Graphics and Imaging Issues

This section describes graphics and imaging issues in the Oracle Solaris 11.1 release.

x86: Bitmapped Console Is Not Shown Properly on the NVIDIA Graphics Chipset (7106238)

On some systems with NVIDIA graphics adapters, the text mode console is not shown properly after the Xorg server has run. When you switch from an Xorg server to a text virtual terminal, the console is shown as vertical bars instead of readable characters.

Workaround: Disable the bitmapped console. Instead, use the VGA mode text console.

x86: Bundled Driver Panics When X Server Is Started in UEFI Mode (7116675)

The NVIDIA bundled driver panics when X server is started in the UEFI mode.

Workaround: In the GRUB menu, add the following text before the $multiboot line of the specified boot entry:

[...]
cutmem 0x9b000 1M
$multiboot /ROOT/transition/@/$kern $kern -B console=graphics -B $zfs_bootfs

To make this change permanent:

1. Create a custom.cfg file in rpool/boot/grub, which is the same directory that contains the grub.cfg file.

   For more information about creating and managing the custom.cfg file, see Customizing the GRUB Configuration in Booting and Shutting Down Oracle Solaris 11.1 Systems.

2. Copy the menu entry from the grub.cfg file to the custom.cfg file.

   The menu entry in the grub.cfg file looks similar to the following:

   menuentry "s11sru" {
     insmod part_msdos
     insmod part_sunpc
     insmod part_gpt
   
     insmod zfs
   
     search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root f3d8ef099730bafa
     zfs-bootfs /ROOT/s11sru/@/ zfs_bootfs
     set kern=/platform/i86pc/kernel/amd64/unix
     echo -n "Loading ${root}/ROOT/s11sru/@$kern: "
     $multiboot /ROOT/s11sru/@/$kern $kern -B $zfs_bootfs
     set gfxpayload="1024x768x32;1024x768x16;800x600x16;
           640x480x16;640x480x15;640x480x32"
     insmod gzio
     echo -n "Loading ${root}/ROOT/s11sru/@/platform/i86pc/amd64/boot_archive: "
     $module /ROOT/s11sru/@/platform/i86pc/amd64/boot_archive

3. Add the cutmem command before the $multiboot entry.

   The information shown in bold in the following example is added to custom.cfg.

   menuentry "s11sru" {
      insmod part_msdos
      insmod part_sunpc
      insmod part_gpt
   
      insmod zfs
   # Workaround for nVIDIA Driver
           cutmem 0x9b000 1M
   # End Workaround for nVIDIA Driver
      search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root f3d8ef099730bafa
      zfs-bootfs /ROOT/s11sru/@/ zfs_bootfs
      set kern=/platform/i86pc/kernel/amd64/unix
      echo -n "Loading ${root}/ROOT/s11sru/@$kern: "
      $multiboot /ROOT/s11sru/@/$kern $kern -B $zfs_bootfs
      set gfxpayload="1024x768x32;1024x768x16;800x600x16;
           640x480x16;640x480x15;640x480x32"
      insmod gzio
      echo -n "Loading ${root}/ROOT/s11sru/@/platform/i86pc/amd64/boot_archive: "
      $module /ROOT/s11sru/@/platform/i86pc/amd64/boot_archive