Intel display driver cannot read EDID from VGA monitor

[psl]

Ubuntu 18.04

Report if from Linux Mint 19.3 but the same situation is with Ubuntu 18.04

Linux cannot access EDID information from VGA port and it offers maximum resolution of 1024x768, that is not too much for 24" monitor. When I connect VGA monitor to other PC with Nvidia card (cuda driver, GPU for games), it works OK. When I run Windows in this PC, it is OK, monitor is properly detected and resolution set correctly. Problem is only with boards with Intel video chips, those are Linux unfriendly.

This is report from nice mini PC, HP EliteDesk 800 G1 USDT.
Until this bug is fixed you cannot expect that people will use these office PCs with Linux...

$ sudo inxi -F
System:
  Host: elite Kernel: 5.3.0-28-generic x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: Cinnamon 4.4.8 Distro: Linux Mint 19.3 Tricia
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP EliteDesk 800 G1 USDT
  v: N/A serial: CZC611B2GK
  Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 18E5 serial: CZCxxxxxxx UEFI: Hewlett-Packard
  v: L01 v02.75 date: 05/04/2018
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-4590S bits: 64 type: MCP
  L2 cache: 6144 KiB
  Speed: 799 MHz min/max: 800/3700 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 798 2: 798
  3: 798 4: 798
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics
  driver: i915 v: kernel
  Display: server: X.Org 1.19.6 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
  resolution: 1024x768~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Haswell Desktop v: 4.5 Mesa 19.2.8
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio
  driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-2: Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio
  driver: snd_hda_intel
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.3.0-28-generic
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I217-LM driver: e1000e
  IF: eno1 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: ec:b1:d7:72:ea:cd
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 232.89 GiB used: 37.68 GiB (16.2%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: SanDisk model: SDSSDH3250G size: 232.89 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 227.74 GiB used: 37.68 GiB (16.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 36.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 217 Uptime: 19m Memory: 15.53 GiB used: 1.29 GiB (8.3%)
  Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.32
---
ProblemType: Bug
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.9
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: psl 1661 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: psl 1661 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: X-Cinnamon
DistroRelease: Linux Mint 19.3
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-04-29 (290 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Linux Mint 19.1 "Tessa" - Release amd64 20181217
IwConfig:
 lo no wireless extensions.

 eno1 no wireless extensions.
MachineType: Hewlett-Packard HP EliteDesk 800 G1 USDT
Package: linux (not installed)
ProcFB: 0 i915drmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.3.0-28-generic root=UUID=ff586528-825b-4ee5-b08e-bc363013c7a5 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.3.0-28.30~18.04.1-generic 5.3.13
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-5.3.0-28-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-5.3.0-28-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.173.14
RfKill:

Tags: tricia
Uname: Linux 5.3.0-28-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo
_MarkForUpload: True
dmi.bios.date: 05/04/2018
dmi.bios.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.bios.version: L01 v02.75
dmi.board.asset.tag: CZC611B2GK
dmi.board.name: 18E5
dmi.board.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: CZC611B2GK
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnHewlett-Packard:bvrL01v02.75:bd05/04/2018:svnHewlett-Packard:pnHPEliteDesk800G1USDT:pvr:rvnHewlett-Packard:rn18E5:rvr:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.family: 103C_53307F G=D
dmi.product.name: HP EliteDesk 800 G1 USDT
dmi.product.sku: C8N28AV
dmi.sys.vendor: Hewlett-Packard

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. While running an Ubuntu kernel (not a mainline or third-party kernel) please enter the following command in a terminal window:

apport-collect 1863248

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

[psl (slansky)]

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[psl (slansky)]

In the old good times of Windows 98 I was able to disable Plug&Play and select my monitor from DB of known models or select generic configuration to match my resolution. I miss such option in modern Linux distributions, it could be useful fallback when Plug&Play for some reason doesn't work. When it works, it is great but when Plug&Play is broken, it is very difficult to configure Linux to use correct display resolution.

[psl (slansky)]

I was too optimistic about Win10. Windows cannot detect my monitor too. Situation with Windows is better than situation with Linux. My monitor is DELL U2412M and it has native resolution 1920x1200@60Hz.

Windows cannot detect my monitor so they report it as "Standart non PnP Monitor". I can set resolution manually, I can select from many resolutions. Unfortunately, 1920x1200 is not in the list! I can use 1600x1200 or 1920x1080, that is not perfect but much better than 1024x768 that is the maximum resolution offered in Ubuntu/Mint.

I downloaded "monitor driver" from DELL support page and install it and forced Windows to replace "non PnP monitor" with "DELL U2412M" driver but nothing changed, I still cannot switch to 1920x1200 resolution.

It looks like Intel is troublemaker here... Until this is fixed, it is very unlikely that bug #1 will be fixed... ;-)

[psl (slansky)]

Resolution is set to 1920x1080@60 in Win10 but monitor receives signal 2048x1152@60Hz (this is more than official monitor resolution that is 1020x1200@60Hz but it looks like monitor can handle it); this information is visible at DELL monitor menu and even in Windows configuration. Windows report that video RAM is 128MB dedicated RAM and 2048MB shared RAM. It is possible that PC just doesn't have enough video memory to display 1920x1200. I am not sure why I am in this situation. This is not first PC with Intel HD graphics and I believe I never had similar problem before and I was able to run at resolution 1920x1200; I will recheck...

[psl (slansky)]

I tried to switch resolution to 2048x1152@60Hz and it worked (Win10). I found I can define custom resolution but when I tried to define 1920x1200@60Hz, it was not accepted with information that maximum bandwidth was exceeded. After several tries, custom resolution 1920x1200@56Hz was accepted and I was able to switch to it. Screen is finally crisp! DELL monitor reports that resolution is 1920x1200@60Hz, Windows reports 1920x1200@56Hz. This was tricky... Monitor reported by Windows is "Generic Non-PnP Monitor". I updated BIOS but I think there was no real impact of that action to video hardware (microcode was updated).

[psl (slansky)]

I have update. I have found that my VGA cable was "broken", one of EDID wires was broken. It was not 100% broken, so sometimes EDID was working but in most cases it was not working. Source of this problem was VGA cable.

Anyway, this issue highlighted that when EDID information is not available than Linux doesn't allow user to set higher resolution than 1024x800. That is not nice...

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 1833855, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Feel free to continue to report any other bugs you may find.