Can't access tty

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and help make Ubuntu better. I don't think this is an upstart issue. It will more likely be a kernel or graphics driver issue. I will tentatively re-assign it to the kernel for now. Do you have to reboot the machine after experiencing this, or can you just switch back to the X server afterwards? Could you please provide the following additional information:

1. Please include the output of the command "uname -a" in your next response. It should be one, long line of text which includes the exact kernel version you're running, as well as the CPU architecture.
2. Please run the command "dmesg > dmesg.log" after a fresh boot and attach the resulting file "dmesg.log" to this bug report.
3. Please run the command "sudo lspci -vvnn > lspci-vvnn.log" and attach the resulting file "lspci-vvnn.log" to this bug report.
4. Please run the command "lsmod > lsmod.log" and attach the resulting file "lsmod.log" to this bug report.
5. Please re-create the problem and then attach your /var/log/Xorg.0.log, /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old, /var/log/kern.log and /var/log/kern.log.0 to this bug report.
6. Please also attach your /etc/X11/xorg.conf to this bug report (if you have one).
7. Could you also please try booting in recovery mode and tell me whether you can get to a root console.
8. If 7 was successful, then please try booting without "quiet" and "splash" and tell me if you can successfully switch to a console.

Ok... its broken also for several others, discussed within U-Fs Jaunty forum.

7 is OK because I must install nVidias 180 driver from recovery and a root console when tty is broken

Going to attach outputs.

How come you added an upstart task again?

plun@plun:~$ uname -a
Linux plun 2.6.27-7-generic #1 SMP Fri Oct 24 06:42:44 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

>>>How come you added an upstart task again?

Sorry about that.... just clicked. It was a "red box"... ;)

Right, I can recreate this in VMWare, and the problem goes away without usplash. I'd like you to be able to confirm this too.

The machine doesn't actually lock up. I'm changing VT by SSH'ing in to the guest and issuing "chvt 1". Once I've done this, I see a garbled screen in the guest (which appears frozen), but I can switch back to X by doing "chvt 7" from the SSH session.

OK ;) ... Magic SysRq works at least. Alt-SysRq-b

Must install ssh-server within this box.

And start my putty machine and test........ ;)

and remove splash....

nosplash is OK.

Connection trouble with Putty.... did a clean install a week ago.. OK to my server so
something is wrong with the Jauntybox. testing more.

SSH ok... connected directly to WAN.... ;) (instead of router)

but I get this...

plun@plun:~$ chvt 1
Couldnt get a file descriptor referring to the console

Ctrl-Alt-F7 works sometimes..... ??? F1 > F6 never.

don't know if it's the same bug.

fully updated jaunty, ctrl-alt-f1,f2,whatever while being in X shows a black screen, no login prompt.
pressing ctrl-alt-f7 I'm back in X, everything fine.

just not being able to access text consoles (1-6) from X.

nvidia geforce 6200

I am having similar issues as the previous commenter (garbled orange screen as opposed to black screen), but with a different video chipset, an ATI Radeon Mobility U1. The ctrl-alt-f(1-6) combinations give me nothing but a garbled screen, and I have to use ctrl-alt-f7 to get back to X.

Addendum to previous comment: I am on Jaunty, with the 2.6.27-7-generic kernel.

See also Bug 301359, which I have marked as a duplicate of this one (even though it was earlier) since this one has had more discussion. I had attached the requisite lscpi, dmesg, and xorg.conf files, as well as noting that the bug appears with both the nv and nvidia (177) drivers.

> the problem goes away without usplash. I'd like you to be able to confirm this too.

Yes, Chris. I confirm that the virtual terminals work again after simply removing splash from the kernel boot parameters using the edit feature of GRUB. Hope that helps to nail the culprit down, and in the meantime, you've provided an effective workaround that those of us working with the alpha can use.

TBH, this could be a kernel, usplash or Xorg issue. I don't think it is video driver related as we all use different video drivers. Up until today, Jaunty has been using the Intrepid kernel (and this problem doesn't exist in Intrepid), so I'm starting to think it's not a kernel problem. Usplash hasn't changed yet in Jaunty either. However, I've spent a couple of hours selectively downgrading packages to Intrepid versions (including xorg) to see if I can spot which package introduces the problem. This hasn't been too successful yet though :(

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

I had the same issue. Removing the usplash option from grub fixed it.

Today tty works again for me ;)

Probably this fix:

usplash (0.5.26) jaunty; urgency=low

* Fix various compiler warnings.
* debian/splash-functions: Kill usplash more gracefully in splash_stop;
introduces new SPLASH_ORIG_CONSOLE environment variable which can be
checked by other init scripts (LP: #304136).
* Notify the main loop by means of a self-pipe when SIGALRM is triggered,
rather than attempting to animate the display from a signal handler
(thanks to Andrea Gasparini for testing and adjustment; LP: #259761).
* Sleep for 0.1 second rather than 1 second in init script while waiting
for usplash to die, and adjust the loop count both there and in
splash-functions to match the previous behaviour of giving usplash up to
10 seconds to go away (LP: #313574).

Thanks for testing - yes, Colin Watson spotted a bug in both gdm and usplash that was causing this, so I got the package choice totally wrong ;)

I am experiencing a similar issue. No ttys upon ctrl+alt+f1-f6, just a blank screen. This is several months after the fix would have been implemented. ubuntu jaunty 9.04 Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS

TTY access would be nice to install the new nvidia drivers.

Which new nvidia drivers? And are they not already in a PPA? 185.18.14 is in several PPAs, and appears to still be the latest available.

If you boot without usplash, do you still have the same problem? That fixed it for many of us during the time it was broken. I have never turned usplash back on for Jaunty.

Nvidia driver: 180.60

I'll try turning off usplash. I'm going to go find out how. Is the bug in usplash being worked on?

I removed the splash kernel option at boot, but I still get a black screen on every tty. Any ideas?

Also, I'm running beta drivers now (185.19).

I'm also getting a blank screen when trying to switch to ttys other than the one used for my display manager.