Setup:
- Supermicro X9DRW motherboard, in service since 2012.
- Fresh installation of Debian 12 on a new boot disk.
- VGA monitor connected to the VGA port on the machine.
- Keyboard connected to a USB port.
- This is a minimal, server-type installation without any graphical/desktop software.
- The Debian 12 installation is accessible and functional via SSH.
Problem Description:
- After Debian 12 installation, the console displays "12 kvm1 tty1" in the upper left corner of the monitor, with no further response. kvm1 is the host name of the machine.
- Switching terminals (to tty2, tty3, etc.) is possible, but there's no response to keystrokes on any of the terminals except for a screen blink on CTRL+D.
- Keyboard and VGA driver seem operational (inferred from keyboard response and console display).
Attempts to Resolve:
- Reinstalling Debian 12 on a clean disk resulted in the same issue.
- Booting with the Debian 10 boot disk works normally, indicating the issue is due to some change since Debian 10.
- Verified SSH access and server functionality.
- I've searched for reports of similar behavior but have found none.
How can I restore traditional console access on this setup?
I would greatly appreciate any insights or solutions to regain console access to this machine.
Here's a solution: Add the 'nomodeset' kernel parameter to the appropriate Grub entry. Things work just fine now.