fci-mode
is buffer local. That means you need to turn it on for each buffer individually - setting it in your .emacs will set for one buffer, possibly just the splash screen, and not have any influence on the rest of your buffers.
To turn it on for all buffers, you need to use the following code in .emacs
:
(define-globalized-minor-mode global-fci-mode fci-mode (lambda () (fci-mode 1)))
(global-fci-mode 1)