Bug 103150

Summary:	Installation fails when vga=fbdev was set as bootparameter
Product:	[openSUSE] SUSE LINUX 10.0	Reporter:	Mathias Zuckermann <m_zuckermann>
Component:	Installation	Assignee:	Jiri Srain <jsrain>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED	QA Contact:	Klaus Kämpf <kkaempf>
Severity:	Normal
Priority:	P5 - None
Version:	Beta 1
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	i386
OS:	All
Whiteboard:
Found By:	Other	Services Priority:
Business Priority:		Blocker:	---
Marketing QA Status:	---	IT Deployment:	---
Attachments:	/var/log/YaST2 directory as required

Description Mathias Zuckermann 2005-08-09 19:43:01 UTC

Novell/SuSE recommends to set "vga=fbdev" as bootparameter when installing SuSE
Linux in VMware. The installation runs perfectly, but at the first reboot Grub
stops with "Error 23: error in parising number". The installer took the
"vga=fbdev" from the first boot to the initial menu.lst, but Grub cannot parse it. 

Either Grub should be able to parse vga=fbdev or such options should be removed.

Comment 1 Lukas Ocilka 2005-08-09 20:35:02 UTC

Please, attach y2logs or rather all the /var/log/YaST2 directory. It is very
helpful for finding a solution of this bug.

http://www.suse.de/~sh/Bugreporting-faq/index.html#id2518603

Thanks

Comment 2 Mathias Zuckermann 2005-08-09 20:51:41 UTC

Created attachment 45398 [details]
/var/log/YaST2 directory as required

This is the /var/log/YaST2 directory, shortly after the installation was
completed. I have booted a rescue system and removed "vga=menu.lst" from
/boot/grub/menu.lst, then the installation finished (CDs 2-4). Previously it
stopped after the reboot after the first CD.

Comment 3 Jiri Srain 2005-08-10 07:17:02 UTC

Torsten, how do you want YaST to handle it?

Comment 4 Torsten Duwe 2005-08-10 11:07:14 UTC

What's this supposed to be, vga=fbdev? The vga= is handled by x86 real mode  
startup code of the linux kernel to select among VESA modes provided by the  
video BIOS. fbdev is an abstraction the kernel provides to user space.  
  
"vga=fbdev" combines something pre-kernel-boot with something post-boot. 
Where is it recommended, and what does it do?

Comment 5 Mathias Zuckermann 2005-08-10 11:16:10 UTC

Sorry, mixed something up. The correct recommendation from 
http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/trench/15677.html
is x11i=fbdev. So it was my mistake, I think the bootparameter was ignored by
the ISOLINUX and SuSE 10.0 now works with VMware without givinig a parameter. I
can try this if you want.

SuSE 9.3 definitely did not install in graphical mode without the x11i=fbdev
parameter.

Comment 6 Jiri Srain 2005-08-10 11:38:44 UTC

OK, also, you installed with vga=fbdev or x11i=fbdev?

Comment 7 Mathias Zuckermann 2005-08-10 13:16:10 UTC

I installed with  vga=fbdev, and Grub did not start the system after reboot,
because YaST added this bootparameter to the menu.lst.

Comment 8 Jiri Srain 2005-08-15 12:05:38 UTC

OK, also, I will use the vga parameter only if it is set a meaningful way.

Comment 9 Jiri Srain 2005-08-15 12:51:30 UTC

Checking for validity of the VGA parameter is in SVN, will go to Beta3.