grub2 EFI boot loader internal/external booting

[tschuliaen]

Hello guys

I had a long read through this thread however did not quite find out whether nvidia with 3D now is "supported" using grub-efi on my MacBookPro 4,1.

Booting using refit and bios graphics using nvidia drivers work fine however when booting with alt and grub-efi i get the error: "No screens found".

Here is my grub.cfg (of grub-efi)

timeout=10
default=0

menuentry "Linux (with bios dump)" {
  insmod efi_uga
  fakebios
  search --set -f /vmlinuz
  loadbios /boot/vbios.bin /boot/int10.bin
  linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 video=efifb noefi
  initrd /initrd.img
}

menuentry "Linux (with bios dump and fix video)" {
  insmod efi_uga
  fakebios
  search --set -f /vmlinuz
  fix_video
  loadbios /boot/vbios.bin /boot/int10.bin
  linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 video=efifb
  initrd /initrd.img
}

menuentry "Linux (without bios dump)" {
  insmod efi_uga
  search --set -f /vmlinuz
  fakebios
  linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 video=efifb insmod efi_uga
  initrd /initrd.img
}

Thanks!

Edit: By the way I'm not using Ubuntu, but debian testing but I think it should't matter...

[metatechbe]

linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 video=efifb insmod efi_uga
}

Hello,

insmod efi_uga should be a separate line of the grub.cfg, not a kernel parameter.

Regards,

metatech

[tschuliaen]

Hello,

insmod efi_uga should be a separate line of the grub.cfg, not a kernel parameter.

Regards,

metatech

Ok I corrected it:

timeout=10
default=0

menuentry "Linux (with bios dump)" {
  insmod efi_uga
  fakebios
  search --set -f /vmlinuz
  loadbios /boot/vbios.bin /boot/int10.bin
  linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 video=efifb noefi
  initrd /initrd.img
}

menuentry "Linux (with bios dump and fix video)" {
  insmod efi_uga
  fakebios
  search --set -f /vmlinuz
  fix_video
  loadbios /boot/vbios.bin /boot/int10.bin
  linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 video=efifb
  initrd /initrd.img
}

menuentry "Linux (without bios dump)" {
  insmod efi_uga
  search --set -f /vmlinuz
  fakebios
  linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 video=efifb
  initrd /initrd.img
}

Is it correct now?


The Xorg log gives me this:

(EE) Nov 19 13:49:34 NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA graphics device PCI:1:0:0.

[metatechbe]

Is it correct now?

Yes it looks correct.

The Xorg log gives me this:

(EE) Nov 19 13:49:34 NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA graphics device PCI:1:0:0.

Strange, I already had this error ("No screens found") but that was on a dual-graphic card (MacBookPro5,3), with the wrong card activated.

You could try the following things :
- Remove "fakebios" and "loadbios". On my machine with Nvidia graphics I do not need it.
- Remove "fixvideo". This is only for Intel graphics.
- Do you see the boot log on the console ?
- Which version of the kernel/grub/linux distribution do you have ?

metatech

[tschuliaen]

Yes it looks correct.



Strange, I already had this error ("No screens found") but that was on a dual-graphic card (MacBookPro5,3), with the wrong card activated.

You could try the following things :
- Remove "fakebios" and "loadbios". On my machine with Nvidia graphics I do not need it.
- Remove "fixvideo". This is only for Intel graphics.
- Do you see the boot log on the console ?
- Which version of the kernel/grub/linux distribution do you have ?

metatech

I tried without fakebios and loadbios and all i got was something like: Set cpu governor frequency: fail. afterwards my keyboard input is not detected anymore...

I do see the boot log on the console.

I have a debian testing with kernel 2.6.32-5-amd64 and grub 1.98 for bios and grub-efi new from trunk...

[metatechbe]

I do see the boot log on the console.

I have a debian testing with kernel 2.6.32-5-amd64 and grub 1.98 for bios and grub-efi new from trunk...

Are you sure you have UGA graphics ? What does "About rEFIt" say ?
Can you add "set debug=fb" before "insmod efi_uga" in grub.cfg ?
+ please check if the framebuffer console is enabled in your kernel (fbcon).
+ type "videoinfo" in grub

metatech

[tschuliaen]

Are you sure you have UGA graphics ? What does "About rEFIt" say ?
Can you add "set debug=fb" before "insmod efi_uga" in grub.cfg ?
+ please check if the framebuffer console is enabled in your kernel (fbcon).
+ type "videoinfo" in grub

metatech

Yes it says UGA.

videoinfo in grub-efi says:

P=Packed pixel, D=Direct color, mask/pos=R/G/B/reserved

What should "set debug=fb" do?

and i get this:

CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_CONSOLE=y

[metatechbe]

What should "set debug=fb" do?

It should print debug lines such as :
Display controller + VMEM + MMIO

[tschuliaen]

It should print debug lines such as :
Display controller + VMEM + MMIO

where do I read this?

Does it matter which version of the nvidia drivers I use? Currently I have the 195.36.24

[metatechbe]

where do I read this?

Does it matter which version of the nvidia drivers I use? Currently I have the 195.36.24

They are the first thing printed when grub runs (after rEFIt).
You can add a line in the beginning of the grub.cfg
"echo startup" and this debug should appear just afterwards.

metatech