<SOLVED>i915 driver troubles in Betsy

[cli-86]

Sorry--I DID select and apply level 4 and level 5 updates.

More and more this is looking like a Mint problem instead of a base (Debian) problem. I just changed the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/trusted or whatever (I don't recal the exact name at the moment, but it was the sources.list file inside the sources.list.d directory) from Jessie to Sid (I left the Betsy repositories alone) I then ran

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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade[/i] and upgraded my system. Rebooted, ran FireFox for a few minutes, and sure enough, the black bars formed on the background. 
This is what was upgraded [list]The following packages will be upgraded:
  aspell bash binutils busybox-static cabextract cgmanager console-setup
  console-setup-linux dmraid dpkg-repack ecryptfs-utils
  evolution-data-server-common geoip-database gnome-menus groff-base
  grub-common grub-pc grub-pc-bin grub2-common hardening-includes hexchat
  hexchat-common icedtea-7-plugin icedtea-netx icedtea-netx-common
  icedtea-plugin keyboard-configuration kmod libarmadillo4 libaspell15
  libc-bin libc-dev-bin libc6 libc6-dev libcamel-1.2-49 libcgmanager0
  libdmraid1.0.0.rc16 libecal-1.2-16 libecryptfs0 libedataserver-1.2-18
  libegl1-mesa libegl1-mesa-drivers libevdev2 libfreetype6 libfreexl1 libgbm1
  libgcrypt20 libgl1-mesa-dri libgl1-mesa-glx libglapi-mesa libgnome-menu-3-0
  libgusb2 libhdf4-0-alt libhdfeos5-ruby1.9.1 libhdfeos5-ruby1.9.1-dbg
  libhyphen0 libkmod2 liblogging-stdlog0 libmarkdown2 libmpc3 libmpfr4
  libparted2 libpython3.4 libpython3.4-minimal libpython3.4-stdlib libsane
  libsane-common libsidplay1 libslv2-9 libspandsp2 libsqlite3-0 libssl1.0.0
  libtdb1 libteamdctl0 libtevent0 libtiff5 libwayland-egl1-mesa libxatracker2
  libxml2 locales multiarch-support ntfs-3g openjdk-7-jre
  openjdk-7-jre-headless openssh-client openssl parted python-gdbm
  python-imaging python-libxml2 python-lxml python-pil python-pyinotify
  python-tdb python3.4 python3.4-minimal rdesktop reiserfsprogs ruby-hdfeos5
  ruby-hdfeos5-dbg sane-utils simple-scan sudo tdb-tools unattended-upgrades
  unrar wget whois xfonts-100dpi xfonts-75dpi xfonts-base
  xserver-xorg-video-vmware xtrans-dev[/list]

If I haven't mentioned it before, I have some screenshots [url=http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=218&t=192276]here.[/url][/quote]

definately seems strange, im lost with what it could be, maybe someone with abit more knowledge can help you as i am still learning :(

[richyrich]

I see Mesa was upgraded, and it didn't help . . . . even after a cold re-start, not just a reboot ?

[Fred Barclay]

Well, it was a reboot, but...
I just cold-booted it and had the same problem within 2,5 minutes.

[cli-86]

Well, it was a reboot, but...
I just cold-booted it and had the same problem within 2,5 minutes.

did you sort this problem out?

[Fred Barclay]

Nope, not yet.

I'm kind of torn right now. On one hand (the rational one) I'm thinking, "Alright, so Betsy isn't working, but Jessie and Sid are. You have old hardware, and there's not much point in keeping on trying when you have alternatives, so just give up and be satisfied with what you have." On the other hand (the emotional one), it's, "I want my Mint back!" Sort of like, "I want my Mummy!"

I have just resolved to destroy my only working OS, Jessie, in trying to make it as Mint-y as possible. I changed the sources.list to that of Betsy, and did a good bit of upgrading, removing cinnamon, and installing mint-meta-desktop-cinnamon. Now I have a Frankenmint that claims to be LMDE1 (not 2) Xfce. Not only did I not install Xfce, I clearly am running Cinnamon 2.4.8 as per "cinnamon --version". To add insult to injury, Gnome 3 was installed, and gdm is the login manager instead of mdm.

Thanks for asking, though.
Have you found a magic bullet?
Fred

[cli-86]

Nope, not yet.

I'm kind of torn right now. On one hand (the rational one) I'm thinking, "Alright, so Betsy isn't working, but Jessie and Sid are. You have old hardware, and there's not much point in keeping on trying when you have alternatives, so just give up and be satisfied with what you have." On the other hand (the emotional one), it's, "I want my Mint back!" Sort of like, "I want my Mummy!"

I have just resolved to destroy my only working OS, Jessie, in trying to make it as Mint-y as possible. I changed the sources.list to that of Betsy, and did a good bit of upgrading, removing cinnamon, and installing mint-meta-desktop-cinnamon. Now I have a Frankenmint that claims to be LMDE1 (not 2) Xfce. Not only did I not install Xfce, I clearly am running Cinnamon 2.4.8 as per "cinnamon --version". To add insult to injury, Gnome 3 was installed, and gdm is the login manager instead of mdm.

Thanks for asking, though.
Have you found a magic bullet?
Fred

have you tried installing the i965 instead of the (i915) driver through synaptic package manager in mint? maybe installing the i965 driver might help but then it might not, worth a shot nothing to lose, wish i was abit more savvy to this problem so i could help you out more (just type i965 in synaptic and it will show the driver if you click on it will show the details of the driver)

[Fred Barclay]

Actually I haven't. As far as I know, it shouldn't change anything, but who knows?As you say, I've nothing to lose.
I'll try it out in a bit.
Thanks!

[Fred Barclay]

Synaptic reports that the i965 driver is already installed.
Oh well...
Thanks for the idea!

[cli-86]

Synaptic reports that the i965 driver is already installed.
Oh well...
Thanks for the idea!

what processor do you actually have in the pc? do you have both i915 and i965 installed or just one?

[Fred Barclay]

Celeron M processor, and I believe both i915 and i965 drivers. The only one I need is the i915 driver, I think.

[imagemetrica.com]

Hi All.

I'd just like to note that I am having the same problems as Fred, since my upgrade to LMDE2 Mate. All was fine in LMDE1 Mate, but now there are vanishing icons in Firefox and Thunderbird. The 3D view port in Blender is Black and normally should be a grey color. Sometimes, the white background in Caja goes black for no apparent reason.

These anomalies (in my case) are progressive. All is normal at first and then something occurs that causes them to begin and then worsen.

I did have the black background in Blender in LMDE1 which I was never able to fathom. It appeared after an upgrade.

I do hope that this problem can get fixed. I still have very serviceable old hardware. Apart from the above I am very impressed with LMDE2. Thanks.

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Graphics:  Card: Intel 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.16.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1024x768@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 852GM/855GM x86/MMX/SSE2
           GLX Version: 1.3 Mesa 10.3.2 Direct Rendering: Yes

[Fred Barclay]

And it's apparently fixed! I've been running a stable system for 3 days now, and had no problems.

I installed the Liquorix kernel (thanks, richyrich) again. If I recall correctly, it was at 3,19 last time I tried it. Now it's 4,0-5. No black bars, no vanishing icons in Firefox, no problems, period! I've tried both Cinnamon and MATE and it's all good.
Now comes the challenge. I ran both Cinnamon and MATE in Jessie with the standard kernel--the same that's in Betsy--and never had this trouble. If it's the kernel's fault, why didn't I have trouble in Jessie? And if it's not the kernel, why is Liquorix helping? Agh!

Oh well, I've got Mint back. What more could I ask?

Thanks, guys!
Fred

[imagemetrica.com]

And it's apparently fixed! I've been running a stable system for 3 days now, and had no problems.

I installed the Liquorix kernel (thanks, richyrich) again. If I recall correctly, it was at 3,19 last time I tried it. Now it's 4,0-5. No black bars, no vanishing icons in Firefox, no problems, period! I've tried both Cinnamon and MATE and it's all good.
Now comes the challenge. I ran both Cinnamon and MATE in Jessie with the standard kernel--the same that's in Betsy--and never had this trouble. If it's the kernel's fault, why didn't I have trouble in Jessie? And if it's not the kernel, why is Liquorix helping? Agh!

Oh well, I've got Mint back. What more could I ask?

Thanks, guys!
Fred

Fred, I wished I could say the same. I've just had a bunch of fresh mate updates today, which I thought had solved the problem. All is fine until a certain type of image is displayed, which then turns black. I'm running the standard 3.16.7-ckt11-1 mint LMDE kernel. I expect this has to be a driver bug. I might give the Liquorix kernel a shot and see what the result is.

Chris

Just a quick update: I found found this https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/1450205 and tried the suggested X11 config and the problems stopped! Nice to have this working again rather than guessing where things are.

[Fred Barclay]

Great news, Chris!
I'm looking at doing that myself, but I don't see /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

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fred@aussie ~ $ ls /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d
10-evdev.conf   50-synaptics.conf  50-wacom.conf
10-quirks.conf  50-vmmouse.conf

Any ideas? Did it exist for you?
This is for Betsy Cinnamon 64-bit. I have new hardware but similar problems. Liquorix still helps but I'd like to have this as an alternative.

Somehow I feel that some else has already mentioned this... I just don't remember who or where.

Thanks!

[imagemetrica.com]

Great news, Chris!
I'm looking at doing that myself, but I don't see /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

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fred@aussie ~ $ ls /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d
10-evdev.conf   50-synaptics.conf  50-wacom.conf
10-quirks.conf  50-vmmouse.conf

Any ideas? Did it exist for you?
This is for Betsy Cinnamon 64-bit. I have new hardware but similar problems. Liquorix still helps but I'd like to have this as an alternative.

Somehow I feel that some else has already mentioned this... I just don't remember who or where.

Thanks!

Hi Fred,

You have to create a new configuration file.

I still had some minor problems with black areas on the Desktop around the icons, but I seem to fixed this by using a solid colour background, where previous I had an image background.

Hope this works for you.

All the best

Chris