Leap 16 boot is delayed by 'setup virutal console'

English Install/Boot/Login
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1

booting to login screen is delayed by following commands. And then it shows login screen.

stopping setup virutal console
stopped setup virutal console
started setup virutal console

2

Share the output from
sudo journalctl -b -u systemd-vconsole-setup.service
systemd-analyze critical-chain systemd-vconsole-setup.service
sudo lsinitrd | grep vconsole

Please post the output as preformatted text. (Refer to the </> button in the forum editor.)

3 

$ sudo journalctl -b -u systemd-vconsole-setup.service

Oct 27 10:56:11 leaps systemd-vconsole-setup[286]: /usr/bin/setfont failed with a "system error" (EX_OSERR), ignoring.
Oct 27 10:56:11 leaps systemd-vconsole-setup[293]: setfont: ERROR kdfontop.c:212 put_font_kdfontop: Unable to load such font with such>
Oct 27 10:56:11 leaps systemd-vconsole-setup[286]: Setting source virtual console failed, ignoring remaining ones.
Oct 27 10:56:11 leaps systemd[1]: Finished Virtual Console Setup.
Oct 27 10:56:12 leaps systemd[1]: systemd-vconsole-setup.service: Deactivated successfully.
Oct 27 10:56:12 leaps systemd[1]: Stopped Virtual Console Setup.
Oct 27 10:56:12 leaps systemd[1]: Stopping Virtual Console Setup...
Oct 27 10:56:12 leaps systemd[1]: Starting Virtual Console Setup...
Oct 27 10:56:12 leaps systemd[1]: Finished Virtual Console Setup.
Oct 27 10:57:14 leaps systemd[1]: systemd-vconsole-setup.service: Deactivated successfully.
Oct 27 10:57:14 leaps systemd[1]: Stopped Virtual Console Setup.
Oct 27 10:57:14 leaps systemd[1]: Stopping Virtual Console Setup...
Oct 27 10:57:14 leaps systemd[1]: Starting Virtual Console Setup...
Oct 27 10:57:14 leaps systemd[1]: Finished Virtual Console Setup.


$ systemd-analyze critical-chain systemd-vconsole-setup.service

The time when unit became active or started is printed after the "@" character.
The time the unit took to start is printed after the "+" character.

systemd-vconsole-setup.service +55ms
└─systemd-journald.socket
  └─system.slice
    └─-.slice
    
$ sudo lsinitrd | grep vconsole

lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root           54 Aug 12 12:46 etc/systemd/system/emergency.target.wants/systemd-vconsole-setup.service -> /usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-vconsole-setup.service
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root           54 Aug 12 12:46 etc/systemd/system/rescue.target.wants/systemd-vconsole-setup.service -> /usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-vconsole-setup.service
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root           54 Aug 12 12:46 etc/systemd/system/systemd-ask-password-console.service.wants/systemd-vconsole-setup.service -> /usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-vconsole-setup.service
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root           54 Aug 12 12:46 etc/systemd/system/systemd-ask-password-plymouth.service.wants/systemd-vconsole-setup.service -> /usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-vconsole-setup.service
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root          249 Aug 12 12:46 etc/vconsole.conf
-rwxr-xr-x   1 root     root        30840 Jul 31 20:02 usr/lib/systemd/systemd-vconsole-setup
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root         1196 Jul 31 20:02 usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-vconsole-setup.service
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root          518 Jul 31 20:02 usr/lib/udev/rules.d/90-vconsole.rules
4

Please show what is returned from
cat /etc/vconsole.conf

5 
╰─>$ cat /etc/vconsole.conf
# Written by systemd-localed(8) or systemd-firstboot(1), read by systemd-localed
# and systemd-vconsole-setup(8). Use localectl(1) to update this file.
KEYMAP=us
FONT=eurlatgr.psfu
XKBLAYOUT=us
XKBMODEL=pc105+inet
XKBOPTIONS=terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp
6

The log line is truncated (did not you see it yourself?). Always use journalctl --full ... or redirect to a file.

7

Does this font exist? Check
ls /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/

8

eurlatgr.psfu.gz exists. There is also an ‘ERRORS’ listed before that.

9

Unable to load such font with such kernel version

10

Does it exist in the initrd though?
sudo lsinitrd | grep eurlatgr

11 
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root        10558 Mar 29  2025 usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/eurlatgr.psfu

This issue came up today. Till now it was booting fine.

12

I’m wondering if your system uses encrypted or complex storage that might delay early boot? Can you tell us more about your system storage configuration?

13

The error message is red herring. It means systemd-vconsole-setup was called before switch to the framebuffer and in this case one only can “load” (or switch to) the built-in font. systemd-vconsole-setup is invoked multiple times during boot.

I doubt it “delays” anything. Rather there is some time between stopping Plymouth splash screen and displaying the DM/DE screen during which messages become visible.

2 Likes
14

My system is a bit complex. I multi boot other distros along with leap, with limine bootloader. All on separate disks. Leap is on SSD. I don’t think this is an issue here.

15

Not much delay. 10 to 15 seconds. But i haven’t seen it before. May be i should ignore it, and see if it goes away with an update.

16

It looks like a boot process issue. I use Limine bootloader to multiboot various linux distros. That is working fine with no ‘virtual console’ delay. It was when i directly boot into Leap, that I noticed the delay show up.