Missing Plymouth splash screen during bootup after kernel upgrade

[faubuntu]

Hi everybody

Been having the following issue: on a Virtualbox Lubuntu installation my Plymouth splash screen shows at boot time, however if I upgrade the kernel, next time I boot the splash screen is no longer invoked and I get this.
VirtualBox_Lubuntu 32-bit 18.04 ALT (DEV)_12_07_2019_10_26_54.png

I have performed several selective updates to try and isolate the problem: whenever it comes to upgrading the kernel the above happens, so I am assuming that, somewhere between kernel version 4.15.0-20-generic (the one I had at install time) and the latest I'm presented with (4.15.0-54) the issue occurs.

The splash screen is not missing, it is just not invoked at boot time. This is confirmed at shutdown time when the splash screen is shown as expected:

VirtualBox_Lubuntu 32-bit 18.04 ALT (DEV)_12_07_2019_10_44_10.png

After kernel upgrade, plymouth-debug.log shows some inconsistencies such as this

[main.c:998]                                on_show_splash:no displays available to show splash on, waiting...

I have attached both plymouth-debug.log files (before and after kernel upgrade) for comparison.



Has anyone come across this issue before?


System details:
VirtualBox 5.2.30
Lubuntu 32-bit 18.04 alternate version (lubuntu-18.04-alternate-i386.iso)
working kernel version: 4.15.0-20-generic


Thanks

[faubuntu]

Update: For comparison, I've installed Lubuntu 32-bit 18.10. After installing all the updates there does not seem to be the same issue with version 18.04.

[Claus7]

Hello,

I had an issue with plymouth having 18.04. I reinstalled lightdm. If I recall correctly I reinstalled plymouth from synaptic as well. Changing plymouth theme and back again did not solve the issue. I have not experienced such an issue after that. I should mention though that during the reinstallations there were kernel upgrades that were taking place almost the same time. During shut down there was no issue.

Regards!

[faubuntu]

Hello,

I had an issue with plymouth having 18.04. I reinstalled lightdm. If I recall correctly I reinstalled plymouth from synaptic as well. Changing plymouth theme and back again did not solve the issue. I have not experienced such an issue after that. I should mention though that during the reinstallations there were kernel upgrades that were taking place almost the same time. During shut down there was no issue.

Regards!

Hi Claus7, thanks - I've just tried this: either reinstalling lightdm and plymouth as standalone or reinstalling with all their components did not solve the issue.

I want to check: when you say 'During shut down there was no issue.' do you mean that you could see Plymouth splash screen during shutdown but you could not see it during boot time?

[Claus7]

Hello,

...
I want to check: when you say 'During shut down there was no issue.' do you mean that you could see Plymouth splash screen during shutdown but you could not see it during boot time?

exactly! Why do you have such a low version kernel for 18.04?

Regards!

[faubuntu]

Hello,



exactly! Why do you have such a low version kernel for 18.04?

Regards!

About the plymouth issue: in your first post you mentioned that after reinstalling plymouth and lightdm you have not experienced such an issue after that.

Yet it seems that you still experienced the issue of not seeing the splash screen at boot time (which is the issue on this thread), am I understanding correctly?



About the kernel version: which version should I see?


Thank you

[Claus7]

Hello,

the story goes lies this: suddenly I was not able to see plymouth during boot. All the times though I was able to see plymouth during shutdown as you pinpointed correctly. Re-installing plymouth or changing plymouth theme did not change anything. Then, I reinstalled lightdm and things were fixed. The thing is that almost simultaneously ubuntu 18.04 was experiencing updates in its kernel and new version was installed.

In order to check which kernel version you have you can open a terminal and with the command:
uname -a

to check yours. The kernel versions of ubuntu 18.04 are 5.x, so I do not understand why you still have 4.x ones.

Regards!

[faubuntu]

Then, I reinstalled lightdm and things were fixed. The thing is that almost simultaneously ubuntu 18.04 was experiencing updates in its kernel and new version was installed.

In order to check which kernel version you have you can open a terminal and with the command:
uname -a

to check yours. The kernel versions of ubuntu 18.04 are 5.x, so I do not understand why you still have 4.x ones.

Regards!

Ok, thanks for clarifying - about the kernel: the version I currently have is Linux ubuntu 4.15.0-54-generic. I don't know why I'm not being offered a newer version. Perhaps it's got something to do with the fact I have chosen Lubuntu over Ubuntu?

[faubuntu]

Update: I have installed images from lubuntu-18.04-desktop-i386.iso and lubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-i386.iso, with various install options (i.e. minimal/full, download/don't download drivers, etc.) but in all cases I got the missing graphical splash screen right from the start, i.e. with a clean install.

$ uname -a
Linux drupalpro-VirtualBox 4.15.0-20-generic #21-Ubuntu SMP Tue Apr 24 06:15:38 UTC 2018 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

Kernel version appears to be the same as the initial version of the alternate image, where I do not experience the issue.

[faubuntu]

Reattaching both Plymouth logs

plymouth-debug.log (after software updates, broken)
https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/NWdvj7tyvz/


plymouth-debug.log (before software updates, working)
https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/F5PzthvF2s/