[hllug] Re: Intel Video driver & firefox bug
- From: Lee Parmeter <admin@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: hllug@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:24:55 -0500
On 10/26/2011 10:20 AM, Lee Parmeter wrote:
On 10/25/2011 08:54 PM, Lee Parmeter wrote:
Apparently there several known bugs on x86 with Linux 2.6.32+ kernel and
the intel video driver i915. I am aware the the problems persist in at
least Ubuntu 10.4 and 10.10. Issue is suppose to be fixed in newer Linux
kernel source.
1. My son's laptop has an intel chipset and with Ubuntu 10.4& 10.10 the
video goes black during the Linux boot process and the machine locks up.
2. The other interesting one is triggered by Firefox. I have seen this bug
on multiple Dell Dim 2400 systems with the intel 82845G video chipset. The
video goes out in the wees with blinking black& white stripes and the
machine locks up solid. This one is random, but is always trigger when
using Firefox. Installing and using Chromium appears to prevent the lockup.
One time with Chromium, I saw the black& white video image in the browser,
but it did not kill X nor lockup the machine up. In fact it did not even
kill Chromium!
I have seen two possible solutions to work around these problems:
=========================================
a. Add the kernel option "nomodeset" in Grub. This is suppose to fix #1,
the boot-up problem. You have to get into the GRUB2 files to fix this as
there is no "/boot/grub/menu.lst" anymore!
b. Add the "modeset" option to a custom "/etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf" file.
This may fix problem #2 but have not tried it. I have not found any detail
yet concerning format of entry in user created "i915.conf".
-Lee
Here's some info on how to set apply the "nomodeset" kernel option:
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Kernel_Mode_Setting
Looks like you can enable modeset for the i915 (intel) video driver
using a Kernel option. So problem #1 above can be fixed by adding
"i915.modeset=1" to the Kernel via grub. On Ubuntu with grub2, this
requires editing the "/etc/default/grub" file and then running
"grub-update".
Using gedit:
# sudo gedit /etc/default/grub
The line to change is:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
to
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="i915.modeset=1"
Then save the file and run "update-grub"
# sudo update-grub
However it is best to test the change prior to the final edits outlined
above. To add the option manually as a single boot test:
1. Boot machine
2. Press & hold down the "shift" key after BIOS sign on to get access
the the grub menu.
3. Select the kernel you want to load with up/down keys
4. Press "e" to edit kernel line
5. Use the curser keys and position at end of kernel load line.
6. Then add the kernel option "i915.modeset=1
7. Now boot kernel with your mod using CTRL-x
If it successfully boots, then make the change permanent by editing
"/etc/default/grub".
-Lee
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