i915 Driver Problem - Mint 9 Main 64bit

[harryc]

I have a Thinkpad Model X200 with the Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset MEI Controller (rev 07) running Mint 9 main 64bit. It is docked and is attached (via a displayport to DVI cable) to a 1600x900 LCD. I have set up gnome-display-properties so that the Thinkpads LCD is off (lid closed) and the 1600x900 LCD is on, non-mirrored. What happens is that (randomly) the resolution on the external LCD will revert to 1280x800 and I lose visibility to the bottom panel. It happens both when the LCD goes into stand-by or when I am switched away from the Thinkpad (via KVM) to another workstation. When this occurs I have to go back into gnome-system-properties and reset the setup to the previously described. What I find when I initially go into gnome-system-properties after the failure is that both LCD's are marked as on, non-mirrored, and both with the 1280x800 resolution set. Why won't these monitor settings stick, and why does the external revert to the internal LCD settings?? It's almost like plug-and-play gone wild ...

Here's xrandr when running normally. I'll post it after a failure soon ...
harryc@harrycsX200 ~ $ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1600 x 900, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
LVDS1 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
1280x800 60.0 +
1024x768 60.0
800x600 60.3
640x480 59.9
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI2 connected 1600x900+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 443mm x 249mm
1600x900 60.0*+
1024x768 60.0 + 75.1 70.1
1280x1024 75.0 60.0
1440x900 59.9
1280x960 60.0
1280x800 59.8
1152x864 75.0
832x624 74.6
800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
640x480 72.8 75.0 66.7 60.0
720x400 70.1
DP2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

[robert-e]

I too have been looking for answers to my wifes Intel 915 video problems. That being said, in regards to your problem. I do recall reading that the vid driver has some sort of bug in it related to suspend that can be worked around by adding

i915.powersave=0

to the kernal boot line. In grub 2, the addition needs to be made to the line

Grub_command_line (this from my not so good memory), in the file /etc/default/grub, as root. You need to run updatge-grub as root, after changing the fixed file. I found this fix after a lot of googling around trying to find a fix for my wife's laptop problem...ie. Her intel 915 external vga will work with any lcd/crt that we tried, except for the Sceptre 20 in lcd, that she would like to use. The mint 9 gnome os will recognise, the monitor when attached, but will not send any video to it. Yet the same laptop will work "out of the box" with a newer 24 inch acer lcd, and with all the old crt monitors that I tried. As well, the Sceptre will work with any other computer that we hook to it. I remain dumbfounded...
Oh yes, I also could not get an "xorg.conf" file to work using that i915 driver...boot screen reports that that driver cannot be found. Darned kernal mode drivers may make for newbee easy life, but sure can make fixing some of these problems much harder than it used to be.

I hope that this fixes your problem.

Regards,
Bob

[harryc]

Bob, thanks for the idea. I will try it this evening. I'll also keep an eye out for the issue on your wife's LCD. These are very odd i915 driver issues for sure. Meanwhile, I did get it to fail again and ran xrandr - q one more time. The odd thing this time is the resolution changed by itself while I was typing this reply (no power management involved to the best of my knowledge) and what is "Screen 0 current 2880x900" all about (see the output from xrandr -q below)? I must have been mistaken before in assuming the external LCD changes to the laptop LCD's resolution when the failure occurs. It is actually changing to 2880 x 900. This is mind boggling. It is not even a supported resolution. So if I am putting this together correctly, both the external and internal laptop LCDs are running at the correct resolution according to xrandr, but screen 0 is running at 2880x900. Wow ... what controls the resolution on screen 0 ?

harryc@harrycsX200 ~ $ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2880 x 900, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
LVDS1 connected 1280x800+1600+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 261mm x 163mm
1280x800 60.0*+
1024x768 60.0
800x600 60.3
640x480 59.9
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI2 connected 1600x900+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 443mm x 249mm
1600x900 60.0*+
1024x768 60.0 + 75.1 70.1
1280x1024 75.0 60.0
1440x900 59.9
1280x960 60.0
1280x800 59.8
1152x864 75.0
832x624 74.6
800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
640x480 72.8 75.0 66.7 60.0
720x400 70.1
DP2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

[robert-e]

I have an idea that your "2880 x 900 screen" is really the sum of the two video screens; that is the size of the virtual desktop spanning the two monitors. I do recall running into this a couple of years ago.

WRT the laptop, she is not too worried about not being able to use the sceptre monitor right now...she has hooked up her old crt for the meantime, until something crops up that explains this conundrum.

Regards,
Bob

[harryc]

Intertesting theory about the 2880 x 900 virtual desktop . The math adds up on the horiz. resolution for sure. Meanwhile, I did try putting i915.powersave=0 in GRUB2 last night, and the failure occurred several times today. Also I should mention that this failure does not occur if I use the VGA cable from the LCD to the laptop dock, only on Displayport to DVI. (which xrandr sees as HDMI2)

[harryc]

Just wanted to post another data point. I now have Mint 9 Main 32bit installed on a Thinkpad R500 using the same Displayport to DVI setup, and the exact same symptoms occur.