usplash: no usable theme found for 640x480

With latest updates to Edgy (15-9-2006) USPLASH is gone. System complains it can't find a usable screen for 640x480. Screen init fails. String of code. But system eventually boots anyway.

I can confirm this.

The difference is that it has been gone for some time.
My screen is an Acer AL1916W that likes 1440x900.

It says "Screen init fail" on tty1 (ALT-f1).

Same problem on 32bit system, specifically, it complains about not being able to find a relevant SPLASH screen for the resolution (640x480), and not a physical screen.
System boots as per normal however. (16/09/2006)

Same here...

Same here, but resolution is 1680x1050.
32bit Dell laptop.

Same here on an iBook G3 900...

+1.
Widescreen laptop (1280x800).

same issue here,

i use 1280x1024 once inside gnome, but wants to use 640x480 at the bootup.

Duplicates added: bug #60761 and bug #60872.

Travis Watkins said in bug #60761:

I believe the following changelog entry explains this:

  * Exit immediately if no theme is found that fits in the specified
    resolution.

Same problem here Dell Latitude D610 resolution 1400x1050

Same here:
"usplash: no usable screen found for resolution 640x480.
Screen init failed".
I use a Dell Inspiron 510m (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/DellInspiron510m) with a 1400x1050 screen.

To clarify, my system boots fine, it just doesn't show any (u)splash screen prior to the login screen.

Same here. Shows this at boot time:

usplash: no usable screen found for resolution 640x480.
Screen init failed

Then continues to boot normally.

Am using a Dell Inspiron 640m Widescreen. (1440x900).

I don't know if this problem has anything to do with the fact that I need 915resolution to start the Xorg server.

Like Tim, I also need 915resolution to get 1400x1050 (without it I only get 1280x1024).

This is still an issue here with usplash version 0.4-27.

I changed /etc/usplash.conf to be
xres=1024
yres=768

now i get the shutdown usplash but still not an upload usplash and the text is missing. This is with usplash 0.4-29.

not working devs

you need artwork for 640x480 ...

i just get console screen text.

How easy is it for a non-programmer to do the artwork? If that is possible,
I would gladly help make more resolutions, especially in order to make my
1280x800 laptop supported.

....and why doesn't it fallback to any available resolution such as 640x480,
ELSE 800x600, ELSE 1024x768, and so on?

2006/9/22, sonixau <email address hidden>:
>
> not working devs
>
> you need artwork for 640x480 ...
>
> i just get console screen text.
>
> --
> usplash resolution error in boot and halt
> https://launchpad.net/bugs/60621
>

Same here, with 1280x800. I have changed the resolution in /etc/usplash.conf, now the old test screen is my usplash-theme and it isn't fullscreen and without text.
Is it normal?

to get the text to scroll take the word quite out of the kernel boot option in /boot/grub/menu.lst.

Change the resolution (1024*768) in the /etc/usplash.conf and add vga=792 in /boot/grub/menu.lst don't solve the problem. I have a black screen with only informations about mounted partitions, and the resolution 1024*768 correct.

What can we do for providing more informations to find the bug ?

dpkg-reconfigure usplash solve the problem for me.

> dpkg-reconfigure usplash solve the problem for me.

It didn't make any difference for me.

It didn't for me either...

For those without artwork or just the test card can you please try "sudo update-alternatives --config usplash-artwork.so" and choose one of the artwork choices than run "sudo update-initramfs -u" than reboot.

This doesn't work on my machine. when I run update-alternatives it says the following:

---------
There is only one program which provides usplash-artwork.so
(/usr/lib/usplash/usplash-theme-ubuntu.so).
Nothing to configure
---------

etienne@etienne-laptop:~$ update-alternatives --config usplash-artwork.so

There is only 1 program which provides usplash-artwork.so
(/usr/lib/usplash/usplash-theme-ubuntu.so). Nothing to configure.
update-alternatives: unable to open /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/usplash-artwork.so.dpkg-new for write: Permission denied
etienne@etienne-laptop:~$ sudo update-alternatives --config usplash-artwork.so

There is only 1 program which provides usplash-artwork.so
(/usr/lib/usplash/usplash-theme-ubuntu.so). Nothing to configure.
etienne@etienne-laptop:~$ sudo update-initramfs -u
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-9-386

Here my /boot/, if you want another directory tell me:
etienne@etienne-laptop:~$ ls -l /boot/*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 266619 2006-05-23 18:56 /boot/abi-2.6.15-23-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 266735 2006-08-03 07:09 /boot/abi-2.6.15-26-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 281882 2006-09-06 20:14 /boot/abi-2.6.17-7-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 282729 2006-09-19 14:16 /boot/abi-2.6.17-8-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 283441 2006-09-22 13:00 /boot/abi-2.6.17-9-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 69878 2006-05-23 15:47 /boot/config-2.6.15-23-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 69903 2006-08-03 04:49 /boot/config-2.6.15-26-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 74168 2006-09-06 15:57 /boot/config-2.6.17-7-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 73952 2006-09-19 09:57 /boot/config-2.6.17-8-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 73938 2006-09-22 08:39 /boot/config-2.6.17-9-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6766734 2006-09-08 19:57 /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-23-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8737360 2006-09-08 23:42 /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-26-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8508106 2006-09-20 16:55 /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-7-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8514470 2006-09-21 13:29 /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-8-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8515702 2006-09-27 16:46 /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-9-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 94760 2005-10-25 12:32 /boot/memtest86+.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 725460 2006-05-23 18:56 /boot/System.map-2.6.15-23-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 726461 2006-08-03 07:09 /boot/System.map-2.6.15-26-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 705789 2006-09-06 20:14 /boot/System.map-2.6.17-7-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 709206 2006-09-19 14:16 /boot/System.map-2.6.17-8-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 710095 2006-09-22 13:00 /boot/System.map-2.6.17-9-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1414477 2006-05-23 18:56 /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-23-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1414781 2006-08-03 07:09 /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-26-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1578937 2006-09-06 20:14 /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-7-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1581531 2006-09-19 14:16 /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-8-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1582202 2006-09-22 13:00 /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-9-386

/boot/grub:
insgesamt 192
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 197 2006-09-08 20:41 default
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15 2006-09-08 20:41 device.map
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7508 2006-09-08 20:41 e2fs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7332 2006-09-08 20:41 fat_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8128 2006-09-08 20:41 jfs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5845 2006-09-23 09:02 menu.lst
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5441 2006-09-23 09:02 menu.lst~
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6804 2006-09-08 20:41 minix_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 roo...

I have solved a part of the problem:
1# Install the kubuntu-artwork-usplash
2# Restart
3# sudo update-alternatives --config usplash-artwork.so

Now I have when I shutdown the ubuntu artwork, when I start the kubuntu... Really strange...

ok, a sudo update-initramfs -u helped... Problem solved (in my case) thx to all..

The "install-kubuntu-artwork-usplash-workaround" worked for me as well.

It doesn't cover the whole screen though, but I guess that is because I got a kind of funky resolution (1680x1050).

I installed kubuntu-artwork-usplash as pointed by E-B and then got the
Kubuntu artwork while booting and shutting down (I did not execute
update-alternatives, so Kubuntu artwork was OK here).

But then I removed (and purged) kubuntu-artwork-usplash and rebooted:
while shutting down, the Ubuntu logo was shown but, oddly enough,
Kubuntu artwork was still shown on next boot.

How's that possible? I did purge all the remains of kubuntu-artwork-usplash,
so why is Kubuntu splash still there? I guess that something's wrong with the
default usplash artwork.

alex did you run sudo update-initramfs -u?

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Hash: SHA1

> alex did you run sudo update-initramfs -u?

John, I did run it before installing kubuntu-artwork-usplash
but it didn't work.

I didn't run it after purging kubuntu-artwork-usplash, but I
will try this evening and report back.

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John, just run update-initramfs -u and rebooted and now it works,
I get the Ubuntu logo while booting.

Weird, I'd bet it didn't work before installing kubuntu-artwork-usplash
and now it does. Anybody else can confirm this?

okay that must sound slightly offtopic, but do you think it will be possible
to have the edgy eft usplash in this release? (I mean, the very stylish one
picturing a young eft on an orange background). Or if it's not selected as
the default usplash artwork, have an easy way for users to change the
default usplash to that one?

jeff i would try on the artwork mailing list at list.ubuntu.com

Please! help me to solve that problem on the computer, that can't update from the net.

Can u type exactly, what u have to type in the console.

Tnx a lot.

Read the comments above... I have post it..

Ok friends, now, i have solved the problem! But in quite OTHER way! Here it is:

1) to make the bootscreen and unboot screen in normal resolution, u should have to edit /etc/usplash.conf file. For complete new users in Linux (who managed to get to the point of editing files - enter "cd /etc/" and then use command "sudo chmod a+rw usplash.conf" this will make the file writable to you. Next step is to edit it (preferably with vi) - use command "vi usplash.conf". What u have to do - is to replace 640 and 480 by the numbers 1024 and 768 (width and height). This is the most common resolution. Or some other numbers (not tested).

2) Run command "sudo update-initramfs -u". Wait! Before it will be finished, cause on the slow proc it can take a few minutes to go (may be even more). So when the console back again, type "sudo reboot".

3) Now u will have to immediately see unboot screen, and after reboot - nice grafical screen from the start. IF U STILL CANNOT RUN STARTX (this problem is common with the usplash bug) - proceed to this operations (u will probably see, that the server is just not installed, neither is gnome):

4) run "sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg" - it will install the X-server. Then use "sudo aptitude" and enter "not installed files / Gnome files" - install almost ALL of them (use "+" and "g" - buttons). Be sure u have it all.

5) run "sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg" - follow the instructions of the package. Advice - try to use 16 bit screen to improve the perfomance.

6) reboot, and see the nice gnome Ubuntu.

Hope - this will help others.

PS. Keep the Alternate-CD 6.10 Beta in your CD-ROM - u will need it to update packages.

PPS. Before i came to this solution, i spent more than five hours of my sleeping :( Don't make my mistakes - use the right way. And please - report the result here!

(To the developers - why alternate simple instal doesn't copy xserver and gnome???)

I just installed Edgy Beta and downloaded the updates. The update to usplash (to 0.4-31) suggested that it would fix this error. It did not.

Usplash hasn't worked here for two weeks. I guess we have to wait for final release.

Did you try my solution? Is it only usplash not working? Or Xserver error present either?

btw, I noticed no other problems with beta... so I guess it is not THAT bad :)
If they fix usplash and startx bug... woo - it would be nice! :)

On Mon, 02 Oct 2006 06:26:10 +0000
Ulfzart <email address hidden> wrote:

> Did you try my solution? Is it only usplash not working? Or Xserver
> error present either?

  Yes. Nothing - no splash but no Xserver errors either. I have other problems
now caused by BUM which I think shoud be taken out of the repositories. I don't think its compatible
with upstart.

Check the symlinks for usplash

ls -l /etc/alternatives/usplash-artwork.so

it should link to /usr/lib/usplash/usplash-theme-{k,ed,x}ubuntu.so

If a link is broken, just follow them and fix them accordingly.

Also, I notice someone hinted on /etc/usplash.conf.

sudo nano /etc/usplash.conf

Should look something like the following:

# Usplash configuration file
xres=1024
yres=768

If you make changes, then type the following:

sudo update-initramfs -u

Reboot! I had this issue as well, but have it working now

I'm the author of Bug #63831 and I have the same problem.

I can confirm that Ulfzart's solution (editing /etc/usplash.conf and doing update-initramfs) fixes it for me.

What might be of interest for the developers is that usplash worked perfectly in edgy when I upgraded a working dapper install. Which is weird, because dapper doesn't have a file /etc/usplash.conf and the resolution seems different than 1024x768 to me... so it kinda got it correctly configured on the upgrade. But not on a fresh install.

Following Richard's advice, I edited the conf file and did an update-initramfs. 1024x768 looks awful with the images wrapping around etc., but it does work. 1280x1024 and 1400x1050 (worth a shot...) do the same.

800x600 doesn't wrap but has awful black horizontal bands. It looks the nicest of them so that is what I have left it set to. Needless to say that Dapper's splash worked fine.

While none of those things are great, they are not really the subject of this bug report. I can therefore confirm that manually editing usplash.conf and updating initramfs seems to remedy the immediate problem.

As an aside, is a bug that has 19 duplicates and at least 49 people watching changes really still "low" importance?

Aaron, would I be correct in saying you use a LCD? If so, find the "auto synchronize" button or such and use it. I had to do the same thing to stop the wrapping.

As for the bug being "Low", it isn't hampering anything, as the system still works even if the picture is ugly. And it didn't effect everyone either, only a certain amount of us with "apt-get upgrades" and what not.

"As for the bug being "Low", it isn't hampering anything, as the system still works even if the picture is ugly. And it didn't effect everyone either, only a certain amount of us with "apt-get upgrades" and what not."

Disagree! I made a fresh install, from alternate version!!! And it was almost absolutely collapsed! I couldn't start even Xserver (made a few tries, and always was the same!) Sure, the usplash bug (on the configuring|installing process) is connected to the failier of the Xserver, which i had to REINSTALL either!

I think, that bug is much MORE important, cause it can at least reject a lot of new ppl, who would try to use Ubuntu instead of win for example. They will see the console... they will try to use manual commands (which will not work due to the corrupted installation!!!) and say "linux is not that good" (in polite words...) what will they do then? U may guess...

I vote to raise the importance of the bug!

you not being able to start Xserver has nothing to do with the USplash resolution bug. the Usplash resolution bug either allows you to see some of the Usplash or none of it, the system will still boot.

If this bug caused your Xserver to fail, then I think you need to open a different bug on that topic.

New people shouldn't be using Edgy Beta or earlier. If you will notice the announcements are usually made to the development community, for those who want to contribute to Ubuntu by "testing".

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/CommonTasks#head-1b5f0d9192a8e42da0077c2b0056c551f78f38a7
That link will explain the "Importance" features of a bug. I have marked it low since it only effects a certain amount of people, not everybody, and because there is a documented work around. The USplash resolution bug does not cause the system to be inoperable at all. And even if USplash was the cause of the system not booting, the fix would be to remove splash from /boot/grub/menu.lst which is considered a work around.

Also, I have been working along side the Art team and the developers as they work this bug out. They know about it, and they are working on the fix, so changing the severity level isn't going to make them work any quicker either.

So with that, I think it is fine with the current level. I am sure, if I am wrong on this issue, which wouldn't be the first time ;) one of the developers or someone with sufficient rights will change it. Thank you.

Sry... I just thought, that it is not going to be corrected on "low" level of importance.

For the record I ran into this bug on a fresh install of Edgy Beta 1, not a dist-upgrade as suggested above

Ok guys richard is correct on why its low importance. Usplash has changed alot since dapper the reason for the test card was to see how many colors and what res. we can use. the maintianer of this package is working hard to fix the issues. It should be fixed by release. This is one reason why people that cant handle breakage shouldnt use testing software. Please be patient and it will be fixed.

I don't know what has changed the last couple of days, but because I like the bugreporting I reinstalled again today.

Last time I installed (and usplash didn't work) I installed with alternate from October 1st or some time around.

This time I installed from the October 3rd LiveCD, and it worked perfectly, from the start.

If there are any differences between live and alternate installer versions of usplash, or if there have been any changes to usplash in the last couple of days, I would investigate that further.

Richard, your comments are fair. As you say, there is a trade-off in the importance level between how many users are affected, how "core" the application is, the effect of the problem and the ease to workaround. I was meaning that, because every user has usplash installed and a large number seem affected, perhaps it should be higher. As you say, if people are working on it then it makes no difference - I just didn't want it to be missed.

As a separate point, my happiness to use a buggy system is quite different from my desire to see bugs fixed for the final release. I am happy to use a system with no splash screen, but I really don't want it to be like that for average users come the actual release. I am more than happy to be patient if it is being worked on, but we were only told that today. Apologies if I seemed unhappy to give devs time to fix it.

Again, to clear up Richard's possible misunderstanding, I am also using fresh installs on each milestone.

Don't know what I may be misunderstanding, as I have been working right along side this issue since day one. Nonetheless, I agree that it needs to be fixed regardless, because as you said, it could possibly be a turn off for new users. I am hoping they get to the bottom of the issue and find a fix for it. I can guarantee you that at release time, it will be fixed, now how it updates for us people using "Test" releases, well we shall see ;)

Same problem with a iBook G3 dual USB, i did a fresh install from Edgy Beta ppc alternate cd.

ok guys

sudo gedit /etc/usplash.conf

# Usplash configuration file
xres=1024
yres=768

save and close

sudo update-initramfs -u

;)

reboot your PC :D

--- RIVE <email address hidden> escreveu:

> Same problem with a iBook G3 dual USB, i did a fresh
> install from Edgy
> Beta ppc alternate cd.
>
> --
> usplash resolution error in boot and halt
> https://launchpad.net/bugs/60621
>

_______________________________________________________
Novidade no Yahoo! Mail: receba alertas de novas mensagens no seu celular. Registre seu aparelho agora!
http://br.mobile.yahoo.com/mailalertas/

A small question. I recall reading on a mailing list somewhere that usplash would have distorted images for widescreens. Would this be set in the usplash.conf too?

ie
# Usplash configuration file
xres=1280
yres=800

or

# Usplash configuration file
xres=1440
yres=900

If not, is it supposed to autodetect?
I know this may not be the place to express my concerns, but I thought that it might be closely related to the current problems.

Thanks,
Tim.

Sorry, just to clarify that. Distorted images for widescreens, so that the widescreen format would display the stretched image properly, since 4:3 images look distorted on a widescreen.
Tim

I have set it to:
xres=1440
yres=900

And the splash is "distorted" on my widescreen monitor.

The patch in https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/usplash/+bug/62865/comments/1 should fix the "distortion" problem.

marked bug 64459 ans a duplicate of this bug.

This is fixed for me after re-installing with the Release Candidate.

None of the previous suggestions worked for me. After investigation, I found that my vga setting in /boot/grub/menu.lst (0x031b, which is 1280x1024) did not match the resolution in /etc/usplash.conf (1024x768). Changing /etc/usplash.conf to 1280x1024 resolved the issue. I expect that changing /boot/grub/menu.lst to 1024x768 would have worked as well.

My 2 pence: it seems that "sudo update-initramfs -u" was rebuilding the image for the generic kernel, whereas the default on my Thinkpad X40 was the 386 kernel. So I might have fixed it straight away, but I didn't know it! I was fiddling around for ages, and I have no idea which of the steps I took was the right one.

My final configuration has no edits to usplash.conf and none to menu.lst, so maybe just rebuilding the initramfs image is sufficient to fix this, as long as you rebuild the right one (use "-k <version>" to update-initramfs).

Received the same error, after upgrading from dapper to edgy. (Using apt-get dist-upgrade)

I can confirm the fix suggested in the previous comment worked. As after the upgrade, the kernel being booted by default was in-fact linux-image-386, rather than linux-image-generic

The following command updated the correct initrd

sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

Troy James Sobotka wrote in #60792:

>I think we _very_ much need to address this.
>
>During Edgy there was a heavy push towards SVG, which ended up getting lost.

usplash doesn't support SVG, or did you mean SVGA?-)

well, I have also met the problem. But I am using kubuntu-artwork-usplash. I found the most simple way to solve it is modify /etc/usplash.com and change 640*480 into 1024*768.

hiya, ive followed all that is said here and when i boot it says that it has loaded everything fine, but the usplash doesnt come on at all. plz help ive been tryng to fix this for ever

use 7.04...

2007/6/8, Alex <email address hidden>:
>
> hiya, ive followed all that is said here and when i boot it says that it
> has loaded everything fine, but the usplash doesnt come on at all. plz
> help ive been tryng to fix this for ever
>
> --
> usplash: no usable theme found for 640x480
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/60621
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

--
Best regards,
Ulfzart Bjornsson

Everything seems to be working correctly in Gutsy Tribe 5.

I'm actually seeing this on the Kubuntu Gutsy Tribe 5 LiveCD. I'm using a 1440x900 native resolution widescreen LCD monitor with an Nvidia card.

Can someone try with latest Hardy release? IMO, this bug is fixed since a lot of laptops had 640x480 splash screens during all Hardy alpha releases.

I've been tracking hardy development for some time now and usplash is working fine. As far as I can see the problem has been solved.

I set the status of this bug report to fix released, however if someone can still reproduce this bug with latest Hardy release and provide more informations, please set back the status to "new" and/or comment about it here. Thanks to everybody who worked on this bug report!