Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

jfb3 · 2012-08-23 17:29:19

I'm trying to set up a laptop, a Dell 15z.

I can't get X started.

I installed xf86-video-intel (it's the only driver installed).
I added i915 to the modules line of /etc/mkinitcpio.conf. https://gist.github.com/3438880
Executed 'mkinitcpio -p linux'
Created /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-intel.conf https://gist.github.com/3438938
My .xinitrc is one line "exec openbox"
Reboot
Log in
startx

Here's the X log
https://gist.github.com/3438992

Last edited by jfb3 (2012-08-25 22:08:31)

2ManyDogs · 2012-08-23 17:58:53

Please post output of

lspci | grep VGA

The reviews of the 15z I can find online say it has nvdia graphics.
(edit) but I see in one review that "optimus" is supposed to shut of the nvdia and use intel onboard when appropriate. lspci will still be interesting.

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2012-08-23 18:02:04)

jfb3 · 2012-08-23 18:00:18

2ManyDogs wrote:

Please post output of
lspci | grep VGA
The reviews of the 15z I can find online say it has nvdia graphics.

Yeah, it's got one of those also.
Using the nouveau driver gave me the same results. I thought I'd get it working this way first.

2ManyDogs · 2012-08-23 18:03:16

Did you try it without the mkinitcpio mod and the 10-intel.conf?

jfb3 · 2012-08-23 18:24:45

2ManyDogs wrote:

Did you try it without the mkinitcpio mod and the 10-intel.conf?

If I do that it fails to load vesa because, of course, there is no vesa driver.

If I install the vesa driver (xf86-video-vesa) X starts but only at 1280x1024. (The screen is 1920x1080) This is not an optimal outcome.

2ManyDogs · 2012-08-23 18:28:49

I asked because I have installed Arch on several machines and I have never had to modify mkinitcpio or create an xorg config. I've just installed the appropriate driver (not vesa) and that's it. Your situation is obviously different. Sorry for wasting your time.

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2012-08-23 18:29:42)

jfb3 · 2012-08-23 18:52:47

The really bad part is that this laptop *used* to work just fine, with the intel driver.
I was in the middle of a system update and my five year old son did something to it and BORK!!!
I thought I'd just start over since I had all the data backed up.

But now, following the Beginners Guide to do the install, X doesn't work at all.

Seriously

2ManyDogs · 2012-08-23 18:56:22

Well, at the risk of telling you something else you've already tried, your xorg config doesn't look like the ones in the "more than one graphics card" section of the xorg topic in the wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xo … ual_screen

(edit) but that may not apply because it's talking about dual monitors...

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2012-08-23 18:58:23)

jfb3 · 2012-08-23 19:31:05

Yep, that shouldn't apply. It's a laptop, only one screen.

jfb3 · 2012-08-25 01:16:33

When I try to "modprobe i915" or (when I've installed the nouveau driver instead "modprobe nouveau") the response is:

ERROR: coult not insert 'i915': no such device
or
ERROR: coult not insert 'nouveau': no such device

They also don't show in the list when I execute lsmod.

There is nothing under /etc/modprobe.d/
There is nothing under /etc/modules-load.d/

Is this significant?

cfr · 2012-08-25 01:31:01

Is what significant?

If the module isn't being loaded, that would be fairly significant, I'd think! I have an intel card:

$ lsmod | grep i915
i915                  438112  3 
video                  11307  1 i915
button                  4502  1 i915
i2c_algo_bit            5391  1 i915
intel_agp              10936  1 i915
intel_gtt              14047  3 i915,intel_agp
drm_kms_helper         33051  1 i915
drm                   208958  4 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_core               20369  6 drm,i915,i2c_i801,drm_kms_helper,i2c_algo_bit,videodev

It isn't significant that those directories are empty. At least, I have nothing video related in them on my machine. (Merely something about sound in the first and something about cpufreq in the second.)

Do you have an option in BIOS to disable the nvidia card? (Or, for that matter, the integrated video but I guess the nvidia is more likely.) If so, I would try that just to see if you can get it working that way.

The output of lspci as suggested above would be good. I'm sure you're right about your hardware but it would be good to see what your system is finding or not finding and exactly how it is identifying it.

Does

lsmod | grep video

give you anything?

Have you customised the kernel command line at all?

EDIT: your xorg config fragment is identical to mine. Try deleting that file so it uses the default UXA acceleration. I think UXA is default and recommended if SNA causes trouble.

Last edited by cfr (2012-08-25 01:35:50)

jfb3 · 2012-08-25 02:32:41

[jfb3@Dell15z ~]$ lsmod |grep -i i915
[jfb3@Dell15z ~]$ lsmod |grep -i agp
intel_agp              10936  0 
intel_gtt              14047  2 intel_agp
[jfb3@Dell15z ~]$

This is the top of /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

# in this array.  For instance:
#     MODULES="piix ide_disk reiserfs"
MODULES="i915 intel_agp"

The video drivers installed

[jfb3@Dell15z ~]$ pacman -Ss xf86-video|grep installed
extra/xf86-video-intel 2.20.4-1 (xorg-drivers xorg) [installed]
extra/xf86-video-vesa 2.3.2-1 (xorg-drivers xorg) [installed]
[jfb3@Dell15z ~]$

lspci

[jfb3@Dell15z ~]$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b5)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev b5)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev b5)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM67 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF108 [GeForce GT 540M] (rev a1)
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6230 (rev 34)
04:00.0 USB controller: NEC Corporation uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 04)
05:00.0 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. SD/MMC Host Controller (rev 30)
05:00.2 SD Host controller: JMicron Technology Corp. Standard SD Host Controller (rev 30)
05:00.3 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. MS Host Controller (rev 30)
05:00.4 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. xD Host Controller (rev 30)
06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR8151 v2.0 Gigabit Ethernet (rev c0)
[jfb3@Dell15z ~]$

There is no BIOS option to disable either of the video cards.

lsmod |grep -i video

[jfb3@Dell15z ~]$ lsmod|grep -i video
uvcvideo               69437  0 
videobuf2_vmalloc       2468  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops        2246  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
videobuf2_core         20415  1 uvcvideo
videodev               93086  1 uvcvideo
media                  10213  2 uvcvideo,videodev
video                  11307  0 
usbcore               147661  6 btusb,uvcvideo,ehci_hcd,usbhid,xhci_hcd
i2c_core               20369  5 drm,i2c_i801,drm_kms_helper,i2c_algo_bit,videodev
[jfb3@Dell15z ~]$

The only options on the kernel at boot are "ro acpi=off quiet" (It hangs without 'acpi=off')

Without any xorg configuration fragments is the only way X will start. If I try to tell it to use the Intel driver or to use SNA it won't start at all.

cfr · 2012-08-25 02:51:55

Have you seen https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NV … IA_Optimus?

Is https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_15z concerned with the same machine? You might at least be able to disable the nvidia card this way.

EDIT: the instructions for installing the intel driver are out of date. To use sna, you just need the package you've got plus the xorg conf fragment. You probably need to uninstall vesa to get it to work but I'm not certain of this.

Last edited by cfr (2012-08-25 02:53:55)

jfb3 · 2012-08-25 15:40:51

The make for acpi_call FAILS:

[root@Dell15z software-from-github]# cd acpi_call/
[root@Dell15z acpi_call]# make
make -C /lib/modules/3.4.9-1-ARCH/build M=/root/software-from-github/acpi_call modules
make: *** /lib/modules/3.4.9-1-ARCH/build: No such file or directory.  Stop.
make: *** [default] Error 2
[root@Dell15z acpi_call]#

There isn't any BIOS option to disable/mess with/choose video options/cards/etc.

This is the output of mkinitcpio -p linux with "intel_agp intel" in mkinitcpio.conf

[root@Dell15z etc]# vim mkinitcpio.conf
[root@Dell15z etc]# mkinitcpio -p linux
==> Building image from preset: 'default'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux.img
==> Starting build: 3.4.9-1-ARCH
  -> Running build hook: [base]
  -> Running build hook: [udev]
  -> Running build hook: [autodetect]
  -> Running build hook: [pata]
  -> Running build hook: [scsi]
  -> Running build hook: [sata]
  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
  -> Running build hook: [usbinput]
  -> Running build hook: [fsck]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating gzip initcpio image: /boot/initramfs-linux.img
==> Image generation successful
==> Building image from preset: 'fallback'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img -S autodetect
==> Starting build: 3.4.9-1-ARCH
  -> Running build hook: [base]
  -> Running build hook: [udev]
  -> Running build hook: [pata]
  -> Running build hook: [scsi]
  -> Running build hook: [sata]
  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
  -> Running build hook: [usbinput]
  -> Running build hook: [fsck]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating gzip initcpio image: /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
==> Image generation successful

If I put the xorg.conf fragment in AT ALL to tell it to use the intel driver X doesn't start:
https://gist.github.com/3467181

There's something weird going on...

cfr · 2012-08-25 21:01:20

jfb3 wrote:

The make for acpi_call FAILS:

[root@Dell15z software-from-github]# cd acpi_call/
[root@Dell15z acpi_call]# make
make -C /lib/modules/3.4.9-1-ARCH/build M=/root/software-from-github/acpi_call modules
make: *** /lib/modules/3.4.9-1-ARCH/build: No such file or directory.  Stop.
make: *** [default] Error 2
[root@Dell15z acpi_call]#

Does the directory /lib/modules/3.4.9-1-ARCH/build exist on your machine? Maybe you need to install linux-headers?

If I put the xorg.conf fragment in AT ALL to tell it to use the intel driver X doesn't start:
https://gist.github.com/3467181

Yes. I assume it won't start unless you can either disable the nvidia card or go the bumblebee route.

If you want to actually use the Optimus technology, you should use the bumblebee method (which would also avoid the need to disable the card).

Last edited by cfr (2012-08-25 21:02:13)

jfb3 · 2012-08-25 22:08:06

So...

It turns out all I had to do was add the "acpi=noirq" kernel option instead of "acpi=off".

That's all, nothing else.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-08-23 17:29:19

Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#2 2012-08-23 17:58:53

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#3 2012-08-23 18:00:18

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#4 2012-08-23 18:03:16

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#5 2012-08-23 18:24:45

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#6 2012-08-23 18:28:49

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#7 2012-08-23 18:52:47

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#8 2012-08-23 18:56:22

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#9 2012-08-23 19:31:05

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#10 2012-08-25 01:16:33

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#11 2012-08-25 01:31:01

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#12 2012-08-25 02:32:41

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#13 2012-08-25 02:51:55

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#14 2012-08-25 15:40:51

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#15 2012-08-25 21:01:20

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

#16 2012-08-25 22:08:06

Re: Dell 15z, Intel driver, (no devices detected, no screens found) SOLVED

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