Comment 20 for bug 162400

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John (john1988-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

I have the same problem as mcsekar with Intel 865G videochip.
My setup:
Ubuntu 7.10 32bit (alternative desktop)
kernel: Linux izba 2.6.22-14-generic #1 SMP Sun Oct 14 23:05:12 GMT 2007 i686 GNU/Linux
xorg driver: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.1.1-0ubuntu9.1
Hardware: IBM/Lenovo ThinkCentre S50 with Intel 865G video controller.

Problem:
When trying to switch from X to text console using Ctrl-Alt-F3, the monitor goes into DPMS mode.
I do not have vga=791 or anything like that set as a boot option. When the system boots the sceen looks like 80x25 normal vga=0 mode.

When I tried to boot from Ubuntu 7.04 live CD and switched from X to text console, all works fine.
This 7.04 live CD uses different xorg server:
xserver-xorg-video-i810 1.7.4-0ubuntu1
Linux ubuntu 2.6.20-15-generic #2 SMP Sun Apr 15 07:36:31 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

Solution / workaround:
Going back to Ubuntu 7.10 "Ctrl-Alt-F3" problem now - Edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer
and comment out all intel related fb modules, like this:
#blacklist intelfb
#blacklist vesafb

Edit /etc/modules and add the lines:
fbcon
vesafb

After the reboot, lsmod |grep fb shows that intelfb (!!!) and vesafb get loaded:
fbcon 41760 71
tileblit 3584 1 fbcon
font 9344 1 fbcon
bitblit 6912 1 fbcon
vesafb 9092 0
intelfb 39460 1
i2c_algo_bit 7428 1 intelfb
i2c_core 26112 2 intelfb,i2c_algo_bit
agpgart 35016 4 drm,intelfb,intel_agp

Interestingly, now the system boots into vga=791 so this must be set somewhere in initramfs or kernel.compilation:
Anyway, now I can switch from X to console with Ctrl-Alt-F3 and the console is graphical vga(791).

Also it is interesting that if I remove vesafb module ( rmmod vesafb) and try to start X (startx), then X server wouldn't start. Looks like intel video driver depends on vesafb presence. Strange.

Please note - intelfb module above is essential for this to work on Intel865G chip with xorg intel 2:2.1.1 driver.