[SOLVED] Get Intel graphics working - nomodeset needed for UEFI boot

jrvarma · 2020-05-06 06:43:25

I am unable to get graphics working in my new Arch Linux installation on a Dell Inspiron 11 3162 laptop.

According to the Arch Wiki page Dell Inspiron 11 3000 (3162), UEFI installation (with secure boot disabled) on this laptop should be smooth and "xf86-video-intel works without issue". (To be on the safer side, I updated the firmware from the Dell website using the pre-existing Windows installation on this laptop).

UEFI booting requires nomodest

The first problem that I encountered was that the Arch Linux live image hangs when booting in UEFI mode though it booted in legacy (BIOS) mode. This is not an Arch issue because the Ubuntu installer also hangs when booted in UEFI mode (while booting fine in legacy mode). I found that the Ubuntu installer booted fine in UEFI mode when I chose the "Safe Graphics" mode in its grub menu. Inspecting the command line of that menu item, I found that it was adding "nomodeset" to the linux command line. So I added "nomodeset" to the Arch installer's command line and succeeded in booting.

With this change, Arch Linux installation proceeded smoothly and I am able to boot and run the newly installed Arch Linux without graphics. (Of course, I added "nomodeset" to my grub configuration as nothing boots without this option).

No graphics

The only problem is that I am unable to get graphics. I installed the xorg packages and tried to run X using startx both as ordinary user and as root (I do not use any display manager or desktop environment in any of my Arch Linux installations). I understand that this is to be expected as the Arch Wiki page Intel graphics clearly states:

Make sure you do not have nomodeset or vga= as a kernel parameter, since Intel requires kernel mode-setting.

Ray of hope

What gives me hope is that the ubuntu that I installed on the same laptop (actually xubuntu with lightdm and xfce) works in graphical mode (with the same nomodeset boot option). I thought that maybe ubuntu does some different xorg configuration and so I logged into ubuntu, went to a virtual console, stopped lightdm, ran "X -configure" and copied this xorg.conf to the Arch Linux partition. This xorg.conf specifies the intel driver in its devices section. When I run startx in Arch Linux with this xorg.conf, the X server waits a couple of seconds for i915.ko to respond, and then gives up. Without any xorg.conf, X tries the vesa driver after i915 fails, and this causes a segmentation fault.

So is there any way to get the Intel graphics driver to work in Arch after booting with nomodeset?

Last edited by jrvarma (2020-05-07 07:20:24)

V1del · 2020-05-06 07:11:24

Post a

sudo journalctl -b

and the xorg.0.log on the xorg crashing/supposed to work boot: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Li … in_clients

But really generally trying to enforce nomodeset can't be all that fruitful, do you get any usable logs when booting without that option but adding loglevel=7 to the command line?

Last edited by V1del (2020-05-06 07:14:28)

jrvarma · 2020-05-06 14:30:30

journalctl of crashed boot without nomodeset and loglevel=7

journalctl of successful boot with nomodeset and loglevel=3

Xorg log with Ubuntu configured xorg.cof

Xorg log without any xorg.cof

V1del · 2020-05-06 14:55:36

There's no i915 or rather any indication of a video card detected at all. Output of

lspci -k

? Double check your UEFI/BIOS that the GPU isn't accidentally disabled there. Maybe check for a firmware update.

jrvarma · 2020-05-06 15:19:36

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series SoC Transaction Register (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series SoC Transaction Register
	Kernel driver in use: iosf_mbi_pci
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 21)
	DeviceName:  Onboard IGD
	Subsystem: Dell Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics Controller
	Kernel modules: i915
00:0b.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Power Management Controller (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Power Management Controller
	Kernel driver in use: proc_thermal
	Kernel modules: processor_thermal_device
00:13.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series SATA Controller (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series SATA Controller
	Kernel driver in use: ahci
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series USB xHCI Controller (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series USB xHCI Controller
	Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
	Kernel modules: xhci_pci
00:1a.0 Encryption controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Trusted Execution Engine (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Trusted Execution Engine
	Kernel driver in use: mei_txe
	Kernel modules: mei_txe
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series High Definition Audio Controller (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series High Definition Audio Controller
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
	Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series PCI Express Port #1 (rev 21)
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series PCU (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series PCU
	Kernel driver in use: lpc_ich
	Kernel modules: lpc_ich
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx SMBus Controller (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx SMBus Controller
	Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
	Kernel modules: i2c_i801
01:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 3160 (rev 83)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless AC 3160
	Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
	Kernel modules: iwlwifi

jrvarma · 2020-05-06 15:20:53

The fact that Ubuntu graphics works leads me to rule out problems at hardware/BIOS/UEFI level.

CarbonChauvinist · 2020-05-06 17:46:47

Did you try disable loading legacy option ROM?

jrvarma · 2020-05-07 07:17:07

CarbonChauvinist's suggestion solved the problem.

I am really sorry, I somehow missed this clear instruction to disable loading legacy option ROM despite reading the page multiple times while trying to solve my problem over the last week. Sorry for wasting others' time as well. And thanks to CarbonChauvinist for reminding me to follow instructions properly.

Meanwhile, I also got some hints about how Ubuntu is able to start X11 even with nomodeset. Its Xorg log shows that it does not invoke i195 at all, but uses fbdev. Of course that is a grossly inferior solution, but Ubuntu's ability to run X11 sent me on the wrong track.

Arch Linux

#1 2020-05-06 06:43:25