No text console in new installation of openSUSE 13.2

Hi!

I am aware that openSUSE 13.2 is no longer supported. I still hope that I can find help here.

The installation works fine and it boots to the graphical login. However, when I press Ctrl+Alt+F2 to switch to a text console, I get a blank screen. Pressing Alt+F7 takes me back to the graphical login, which is functional. I also do not see any splash screen during booting. I have an NVIDIA Quadro K620. I am using the default nouveau driver. Any suggestions how to fix this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi
Probably systemd related and fixed with an update at some point… ctrl+alt+F1 works? If so login and try chvt 2.

Sorry, no. None of the consoles work. Since this version is no longer supported, I assume that there will be no other updates. Is there some boot option that I can try out?

Hi
Boot to tesxt mode, at the grub screen enter 3 in the option line should get you to runlevel three.

I don’t see any option line. I can only choose between “openSUSE” and “Advanced options for openSUSE” using the cursor keys. The second option lets me choose booting the regular kernel or recovery mode. If I boot in recovery mode, then I see the progress. Once I get to the graphical login, I can then use Ctrl+Alt+F1 and I do now get a text console, but only tty1, the others are blank. How can I get into an “option line” at the grub screen?

Hi
Press the esc (or e) key to edit then and add it after the quiet option. But there will be no graphical session… try;


systemctl start graphical.target

If I boot into runlevel 3 all I get is a blank screen and I need to login remotely to reboot. It seems that booting into safe mode, at least I get tty1. What do I need to enter in the option line to imitate that?

Update: I removed the options quiet and splash=silent. Now I see the log during booting, but no text console, not even tty1.

Update2: If I add highres=off and nomodeset, then I am able to get the the text console in tty1 and all others, too.

Adding nomodeset to the kernel parameters resolves the problem.

Hi
That’s booting normally? So it’s an issue with the nouveau driver…look at installing the appropriate nvida driver for your card… else just run with what you have…

What is the disadvantage of using nomodeset as kernel parameter?

Hi
So you don’t use the kernel driver, just the BIOS modes until X starts… if your happy with, your good to go…

I don’t understand what the difference is. I don’t see any difference between using the kernel driver or the BIOS modes. In any case, I can switch to one of the text consoles and X starts correctly. Can you please explain what the disadvantage is in using the BIOS modes?

Hi
So with nomodeset it works the way you want, if you don’t use it (as in use the kernel driver) it doesn’t work… all before X server starts.

None as long as you do not use Xorg driver that requires KMS. Oh, may be lower text console resolution, although I personally always considered it to be on plus side :slight_smile:

A little more detail. With nomodeset you use very basic drivers that should work with any card but will not give you great resolution or performance. If you don’t care about higher resolution and 3d performance levels then the basic drivers will work for you. If you want better install the proprietary driver for your card.