vga16fb sometimes claims fb0 before kms driver, a causing blank screen on boot

[zine92]

Binary package hint: xorg

It just shows a blank screen with a blinking text prompt when i press anything it will show what i type and i have to always use the magic sysreq to reboot it. i can boot into recovery and then startx with no problem and also it was working fine at first till recently with a update which broke my installations.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Feb 7 21:06:04 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
DkmsStatus: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
MachineType: LENOVO 4063EC6
Package: xorg 1:7.5+1ubuntu2
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-11-generic root=UUID=8e464eca-60a9-4050-90fc-ca82adbeb7b9 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_SG.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-11.15-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 xserver-xorg 1:7.5+1ubuntu2
 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.7-0ubuntu8
 libdrm2 2.4.17-0ubuntu2
 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.9.1-1ubuntu4
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-11-generic x86_64
dmi.bios.date: 11/26/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 6FET82WW (3.12 )
dmi.board.name: 4063EC6
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr6FET82WW(3.12):bd11/26/2009:svnLENOVO:pn4063EC6:pvrThinkPadW500:rvnLENOVO:rn4063EC6:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 4063EC6
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad W500
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 architecture: x86_64kernel: 2.6.32-11-generic

[lspci]
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a42] (rev 07)
     Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2115]
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc Mobility Radeon HD 3650 [1002:9591]
     Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2126]

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

[This is an automatic notification.]

Thanks for reporting this bug to help making the Intel graphics driver
better. We hear from upstream that a number of bugs (possibly including
this one) have been fixed in the newer DRM code from the 2.6.33 kernel.
I don't know if your bug is one of the ones fixed in this release,
though, but we've prepared a PPA with this DRM update. Would you mind
installing this, rebooting, and testing if the original issue can be
reproduced with it or not?

The DRM PPA is here:

    https://edge.launchpad.net/~apw/+archive/red

Note there could be new bugs... please file these as new reports using
the command 'ubuntu-bug linux' (for kernel or DRM or KMS bugs) or
'ubuntu-bug xorg' if you suspect them to be X.org issues.

[vladilinsky (vladilinsky)]

I have the same computer, with the same problem just with 2.6.32-17-generic kernel. it effects both video cards in the laptop, the intel gm45 and the ati 3650. if it would be helpful to you for me to try anything feel free to ask

[Chris Halse Rogers (raof)]

It seems that sometimes, particularly with multi-gpu systems, vga16fb claims fb0 ahead of a kernel modesetting driver. This results in a blank display.

Note that even when a kernel modesetting driver is loading first and claiming fb0 there are side-effects to having vga16fb loaded and providing fb1 - bug #527369 is an example. I'm leaving this as a separate bug as it's got very different symptoms and may not necessarily be fixed by the same process.

@vladilinsky: It would be useful if you could provide dmesg logs from a failed boot just to check that we're on the right track

[Chase Douglas (chasedouglas)]

@vladilinsky:

Please reproduce the issue and then run 'apport-collect 518387'. This will upload logs of your system to this bug so we can analyze the problem.

Thanks

[vladilinsky (vladilinsky)]

after an update yesterday the problem appears to have gone away. the computer boots fine with both the Intel and ATi cards . meaning I currently can not reproduce it any more.

[Chase Douglas (chasedouglas)]

@vladilinsky:

Good news!

@zine92:

I'm moving this bug to invalid now. If you can reproduce the issue, please move it back to New and attach a dmesg or kern.log from a failed boot.

Thanks

[Phil Ayres (ayres-phil)]

Hey, I just tried the new kernel mention by Bryce in the second comment. I'm running an old Dell D800 with nvidia go 4200 card, and neither the 10.04 liveCD nor an upgrade from 9.10 allowed me to run with the Nouveau driver.

After updating the kernel from the PPA, I am now the proud owner of a Nouveau running D800. Admittedly, the kernel update does not start gdm automatically, sending me to a text prompt, but a quick login and "sudo service gdm start" seems to work fine. I hope these changes made it into the final release of the .33 kernel.

I just wanted to tell the world, cos (a) I'm happy, and (b) I couldn't find information anywhere else about 10.04 not working with a Dell Latitude D800 and my specific geoforce 4200 card (for some reason Dell up'd the card just after mine :( )