Ubuntu 11.10 alternate install blank screen

With Ubuntu 11.10 Unity requiring lots of resources both in CPU and memory, I embarked on installing a trimmed down version of it using alternate install. This used to be straight forward, follow the text based wizard and you are ready to go.

The problem is that after installation, on reboot it shows a blank screen. Just nothing... (except for the blinking cursor). This might be specific to VirtualBox guest machines but I can't verify this.

Anyway, it took me a while to figure this one out (of course with the help of Google). The following, from Ubuntu's bug repository Launchpad, shows the problem:

Ubuntu 11.10 Command line only installation fails over and over again
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1873069

grub2 configuration has vt.handoff=7 even when X11 is not installed
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/695658

Command-line Install on Minimal CD tries to boot graphically
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/831752

The problem

Ubuntu minimal/alternate failed to cover the use case that user might not need GUI in Ubuntu. This is a big oversight as a big chunk of Linux users (servers) don't need GUI. What happens is that it boots up and creates virtual terminal session 7 so that it can transition to GUI login seamlessly.

The work around

In Ubuntu 11.10, /etc/grub.d/10_linux line 70, it checks if the word "splash" is present in GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT. This GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT can be modified in /etc/default/grub. So changing this line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=""

I should have removed "splash" only but I also would like to see all the message while the machine is booting up.

Next up, is add the following towards the end of /etc/default/grub:

GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text

Ok I am not so familiar with this one. But I believe what it does is to force it to run in text mode instead of doing KMS functionality built-in the kernel.

Now, to update grub.cfg run:

sudo update-grub

Then reboot the machine, like:

sudo reboot

Error! Could not locate dkms.conf file install VirtualBox 4.1.8 on Ubuntu 11.10

Tried to update my Ubuntu host today and it did pickup that new version of VirtualBox is available (4.1.8). All other packages installed properly except that VirtualBox installation was complaining about missing dkms.conf file, see error message below. $: sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup * Stopping VirtualBox kernel modules [ OK ] * Uninstalling old VirtualBox DKMS kernel modules Error! Could not locate dkms.conf file. File: does not exist. [ OK ] * Trying to register the VirtualBox kernel modules using DKMS [ OK ] * Starting VirtualBox kernel modules [ OK ] Though it looks like installation was fine but I am concerned about its effects to VirtualBox functionality. To fix this, do: $: cd /var/lib/dkms/vboxhost $: sudo rm -r 4.1.4 $: sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup Of course you have to re...

Nauglin said…

Great, works like a magic spell, thanks a lot. I was very confused about this Ubuntu CLI boot hanging "feature", wandering what the hell were I doing so wrong O_o Un millón de gracias.

12/29/2011 2:38 PM

Techno Scavenger said…

Glad to be of help. Thanks for the comment.

12/30/2011 1:44 AM

Unknown said…

ditto to Nauglin. You just saved my day man! I made 4 different Virtual Machines, trying some luck. Thanks a lot!

1/14/2012 12:14 PM

Anonymous said…

Thanks for compiling this worked well. Took a moment to figure out how to get to the command line (using the install cd in rescue mode), but I'm pretty noob on this.

1/21/2012 2:24 AM

@Unknown/Anonymous, I am glad that the post helped. Thanks for the comment.

2/02/2012 9:34 PM

Deepak @ BITS said…

Didnt work for me
took me to tty
logged in
startx came with errors: Fatal server error: no screens found.
ny idea???

deepak

2/12/2012 3:02 AM