Understood. I agree that not completely breaking virtual machines in some hypervisors is important. While I'm required to use bare-metal installs on these systems, I depend on VMs as much as the next person. There has to be an alternate solution.
Are you suggesting there's a kernel change needed that shouldn't load vesafb until later? Or are you saying I should set GRUB_TERMINAL=console and do something once it's booted? I can't modprobe vesafb now after all. Sorry if I'm a bit slow on the uptake here -- this is my first rodeo. I am primarily a C++ developer but I have not spent any time in the kernel before. Unfortunately I can't change the config in any way that would cause regression in production. That includes lowering the resolution or just using 80x24. They're pretty strict on both regression and security here. Also, there is no SSH to these boxes so any interaction I have with them is sitting physically in front of them. I got some more dmesg outputs and checked /proc/fb on each. 12.04 3.2 and 12.04 3.13 SYSFB=N displayed the same: 0 VESA VGA 12.04 3.13 SYSFB=Y was: 0 simple -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel Packages, which is subscribed to linux in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1434581 Title: Console extremely slow with 3.13 and newer kernels for certified servers with Matrox G200er2 or similar Status in linux package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Status in linux source package in Trusty: Confirmed Status in linux source package in Utopic: Confirmed Status in linux source package in Vivid: Confirmed Bug description: When I first came across this issue I thought it was the same as bug #1316035 (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg- server/+bug/1316035), but this bug seems to be about X and it is reporting xorg-server as the package with the issue. I've seen a report on the certification program already on this, but it was lacking follow-up and suggested a bug report, question 255332 (https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu-certification/+question/255332). I've already asked about this on the forums, and received no replies. I originally encountered this issue due to having a bunch of Dell servers that I was testing with kernel 3.13 on 12.04. The text console is so slow that it is unusable when using vi or doing an operation similar to dpkg -l |grep xorg. Comparing the exact same system with kernel 3.2 or 3.11 loaded and running lsmod, vesafb is listed and performance is excellent. It is not listed on the 3.13 system. The same issue exists on 14.04 with the 3.13 or 3.16 kernel. Attempting to do modprobe vesa or modprobe vesafb returns modprobe: FATAL: Module vesa not found and modprobe: FATAL: Module vesafb not found respectively. Attempting to use uvesafb on this hardware results in a black screen. Attempting to use vga16fb results in good performance, but I am locked to 640x480. I tried to use fbset to force higher resolutions, but it either results in a distorted display or tells me there is not enough memory. I need a 1280x1024 console with performance equal to 12.04 with kernels 3.2-3.11. The server I'm using for testing is a Dell R320. This appears to be regression as I can duplicate it by simply doing a fresh install of 12.04.1 and not having the issue, while doing a fresh install of 12.04.5, 14.04.1, or 14.04.2 results in a very slow console. --- AlsaDevices: total 0 crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 1 Mar 20 13:17 seq crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 33 Mar 20 13:17 timer AplayDevices: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.7 Architecture: amd64 ArecordDevices: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory AudioDevicesInUse: Error: command ['fuser', '-v', '/dev/snd/seq', '/dev/snd/timer'] failed with exit code 1: CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04 HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=3255aa87-ba68-4b74-bdb0-1112aba7d46e InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-03-20 (0 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 14.04.1 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140722.3) IwConfig: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory MachineType: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R320 Package: linux (not installed) PciMultimedia: ProcEnviron: TERM=linux PATH=(custom, no user) XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set> LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash ProcFB: 0 VESA VGA ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-46-generic root=UUID=fda4445f-efe2-4e93-9adb-ecaf6386f8cd ro consoleblank=0 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-46.79-generic 3.13.11-ckt15 RelatedPackageVersions: linux-restricted-modules-3.13.0-46-generic N/A linux-backports-modules-3.13.0-46-generic N/A linux-firmware 1.127.11 RfKill: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory Tags: trusty Uname: Linux 3.13.0-46-generic x86_64 UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) UserGroups: root _MarkForUpload: True dmi.bios.date: 09/23/2013 dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc. dmi.bios.version: 2.0.21 dmi.board.name: 0R5KP9 dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc. dmi.board.version: A09 dmi.chassis.type: 23 dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc. dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr2.0.21:bd09/23/2013:svnDellInc.:pnPowerEdgeR320:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0R5KP9:rvrA09:cvnDellInc.:ct23:cvr: dmi.product.name: PowerEdge R320 dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc. 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