(solved)grub page unreadable

[nalsdixit]

i recently rebooted after an update, and found the grub page to be unreadable (a distorted color page). the computer still booted into lmde as that is first choice on the page. how do i get back to a normal grub page/background. i did run 'apt-get update-grub', but that did not fix it

i am using an acer aspire one netbook, with upto date lmde

tks

nals

[xircon]

Try sudo update-grub (without the apt-get).

[nalsdixit]

tks xircon, tried that, unfort same result, no change.


nals@nals ~ $ sudo update-grub
[sudo] password for nals:
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found background image: linuxmint.png
Found Debian background: linuxmint.png
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-2-686
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-2-686
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-686
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-686
Found Windows Recovery Environment (loader) on /dev/sda1
Found Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition on /dev/sda2
done

----
nals

[xircon]

Have you installed a splash screen or Plymouth?

What is the output of

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cat /etc/default/grub

Mine says:

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# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet nomodeset radeon.modeset=0"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="vga=792"

# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

[nalsdixit]

i have not done anything other than the standard install, and updates. was working fine, until recent updates/kernal upgrade.

here is output of what you asked me to run

nals@nals ~ $ cat /etc/default/grub
# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"
nals@nals ~ $

[xircon]

The only difference I can see is:

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GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet nomodeset radeon.modeset=0"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="vga=792" <<<<<<< I thought this was deprecated?  Might be an AMD thing?

I have an ATI/AMD card, which would explain the first line.

Try:

Adding nomodeset after quiet

Adding the "vga=792"

Or http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1341868

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GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="gfxpayload=1024x768x24,1024x768 splash"

Other than that I am stumped

[nalsdixit]

how do i go about adding that ?

i can just about copy paste something to the terminal, but not much more

tks

nals

[AlbertP]

xircon: That line is not deprecated. It is used if your driver does not have KMS (Kernel ModeSetting) and the proprietary drivers of both ATI and NVidia don't use KMS.

[xircon]

how do i go about adding that ?

i can just about copy paste something to the terminal, but not much more

tks

nals

What is your video card?

Press alt-f2 (or in a terminal):

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sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

If sudo is not set up:

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su (enter password then press enter)
gedit /etc/default/grub

@AlbertP - thanks, didn't know that.

Steve

[nalsdixit]

hi xircon

this is what i got when i pasted it in the terminal:


[sudo] password for nals:
/usr/share/themes/Shiki-Wise/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:126: Murrine configuration option "gradients" is no longer supported and will be ignored.

(gedit:16195): Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to rename '/root/.recently-used.xbel': No such file or directory

(gedit:16195): Gtk-WARNING **: Attempting to store changes into `/root/.local/share/recently-used.xbel', but failed: Failed to create file '/root/.local/share/recently-used.xbel.KETOUV': No such file or directory

(gedit:16195): Gtk-WARNING **: Attempting to set the permissions of `/root/.local/share/recently-used.xbel', but failed: No such file or directory

-------------------
any ideas ?

tks

nals

[AlbertP]

You should not worry about this, Gedit will open fine if you have some patience. Gedit is always giving GTK warnings in the terminal.

[nalsdixit]

thankyou, i did add the 'nomodeset' and the 'vga=792', saved, update grub, but it did not solve the problem
--------------------------

nals@nals ~ $ cat /etc/default/grub
# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet nomodeset"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="vga=792"

# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"
nals@nals ~ $

any other suggestions pls ?

nals

[Roken]

You could try uninstalling and reinstalling grub - this can fix a multitude of problems with grub.

*** NOTE - DO NOT REBOOT UNTIL YOU FINISH ***

Open a terminal and type

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sudo apt-get remove grub-pc grub-common
sudo apt-get install grub-pc grub-common
sudo update-grub

*** OK - Finished ***

If either fails to uninstall or reinstall, do each of grub-pc and grub-common separately, (though both "removes" before you start "installs"), remove/install whichever failed 2nd. It may happen but it's only because they are installing out of sequence and so dependencies are not met in order.

[AlbertP]

Much better:

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sudo apt-get install --reinstall grub-pc grub-common grub2 grub2-theme-mint
sudo update-grub

[nalsdixit]

tks albert

some how it has solved itself, despite the grub page being unreadable, i hit the cursor keys, which made my computer boot up with the earlier linux kernel. however that somehow hung up my computer. when i then did a cold shut down and rebooted, the grub page showed up as per normal. as it is working fine now, i rather leave it as it is. if it acts up again, i will try the solution you suggested

tks for your help

nals

[sdibaja]

The image (linuxmint.png) in /boot/grub/ is probably all FUBARed... mine was very light gray which made it nearly impossible to see the White characters.
Simply replace the existing image with something more to your taste...

I just found another way in this thread: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 84#p437084

It turns out that there is no need to resize or change the parent image other than to rename it and put it in the correct location:

First, I experimented with various images resized to the same as my original linuxmint.png (640x480) and then renamed to linuxmint.png and then copied to /boot/grub/.
That worked sweet. For grins I then tried a couple images that were of different sizes and they worked fine also, but the scale ratio make some look a bit odd.
I did NOT run update-grub
A simple image replacement does the trick!

Thanks dawgdoc!
Peter