Solved Broken boot menu layout since update to 13.0

Hello,

Since I updated my laptop from 12.2 to 13.0 using freebsd-update, the boot menu shows a broken layout, displaying "â" characters instead of the frame.

broken-layout.jpg


Any idea where the problem comes from?

Thank you.
 
Yes. Copy the new efi bootloader.

mount -t msdosfs /dev/drive-name-partition /mnt
cp /boot/loader.efi /mnt/efi/boot/BOOTx64.efi


drive-name-partition is often ada0p1 but you have to look where the efi partition lies with gpart show.
 
Thanks, according to its modification date, my BOOTx64.efi was indeed untouched by the system upgrade.
Why is this not handled by freebsd-upgrade?

Whatever, I'm disappointed. I don't understand why the loader was changed. The previous one was perfect and all I can see is regression:

* I had to set efi_max_resolution="1600x900" in /boot/loader.conf to get a correct resolution while it was automatically detected before. Furthermore, the text displayed for a short time before the menu shows up (EFI console) is still at a wrong resolution.

* Even when using the correct resolution, the boot text is far too big to my taste, something like twice bigger than before. I have less time to read the lines before they disappear.

* The Beastie logo looks bad, like a poorly cut image. The ASCII art felt way more polished.

Is the good old loader still available as an alternative?
 
I don't understand why the loader was changed.
This is unavoidable, for example to be able to work with newer ZFS pools.
I had to set efi_max_resolution="1600x900" in /boot/loader.conf to get a correct resolution while it was automatically detected before.
This might be a bug, but at least you have a simple workaround.
Even when using the correct resolution, the boot text is far too big to my taste, something like twice bigger than before.
This is not a regression but a new feature, the loader tries to automatically pick a font size for something close to a standard 80x24 terminal. You can override that by adding screen.font="8x16", see also loader.conf(5).
The Beastie logo looks bad, like a poorly cut image.
Do you mean the "orb" logo? It does look pretty polished on my UEFI machine. Anyways, you can have an ascii art logo, e.g. with loader_logo="beastie".
 
Thank you! I'm fine again with 8x16 font and "beastie" logo.

By the way, I learned the word "orb" in English, I had no idea it was an actual word and was rather thinking about some kind of an acronym like Original Red Beastie :)
 
Do you mean the "orb" logo? It does look pretty polished on my UEFI machine. Anyways, you can have an ascii art logo, e.g. with loader_logo="beastie".

How do we change the default logo to a different bitmap of our own liking, rather than ascii?
 
If you are using refind, the boot loader can be in /mnt/FreeBSD/loader.efi (because I did not change the default place in a step by step guide).
 
Thanks, according to its modification date, my BOOTx64.efi was indeed untouched by the system upgrade.
Why is this not handled by freebsd-upgrade?

Whatever, I'm disappointed. I don't understand why the loader was changed. The previous one was perfect and all I can see is regression:

* I had to set efi_max_resolution="1600x900" in /boot/loader.conf to get a correct resolution while it was automatically detected before. Furthermore, the text displayed for a short time before the menu shows up (EFI console) is still at a wrong resolution.

* Even when using the correct resolution, the boot text is far too big to my taste, something like twice bigger than before. I have less time to read the lines before they disappear.

* The Beastie logo looks bad, like a poorly cut image. The ASCII art felt way more polished.

Is the good old loader still available as an alternative?
Try this. When you see that Beastie boot menu, type "3" for loader prompt.
Then type gop list to see the available gop MODES.
Then try gop set <MODE>, $MODE being the mode number you see at the beginning of each mode line.
For example, on one of my machines 0 works best, while on the other the right one is 4. Depends on the graphics card, I guess.
...Once the best MODE found, add this line to your /boot/loader.conf:
Code:
exec="gop set <MODE>"

This works for me to get the best resolution for UEFI console and consequent boot messages.
 
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