"Fatal Error: No screens found" in xorg.o.log

[Eric Hu]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-video-intel

instructed to submit bug report in this ubuntu launchpad thread:

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+question/155526

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu7.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-25.44-genusername 2.6.35.10
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-25-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,mousepoll,regex,kde,resize,grid,wall,gnomecompat,place,imgpng,animation,vpswitch,session,snap,move,expo,workarounds,ezoom,staticswitcher,fade,scale,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
DRM.card0.DisplayPort.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.DisplayPort.2:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.HDMI_Type_A.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.LVDS.1:
 status: connected
 enabled: enabled
 dpms: Off
 modes: 1280x800
 edid-base64: AP///////wAyDAEmAAAAAAARAQOAHRJ4Cjwwl1dTiiklUFQAAAABAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBvBsAoFAgFzAwIDYAHrMQAAAYAAAAAQAGECAAAAAAAAAAAAogAAAA/gBMR1BoaWxpcHNMQ0QKAAAA/gBMUDEzM1dYMS1UTE4zAG4=
DRM.card0.VGA.1:
 status: connected
 enabled: enabled
 dpms: On
 modes: 1680x1050 1280x1024 1280x1024 1152x864 1024x768 1024x768 800x600 800x600 640x480 640x480 720x400
 edid-base64: AP///////wAQrBigTE45MhkQAQMOKxt47u6Ro1RMmSYPUFSlSwCBgHFPAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBITmQMGIaJ0BosDYAsg4RAAAcAAAA/wBIRjczMDY2SjI5TkwKAAAA/ABERUxMIDIwMDdXRlAKAAAA/QA4TB5TDwAKICAgICAgAMk=
Date: Tue May 3 15:46:14 2011
DistUpgraded: Log time: 2011-04-28 13:02:47.166711
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a42] (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems Device [1179:ff50]
   Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems Device [1179:ff50]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
MachineType: TOSHIBA Satellite U405
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=C
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-25-genusername root=UUID=765d7d2a-961a-4cf1-9ecf-75003c04ce55 ro splash quiet splash vt.handoff=7
Renderer: Unknown
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-video-intel
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-29 (4 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 02/12/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.bios.version: V3.30
dmi.board.name: Satellite U405
dmi.board.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.board.version: Not Applicable
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnTOSHIBA:bvrV3.30:bd02/12/2009:svnTOSHIBA:pnSatelliteU405:pvrPSU44U-01L011:rvnTOSHIBA:rnSatelliteU405:rvrNotApplicable:cvnTOSHIBA:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: Satellite U405
dmi.product.version: PSU44U-01L011
dmi.sys.vendor: TOSHIBA
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs 20090808ubuntu13
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.23-1ubuntu6
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.0-0ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu7.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110107+b795ca6e-0ubuntu7

[Eric Hu (hu-eric)]

See the launchpad question link provided in the bug report for more detailed information on the crash behavior and attempted solution.

[Eric Hu (hu-eric)]

Just wanted to add that I'm still getting one crash per boot. With my current usage this means about one crash per day. The crash usually happens on opening a new tab in Firefox, hitting enter in the CLI to execute a command, or opening a file in Netbeans.

After this crash, I have to log in again but then the system is completely stable.

It's possible that this could also be hardware related (as in, hardware failure). Running a 3d game in Windows Vista on this machine occasionally crashes the game, but it's not an every day occurrence--I see it once a week or less.

[Eric Hu (hu-eric)]

I'm sometimes seeing massive packet loss on my wifi connection (for this computer only) after a crash. I.e. pinging the local router has ~80% packet loss while my coworker next to me is browsing the connection just fine.

Disconnecting and reconnect doesn't fix the problem for me, but rebooting does.

[lljccoael (lljccoael-deactivatedaccount)]

I'm having the exact same problem on a laptop with an Intel Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller. Random X crashes all the time with 11.04, and I cannot discern a cause. Whatever was changed in the new Update driver, it had no effect.

After logging back in (after it kicks me the login screen) I can no longer connect to any network until I reboot.

It's a very serious problem, as it makes 11.04 unstable.

[Eric Hu (hu-eric)]

@cjcolella One solution I've seen is to select Ubuntu Classic at login. You won't be using Unity anymore, but it *should* fix the crashes. I haven't tested it myself since I'd like to gather some more data on this bug and hopefully see it fixed.

I agree with you though that it makes 11.04 unstable. Sticking with this easily takes 20 minutes out of the beginning of my workday as I wait to crash the system.

Do you see the network issues 100% of the time with your crashes? I would estimate that only about 10% of my crashes result in network issues. I've had a 100% 1-crash-per-boot rate since I upgraded to 11.04, though.

[Eric Hu (hu-eric)]

@cjcolella I found that when I get the packet loss issue, putting the computer into standby and then starting it up again resolves it (at least temporarily)

[lljccoael (lljccoael-deactivatedaccount)]

Hi Eric.

In regard to using Classic or Unity, you can probably rule out that possibility, since I am using Kubuntu at the moment on the same Intel grpahics laptop. I still experience this show-stopping crash. I don't know if the probability of getting the error is higher when using compositing, I've experienced this problem with and without Compiz or Kwin. It's probably the same problem in both cases. I hope so, anyway.

Right now, from a suggestion on another Launchpad bug report about this (I wish someone would combine them, as there are at least three separate bug reports on this) I installed the latest daily kernel from <http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/> and the latest Intel Driver from Stefan Glasenhardt's ppa at <https://launchpad.net/~glasen/+archive/intel-driver> this morning. So far, I have not experienced an X crash, but it's only been a few hours.

At least one person in another bug report said that it happens more often when he uses Chromium. I might try that.

As for the network problem, I can't reproduce the crash, and it hasn't happened enough for me to know how the network behaves. All I know is that everytime it has happened (maybe five times since moving to 11.04), I lost my nework connection completely after I login, and I have to reboot. This is, I'd think, probably because of the crash, not a contributing factor. If my system crashes again, I'll try your standby suggestion.

[Eric Hu (hu-eric)]

Interesting, I wonder if we're getting the same bug. Let me know how that new kernel works out for you. I can say that I used Ubuntu 10.10 on this system for 2 months with no similar crash. Ubuntu 10 used GNOME instead of unity, so I figured it had more to do with that. I think I'll try running Ubuntu 11.04 in classic mode for the next week and report back on the behavior.

I typically don't use Chromium; most of the time I'm on Firefox. I've consistently experienced the crash every boot. On some days this means multiple times if I happen to reboot. I wonder if this could actually be a hardware issue, as I also experience some patchy wifi in Windows Vista and today I confirmed that using standby would allow the wifi to work again.

[lljccoael (lljccoael-deactivatedaccount)]

Well, I can say I've been using 11.04 with the new daily kernel as well as the latest Intel drivers, and I have not yet experienced a crash, and everything seems to be working perfectly. Better than ever, in fact, since, while 10.10 didn't kick me to login, it did have major issues with plasmoids in Kubuntu, leaving graphical artifacts and such. Hope I didn't just jinx it, but for me, at least, it seems to have been the kernel and driver. If it was just one or the other, I cannot say. Good luck!

[Eric Hu (hu-eric)]

I tried using Ubuntu Classic today and you were right that it wasn't the issue. I got the same crash.

I'll try just the intel driver you suggested first and try to isolate the fix. Thanks again for the links

[Eric Hu (hu-eric)]

I've been using my system today for over 3 hours today with no crash. It seems like the Stefan Glasenhardt's driver fixed this issue. I'll post an update if I experience another crash or if I don't within the next week.

In the mean time, should someone be notified if this patch indeed resolves the issue?

[Eric Hu (hu-eric)]

Had another crash today, so the intel driver didn't (completely?) resolve the issue.

I upgraded my kernel to 2.6.38-8-generic by following the instructions here: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-kernel-upgrade-howto/

Will update if I get another crash or am stable for several days.

[Eric Hu (hu-eric)]

I believe upgrading both has also fixed the issue for me. Thank you so much for sharing your solution, cjcolella

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hey hu-eric,

You filed this bug report against natty, but I see it's still open and
doesn't appear to have much activity recently. So, now that oneiric
is released and stable, this may be a good point for you to upgrade
and re-test if this issue is still present there.

If it's solved in the new release and you think it's worth backporting
the fix, please indicate that. Or if having the fix in the new release
is good enough, feel free to close out the bug (or let us know and we'll
close it.)

If it's not solved, leave the bug report open. I can't promise we'll
get to it (we get way more bugs filed than we can usually get to), but
your testing and feedback can help out if and when we do.

[bugbot (bugbot)]

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.