[Lenovo L420] VGA/Displayport output does not work

[Marc Legris]

Using the VGA/Displayport output does not result in an external monitor activating and displaying the desktop. Using monitor preferences "detect monitors" does not show the monitor and using the external monitor hotkey has no effect.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.38-8-generic 2.6.38-8.42
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic i686
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC269VB Analog [ALC269VB Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ubuntu 1421 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0xf0900000 irq 44'
   Mixer name : 'Intel CougarPoint HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0269,17aa21de,00100100 HDA:80862805,80860101,00100000'
   Controls : 23
   Simple ctrls : 10
Card29.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:29 'ThinkPadEC'/'ThinkPad Console Audio Control at EC reg 0x30, fw 8GHT20WW-1.162000'
   Mixer name : 'ThinkPad EC 8GHT20WW-1.162000'
   Components : ''
   Controls : 1
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card29.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'Console',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [on]
Date: Wed May 4 13:30:29 2011
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=ffc3236e-8f36-4a66-9d5e-178a06359387
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release i386 (20110427.1)
MachineType: LENOVO 782723U
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=9e7b9e2b-23f6-4b9f-aed1-9ec00cf534bc ro xforcevesa nomodeset initcall_debug vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-2.6.38-8-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.38-8-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.52
SourcePackage: linux
StagingDrivers: rts_pstor
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 02/09/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 8GET28WW (1.05 )
dmi.board.name: 782723U
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:bvr8GET28WW(1.05):bd02/09/2011:svnLENOVO:pn782723U:pvrThinkPadL412:rvnLENOVO:rn782723U:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 782723U
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad L412
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Marc Legris (maaarc-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

Using the steps from here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/777212/comments/7 allows the system to output video with VGA/Displayport

[Chris Van Hoof (vanhoof)]

Assigning Timo to see why forcing KMS seems to sort things out here on the L420

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

From bug 777212:

"what if you add 'GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text' to /etc/default/grub (run update-grub to update the actual config) and reboot, does it change anything?"

"Could you also try the latest mainline kernels from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/" (it was reported that 2.6.39-r4 fixed that bug)

[Marc Legris (maaarc-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

Timo - The 2.6.39-r4 kernel does allow for VGA and displayport output. Adding'GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text' to grub parameters also make video output possible.

[Ara Pulido (ara)]

Is there a way to get the fix into Natty?

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

yes, bug 777212 has the same cause & cure, so we can add a quirk to grub for this machine.