Thinkpad T520 / i915 blank X display in 15.04

[nickolai]

After upgrading my Thinkpad T520 laptop to Ubuntu 15.04, the X server gives a blank black screen (but backlight is still on). I can switch to other virtual consoles (ctrl-alt-F1, etc) and log in, so the rest of the system is running just fine. The blank screen shows up regardless of how X is started -- via lightdm, using startx, or even running X explicitly.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.04
Package: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917-1~exp1ubuntu2.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.19.0-16.16-generic 3.19.3
Uname: Linux 3.19.0-16-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.17.2-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
Date: Tue May 12 08:36:01 2015
DistUpgraded: 2014-05-05 12:15:21,112 DEBUG failed to SystemUnLock() (E:Not locked)
DistroCodename: vivid
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0126] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21cf]
MachineType: LENOVO 4239CTO
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-16-generic root=UUID=8baf8860-cc1b-434f-9406-d4c302883a6a ro rootfstype=ext4 text
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-video-intel
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to vivid on 2014-05-05 (371 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 11/24/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 8AET55WW (1.35 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 4239CTO
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:bvr8AET55WW(1.35):bd11/24/2011:svnLENOVO:pn4239CTO:pvrThinkPadT520:rvnLENOVO:rn4239CTO:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 4239CTO
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T520
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12.1+15.04.20150410.1-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs 20090808ubuntu36
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.60-2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.5.2-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.5.2-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.17.1-0ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.9.0-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.5.0-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917-1~exp1ubuntu2.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau N/A
xserver.bootTime: Tue May 12 08:30:37 2015
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:

xserver.version: 2:1.17.1-0ubuntu3

[penalvch (penalvch)]

nickolai, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. As per http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkpad-t-series-laptops/thinkpad-t520 an update to your computer's buggy and outdated BIOS is available (1.45). If you update to this following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BIOSUpdate does it change anything?

If it doesn't, could you please both specify what happened, and provide the output of the following terminal command:
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date

For more on BIOS updates and linux, please see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette .

Please note your current BIOS is already in the Bug Description, so posting this on the old BIOS would not be helpful. As well, you don't have to create a new bug report.

Once the BIOS is updated, if the problem is still reproducible, and the information above is provided, then please mark this report Status New. Otherwise, please mark this as Invalid.

Thank you for your understanding.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for xserver-xorg-video-intel (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]