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#1 2020-06-03 23:18:45

gizmothegreen
Member
Registered: 2020-06-03
Posts: 2

Dell D400 with 855GM graphics

Hi, I got the brilliant idea of trying modern linux on this old laptop.
I'm facing the problem that I get no GUI, I tried installing wayland and gnome and enabled gdm but "nothing happens"tm. it just sits there with a blinking console cursor "_".

the driver that loads if i915 and it loads without errors as far as I can tell. what might be the issue?

anyone had any ideas?

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#2 2020-06-04 05:33:21

levi
Moderator
From: Yorkshire, UK
Registered: 2018-06-16
Posts: 1,197

Re: Dell D400 with 855GM graphics

Anything of value in your Xorg.0.log?  Either in /var/log if you start it as root, or ~/.local/share/xorg if you start is as a normal user.


Architecture: pentium4, Testing repos: Yes, Hardware: EeePC 901+2GB RAM+OS half on the SD card.

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#3 2020-06-04 06:32:57

abaumann
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From: Zurich
Registered: 2019-11-14
Posts: 984
Website

Re: Dell D400 with 855GM graphics

Did you try with X instead of wayland? I'm not sure wayland supports that old hardware.
Are the kernel modules 'kvm', 'kvm_intel', 'i915' loaded?
Do you have any errors/messages regadring DRM in the kernel logs?
Do you have a framebuffer device /dev/fb0?

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#4 2020-06-04 16:06:26

gizmothegreen
Member
Registered: 2020-06-03
Posts: 2

Re: Dell D400 with 855GM graphics

abaumann wrote:

Did you try with X instead of wayland? I'm not sure wayland supports that old hardware.
Are the kernel modules 'kvm', 'kvm_intel', 'i915' loaded?
Do you have any errors/messages regadring DRM in the kernel logs?
Do you have a framebuffer device /dev/fb0?

I did not try X as I am not interested in it. I might try later just for curiosity.

i915 is loaded, kvm and kvm_intel is not (kvm_intel won't load, kvm will if I ask it to)
I have /dev/fb0 yes

dmesg | grep drm:

[    1.692481] fb0: switching to inteldrmfb from VESA VGA
[    1.694025] [drm:intel_bios_init [i915]] *ERROR* Unexpected child device config size 32 (expected 33 for VBT version 112)
[    1.742002] [drm:intel_set_cpu_fifo_underrun_reporting [i915]] *ERROR* pipe A underrun
[    1.742081] [drm:intel_cpu_fifo_underrun_irq_handler [i915]] *ERROR* CPU pipe A FIFO underrun

some other in no particular order

[    1.476853] Linux agpgart interface v0.103
[    7.729707] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: Intel 855GM Chipset
[    8.103794] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: AGP aperture is 256M @ 0x0

[    1.692481] fb0: switching to inteldrmfb from VESA VGA
[    1.693661] [drm] Supports vblank timestamp caching Rev 2 (21.10.2013).
[    1.693663] [drm] Driver supports precise vblank timestamp query.
[    1.694025] [drm:intel_bios_init [i915]] *ERROR* Unexpected child device config size 32 (expected 33 for VBT version 112)
[    1.742002] [drm:intel_set_cpu_fifo_underrun_reporting [i915]] *ERROR* pipe A underrun
[    1.742081] [drm:intel_cpu_fifo_underrun_irq_handler [i915]] *ERROR* CPU pipe A FIFO underrun
[    1.784549] [drm] Initialized overlay support.
[    1.787566] [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20200114 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 0
[    1.877018] fbcon: i915drmfb (fb0) is primary device
[    2.406744] drm: not enough stolen space for compressed buffer (need 3145728 more bytes), disabling. Hint: you may be able to increase stolen memory size in the BIOS to avoid this.
[    2.431224] i915 0000:00:02.0: fb0: i915drmfb frame buffer device
[    5.676779] systemd[1]: Condition check resulted in Load Kernel Module drm being skipped.

I just compiled the sm64pc port, nightly with LEGACY_GL runs fullscreen with no problem, started from the console, if that gives any clues.

Last edited by gizmothegreen (2020-06-04 16:07:24)

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#5 2020-06-04 18:24:54

abaumann
Administrator
From: Zurich
Registered: 2019-11-14
Posts: 984
Website

Re: Dell D400 with 855GM graphics

Maybe Gnome/GDM is the issue, just to eliminate that possibility I would once try with a simpler
login/display and window manager.

I personally always run X, I nver used Wayland for anything, so I'm not an expert on the Wayaland field. :-)

Another idea is that kernel mode switching is somehow not working, otoh you have boot messages in
the framebuffer when you are booting. A sad little blinking cursor usually is just the BIOS (or the emulation
thereof) displaying a text console cursor.

Yet another wild idea is that the kernel is not matching, so maybe try an LTS kernel. I particularly don't
like the message about a FIFO underrun in i915.

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#6 2020-06-04 18:33:29

abaumann
Administrator
From: Zurich
Registered: 2019-11-14
Posts: 984
Website

Re: Dell D400 with 855GM graphics

Consider the possibility this is simply a bug in Intel's code for 915:

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=97498

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#7 2020-06-04 21:10:07

levi
Moderator
From: Yorkshire, UK
Registered: 2018-06-16
Posts: 1,197

Re: Dell D400 with 855GM graphics

I have sway and weston installed on my eeepc.  Sorry, I thought using gnome inferred you had also tried X already, but I guess I must be behind the times.  My eeePC has 945 graphics, not 915, but my dmegs does seem to identify it as i915:

$ dmesg |grep drm
[   12.761620] systemd[1]: Starting Load Kernel Module drm...
[   13.456572] systemd[1]: modprobe@drm.service: Succeeded.
[   13.460259] systemd[1]: Finished Load Kernel Module drm.
[   23.223995] [drm] Supports vblank timestamp caching Rev 2 (21.10.2013).
[   23.224000] [drm] Driver supports precise vblank timestamp query.
[   23.263008] [drm] Initialized overlay support.
[   23.264762] [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20200114 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 0
[   23.281521] fbcon: i915drmfb (fb0) is primary device
[   24.011135] i915 0000:00:02.0: fb0: i915drmfb frame buffer device

Wayland didn't used to work always complaining about my touch pad, but at some point earlier this year that seems to have been worked on and fixed, because it starts fine now.  I haven't actually figured out how to drive sway yet though


Architecture: pentium4, Testing repos: Yes, Hardware: EeePC 901+2GB RAM+OS half on the SD card.

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