Re: No console anymore. How to figure this out.

On 3/14/26 4:19 PM, Alan Mackenzie wrote:
> Hello, Dale.
>
> On Sat, Mar 14, 2026 at 14:55:41 -0500, Dale wrote:
>> Howdy,
>> I did my updates earlier.  Usually I logout, go to boot runlevel and
>> restart services if needed and then go back to default runlevel and
>> login.  I noticed a couple weeks ago that I no longer get a console when
>> I do a CTRL ALT F1.  My monitors turn off saying no signal.  At first, I
>> did the sysrq thing.  Then it occurred to me that I should try CTRL ALT
>> F7 and see if the GUI is still running.  It is.  So, at least I can log
>> back in.
>> I've never ran into a situation where CTRL ALT F1 didn't give me a
>> console.  I did check, agetty is running.  I even did a pkill so it
>> would restart, still no console.  I have no idea where to go from here.
>> In some 20 years of using Linux, I've never had a console not be there.
>> This started about two weeks ago.  Maybe three.  I suspect a update but
>> it could be that I either updated a config file or may have changed
>> something not meaning to.
>> Anyone have ideas on what to check to fix this?
> You've got an nVidia graphics card, haven't you?
>
> I note that you're getting _no_ signal to the monitors, not merely a
> blank signal.
>
> In your position, I'd look to see if the card's microcode has been
> recently "updated", possibly on building gentoo-sources-6.18.12.  Then
> do the same for the card's drivers.  If so, try going to the previous
> version of either of these.
>
> Other than that, I've no idea.
>
>> Thanks in advance.
>> Dale
>> :-)  :-)


That would make sense.  Where does the microcode come from?  I use 
Nvidia drivers.  I tried the other one but it was a disaster.  Even on 
this fast rig, the mouse couldn't move smoothly.  It would jump and jerk 
to places.  Windows were slow too.  Is that where the microcode comes 
from or something else?  I think the nvidia drivers updated a while back 
so that is a good idea.  I wouldn't have thought about that.  If it was 
the GUI, then I would.

Oh, would I need to reboot for the code to take effect once I go back a 
version of something?

Dale

:-)  :-)