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

Michael <[email protected]> Mon, 16 Mar 2026 10:16:42 +0000
Newsgroups	gmane.linux.gentoo.user
Message-ID	<2345296.iZASKD2KPV@rogueboard>
On Monday, 16 March 2026 07:07:40 Greenwich Mean Time Dale wrote:
> On 3/15/26 8:04 PM, Dale wrote:
> > On 3/15/26 7:00 PM, Dale wrote:
> >> On 3/15/26 3:17 PM, Dale wrote:
> >>> On 3/15/26 10:49 AM, Alan Mackenzie wrote:
> >>>> I think these mentioned needing to disable some of the kernel
> >>>> flags
> >>>> like
> >>>> CONFIG_DRM_... and CONFIG_FB_...  Might it be you've got a
> >>>> CONFIG_...
> >>>> option wrongly set, and that didn't matter for the previous
> >>>> version of the driver, but does now?
> >>> 
> >>> Both links are the same URL.  I read the one.  I changed the
> >>> settings to match what the dev posted.  I had some set correctly
> >>> already but changed a couple.  We'll see.  I may change the other
> >>> settings below as well then build and reboot if you think it will
> >>> help.>> 
> >> I went ahead and disabled those and when I was building the kernel,
> >> I
> >> got a LOT of things like this.
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> depmod: WARNING: /lib/modules/6.12.31-gentoo/video/nvidia-drm.ko
> >> needs unknown symbol drm_modeset_drop_locks
> >> depmod: WARNING: /lib/modules/6.12.31-gentoo/video/nvidia-drm.ko
> >> needs unknown symbol drm_mode_config_cleanup
> >> depmod: WARNING: /lib/modules/6.12.31-gentoo/video/nvidia-drm.ko
> >> needs unknown symbol drm_dev_alloc
> >> depmod: WARNING: /lib/modules/6.12.31-gentoo/video/nvidia-drm.ko
> >> needs unknown symbol
> >> drm_connector_attach_hdr_output_metadata_property depmod: WARNING:
> >> /lib/modules/6.12.31-gentoo/video/nvidia-drm.ko needs unknown
> >> symbol drm_atomic_helper_update_plane
> >> depmod: WARNING: /lib/modules/6.12.31-gentoo/video/nvidia-drm.ko
> >> needs unknown symbol drm_compat_ioctl
> >> depmod: WARNING: /lib/modules/6.12.31-gentoo/video/nvidia-drm.ko
> >> needs unknown symbol drm_dev_register
> >> depmod: WARNING: /lib/modules/6.12.31-gentoo/video/nvidia-drm.ko
> >> needs unknown symbol drm_atomic_get_connector_state
> >> depmod: WARNING: /lib/modules/6.12.31-gentoo/video/nvidia-drm.ko
> >> needs unknown symbol drm_prime_gem_destroy
> >> depmod: WARNING: /lib/modules/6.12.31-gentoo/video/nvidia-drm.ko
> >> needs unknown symbol drm_plane_create_color_properties
> >> depmod: WARNING: /lib/modules/6.12.31-gentoo/video/nvidia-drm.ko
> >> needs unknown symbol drm_release
> >> depmod: WARNING: /lib/modules/6.12.31-gentoo/video/nvidia-drm.ko
> >> needs unknown symbol drm_gem_prime_export
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> It would appear that disabling drm might not be a good idea.  It
> >> didn't finish building the kernel either.  It just stopped.
> >> 
> >> I'm going to turn drm back on.  See if it will build then.
> >> 
> >> Dale
> >> 
> >> :-)  :-)
> > 
> > Update.  None of this worked.  Everything I disabled resulted in a
> > failed kernel make.  I had to go back to the original config.  It
> > appears the things I have enabled must be enabled for the kernel to
> > finish the make process.
> > 
> > I'm going to try to reboot in a bit.  Supposed to be storms here
> > shortly and power may fail and I'll have to shutdown anyway.  The
> > storms look kinda ugly on the radar.  o_O
> > 
> > Any more ideas?  Maybe the re-emerge of nvidia-drivers will work.
> > One
> > can hope.
> > 
> > Dale
> > 
> > :-)  :-)
> 
> OK.  I didn't lose power during the storm but I have rebooted.  The
> updated nvidia drivers is in use now.  Still no console.  I have no
> idea where to go next.  Changing options in the kernel, which has
> worked for many months, results in a failed make due to missing
> kernel drivers. Changing nvidia drivers didn't help either.
> 
> I checked the inittab file to see if anything got changed but it looks
> like it always has.  Of course, since I could login blindly and
> reboot, we know agetty is being spawned like normal.  I might add,
> during the boot up, the usual kernel lines and services starting was
> scrolling up the screen.  The best I can figure, once the GUI starts,
> it can't switch back to a console.
> 
> Anybody have other ideas?
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Dale
> 
> :-)  :-)

Your console device needs the nvidia-drm.ko module to be able to use 
nvidia's own kernel modesetting framebuffer functionality 
(modesetting=1).

What I think is happening:  your EFI framebuffer is providing the 
initial console display during boot, then it switches over to nvidia-
drm.

I suspect your problem manifests at the handover from kernel to nvidia's 
module, or vice-versa, when you try to go back to a console.  However, I 
haven't used nvidia for decades now and have not kept up with their 
current driver's functionality to know with any certainty how this is 
meant to work.

What does dmesg report at boot and thereafter when you switch to a 
console?

Can you grep your running kernel's for 'DRM', to see if anything 
incompatible has been enabled/disabled?

What does 'lsmod | grep nvidia' come up with?

Also, 'modinfo nvidia-drm'?

PS. I assume your have re-emerged your nvidia driver to match the kernel 
you are now running.
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