Bug 89722

Summary:	Add 'nofb' to syslinux help screen
Product:	[Retired] Red Hat Linux	Reporter:	Michal Jaegermann <michal>
Component:	anaconda	Assignee:	Michael Fulbright <msf>
Status:	CLOSED RAWHIDE	QA Contact:	Mike McLean <mikem>
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	9
Target Milestone:	---
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
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Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2003-08-14 20:16:43 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description Michal Jaegermann 2003-04-26 21:38:29 UTC

Description of problem:

When trying to boot into a text or rescue modes on an Acer 230 Travelmate
laptop (Intel i845 video) everything is fine until "running /sbin/loader"
(or something pretty close) shows up on a screen.  At this moment
screen goes into a funk state blinking all the time and making it
hard to read.  It appears that an image wraps-up over a top, cursor
is loosing its position, text shows up in wrong places and it is
a blinking gray on a black instead of white on black.  Even typing
"in blind" is not much help as most of results ends up below a screen
edge.

A graphic screen is also not that great (nasty distorted fonts and jagged
lines all over the place) but somewhat usable unless one needs to
visit a text console which is then mostly covered by a blue-gray blob
and really has nothing to offer.

No amount of specifying vga modes and/or screen resolutions seems to
help.  All of that is just ignored the moment we are hitting '/sbin/loader',
even if a parameter had some effect on a screen look up to this moment,
and things go haywire.

OTOH when booting a CD from RH 7.3 distribution nothing of that sort
happens.  Text consoles remain "normal" and usable.  I have to give
'nopcmcia' to boot or otherwise the whole process is stuck on PCMCIA
cards detection but one past that everything is fine.

Comment 1 Michael Fulbright 2003-04-28 19:04:30 UTC

Please try adding 'nofb' to the boot command line.

Comment 2 Michal Jaegermann 2003-04-28 22:13:40 UTC

> Please try adding 'nofb' to the boot command line.

Does not seem to be doing anything useful.

OTOH on this laptop there is a "function key" which switches between
an external monitor, or a built-in display or both.  In one of these
positions in a cycle (I think that this is "both" but I did not have
an external display attached) a screen becomes readable as a much smaller
rectangle in a center probably in 800x600 mode.  Even a graphic installation
display starts looking ok although substantially reduced in size.

Comment 3 Michal Jaegermann 2003-04-29 03:40:56 UTC

Contrary to what I said before 'nofb' seems to help in an essential way.
Either I mistyped something previously or the fact, I discovered in the
meantime, that some weirdly named option in BIOS has a direct bearing
on how much of a graphic memory is available is also not without significance
here.

OTOH a "small picture" method described above still looks the best. :-)
No strangely stretched pixels and lines doubled in unexpected places.
Still it would be really nice if 'nofb' while booting/installing would be
mentioned somewhere on help screens.  Currently it is not there.

Comment 4 Michael Fulbright 2003-05-13 16:37:01 UTC

I'll see if we can fit it in.

Comment 5 Michael Fulbright 2003-06-25 19:36:44 UTC

Done.

Comment 6 Mike McLean 2003-08-14 20:16:43 UTC

confirmed. closing.