blank screen with 2.6.32-16 on intel i830 vga

[Michael Vogt]

On my i830 graphics based system 2.6.32-16 starts with a blank screen. I hear the login sound and can ssh into the machine

When booting with "nomodeset" it works (no a side-note, nofb is not honored, intelfb is loaded nevertheless). The i830 should be blacklisted for KMS.
---
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: I82801CAICH3 [Intel 82801CA-ICH3], device 0: Intel ICH [Intel 82801CA-ICH3]
   Subdevices: 0/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: egon 1976 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: egon 1976 F...m pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'I82801CAICH3'/'Intel 82801CA-ICH3 with AD1981A at irq 11'
   Mixer name : 'Analog Devices AD1981A'
   Components : 'AC97a:41445372'
   Controls : 25
   Simple ctrls : 17
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Lsusb:
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType: IBM 267247G
Package: linux (not installed)
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   5.0V 16-bit PC Card
   Subdevice 0 (function 0) bound to driver "orinoco_cs"
 Socket 1:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=d9059548-cd7d-44d4-92d4-5fe50da7303f ro quiet splash nomodeset
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_DK.UTF-8
 LANGUAGE=en_DK:en
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-16.24-generic
Regression: Yes
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.32
Reproducible: Yes
RfKill:
 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: no
Tags: lucid needs-upstream-testing regression-potential
TestedUpstream: No
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-16-generic i686
UserGroups: adm audio cdrom dialout floppy lpadmin plugdev scanner video
dmi.bios.date: 05/30/2003
dmi.bios.vendor: IBM
dmi.bios.version: 1KET44WW (1.05 )
dmi.board.name: 267247G
dmi.board.vendor: IBM
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: IBM
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1KET44WW(1.05):bd05/30/2003:svnIBM:pn267247G:pvrNotAvailable:rvnIBM:rn267247G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 267247G
dmi.product.version: Not Available
dmi.sys.vendor: IBM

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

As apw suggested on irc I blacklisted vga16fb but that did not help, still a blank screen on startup. I will login with "nomodeset" next and run "apport-collect" to give additional data.

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

apport information

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

One possile cause:

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/anholt/drm-intel.git;a=commitdiff;h=7b9c5abee98c54f85bcc04bd4d7ec8d5094c73f4;hp=f590d279eb4978352af163a88b001f156c7147d2

[Robert Hooker (sarvatt)]

Thats the likely fix not the cause :) It should be going to .33 stable once it gets pulled into .34 and it's been around for a few weeks now. Can you boot with drm.debug=6 added to the kernel command line, ssh in from another machine, and then attach that dmesg and Xorg.0.log from the failed boot so we can be sure?

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

As suggested on irc I tried the kernel here: http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/drm-intel-next/current/

that contains (or should contain, I have not verified the source): http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=f5f654096487c6d526c47bb66308f9de81f091cf

But the result is still a blank screen, Xorg.0.log contains:
...
(II) intel(0): Output VGA1 connected
(II) intel(0): Output LVDS1 connected
(II) intel(0): Using exact sizes for initial modes
(II) intel(0): Output VGA1 using initial mode 1024x768
(II) intel(0): Output LVDS1 using initial mode 1024x768
...

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

The kernel is installed from:
http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/drm-intel-next/current/
date is:
linux-image-2.6.33-997-generic_2.6.33-997.201002271147_i386.deb 27-Feb-2010 13:30 26M

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

@Robert: Thanks for your suggestions (and sorry for my mixup of cause/and cure in comment #20). Let me know if you need anything beyond the logs I attached, I'm happy to provide it.

[Chase Douglas (chasedouglas)]

@Michael:

At this point, the bug is still in the upstream code. The Ubuntu kernel team does not have the skill set to be able to deal with this issue. I suggest seeing if any of the bugs found through a search of bugzilla.kernel.org or bugs.freedesktop.org match your symptoms, or open a new bug (I suggest at kernel.org for this issue). When you find or open a bug, please comment with the url here so it can be linked to this bug.

Thanks

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

Sorry for the drive-by shooting. Couldn't this be related to that patch?

Author: Jesse Barnes <email address hidden>
Date: Fri Feb 12 09:30:00 2010 -0800

    drm/i915: give up on 8xx lid status

    BugLink: http://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/540231

    commit 7b9c5abee98c54f85bcc04bd4d7ec8d5094c73f4 upstream.

    These old machines more often than not lie about their lid state. So
    don't use it to detect LVDS presence, but leave the event handler to
    deal with lid open/close, when we might need to reset the mode.

In that case the current -17 kernel should help as that has the 2.6.32.10 stable patch included.

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

No luck with -17 (or -18) for me and my i830 based chipset. All it does is a faint flickering and a black screen. With nomodeset it works.

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

"Something" changed (I know this is not very helpful) and now I get blank screen even with nomodeset and older kernels. Its a bit spooky, I can login via ssh and dmesg tells me:

[ 25.923382] fb0: inteldrmfb frame buffer device
[ 25.923390] registered panic notifier
[ 25.923410] [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20080730 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 0
[ 25.923540] Intel ICH 0000:00:1f.5: PCI INT B -> Link[LNKB] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
[ 25.923570] Intel ICH 0000:00:1f.5: setting latency timer to 64
[ 25.944127] vga16fb: initializing
[ 25.944138] vga16fb: mapped to 0xc00a0000
[ 25.944150] vga16fb: not registering due to another framebuffer present
[ 26.352046] intel8x0_measure_ac97_clock: measured 55736 usecs (2678 samples)
[ 26.352053] intel8x0: clocking to 48000
[ 26.383456] Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 128x48

Even with nomodeset in the commandline