NoVNC VM console graphics corruption (Default VGA)

[n1nj4888]

I'm running a couple of Ubuntu 18.04.4 server VMs. The VMs run fine but when I try to view the VM using the "NoVNC console", I get the attached screen corruption? When starting the VM, the "Proxmox" splashscreen is shown fine in the console, but as soon as the VM commences boot, the display is as per the attached image.

Changing the display from "Default" to "SPICE" does seem to fix the issue so I think it's a bug in the "Default" VGA option that has crept in in a recent version?

I'm not sure when this started occurring but it wasn't always this way. I see the same corruption whether running the NoVNC console on my Node 1 (5.4 kernel) or Node 2 (5.3 kernel):

Node 1:

Spoiler: pveversion -v

root@pve-host1:~# pveversion -v
proxmox-ve: 6.1-2 (running kernel: 5.4.24-1-pve)
pve-manager: 6.1-8 (running version: 6.1-8/806edfe1)
pve-kernel-5.4: 6.1-7
pve-kernel-helper: 6.1-7
pve-kernel-5.3: 6.1-6
pve-kernel-5.0: 6.0-11
pve-kernel-5.4.24-1-pve: 5.4.24-1
pve-kernel-5.3.18-3-pve: 5.3.18-3
pve-kernel-5.3.18-2-pve: 5.3.18-2
pve-kernel-5.3.18-1-pve: 5.3.18-1
pve-kernel-5.0.21-5-pve: 5.0.21-10
pve-kernel-5.0.15-1-pve: 5.0.15-1
ceph-fuse: 12.2.11+dfsg1-2.1+b1
corosync: 3.0.3-pve1
criu: 3.11-3
glusterfs-client: 5.5-3
ifupdown: 0.8.35+pve1
ksm-control-daemon: 1.3-1
libjs-extjs: 6.0.1-10
libknet1: 1.15-pve1
libpve-access-control: 6.0-6
libpve-apiclient-perl: 3.0-3
libpve-common-perl: 6.0-17
libpve-guest-common-perl: 3.0-5
libpve-http-server-perl: 3.0-5
libpve-storage-perl: 6.1-5
libqb0: 1.0.5-1
libspice-server1: 0.14.2-4~pve6+1
lvm2: 2.03.02-pve4
lxc-pve: 3.2.1-1
lxcfs: 4.0.1-pve1
novnc-pve: 1.1.0-1
proxmox-mini-journalreader: 1.1-1
proxmox-widget-toolkit: 2.1-3
pve-cluster: 6.1-4
pve-container: 3.0-23
pve-docs: 6.1-6
pve-edk2-firmware: 2.20200229-1
pve-firewall: 4.0-10
pve-firmware: 3.0-6
pve-ha-manager: 3.0-9
pve-i18n: 2.0-4
pve-qemu-kvm: 4.1.1-4
pve-xtermjs: 4.3.0-1
qemu-server: 6.1-7
smartmontools: 7.1-pve2
spiceterm: 3.1-1
vncterm: 1.6-1
zfsutils-linux: 0.8.3-pve1

Node 2:

Spoiler: pveversion -v

root@pve-host2:~# pveversion -v
proxmox-ve: 6.1-2 (running kernel: 5.3.18-3-pve)
pve-manager: 6.1-8 (running version: 6.1-8/806edfe1)
pve-kernel-helper: 6.1-7
pve-kernel-5.3: 6.1-6
pve-kernel-5.0: 6.0-11
pve-kernel-5.3.18-3-pve: 5.3.18-3
pve-kernel-5.3.18-2-pve: 5.3.18-2
pve-kernel-5.3.18-1-pve: 5.3.18-1
pve-kernel-5.0.21-5-pve: 5.0.21-10
pve-kernel-5.0.15-1-pve: 5.0.15-1
ceph-fuse: 12.2.11+dfsg1-2.1+b1
corosync: 3.0.3-pve1
criu: 3.11-3
glusterfs-client: 5.5-3
ifupdown: 0.8.35+pve1
ksm-control-daemon: 1.3-1
libjs-extjs: 6.0.1-10
libknet1: 1.15-pve1
libpve-access-control: 6.0-6
libpve-apiclient-perl: 3.0-3
libpve-common-perl: 6.0-17
libpve-guest-common-perl: 3.0-5
libpve-http-server-perl: 3.0-5
libpve-storage-perl: 6.1-5
libqb0: 1.0.5-1
libspice-server1: 0.14.2-4~pve6+1
lvm2: 2.03.02-pve4
lxc-pve: 3.2.1-1
lxcfs: 4.0.1-pve1
novnc-pve: 1.1.0-1
proxmox-mini-journalreader: 1.1-1
proxmox-widget-toolkit: 2.1-3
pve-cluster: 6.1-4
pve-container: 3.0-23
pve-docs: 6.1-6
pve-edk2-firmware: 2.20200229-1
pve-firewall: 4.0-10
pve-firmware: 3.0-6
pve-ha-manager: 3.0-9
pve-i18n: 2.0-4
pve-qemu-kvm: 4.1.1-4
pve-xtermjs: 4.3.0-1
qemu-server: 6.1-7
smartmontools: 7.1-pve2
spiceterm: 3.1-1
vncterm: 1.6-1
zfsutils-linux: 0.8.3-pve1

VM config:

Spoiler: 131.conf

agent: 1,fstrim_cloned_disks=1
bios: ovmf
boot: dcn
bootdisk: scsi0
cores: 4
cpu: host
efidisk0: local-zfs:vm-131-disk-1,size=1M
ide2: none,media=cdrom
memory: 8192
name: pve-vm-docker-1
net0: virtio=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX,bridge=vmbr0,firewall=1
numa: 0
ostype: l26
parent: Snapshot6
scsi0: local-zfs:vm-131-disk-0,discard=on,size=20G,ssd=1
scsi1: local-zfs:vm-131-disk-2,backup=0,discard=on,size=50G,ssd=1
scsihw: virtio-scsi-pci
smbios1: uuid=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
sockets: 1
vga: memory=128
vmgenid: XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX

 

[n1nj4888]

@onepamopa also seeing this same issue at the following post:

https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/problem-with-vm-garbled-novnc.68035/#post-305160

 

[onepamopa]

This will probably take a while, COVID-19 ....

 

[dcsapak]

mhmm.. i remember that ubuntu had an issue with their .x release and wrong drivers in the kernel for their xorg environment...
can you maybe try a different gpu (e.g. virtio) and also maybe a different iso (e.g. debian/fedora/another ubuntu version) ?

 

[onepamopa]

Well, I'm running debian 10 in another VM and don't have any issues with it. Only the ubuntu vm has this noVNC problem.

 

[dcsapak]

and another ubuntu version (e.g. 19.10; 18.04.3 )?

 

[onepamopa]

The VM that has this problem is 18.04.4 4.15.0-91. I don't have another ubuntu VM at the moment (no disk space available for a new VM).

 

[onepamopa]

So, any info on this?

 

[RedactedDuck]

I was having this same issue. Changed to SPICE and it works now.