Lost BIOS screen on startup
 

After a fresh install of Slackware64-14 I was playing around with framebuffer settings in LiLo.conf and now I no longer see my BIOS screen on startup. It's a non-critical issue since everything runs great... I can still enter the BIOS by tapping f10 as the machine boots... and linux reports 'BIOS data check successful'. I suppose it's more of a curiosity than anything. I did perform another clean install afterwards (I wanted a new partitioning scheme anyway) but even with the default setting (vga = normal) it looks like my BIOS screen is gone forever. Any ideas?

I guess you lost the bootup messages from the kernel, not the bios screen.
If you see 'BIOS data check successful' it's already a message from the kernel and not from the bios anymore.

You should get it back when you go into lilo.conf and change the line to
and rerun in a terminal.

All this needs to be done as root of course

That's the first thing I tried but unfortunately still no boot screen. I even did a fresh install of Slackware. I probably didn't word my original post very well. I'm talking about the blue HP boot screen that tells you how to get into the BIOS, version number, recovery options, etc.

that has nothing to do with the bootloader or the operating system (they come later in the boot process).
it should be an option turnable on/off in the bios itself.

Okay, thanks. We'll just call it a huge "coincidence" I guess.

Which kernel are you using? I ask only because I had to re-flash the BIOS on one of my PCs earlier this year to be able to enable/disable the serial port. At the time, I shrugged and blamed a power outage and the fact that a GPS sent data to the port for three years straight until the GPS died. Maybe I should throw Linux into consideration for blame as well.

Anyway, you might go into the BIOS/CMOS setup screen and see if there's a quiet/quick-boot setting that can be set, even if you end up setting things back to the way they were.

The "BIOS data check successful" happens on PCs that run normally as well. There does seem to be a "nobd" option to LILO. Additionally, the Linux kernel can be configured to do fewer things with the BIOS/DMI/NVRAM/etc. than what it does by default.

On some systems you don't even see the bios summary screen (or the manufacturers logo, like the blue hp thing) , or you see it on a cold boot but not on a reboot of the system,
It depends on how fast your monitor will recognize the signal or/and how fast the bios passes it's tests.
I got some boxes here where you have to push DEL/F2/F8/F12 or similar keys blindly, because when the screen comes back on, the box is already booting the kernel.

I agree, but I've seen few.

Thanks everyone,

Like I said it's more of a curiosity than anything so I'm probably not going to give it much more thought. I've had the same hardware for several years though and until I installed Slackware64-14 and played around with the framebuffer settings in LiLo, I always got the HP boot screen on startup. My monitor is now also having to perform an 'auto adjustment' several times during boot which it never had to do before, and performing a factory reset on it didn't fix that.

I'm using the stock generic kernel (3.2.29) and I can still enter the BIOS by tapping f10 rapidly during boot so it's not really that bothersome.

Just wondering what I did to make it go away. :)

Jim

How about the cmos battery dying?

After 'BIOS data check successful' no Bios/Cmos should be involved anymore, I guess.

things may be involved are also
- a wrong frambuffer driver compiled into the lernel or loaded
- options like "quite" or "silent" in Grub, if they exist in Lilo .
- a non existing splashscreen (splashutils or similar ) :)
- a blacklisted (or need to be blacklisted) vga driver (blacklist nouveau etc)
-run out of ideas for now ... :)

Check to see if your monitor has an "autodetect" feature for the display frequency and screen size. It's possible that your monitor is not correctly switching back to the mode required for the BIOS messages. Try shutting off the power to the monitor, and then turn on the monitor power before starting up the computer. If that fixes the problem you may have to turn off autodetection or change the default mode that is saved in the monitor.

Does your motherboard have an on-board graphics controller? Is there also an add-on graphics controller card?

Did you move the monitor to a different graphics connector in order to get the display working with Linux? In that case, the BIOS is displaying the messages on the other graphics device.

Your BIOS might be selecting the wrong graphics device to display the Power On Self Test (POST) messages. There are a few ways to solve that problem.

Connect your monitor to the other graphics device. In other words, if it is connected to the add-on card, connect it to the motherboard instead. If it is connected to the motherboard, connect it to the add-on card instead. Do you then see the BIOS messages? If so, you can probably change a BIOS setting for the default graphics device. Change the setting to the device where you plan to connect your monitor.

If you have a problem with the graphics device changing again, try setting the BIOS for a non-Plug-And-Play operating system. That will make the BIOS configure all of the hardware devices, not just the ones used for booting.

In some cases it is necessary to unplug the add-on graphics card or clear the motherboard CMOS to get the BIOS display again. Shut off the power and unplug your add-on graphics card. Connect your monitor to the graphics device on the motherboard. Start up the computer and see if the graphics on the motherboard displays messages. If it does then save the BIOS settings. Shut off the power and plug in the add-on graphics card. Start up the computer, and change the graphics display device in the BIOS to default to the add-on graphics card. Connect your monitor back to the add-on card.

If unplugging the graphics card does not get your BIOS messages to display, you may have to install a jumper or short a set of traces on the motherboard to clear the CMOS settings. Check your motherboard manual for how to do that. If you can't find any information, you can usually unplug the coin-cell battery for a few minutes to clear the CMOS. Clearing the CMOS settings should be a last resort, because you will lose your current settings.

There is usually a setting in the BIOS that controls whether the BIOS displays a splash screen or text messages on start-up. If that has gotten changed (due to the BIOS settings being reset) then you might have to press Esc or Tab to see the text messages instead of the manufacturer logo.

There also may be a "fast boot" setting that controls how long it takes for the BIOS to start-up and begin booting the OS. With that set to "fast boot" you might not see the text messages for very long. Your monitor might not be able to detect the display format fast enough to see the messages. Try turning off "fast boot" to see if the messages appear.

In some cases you can turn off the help messages that explain the available keys. Check the BIOS for a setting that will enable waiting for a key-press on start up. I've seen some cases where that might be a value in seconds that you can set, Other times it's just an enable/disable setting.

The HP Recovery options might not be displayed if you have removed or changed the HP Recovery partition.

Thanks for all the great ideas! I'll check them out and get back to you. :)

Well I have my HP boot screen back but I don't understand how or why.

I ran the HP Diagnostics cd that came with my computer and performed the complete set of tests (cpu, memory, cmos, video, etc.) and everything passed. Then when I took the disc out and rebooted into Linux my HP boot screen was back again. I'm not really sure how this worked as the tests shouldn't have actually changed anything, should they? But sure enough after several reboots now my boot screen is back.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who took the time to offer help on this relatively minor issue.

Jim