Plymouth starts in text mode

yankeeboy254,

To start with, are you SURE your system is up-to-date?

The !final factoid from #ubuntu

!final
If you installed a Alpha/Beta/RC version of Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) and have been keeping it up to date, then you are already running the latest version of Lucid. To make sure, type « sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade » in a console.

The text Plymouth was resolved with Proprietary Nvidia on, or before, March 29, 2010.

Good luck,
George

Yes, I am positive I am running the final version. I already checked the distro upgrade also. It may be a different bug, but I haven't found any bugs that show the same symptoms. Nouveau auto-replaced 195 proprietary driver, I believe the beta 1, but I've been having the problem since Alpha 2, and was clearly not resolved when the fix was released for the bug, which leads me to think this is a different problem. I also did a clean install, after the Beta 1, just to make sure I was up to date, and I still had the same problem.

Try:

sudo update-alternatives --config default.plymouth; sudo update-initramfs -u

And select a theme from the list, the config will then be updated. nvidia have a bug with plymouth as the driver doesn't get loaded to bring up the graphic and many users simply get a black screen.

I used this guide to add a sunrise theme:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1453733

Which is where I got the commands from :)

Hope it helps.
From README.debian (package plymouth)
Changing Themes
---------------

Plymouth themes are installed into sub-directories of /lib/plymouth/themes,
some themes may require plugins installed (as .so files) into /lib/plymouth.

Search the archive for packages named plymouth-theme-*

To change the current theme:

  sudo update-alternatives --config default.plymouth
  sudo update-initramfs -u

To restore the default theme:

  sudo update-alternatives --auto default.plymouth
  sudo update-initramfs -u

Disabling the splash screen
---------------------------

There are two methods to disable the splash screen. Both have the
same effect. Your boot will show such messages as are emitted by
the starting services, and will still be able to prompt if needs be.

 1) Remove all of the plymouth-theme-* packages from your system,
    including the text ones. Plymouth will remain installed to
    permit boot-time prompts.

 2) Remove "splash" from the kernel command-line. You can do this
    per-boot, or make it permanent by changing the
    GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line in /etc/default/grub

High-color graphics on nVidia, ATI and other cards
--------------------------------------------------

Our default configuration uses low-color graphics on cards or drivers
for which "Kernel Mode Setting" (in-kernel graphics drivers) are not
available.

This is because the driver that permits high-color graphics tends to
cause issues with suspend and resume, and we opted to prefer that
working.

    For nVidia and ATI users, the default "nouveau" and "radeon"
    drivers are Kernel Mode Setting enabled, but do not always
    provide 3D capability at the current time. By switching to
    using the restricted/non-free nvidia-glx or fglrx drivers,
    you will gain 3D capability at the loss of a high-color
    splash screen.

You can however chose to enable high-color (and resolution) console
if you find it doesn't affect suspend/resume for you, or you don't
use that feature.

There are various methods of doing this, the most robust is the
following four steps:

 Append video=vesafb to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT in
   /etc/default/grub
 sudo update-grub

 echo FRAMEBUFFER=y | sudo tee /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash
 sudo update-initramfs -u

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/Plymouth
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/KernelModeSetting

Nope, none of those worked. I believe that it is a different bug. I tried all of the different themes, which leads me to believe that it is something in between the Nouveau drivers and the X settings during boot. The driver works fine displaying Flash and Compiz.

Ok, then maybe try this page.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Testing/NouveauEvaluation

Nope, that didn't work either. It has to be the Nouveau drivers, I just don't know what could be causing it. Oh yeah, I tried booting into safe mode, and I got an fsck, before it continued. And sometimes it also occasionally checks my drive for consistency on boot, from the Text logo.

If nothing helps file a bug.
Known issues and bugs incl. workarounds are mentioned here.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1469475

Good luck.