xorg + VGA driver + BIOS incompatibility ; Symtom: right keypad does no longer work.

[tdflanders]

Hi there,

as per instructions on IRC > freenode > ubuntu-bugs I am refiling this.

I have confirmed this problem on two different systems. They are both Acer Aspire laptops.:
Acer Aspire 5050
Acer Aspire 9410

The bug occurs only one time. After that it stays permanent on the affected partition.

The problem occurs when starting openoffice.org the first time, indicating a faulty permission problem. When reinstalling over the previous partition, without reformatting, the problems persists. When reformatting it disappears. When using an old file, it is there again.

The problem also goes over into other partitions, indicating the BIOS was changed. I can rescue my Microsoft system by reinstalling the VGA driver.

The symptom here is that the right keypad will no longer work. Not with numlock on nor off.

I noticed something very similar on the live cd's of hardy heron and intrepid. The safe graphics option on F4 was no longer there, on the exact same machine. Somehow the entry for the VGA driver is triggered, as this driver is programmed to alter the BIOS, which is extremely stupid.

Drivers + BIOS:
http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/as_9410.html
Try:
vga_intel_6.14.10.4497
BIOS v1.24

I know already the BIOS is crap, as I had a memory issue before. I have two identical sockets and two identical memory chips (2x2 GB). Individually they work in any combination and my laptop works fine. When installed together memtest will display errors and the BIOS recognises only 3 GB in RAM. This was probably done because Vista 32-bit (did) support(s) only 3 GB. Ridiculous!

Similtaneously with the bug on this partition (I think), my jaunty partition failed to boot. I had not entered it for a week. It gives me the following error:

{![triangle]} Ubuntu is running in low graphics mode

The following error was encountered. You may need to update your configuration to solve this.
(EE) GARTInit: Unable to open /dev/agpart
(No such file or directory)
(EE)
(EE) intel (0): [dri] DRIScreeninit failed. Disabling DRI
(EE) intel (0): Failed to allocate framebuffer.
Is your Video RAM set too low?
(EE) intel (0): Failed to allocate framebuffer. Is your Video RAM set too low?
(EE) intel (0): Couldn't allocate video memory

I reflashed my BIOS twice from Microsoft with the latest version and all other drivers are installed. It is just that the Phoenix trusted core BIOS is crap. I doubt there is anythinh Ubuntu can do, other than confirm the problem.

[tdflanders (thomasdelbeke)]

Hi there,

just installed debug symbols for xserver-xorg-input-evdev.

thomas@thomas-laptop:~$ lsb_release -rd ; uname -a ; apt-cache policy linux xserver-xorg-input-evdev xserver-xorg-input-evdev-dbgsym
Description: Ubuntu 8.10
Release: 8.10
Linux thomas-laptop 2.6.27-11-generic #1 SMP Thu Jan 29 19:24:39 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux
linux:
  Installed: 2.6.27.11.14
  Candidate: 2.6.27.11.14
  Version table:
 *** 2.6.27.11.14 0
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/restricted Packages
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/restricted Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2.6.27.7.11 0
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/restricted Packages
xserver-xorg-input-evdev:
  Installed: 1:2.0.99+git20080912-0ubuntu6
  Candidate: 1:2.0.99+git20080912-0ubuntu6
  Version table:
 *** 1:2.0.99+git20080912-0ubuntu6 0
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:2.0.99+git20080912-0ubuntu5 0
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Packages
xserver-xorg-input-evdev-dbgsym:
  Installed: 1:2.0.99+git20080912-0ubuntu6
  Candidate: 1:2.0.99+git20080912-0ubuntu6
  Version table:
 *** 1:2.0.99+git20080912-0ubuntu6 0
        500 http://ddebs.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:2.0.99+git20080912-0ubuntu5 0
        500 http://ddebs.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Packages
thomas@thomas-laptop:~$

I think I can reproduce this bug with:

$ cd
$ sudo touch somefile.doc
$ sudo chmod 777 -c somefile.doc
$ sudo chown 1000 -c somefile.doc
$ openoffice.org

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

[This is an automatic notification.]

Hi tdflanders,

This bug was reported against an earlier version of Ubuntu, can you
test if it still occurs on Lucid?

Please note we also provide technical support for older versions of
Ubuntu, but not in the bug tracker. Instead, to raise the issue through
normal support channels, please see:

    http://www.ubuntu.com/support

If you are the original reporter and can still reproduce the issue on
Lucid, please run the following command to refresh the report:

  apport-collect 323694

If you are not the original reporter, please file a new bug report, so
we can work with you as the original reporter instead (you can reference
bug 323694 in your report if you think it may be related):

  ubuntu-bug xorg

If by chance you can no longer reproduce the issue on Lucid or if you
feel it is no longer relevant, please mark the bug report 'Fix Released'
or 'Invalid' as appropriate, at the following URL:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/323694

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

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.