How to fix plymouth (splash screen) in all Ubuntu releases!

Question

How to fix black or broken plymouth (splash screen) after installation of nvidia proprietary drivers in Ubuntu (it happens usually in all Ubuntu releases)? It's no matter what version of nvidia drivers I install bug is always present.

possible duplicate of Enabling Nvidia driver messes up splash screen — Waldir Leoncio, May 27 '14 at 08:47
Works OK but in my case, GeForce 7300 LE, I had to drop down the colour depth to 16 - ie. 1280x1024x16 instead of 1280x1024x24 as the latter gave a poor resolution on the plymouth screen. — gdesilva, Apr 26 '14 at 06:48
Nope, in topics provied by you are outdated informations or missing/not needed to install packages. — Nolt, Aug 25 '14 at 15:47

score 43 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 09 '17 at 08:55

43

Here is a solution to address the problem of no plymouth (splash screen) in Ubuntu after an nVidia proprietary driver installation. It doesn't matter what Ubuntu version you use, it should work anyway.

Open your terminal and type

sudo apt-get install v86d

Then

sudo -H gedit /etc/default/grub

Find this line

#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

and change for this one (of course choose your resolution)

GRUB_GFXMODE=1440x900
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep

Note: You can try GRUB_GFXMODE=1440x900x24, but beware of specifying the color depth. You must specify a supported value. If does not work then rather delete it. More information in the manual.

Also note: older Nvidia graphics cards require the GRUB_GFXMODE property in the format <width>x<height>-<depth> (e.g. 1920x1200-24, but not 1920x1200x24).

Save file and type in terminal

echo FRAMEBUFFER=y | sudo tee /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash
sudo update-initramfs -u
sudo update-grub

It worked for me in all Ubuntu versions. Give it a try :)

edited Oct 09 '17 at 08:55

ejm

203

answered Oct 21 '13 at 11:07

Nolt

747

Is this still valid for AMD graphic cards? – João André Jan 28 '14 at 00:27
Unfortunately I don't have AMD graphic so you need a test by yourself. – Nolt Jan 30 '14 at 11:27
Already tested it, it works :) – João André Jan 30 '14 at 20:26
This solution only partially works for me on Ubuntu GNOME 15.04. I have a 1600x900 display, and an Nvidia Geforce GT 620. After following the steps here, the splash shows for a few seconds, then the screen goes black and only the animated dots show before the screen goes black again. – Alex Dueppen May 03 '15 at 18:39
Can you add some explanation or a link to where you got this from? – Sam Brightman Sep 12 '15 at 11:30
@A. Dueppen This happens to me to (Ubuntu 15.10). Did you find the solution? – wyc Feb 11 '16 at 09:34
1

@janoChen The solution still only partially works but I'm fine with it. I've heard that it's an issue with my graphics card being low-end so not getting as much driver support. – Alex Dueppen Feb 13 '16 at 04:21
it works for me. Ubuntu Gnome 16.04 – renevillegasr Jul 03 '16 at 14:59
Also Worked for me on ubuntu cinnamon 16.04.1, I just usedGRUB_GFXMODE=1440x900 GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep and echo FRAMEBUFFER=y | sudo tee /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash sudo update-initramfs -u sudo update-grub – daniel Jan 30 '17 at 20:21
I SHOULD SAY, by this solution also It fixed my monitor goes to power saving / out of range during loads. INDEED THANK YOU :) – daniel Jan 30 '17 at 20:23
I am using Ubuntu 16.04 with Nvidia driver 375.39. This procedure did not work for me. Anyone knows why? – Sun Bear Mar 11 '17 at 13:42
Not working with Ubuntu GNOME 16.04.2 with NVidia 381... – Xiaodong Qi Apr 16 '17 at 07:55
This solution worked for me in Ubuntu 18.04, nvidia-driver-418, 1080ti, 2560x1440. Thanks a lot. – Maxim Egorushkin Jun 04 '19 at 21:58

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 19 '14 at 16:03

If the above solution does not work, check that the $vt_handoff is used in the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file

In the file, search the line beginning with :

linux   /boot/vmlinuz ...

in the appropriate section of the boot menu (e.g. first occurrence of this line if you want to restore splash screen for the first grub menu boot option) and make sure that this line ends with

... quiet splash $vt_handoff

Here is the example in my case (commented line replaced by second line), replace the xxxx by the existing UUID of the boot partition :

#   linux   /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=xxxx ro   nmi_watchdog=0
    linux   /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=xxxx ro   quiet splash $vt_handoff

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 03 '16 at 18:49

0

Nvidia proprietarty drivers doesn't support KMS, until recently. KMS is required for plymouth (splash screen) to work. It is a Nvidia problem (not ubuntu canonical). I would recommend leaving it like that (it doesn't affect your daily usage) and wait for nvidia 364.12 or newer in the Ubuntu repository. With nvidia 364.12 plymouth works.

If you are impatient, you can use this:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-364

edited Aug 03 '16 at 18:49

ByteHamster

103

answered Jul 17 '16 at 09:10

john9983

99

this answer is intended for new ubuntu users – john9983 Jul 17 '16 at 09:12
For some reason, I can not use GPU rendering with Blender (CUDA) as soon as this driver is installed. – ByteHamster Aug 03 '16 at 18:37
Try a newer driver nvidia-367 – john9983 Sep 19 '16 at 12:56
1

@ByteHamster if I am not mistaken You need to install this package nvidia-cuda-dev to use CUDA. – Michal Przybylowicz Jul 07 '17 at 23:35
I don't know for sure, but I think the cuda package was installed. Anyway, I later switched to a completely different distro for other reasons (no Plymouth anymore). Thanks for your suggestion anyway! – ByteHamster Jul 08 '17 at 05:40

How to fix plymouth (splash screen) in all Ubuntu releases!

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