Dual Monitor Setup : Grub loader goes to HDTV even if it is turned off

Question

I'm sorry if this is a repeat but I can't find the answer to this anywhere.

I have a dual boot system with Windows 7 and Ubuntu 12.04. I recently bought an HDTV and connected it to my computer by HDMI. I have it set up so it mirrors my primary monitor.

The Grub boot-loader no longer shows up on my primary display. The Motherboard splash-screen shows up on both displays, then the primary goes blank and the grub-loader pops up on the HDTV. Once I have selected what to boot, my primary blinks back on and everything is fine. My problem is I don't want to have to turn on my HDTV every time I boot up my computer.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

I had the same problem. In my case grub would appear on both displays with the same resolution (1920X1080) which is not handled by my primary display. So first you want to check if this is the case with you. Run terminal enter:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Uncomment the line

#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

Save and close. Run

sudo update-grub

And reboot, you should see console output of grub on both terminals. Hit 'c' to enter commandline. Run

vbeinfo

The resolutions which are handled by your video output should be there. In my case 1680X1050X32 was there, but the preferred one by grub was 1920X1080. So boot up linux and set the resolution which is acceptable for both displays: Run terminal enter:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Look for the line

GRUB_GFXMODE=1680x1050x32

I set it to 1680X1050X32. In your case it might be different. Save and run

sudo update-grub

In case your grub can not handle the resolution it will respond not found during update-grub command. After finishing the update, reboot, and you should see a working grub on both displays.

Answer 2

My solution to this would be to get GRUB to automatically boot the kernel you last selected - then you would not need to select anything, and can just leave it to it. To do that, open an editor with the grub configuration file by running this:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

and set this line to saved, and remove any # from the beginning of the line as well:

GRUB_DEFAULT=saved

also, set this line to true:

GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true

Also set this so it dissapears after 2 seconds:

GRUB_TIMEOUT=2

If these lines are not in the file, add them in.

Also, to get rid of GRUB completely, set this to 0:

GRUB_TIMEOUT=0

but as it is sometimes useful for GRUB to be shown, to recover the system, or boot to a different kernel, you may want to set this to 1 or 2 seconds, like the above GRUB_TIMEOUT=2.

you could also hide the menu unless a key is pressed during the 2 seconds time period:

GRUB_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=2

After making any of the above modifactions, save you changes with Ctrl+O, and exit with Ctrl+X, then run this to update the changes:

sudo update-grub

Now, it should automatically select as default the entry you selected previously, and disappear after a timed delay, and hide if you wish it. Reboot and find out.

More on editing grub here

Answer 3

have you tried just swaping the HDMI ports around ? most graphics cards will send a signal to a port set in the carbs bios, if no signal is found it send to the next etc, unit software (drivers) tells it to start doing something else, your HDTV is proberly pluged into a port with more priority then your main display.