bugGNU GRUB - Bugs: bug #67095, Sandy Bridge iMac debian trixie...

 
 

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bug #67095: Sandy Bridge iMac debian trixie steady cursor at upper left instead of grub menu

Submitter:  Paul Ausbeck <ausbeck>
Submitted:  Wed 07 May 2025 07:22:14 PM UTC
   
 
Category:  Booting Severity:  Major
Priority:  5 - Normal Item Group:  Hardware-specific
Status:  None Privacy:  Public
Assigned to:  None Originator Name:  Paul Ausbeck
Open/Closed:  Open Release:  other
Release:  Reproducibility:  Every Time
Planned Release:  None

Jump to the original submission

Wed 21 May 2025 03:34:22 PM UTC, comment #9: 

I added a comment to Debian bug https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1088356 and requested that the

echo "Loading bootloader..."
terminal_output gfxterm

work around be applied to trixie.

Paul Ausbeck <ausbeck>
Tue 20 May 2025 08:38:26 PM UTC, comment #8: 

set debug=video

has the same effect as

terminal_input console
terminal_output console

echo "Loading bootloader..."
terminal_output gfxterm

has a more salutatory, as in welcome, effect. The grub menu appears and takes up the full screen.

Paul Ausbeck <ausbeck>
Sat 17 May 2025 03:11:57 PM UTC, comment #7: 

Can you check if this is a duplicate of https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?65503 and report if the workaround in https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?65503#comment2 fixes your issue?

Since you run Debian, you may also add a comment to https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1088356 and ping Debian's maintainer to apply the suggested workaround before the release of trixie

tenzap <tenzap>
Thu 08 May 2025 08:57:23 PM UTC, comment #6: 

I tried the following in /etc/default/grub:

GRUB_GFXMODE=1920x1080

This did not add either 1920 or 1080 into /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
Also no change to grub's behavior, still using central 640x480.

If I can do anything regarding graphics mode at the grub console,
please advise as to the details.

Paul Ausbeck <ausbeck>
Thu 08 May 2025 08:29:14 PM UTC, comment #5: 

videoinfo output
Adapter 'Bochs PCI Video Driver':
  No info available
Adapter 'Cirrus CLGD 5446 PCI Video Driver':
  No info available
Adapter 'EFI GOP driver':
  0x000 1920 x 1080 x 32 (7680) Direct color, mask: 8/8/8/8 pos: 16/8/0/24
  EDID version: 1.4
    preferred mode: 1920x1080
Adapter 'EFI UGA driver':
  No info available

video test output
nothing until a key is pressed, then a list of 16 colors.

Just for information, grub is not using all 1920x1080 pixels,
more like a central 640x480. This is unchanged from when graphics
mode was working.

Paul Ausbeck <ausbeck>
Thu 08 May 2025 06:27:17 PM UTC, comment #4: 

Can you try running videoinfo and videotest commands? For later can you try setting different gfxmode?

Vladimir Serbinenko <phcoder>
Group administrator
Thu 08 May 2025 05:58:56 PM UTC, comment #3: 

After using the bug database search function a bit I have decided to add a few keywords this report.

grub menu
invisible, blank, black, missing, not visible, fails to display.

Paul Ausbeck <ausbeck>
Thu 08 May 2025 05:45:45 PM UTC, comment #2: 

Perhaps I should mention that after editing /etc/default/grub, grub-update must be run to effect changes to /boot/grub/grub.cfg. Not everyone is initiated into the mysteries of grub.

Anyway, it seems that some recent changes to grub efi stubs and/or grub internal modules have broken graphics mode on the Sandy Bridge iMac and maybe other older systems. I feel like the need to better support newer systems perhaps outweighs the need for graphics mode on these older systems. Since a work-around is now documented, I would not object if this bug report were subsequently closed without an actual fix.

Paul Ausbeck <ausbeck>
Thu 08 May 2025 05:33:00 PM UTC, comment #1: 

This morning I discovered that a workaround for this problem is to specify GRUB_TERMINAL=console in the /etc/default/grub file on debian. This results in the following two lines being added to the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file:

terminal_input console
terminal_output console

The display of grub menu text is slower and more primitive using this mode but in the overall scheme of things the boot experience is pretty much indistinguishable.

Paul Ausbeck <ausbeck>
Wed 07 May 2025 07:22:14 PM UTC, original submission:  

I have a Sandy Bridge iMac. I've previously had debian bookworm installed on this machine and had no grub issues. Today I upgraded to debian testing/trixie and the grub menu no longer displays, instead a steady cursor appears at the upper left of what once was the menu display area. After the five second menu display period, the boot process continues normally. I can tell that grub is invisibly displaying the menu as I can stall the boot process by selecting a different boot option with the down arrow key. After I press the up arrow key and enter, the boot process continues as if I had pressed no keys.

My non-expert opinion is that this is a graphics mode issue. This is also a regression in that what once was working is no longer working. Since grub is not displaying its output properly, I don't know of any way to provide further information.

Paul Ausbeck <ausbeck>

 

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