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I just wanted to switch to a TTY via [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Fx] but all I see is a blinking cursor. The login prompt doesn't appear. The getty processes are running. I even tried to modify the grub configuration according to this, but I had no luck. What can I do to analyze this behavior? What might be wrong here? I tried to read the dmesg output, the boot.log, but there seems to be nothing really bad inside. It has worked before, but I don't know how long it was when I went the last time into one of the ttys.

Ubuntu 14.04 64bit, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti (3 different "additional drivers" tested), Intel Core i7 3770 CPU.

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    It probably is your video card driver. In "additional drivers" switch to another one to see if that one does show ttys.
    – Rinzwind
    Dec 27, 2014 at 16:41
  • @Rinzwind: I've tested two others now without success. My graphics card is a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti.
    – DanielB
    Dec 27, 2014 at 16:58
  • I had a similar issue with my GTX 750 Ti. It's something to do with the drivers, not totally sure what exactly, but adding the GRUB flag nomodeset got me a TTY. However, it messed up my GUI at the same time. What drivers have you tried?
    – RPiAwesomeness
    Dec 27, 2014 at 17:03
  • @RPi_Awesomeness: yes, this seems to help, thanks. Maybe you could write down a short answer, so I can mark it as answered? I tried the nvidia-331 (proprietary, tested), nvidia-304-updates (prop.) and nvidia-304 legacy (prop.). I haven't tested the nouveau, because I had several problems with it in the past.
    – DanielB
    Dec 27, 2014 at 17:15
  • @Bradan No problem! Glad to help! Did the nomodeset flag mess up your GUI - or is it all good to go?
    – RPiAwesomeness
    Dec 27, 2014 at 17:18

1 Answer 1

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I had a similar issue with my GTX 750 Ti. It's something to do with the drivers, not totally sure what exactly, but adding the GRUB flag nomodeset got me a TTY.

However, it messed up my GUI at the same time, so this solution may not work for everyone.

Solution - Add the nomodeset GRUB flag:

  1. Open a terminal Ctrl+Alt+T

  2. Enter sudo nano /etc/default/grub - You can replace nano with whatever your favorite text editor is.

  3. Find the line starting with GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT and append nomodeset to its end. For example:

    GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"

  4. Run sudo update-grub - this will make the above change take place.

  5. Reboot - you should now have a working TTY.

If you reboot and your GUI is messed up, you'll have to remove the nomodeset flag, but that will most likely remove your ability to access a TTY - so you'll have to decide.

Messed up GUI - Remove nomodeset flag - It's exactly the opposite of adding it:

  1. Open a terminal Ctrl+Alt+T

  2. Enter sudo nano /etc/default/grub - You can replace nano with whatever your favorite text editor is.

  3. Find the line starting with GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT and remove nomodeset from its end. For example:

    GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

  4. Run sudo update-grub - this will make the above change take place.

  5. Reboot.

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