[SOLVED]Default Video Mode Causes Intermittent Missing Text

SamK · posted: 2013-06-06 14:13

Not quite sure how to troubleshoot this as I have not yet found a way to make it occour on demand and cannot discern a pattern.

Sometimes text is not displayed. It has happened:

When opening a text file in leafpad
When posting in the forum
In message boxes reminding to save before closing
In ROX-Filer windows
etc.

It happened while typing this report. When deleting a typo, text from a differnt part of the document disappeared and required CTL+z to restore it.

For no other reason than the issue seems to be system wide I thought of trying to investigate the video mode. During installation the default mode was used. After installation is there a way (bootcode?) to switch the mode to safe, autores, or very safe as per the installation media.

fatmac · posted: 2013-06-06 15:15

I think you may have 2 options on booting up, in the grub interface, enter edit mode, then try 'nomodeset' or 'xres=auto' in the kernel line.

SamK · posted: 2013-06-09 07:21

Looks as though this may be a video mode problem.

Prior to installaing to hard disk antiX-13 was booted via a live CD using the default video mode. This appeared to work OK so the installation was done also using the default mode.

After a while the missing text was noticed as outlined in the opening report.

For the last couple of days, the system has been booted many times using
ro nomodeset vga=788 quiet
and the missing text is no longer seen.

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inxi -G
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] 
           X.Org: 1.12.4 drivers: vesa,nouveau (unloaded: fbdev) Resolution: 1024x768@0.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on softpipe GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 8.0.5

BitJam · posted: 2013-06-09 08:30

I'm glad you were able to fix the problem. If you change the title of your first post in this thread to include the text"[solved]" then other people will know this thread contains a solution to the problem.

BTW: While the nomodeset boot parameter works on installed systems, the xres= boot parameter only works on Live systems. I realize it is not obvious which boot parameters only work on the Live system so here is a list of all the Live-only boot parameters:

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amnt            clabel=*        hostname=*      noloadkeys      puuid=*
amnt=*          confont=*       image_dir=*     nolog           pw
antiX=*         conkeys=*       image_name=*    noprompt        pw=*
ascii           cryptdev=*      kbd=*           noremaster      retry=*
automount       cryptlabel=*    kbopt=*         noRox           rollback
automount=*     cryptuuid=*     kbvar=*         noxtra          scan=*
aX=*            cuuid=*         lang=*          password        sq=*
bdev=*          db+             lean            password=*      sqext=*
bdir=*          db++            load=*          pdev=*          sqname=*
blab=*          db-             loco            pdir=*          toram
blabel=*        desktop=*       lowcolor        persist         toram=*
bootdev=*       dpi=*           md5             persist=*       tz=*
bootdir=*       drvr=*          mean            persistdev=*    ubp=*
bootlabel=*     dummy           mirror=*        persistdir=*    ushow=*
bootuuid=*      from=*          mount=*         persistlabel=*  uverb=*
bp=*            fromhd=*        noautoload      persistretry=*  v=*
buuid=*         fromiso         nocheckfs       persistuuid=*   verb=*
cdev=*          fromiso=*       noclear         pk=*            verbose=*
check           fstab=*         noco            plab=*          xdrvr=*
checkfs         gfxsave=*       nocolor         plabel=*        xorgconf
checkmd5        hico            nodbus          pretry=*        xres=*
clab=*          highcolor       nodeb           prompt          Xtralean

SamK · posted: 2013-06-17 13:23

Re-opening this one as the fix was more of a workaround than resolution and swapped the reported isuue for a different one.

To recap, using the default video driver/mode text is unpredictably not displayed as reported in the OP. Using either of the bootcodes

nomodeset xorgconf
nomodeset

the symptoms are not present.

With either of the above, when trying to watch a video the CPU load is excessive. This results in having to view the video in a small window. Even so the video and audio are out of sync.

Reverting to the default video driver/mode the CPU load is greatly reduced. This results in the video being able to be viewed in full-screen. Both video and audio remain in sync.

The above describes viewing the videos produced by dolphin_oracle, particularly"Antix 13 - Install and Set Up Dropbox". The videos have been streamed live using"GTK Youtube Viewer" at 360p and 480p. They have also been downloaded an run locally in Gnome-MPlayer. Using the default video driver/mode they run well, both the alternatives cause the CPU to overload and run poorly.

I'm now hoping to find advice on how to establish whether the default driver is appropriate for this system, or which driver is and how to install it. Alternatively, is there any way to configure the default driver?

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inxi -G
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] 
           X.Org: 1.12.4 drivers: nouveau (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1024x768@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI nv11 x86/MMX+/3DNow!+/SSE GLX Version: 1.2 Mesa 8.0.5

Eino · posted: 2013-06-17 14:27

I just tried the same thing, getting the same results.
But when I tried VLC player, and XBMC for playback the video was smooth without a sync problem.
I was getting 80% processor usage with VLC, when Mplater was running 100%.
When I run the system default settings, the processor usage is greatly reduced.

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$ inxi -G
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA C51 [GeForce 6150 LE] X.Org: 1.12.4 driver: nvidia Resolution: 1024x768@75.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: GeForce 6150 LE/integrated/SSE2 GLX Version: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 304.88

anticapitalista · posted: 2013-06-17 14:33

You might be able to install a proprietary nvidia driver using smxi.
According to this, your card is supported.

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://packages.debian.org/wheezy/nvidia-glx-legacy-96xx"
linktext was:"http://packages.debian.org/wheezy/nvidi ... egacy-96xx"
====================================

SamK · posted: 2013-06-17 17:16

anticapitalista wrote:You might be able to install a proprietary nvidia driver using smxi.
According to this, your card is supported.

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://packages.debian.org/wheezy/nvidia-glx-legacy-96xx"
linktext was:"http://packages.debian.org/wheezy/nvidi ... egacy-96xx"
====================================

Tried this and got the error message (from /var/log/sgfxi/sgfxi.log)

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...
Function: driver_support_tests - Utility: Start
  Args: supported-driver
  ERROR: (234) The driver 96.43.23 does not support the 3.7 kernel.
You are running the 3.7.10-antix.3-486-smp kernel. Unable to install your 96.43.23 driver.
You can override this test with -! 6 option. If install works, let maintainer know.

Any idea if it will work with the antiX kernel? If so how to run the command? The advice to"override this test with -! 6 option" is not very instructive.

SamK · posted: 2013-06-17 18:15

The cryptic advice to"override this test with -! 6 option" is referring to sgfxi.

Rebooted the system to CLI
Logged in
Switched to root account
Ran command

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sgfxi -! 6

Tried to install the driver
Obtained error message that nouveau could not be removed without a reboot, and the driver must be re-installed once it was removed.
Rebooted and logged in then shutdown
Rebooted and logged in
Switched to root account
Installed the driver
Obtained error messages that the installation had failed.
Rebooted using default video driver/mode
Despite the message saying the driver installation had failed it seems to have worked OK.

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inxi -G
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] X.Org: 1.12.4 driver: vesa Resolution: 1024x768@0.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on softpipe GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 8.0.5

The videos can be played without producing the excessive CPU load.

Will monitor for a few days to see if the text issue is still present, although it has not been seen while making this post.

anticapitalista · posted: 2013-06-17 18:26

It is using vesa not nvidia driver it seems

anticapitalista · posted: 2013-06-17 18:27

What is in the boot line?

Also do you have an /etc/xorg.conf?

Alanarchy · posted: 2013-06-17 23:29

You are running the 3.7.10-antix.3-486-smp kernel. Unable to install your 96.43.23 driver.
You can override this test with -! 6 option. If install works, let maintainer know.

I had that problem, and I ended up installing the 3.6..xx (buggy) kernel. Let's face it, there's always been some bug or other with nvidia, even when the card was new and running on Windows 2K, hence I bought AMD this time.

SamK · posted: 2013-06-18 06:48

anticapitalista wrote:What is in the boot line?

This is what sgfxi created

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title antiX at sda1, kernel 3.7.10-antix.3-486-smp
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-3.7.10-antix.3-486-smp root=/dev/sda1 quiet
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.7.10-antix.3-486-smp

This includes my amendments

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title        antiX, kernel 3.7.10-antix.3-486-smp
root        (hd0,0)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-3.7.10-antix.3-486-smp root=UUID=86bab6c0-738d-4a7f-8461-cb7c10053adf ro quiet vga=788
initrd        /boot/initrd.img-3.7.10-antix.3-486-smp

anticapitalista wrote:Also do you have an /etc/xorg.conf?

Zipped copy of /etc/X11/xorg.conf attached.

SamK · posted: 2013-06-18 06:53

Off topic but pertinent to driver/mode/performance/user-experience matters

I have built numerous TinyCore (TC) systems with a GUI. The TC live ISO ships with only Xvesa. Over the years and across a wide range of hardware, booting the live ISO has produced a working GUI 100% of the time"straight-from-the-box".

The TC live ISO enables installation to hard disk or flash drive. After installation, the user may choose to replace Xvesa with Xorg.

In the majority of the many systems I have built, Xorg has not been installed and Xvesa has been preferred. There are two main reasons:

It has always produced a working GUI on both ancient and modern hardware
It is particularly well suited to older, less capable kit as it is more lightweight in its use of system resources. e.g. watching videos can often be done normally, whereas using Xorg can produce out-of-sync audio/video, stuttering display, etc.

For future releases of antiX might it be worth exploring the potential inclusion of Xvesa alongside Xorg? Perhaps it might be offered as an option in antiX live media. Also maybe a simple means (boot menu option?) of selecting Xorg/Xvesa once installed.

If the idea is feasible it seems consistent with the antiX philosophy of being lightweight and suited to both modern and older hardware.

SamK · posted: 2013-06-23 10:50

After using the replacement video driver for a few days all issues now seem to be resolved. Amending the topic title to more accurately describe the issue and marking it solved.