i915 and KMS problem

pabloski · 2010-10-20 09:47:09

Hi to all, I have bought a new netbook, an acer with intel 3150 graphics. It works well but it has a little glitch. When I boot up the system the kernel shows the usual messages ( I have removed quiet from the kernel boot parameters ) and it starts up kms well. However after the execution of all the hooks in the initramfs the screen goes black and it reactivates just after executing the hal daemon. Then the system loads the window manager and it works great.

However it is annoying to see the screen going black during the boot process. I think it could be an acpi problem. Because the kms works, the xorg starts, after executing hal the screen reactivates and during the first part of the boot process I can see kernel messages and the screen setted to the proper resolution ( 1024x600 ).

I have inserted the i195 and intel_agp modules into the initramfs. If I delete these modules from the initramfs the screen goes black too but it reactivates earlier ( I suppose when the i915 driver gets loaded ).

From the /etc/logs/everything.log I cannot see errors or strange behaviours. I'm using syslinux to boot the system and I have as parameters only i915.modeset=1. I tried the SVIDEO option but it doesn't work.

P.S. I have tried setting the splash boot parameter too, but I cannot see the arch logo on the top of the screen. This is another reason why I think it is an acpi problem.

Last edited by pabloski (2010-10-20 09:49:57)

ewaller · 2010-10-20 16:16:21

The only way I have found around these issues is to build my own kernel with direct rendering and the i915 driver compiled in rather than modularized. If you have never built a kernel, it sounds intimidating. In reality, it is not bad. If you want, I can provide some suggestions.

pabloski · 2010-10-21 17:17:55

Thanks for the reply. I haven't used the arch method to build a kernel, but in the old days of redhat and caldera I have built a lot of kernels manually. I have seen the number of options have grown, so it will need a bit of study to configure it good.

Also I have seen another ( real strange ) problem. I'm using encrypted volumes for the system and on the 32 bit kernel ( the netbook ) I can use cryptsetup/device mapper without problems with 2.6.35 kernel, on the 64 bit desktop the 2.6.35 kernel causes troubles to cryptsetup ( it says that cannot mount /dev/sda as read-only or something like this ). I haven't investigated too much ( I'm using the 2.6.33 kernel on the desktop ) but I suspect it could be a configuration problem in the 64 bit kernel package.

ewaller · 2010-10-21 17:44:56

Can't help you with the encryption problem.

The easiest way to deal with a kernel-->

install and run ABS
Copy the entire kernel26 directory to a directory you can write to as a user (I like ~/build/)

cd to the copy of the kernel26 directory

Edit PKGBUILD to uncoment the make menuconfig line

Do a makepkg

When menuconfig comes up, it has all of the arch options preset. Change the drm and driver stuff under drivers. When done, exit the configuration program

Go to bed

If all went well, install the packages using the -Su option in pacman

Arch Linux

#1 2010-10-20 09:47:09

i915 and KMS problem

#2 2010-10-20 16:16:21

Re: i915 and KMS problem

#3 2010-10-21 17:17:55

Re: i915 and KMS problem

#4 2010-10-21 17:44:56

Re: i915 and KMS problem

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