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

On 3/25/26 2:05 AM, J.O. Aho wrote:
> On 24/03/2026 22.25, Dale wrote:
>> On 3/24/26 4:16 PM, J.O. Aho wrote:
>>> On 24/03/2026 21.43, Dale wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Still no console.  When I switched, monitors went into standby and 
>>>> then switched off a few seconds later.
>>>>
>>>> This is the options for the kernel right now.
>>>>
>>>> root@Gentoo-1 / # cat /proc/cmdline
>>>> BOOT_IMAGE=/kernel-6.12.31-3 
>>>> root=PARTUUID=2c0f8a80-823d-4eb2-938d-364e6aeb51da ro 
>>>> video=efifb:on nvidia_drm.modeset=1 nvidia-drm.fbdev=1 ibt=off
>>>> root@Gentoo-1 / #
>>>>
>>>> That look right?  Any other ideas?  Do I need to get my sledge 
>>>> hammer???
>>>
>>> It looks right, was reading the old forums post about this, so I 
>>> have to ask a stupid question, as I got a bit lazy after gone trough 
>>> like 20 posts in this thread, did you have CONFIG_FB_EFI=y ? seems 
>>> to be the requirement
>>>
>>> https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-1174634.html
>>>
>>> I haven't thought too much about kernel options, as been running 
>>> with the pre-compiled kernel.
>>
>> It appears so.
>>
>> [*]   EFI-based Framebuffer Support
>>
>> Or
>>
>> root@Gentoo-1 / # cat /usr/src/linux/.config | grep CONFIG_FB_EFI
>> CONFIG_FB_EFI=y
>> root@Gentoo-1 / #
>
> Hmm...
>
> And I guess CONFIG_DRM_FBDEV_EMULATION is set too, as otherwise you 
> would get the following text while compiling the driver
>
>        "CONFIG_DRM_FBDEV_EMULATION: is not set but is needed for
>         nvidia-drm.fbdev=1 support (see /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf), may
>         result in a blank console/tty."
>
> There seems to be some things in the ebuild at the end, which I have 
> missed and differs from my desktop distro
>
>         if ver_replacing -lt 590; then
>                 elog "590 has changes that may or may not need 
> attention:"
>                 elog "1. support for Pascal, Maxwell, and Volta cards 
> has been dropped"
>                 elog "  (if affected, there should be a another 
> message about this above)"
>                 elog "2. nvidia-drm.modeset=1 is now default 
> regardless of USE=wayland"
>                 elog "3. nvidia-drm.fbdev=1 is now also tentatively 
> default to match upstream"
>                 elog "(2+3 were also later changed in >=580.126.09-r1, 
> may already be in-use)"
>                 elog "See /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf to modify 
> settings if needed,"
>                 elog "fbdev=1 *could* cause issues for the console 
> display with some setups."
>         fi
>
>         if ver_replacing -lt 595; then
>                 elog "595 has changes that may or may not need 
> attention:"
>                 elog "1. USE=kernel-open was removed and is now always 
> enabled. If for some"
>                 elog "   reason you really need the closed variant 
> (e.g. Runtime D3 on Turing"
>                 elog "   GPUs), please use LTS 580.xx instead as 
> Gentoo has no intention to"
>                 elog "   support both variants anymore going forward"
>                 elog "2. systemd/elogind sleep services 
> (nvidia-sleep.sh) were tentatively"
>                 elog "   removed and replaced by setting 
> NVreg_UseKernelSuspendNotifiers=1 in"
>                 elog "  /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf. If using a 
> non-default custom"
>                 elog "   nvidia.conf, please ensure the option is set. 
> Also, systemd users"
>                 elog "   may want to ensure that they do not have old 
> sleep/suspend/resume"
>                 elog "   *nvidia* files in /etc/systemd to avoid 
> potential issues."
>                 elog "3. nvidia-drm.modeset=1 was removed from 
> nvidia.conf because it is now"
>                 elog "   default enabled regardless (new NVIDIA default)"
>
> Another question that I got, nvidia kernel is included in your 
> initramfs? (I'm not that good at what and how modules are selected for 
> initramfs, as it's years since I configured that part and never 
> touched it since then).
>
>> At this point, I'm wondering where I put my sledge hammer.  I think 
>> it is just inside my shop door.  :/ It's easy to find.  It has bright 
>> orange wrapping to protect the handle and make it easier to find in 
>> the grass or leaves.  o_O
>
> One option would be to downgrade the driver, but then you also have 
> limits like
> nvidia-drivers-570.211.01.ebuild:MODULES_KERNEL_MAX=6.18
> and of course graphics card support limits too...
>


Well, I took another suggestion and tried it.  I upgraded the kernel to 
6.18.19, gentoo-sources as usual, from 6.12.31.  I did my usual make 
oldconfig.  I answered n, no, to most questions.  I did change a preempt 
setting because my video started stuttering again a couple months ago.  
I been playing a video since the reboot and it doesn't seem to do the 
stutter thing.  It was like it would back up 1/4 or 1/2 a second or 
something and resume play.  Annoying as heck. Oddly, it would do the 
same thing in Firefox when watching a Youtube video.  Go figure.  Since 
the new kernel, maybe new setting, fixed that, the two might even be 
related.  Maybe.

Anyway, I rebooted with the new kernel.  Once I got to my sddm login 
screen, I did a CTRL ALT F1.  There was my console.  I have to say, I 
missed seeing that thing and it was so pretty.  O_O  ROFL

If one is curious, I'd be happy to run a diff on the config files and 
post the results, please let me know the command to use.  I just need 
command, options, path/to/1 and /path/to/2.  I can handle the path part 
tho.  I love tab completion.  It might be something that is easy to find 
if one knows what to look for.  Then again, it could be a kernel bug and 
there's nothing to find.  It's up to whoever if one wants to go that 
route.  I wouldn't mind knowing, even fixing it but it's no biggie if no 
one is that interested.

Thanks to all for the help and ideas on what to try.  At least in the 
end, it's working.  If one is interested, I'd supply info to help dig 
further to see if it is a config error or a bug.  Info might come in 
handy for someone in the future if it is a config error.

Dale

:-)  :-)