Intel graphics driver & native res not detected

[lawrencep]

I selected for my old Sony Vaio VGN-C13G the latest Qiana KDE 64-bit, as it seems to me the most promising. Unfortunately it rejects Intel video driver during probing and uses Vesa instead.
And that one just doesn't detect the monitor's resolution.
It uses 1024x768 instead. The native resolution is 1280 x 800. Before Windows XP was working at 1280 x 800 on this PC without any problem. I also tried other major distributions but only Knoppix and Puppy Linux can detect and work at 1280 x 800.

Let me give you a bit more details about this laptop released in 2006:

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T5500 @ 1.66GHz
Mem: 3GB
Kernel: Linux version 3.13.0-24-generic (buildd@panlong) (gcc version 4.8.2 (Ubuntu 4.8.2-19ubuntu1) ) #46-Ubuntu SMP Thu Apr 10 19:11:08 UTC 2014

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/sbin/lspci -nnk | grep -A3
VGA00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27a2] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:820f]
        Kernel modules: i915
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27a6] (rev 03)

I found in /var/log/Xorg.0.log a lot of interesting info about video setup but I do not understand it. Let me just show you a few lines:

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[    41.119] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for modesetting
[    41.141] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for fbdev
[    41.674] (WW) VESA(0): Unable to estimate virtual size
[    41.674] (WW) VESA(0): Unable to estimate virtual size
[    41.674] (WW) VESA(0): No valid modes left. Trying less strict filter...

By the way can I upload the file to a pasting/sharing site (like SUSE has) and post a link for this forum?

I think that I have a kernel problem. What can I do?

Thank you for all good suggestions and recommendations

[PatH57]

Hi,

kernel maybe but try this first.
http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/package/xo ... ideo-intel

[lawrencep]

Thank you.
I followed your link and selected from section Download "xserver-xorg-video-intel" 64-bit deb package, clicked on open and Package Installer showed status: Error cannot satisfy dependencies.
Info: An older version is available in a software channel. It is recommended to install the version from the software channel, since it usually has more support.

When I clicked on APT install button I was shown in the window titled Information AptUrl:
"Package 'xserver-xorg-video-intel' is already installed"
Maybe I've done something wrong? Frankly speaking I've never visited UbuntuUpdates.org web site

[PatH57]

check in package manager and search for xserver-xorg-video-intel if it is installed?

[lawrencep]

According to Synaptic Package Manager xserver-xorg-video-intel is installed. I've got ver 2:2.99.910-ubuntu1

[lawrencep]

An update:

Other anomalies I've noted that might be related. Since the installation Grub 2 menu has never been shown during the booting process.
I checked https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/Troubleshooting where I found such info "Frozen splash screen, blinking cursor with no grub> or grub rescue prompt. Possible video issues with the kernel". I can see blinking cursor with no grub> or grub rescue prompt, no menu. After about 15-20 sec login screen appears.

Let me add that there's only one OS on my laptop. To show menu on boot I placed a # symbol at the start of the line GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0, checked GRUB_TIMEOUT=10, run sudo update-grub and rebooted. No menu is shown.

[PatH57]

at boot if you press shift does the grub menu appear?

[lawrencep]

No. I tried this many times. After I press the left shift key a short message " Grub loading" appears in the top left corner for about 1 sec. Than screen remains blank until a login one. I also tried the right shift key and all combinations of function, control and alt keys. Response is the same - NO BOOT MENU.

[PatH57]

ok,


let's try this:

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gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub

a text editor will open with the grub configuration file. Near the top of that file you will see something very similar to this:

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

add your custom boot options to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line, so for instance:

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

Now in the terminal, run the following command to update your grub configuration with the new default settings:

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sudo update-grub

and reboot.

[lawrencep]

First I tried inserting:

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GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="splash noacpi noapic nomodeset"

the only difference after updating grub and rebooting was jerky mouse

Than I tried

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GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="splash noacpi noapic vga=864" 

this time some log info was shown but again no grub menu and just 1024x768.

I have no idea what else I may try?

[lawrencep]

Update:
I also tried suggestion "Forcing Grub to Show Menu" from http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... eo+drivers

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GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=""
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=false
GRUB_TIMEOUT=20

Unfortunately result is the same as many times before.
I REALLY need your help guys