TTY is not showing the login prompt

Question

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.

Answer 1

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.