[i855gm] Kernel crashes on Dell Latitude D505 when X loads after installation

[Petter Reinholdtsen]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-video-intel

Initially, I had no idea what was going on. The installation went smooth, but after booting the graphical progress bar (the colored dots) show up, and after a few seconds the machine is dead.

After using recovery mode to modify /etc/init/kdm.conf to not start kdm, I was able to get into the machine and see what is going on, and I have so far figured out that the kernel crashes when kdm starts X. Starting X manually show this information:

root@pxe-test-pre:~# X

X.Org X Server 1.7.6
Release Date: 2010-03-17
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.24-25-server i686 Ubuntu
Current Operating System: Linux pxe-test-pre 2.6.32-22-generic #36-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jun 3 22:02:19 UTC 2010 i686
Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=/dev/mapper/pxe--test--pre-root ro quiet splash
Build Date: 23 April 2010 05:11:50PM
xorg-server 2:1.7.6-2ubuntu7 (Bryce Harrington <email address hidden>)
Current version of pixman: 0.16.4
        Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
        to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
        (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Fri Jun 11 15:51:34 2010
(==) Using config directory: "/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d"

After this, the network connection dies (I am logged in via ssh), and the screen on the laptop is black.

This is the lspci info about the video card:

root@pxe-test-pre:~# lspci -nn|grep Graph
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device [8086:3582] (rev 02)
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device [8086:3582] (rev 02)
root@pxe-test-pre:~#

[Geir Ove Myhr (gomyhr)]

Many computers with 855GM graphics chipset is affected by bug 541511, which will hang the GPU but not bring down the network connection (unless it is managed by the X session). There is an upstream fix for that issue, which has not made it into the mainline kernels yet and there are even references to pre-compiled kernel binaries in the comments that you may try.

You may also try one of the newest mainline builds from [1] (see [2] for information), just in case this is a different problem which has been fixed in a newer kernel.

If the problem persists, I suppose setting up a netconsole [3] may make it possible to get some more information out of the computer when it hangs.

[1]: http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/?C=M;O=D
[2]: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/MainlineBuilds
[3]: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/Netconsole

[Stenten (stenten)]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes

Try "Workaround A: Re-enable KMS" from that link.

[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.

[Petter Reinholdtsen (pere-hungry)]

I can confirm that this bug is no longer present in Maverik. Would be great if the fix also show up in Lucid.