report what I had so far.

I am doing this testing on my Mitac laptop but I may
switch to different hardware for future tests. There
is no serial port on the laptop and you can't change
the video card.

I am using the same linux kernel through out but changing the
Xen version each time. This wasn't what you asked me to do
but I thought it was worth doing before I got bogged down
with recompiling kernels.

I will try different kernels next.

Linux kernel is 
http://www.suse.de/~garloff/linux/xen/RPMs-93/kernel-xen-2.6.11.4-21.7.i586.rpm

--------------------------------
Xen: http://www.suse.de/~garloff/linux/xen/RPMs-92/xen-2.0.5d-1.1.i586.rpm

grub:
title XEN 9.3 /dev/system/root_9.3
     kernel (hd0,1)/i386/xen-2.0.5d-1.1.gz dom0_mem=512000
     module (hd0,1)/i386/vmlinuz-2.6.11.4-21.7-xen 
root=/dev/system/root_9.3  selinux=0  splash=silent showopts console=tty0
     module (hd0,1)/i386/initrd-2.6.11.4-21.7-xen

line from 'xm dmesg':
  Xen version 2.0 (abuild@suse.de) (gcc version 3.3.4 (pre 3.3.5 
20040809)) Mon Apr  4 04:06:20 UTC 2005
  Latest ChangeSet: information unavailable

outcome:
text consoles/virtual terminals are black (no display)
Xserver starts up fine on console 7

----------------------------------
Xen: http://www.suse.de/~garloff/linux/xen/RPMs-92/xen-2.0.6a-0.1.i586.rpm

grub:
title XEN 9.3 /dev/system/root_9.3
     kernel (hd0,1)/i386/xen-2.0.6a-0.1.gz dom0_mem=512000
     module (hd0,1)/i386/vmlinuz-2.6.11.4-21.7-xen 
root=/dev/system/root_9.3  selinux=0  splash=silent showopts console=tty0
     module (hd0,1)/i386/initrd-2.6.11.4-21.7-xen

line form 'xm dmesg':
  Xen version 2.0.6a-0.1 (abuild@suse.de) (gcc version 3.3.4 (pre 3.3.5 
20040809)) Fri Jun 10 21:05:34 UTC 2005
  Latest ChangeSet: information unavailable

outcome:
text consoles are black (no display)
X server starts up fine on console 7

---------------------------------
Xen: 
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/xen/downloads/xen-2.0.5-install.tgz

grub:
title XEN 9.3 /dev/system/root_9.3
     kernel (hd0,1)/i386/xen-2.0.5.gz dom0_mem=512000
     module (hd0,1)/i386/vmlinuz-2.6.11.4-21.7-xen 
root=/dev/system/root_9.3  selinux=0  splash=silent showopts console=tty0
     module (hd0,1)/i386/initrd-2.6.11.4-21.7-xen

line fron 'xm dmesg':
  Xen version 2.0.5 (xenod@cl.cam.ac.uk) (gcc version 3.3.3 20040412 
(Red Hat Linux 3.3.3-7)) Thu Mar 10 19:25:59 GMT 2005
  Latest ChangeSet: 2005/03/10 18:12:52 1.1717 
42308e24_-Xsew-lCWFgg_8_L8c9xQ

outcome:
text consoles are black (no display)
X server fails to start! last few lines of /var/logXorg.0.log read:

   (EE) No devices detected.

   Fatal server error:
   no screens found

And I can't see an entry for the video chip when I do
'lspci -v'...

adler:~ # lspci -v >/tmp/lspci-2.0.6-cambridge
adler:~ # diff -u /tmp/lspci-2.0.[56]-cambridge
--- /tmp/lspci-2.0.5-cambridge  2005-06-14 13:24:41.000000000 +0100
+++ /tmp/lspci-2.0.6-cambridge  2005-06-14 13:41:57.000000000 +0100
@@ -7,11 +7,19 @@
         Capabilities: [68] Power Management version 2
         Capabilities: [58] #08 [8001]

+0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI bridge 
[K8T800 South] (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
+       Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 0
+       Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
+       I/O behind bridge: 0000c000-0000dfff
+       Memory behind bridge: e0000000-efffffff
+       Prefetchable memory behind bridge: a0000000-afffffff
+       Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
+
  0000:00:09.0 CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc CB-710/2/4 Cardbus 
Controller (rev 01)
         Subsystem: Mitac: Unknown device 8355
         Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168
         Memory at 40000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
-       Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=04, sec-latency=176
+       Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=05, sec-latency=176
         Memory window 0: 1f400000-1f7ff000
         Memory window 1: 1f800000-1fbff000
         I/O window 0: 00004000-000040ff
@@ -103,3 +111,12 @@
  0000:00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 
[Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
         Flags: fast devsel

+0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV350 
[Mobility Radeon 9600 M10] (prog-if 00 [VGA])
+       Subsystem: Mitac: Unknown device 8355
+       Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 128, IRQ 11
+       Memory at a8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
+       I/O ports at c100 [size=256]
+       Memory at e0010000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
+       Capabilities: [58] AGP version 3.0
+       Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
+
adler:~ #
----------------------------------
Xen: 
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/xen/downloads/xen-2.0.6-install.tgz

grub:
title XEN 9.3 /dev/system/root_9.3
     kernel (hd0,1)/i386/xen-2.0.6.gz dom0_mem=512000
     module (hd0,1)/i386/vmlinuz-2.6.11.4-21.7-xen 
root=/dev/system/root_9.3  selinux=0  splash=silent showopts console=tty0
     module (hd0,1)/i386/initrd-2.6.11.4-21.7-xen

lines from 'xm dmesg':
  Xen version 2.0.6 (xenod@cl.cam.ac.uk) (gcc version 3.3.3 20040412 
(Red Hat Linux 3.3.3-7)) Sun May 22 11:31:19 BST 2005
  Latest ChangeSet: 2005/05/22 11:30:28 1.1720 
42905f44tK_V2k-UIPH1EmnW4Bg6Dg

outcome:
text consoles are black (no display)
X server starts up fine on console 7

----------------------------------
Xen: 
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/xen/downloads/xen-2.0-testing-install.tgz

grub:
title XEN 9.3 /dev/system/root_9.3
     kernel (hd0,1)/i386/xen-2.0-testing.gz dom0_mem=512000
     module (hd0,1)/i386/vmlinuz-2.6.11.4-21.7-xen 
root=/dev/system/root_9.3  selinux=0  splash=silent showopts console=tty0
     module (hd0,1)/i386/initrd-2.6.11.4-21.7-xen

lines from 'xm dmesg':
  Xen version 2.0-testing (xenod@cl.cam.ac.uk) (gcc version 3.3.3 
20040412 (Red Hat Linux 3.3.3-7)) Mon Jun 13 03:16:59 BST 2005
  Latest ChangeSet: 2005/06/10 17:15:35 1.1900 
42a9bca7SPmMRozAfET0WOMKS0VQZA

outcome:
text consoles are black (no display)
X server starts up fine on console 7

Re: No video display, SuSE kernel-xen-2.6.11.4-21.7

[Gerd Knorr]

Robbie Dinn <robbie@microbus.com> writes:

> text consoles/virtual terminals are black (no display)
> Xserver starts up fine on console 7

What does "dmesg | grep -i console" say in that case once the system
is up & running?

What does "cat /proc/fb" say?

  Gerd

-- 
-mm seems unusually stable at present.
	-- akpm about 2.6.12-rc3-mm3

Re: No video display, SuSE kernel-xen-2.6.11.4-21.7

[Robbie Dinn]

Hi Gerd

Gerd Knorr wrote:
> What does "dmesg | grep -i console" say in that case once the system
> is up & running?
> 

Last login: Tue Jun 14 14:16:35 2005 from rjd.microbus
Have a lot of fun...
adler:~ # dmesg | grep -i console
Kernel command line: root=/dev/system/root_9.3  selinux=0  splash=silent 
showopts console=tty0 5
Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
Xen virtual console successfully installed as ttyS

> What does "cat /proc/fb" say?
> 
>   Gerd
> 

adler:~ # cat /proc/fb
adler:~ # wc -c /proc/fb
0 /proc/fb

Also, I have changed back to an older kernel-xen. This
one is shipped on the SuSE 9.3 DVD. No change in behaviour
though (black text consoles, X server works fine).

adler:~ # uname -a
Linux adler 2.6.11.4-20a-xen #1 Wed Mar 23 21:52:37 UTC 2005 i686 athlon 
i386 GNU/Linux
adler:~

I am going to see if I can compile a kernel from xen-2.0.5-src.gz
using a .config file taken from one of the SuSE kernels and see
how that works (or otherwise). I already tried with binaries
(kernel image, modules) taken fron xen-2.0.5-install.gz but
that failed to boot and I can see where it is hanging. I am
still using the laptop and I need to change to a machine with
a serial port available.

Re: No video display, SuSE kernel-xen-2.6.11.4-21.7

[Gerd Knorr]

> adler:~ # dmesg | grep -i console
> Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
> adler:~ # cat /proc/fb
> adler:~ # 

Standard vga text console, also no framebuffer device active.
Hmm.  You really should see something ...

Maybe grub does something silly, so the machine comes up with
the vga in graphics instead of text mode.  What happens if you
turn off the eye-candy stuff in /boot/grub/menu.lst (comment
the gfxmenu line)?

  Gerd

-- 
-mm seems unusually stable at present.
	-- akpm about 2.6.12-rc3-mm3

Re: No video display, SuSE kernel-xen-2.6.11.4-21.7

[Robbie Dinn]

Gerd Knorr wrote:
>>adler:~ # dmesg | grep -i console
>>Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
>>adler:~ # cat /proc/fb
>>adler:~ # 
> 
> 
> Standard vga text console, also no framebuffer device active.
> Hmm.  You really should see something ...
> 
> Maybe grub does something silly, so the machine comes up with
> the vga in graphics instead of text mode.  What happens if you
> turn off the eye-candy stuff in /boot/grub/menu.lst (comment
> the gfxmenu line)?

Here is what the start of my menu.lst looks like;

   adler:~ # mount /dev/hda2 /boot
   adler:~ # head /boot/grub/menu.lst
   # Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Sat Nov 13 19:12:31 2004


   timeout 8
   default 0
   root (hd0,1)
   makeactive
   color white/blue black/light-gray

   ###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
   adler:~ #

*** STOP PRESS ***

I just put the server machine back in the rack and when
I booted it up, the text console came up with text on it!

** boggle **

However the font was corrupt (little under lines
under all the u's and p's).

** double boggle **

Part way through the font got fixed, possibly when a new
console font got loaded.

This would normally scream flakey hardware to me,
except I have seen the black screen problem on two
different disks and 3 different mother boards (that
is two motherboard and one laptop).

I sincerely hope that I haven't been leading you folks
on a wild goose chase.

yours dazed and confused,

Robbie Dinn

Re: No video display, SuSE kernel-xen-2.6.11.4-21.7

[Gerd Knorr]

> Part way through the font got fixed, possibly when a new
> console font got loaded.

Probably, at least suse does that by default during bootup.

  Gerd

-- 
-mm seems unusually stable at present.
	-- akpm about 2.6.12-rc3-mm3

Re: No video display, SuSE kernel-xen-2.6.11.4-21.7

[Robbie Dinn]

Hello

Replying to myself...

Robbie Dinn wrote:
> 
> I am using the same linux kernel through out but changing the
> Xen version each time. This wasn't what you asked me to do
> but I thought it was worth doing before I got bogged down
> with recompiling kernels.
> 
> I will try different kernels next.
> 

I have now tried several different kernels
 
http://www.suse.de/~garloff/linux/xen/RPMs-93/kernel-xen-2.6.11.4-21.7.i586.rpm
   kernel-xen-2.6.11.4-20a.i586.rpm from SuSE 9.3 DVD
   A locally compiled kernel from xen-2.0-testing-src.tgz
   A locally compile kernel from xen-2.0.5-src.tgz

I was using the a xen image compiled from xen-2.0-testing
with each of the above.

In each case, the laptop behaves the same, black text console,
X server on console 7.

Booting a non xen linux kernel works fine of course.

It seems that my problem isn't due to a recent software change.

There is a second rack mounted machine that was apparently
showing the same symptoms, but when I replaced it in the rack,
the text consoles started working, albeit with corrupted fonts.
That machine is running a nameserver and so is off limits for
further testing.

I may try I installing another machine with the same set of
packages to see if I can reproduce the problem.