[i915] With kernel 5.8, video crashes, system freezes. But 5.4 works.

[Duane Shults]

1) Chromebox 2955U trying to run Ubuntu 20.04 with updates. Has been running Ubuntu for many years.
2) Video seems to crash when ANY program, menu item or terminal is started after reboot. Flashing screen fields, boxes, menus. Cursor freezes or stutters.
3) 18.02 ran and runs fine in other partitions.
4) Latest Debian runs fine in other partiton.
5) Ubuntu 20.04 runs fine when running directly from USB flashdrive. This is really wierd.
6) Occurs immediately after a fresh installation of 20.04 in any partition. Verified sha256sums.
7) Can make system usable with nomodeset in grub linux line but runs very slow.
8) Tried "sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel". ... Already running latest.
9) Memtest86 ran 2 full iterations, no errors.
10) Seems like I verified an older kernel worked fine, but an "autoremove" removed it/them.
11) I've been fighting this for a few months now.

Thank you for any support you can give...

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+19ubuntu14
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-36.40~20.04.1-generic 5.8.18
Uname: Linux 5.8.0-36-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.14
Architecture: amd64
BootLog: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/boot.log'
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CompositorRunning: None
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sat Jan 23 08:41:43 2021
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: focal
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0a06] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Google, Inc. Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller [1ae0:c000]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-10-03 (111 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200423)
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 004: ID 13d3:3393 IMC Networks
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: Google Panther
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.8.0-36-generic root=UUID=3124be5d-3014-4ee1-ac5b-8c48babfde15 ro quiet splash nomodeset
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 12/10/2014
dmi.bios.release: 4.0
dmi.bios.vendor: coreboot
dmi.bios.version: 4.0-7565-gc6e3a3a-dirty
dmi.board.name: Panther
dmi.board.vendor: Google
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Google
dmi.ec.firmware.release: 0.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvncoreboot:bvr4.0-7565-gc6e3a3a-dirty:bd12/10/2014:br4.0:efr0.0:svnGoogle:pnPanther:pvr1.0:rvnGoogle:rnPanther:rvr1.0:cvnGoogle:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Panther
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: Google
version.compiz: compiz N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.102-1ubuntu1~20.04.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 20.2.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.20.9-2ubuntu1.2~20.04.1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:19.1.0-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20200226-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.16-1

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thanks for the bug report. A few thoughts:

1. xserver-xorg-video-intel is old and not supported. Please uninstall it to make sure you're using the newer default driver ('modesetting').

2. Your kernel log shows constant hardware errors from the 'Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 3':

[ 69.485800] pcieport 0000:00:1c.0: AER: Corrected error received: 0000:00:1c.0
[ 69.485812] pcieport 0000:00:1c.0: AER: PCIe Bus Error: severity=Corrected, type=Data Link Layer, (Transmitter ID)
[ 69.485817] pcieport 0000:00:1c.0: AER: device [8086:9c14] error status/mask=00001000/00002000
[ 69.485821] pcieport 0000:00:1c.0: AER: [12] Timeout

I don't know if that's a real hardware problem or a kernel bug. So please try some older kernels like: https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.4.92/

3. Please check the system for non-kernel crashes using these instructions: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Responses#Missing_a_crash_report_or_having_a_.crash_attachment

[Duane Shults (dshults)]

Thanks Daniel,
1) I uninstalled  xserver-xorg-video-intel. No change.
2) I noticed that. 18.04 and Debian works fine on same machine.

Using a recent installation of 20.04 desktop with updates but little to
no changes from stock:

5.4.0-42-generic WORKS FINE on /dev/sda1:
5.8.0-38-generic on /dev/sda1 boots to desktop, cursor OK, but 1st or
2nd user action immediately renders system unusable. Freezes, various
screen flashing, reboots or reverts to user login.

Verified the above multiple times.

What else can I do to help?

Thanks!

    ... Duane Shults

On 1/25/21 12:17 AM, Daniel van Vugt wrote:
> Thanks for the bug report. A few thoughts:
>
> 1. xserver-xorg-video-intel is old and not supported. Please uninstall
> it to make sure you're using the newer default driver ('modesetting').
>
> 2. Your kernel log shows constant hardware errors from the 'Intel
> Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 3':
>
> [ 69.485800] pcieport 0000:00:1c.0: AER: Corrected error received: 0000:00:1c.0
> [ 69.485812] pcieport 0000:00:1c.0: AER: PCIe Bus Error: severity=Corrected, type=Data Link Layer, (Transmitter ID)
> [ 69.485817] pcieport 0000:00:1c.0: AER: device [8086:9c14] error status/mask=00001000/00002000
> [ 69.485821] pcieport 0000:00:1c.0: AER: [12] Timeout
>
> I don't know if that's a real hardware problem or a kernel bug. So
> please try some older kernels like: https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-
> ppa/mainline/v5.4.92/
>
> 3. Please check the system for non-kernel crashes using these
> instructions:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Responses#Missing_a_crash_report_or_having_a_.crash_attachment
>
>
> ** Summary changed:
>
> - Last few kernel updates, video crashes, system freezes
> + [i915] Last few kernel updates, video crashes, system freezes
>
> ** Package changed: xorg (Ubuntu) => linux (Ubuntu)
>
> ** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>

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

This change was made by a bot.

[Kleber Sacilotto de Souza (kleber-souza)]

Hi Duane,

Regarding your comments:

5) Ubuntu 20.04 runs fine when running directly from USB flashdrive. This is really wierd.
6) Occurs immediately after a fresh installation of 20.04 in any partition. Verified sha256sums.

I believe the installer will update some packages, including the kernel, when you do the installation on the system. This would explain the difference between running the live-cd and the installed system.

If after the automatic update to 5.8 your 5.4 kernels are not available anymore for booting, you can try installing the meta package "linux-generic" which would install the latest 5.4 kernel.

[Duane Shults (dshults)]

The live-CD issue makes sense... thanks.

I reinstalled 5.4 per your suggestion. I can now boot into 5.4 again in
my daily-use partition through the Advanced grub menu.
Thank you!

Will I be notified when a fix is released in 5.8? I've disabled
automatic updates for now.

    ... Duane

On 2/3/21 4:17 AM, Kleber Sacilotto de Souza wrote:
> Hi Duane,
>
> Regarding your comments:
>
> 5) Ubuntu 20.04 runs fine when running directly from USB flashdrive. This is really wierd.
> 6) Occurs immediately after a fresh installation of 20.04 in any partition. Verified sha256sums.
>
> I believe the installer will update some packages, including the kernel,
> when you do the installation on the system. This would explain the
> difference between running the live-cd and the installed system.
>
> If after the automatic update to 5.8 your 5.4 kernels are not available
> anymore for booting, you can try installing the meta package "linux-
> generic" which would install the latest 5.4 kernel.
>

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.