Fix black screen in tty 1 to 6?

[sunbear-c22]

When I access linux via command line mode using <Ctrl><Alt><F1> to <F6>, I am get a black screen that obstructs me from accessing command line.
Meaning I can't see any text on the screen, eg. can't see login line..
I am using NVidia graphic driver installed using NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-375.39.run on Ubuntu 16.04 with kernel 4.4.0-64-generic.

Any solution to fix this?

This issue happened after recovering from a purple screen that had resulted from repository updating my kernel to 4.4.0-66-generic.
Details of recovery procedures can be found in h (https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2354955)ere (https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2354955).

[sunbear-c22]

A clarification on the description of my tty screens.
It is mostly black but it also has a horizontal purple strip (less than 1cm thickness) appearing at the top of the screen.

Managed to find a similar incident reported dated 2012 by SeanO (http://askubuntu.com/questions/162535/why-does-switching-to-the-tty-give-me-a-blank-screen#).
I have tried using the command below but it did not work.

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
GRUB_TERMINAL=console
There is one notable difference, the color of the tty screens are completely black in colour. Horizontal purple strip is gone.

In addition, I have tried using nomodeset as shown below but it did not work either.
I had used sudo update-grub each time I amended the grub file "/etc/default/grub" and rebooted my system for each try. Nothing worked so far.

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
#Possible options are [menu|countdown|hidden]
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
#GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

A good explanation on the meaning of nomodeset and how to use it is mentioned here (https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1613132&p=10069997#post10069997) by P4man.

Does these findings rule out my issue to be unrelated to grub2 but with X-window?

[ubfan1]

Not X windows, but systemd. Not sure what's happening, but the ctrl-alt-fn sequence shouild start a process (agetty) on that ttyn. If that's not happening,
try starting one yourself from the X windows gnome terminal:
$ /sbin/agetty --noclear tty6 linux &
and quickly trying the ctrl-alt-F6 to switch to a real tty. If you don't do it fast enough, the virtual term will let the process die.

[sunbear-c22]

After much testing, I am quite certain the horizontal purple strip in the tty1 to 6 is actually the splash that is configured in grub2.
Reason for this conclusion: When I changed the splash with GRUB_BACKGROUND=".....", the color of the horizontal strip changed to the color of the splash.
Meaning, when I press for example <Ctrl><Alt><F1>, the screen does switch to tty1. However, it is obstructed by a misaligned/out-of-place black screen.

So I would like to know which program/package is responsible for creating the black screen?
Is is Xorg, Xserver, Nvidia or grub2?
I think it is quite unlikely to be grub2.
I am leaning more towards the other 3 candidates. Anyone knows?

[bbuckb]

I am having similar issues, can't get ctrl-alt-F1-6 to work at all. I've installed several versions and have been scouring the internet looking for an answer.

This is a T450 with Intel 5500 card and nothing has worked to give me a console, but when I hit ctrl-alt-f1 nothing happens.

I've also tried adding the nomodeset to grub and restarting, this results in a black screen with a mouse cursor, nothing else.

[bbuckb]

well never ceases to amaze me sfter 20 years in IT the simplest thing...

CTRL+ALT+FN+F1

I guess with at least the Lenovo I have this is how you switch to tty console. Hope it saves someone else some time.

[ubfan1]

Check your BIOS/UEFI settings for something to change what Fn does. It's not necessary on my Lenovo W520 to switch to a tty.