[SOLVED] Screen resolution low, no graphics card driver loaded?

[mintIsFun]

Hi everyone,

I am using an old macbook 2,1 (late 2006) and have been enjoying linux mint (mate) 19.1 so far, even though I am very new to linux and this has been my first installation.
At some stage the screen resolution changed from "good" to 1024x768 and I am not able to figure out the cause of this.

I read that it is generally a good idea to post the output of inxi -Fzx as a starting point. I would be glad if anyone can help me.

Thanks in advance!

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System:
  Host: macbook Kernel: 4.18.0-14-generic x86_64 bits: 64 
  compiler: gcc v: 7.3.0 Desktop: MATE 1.20.1 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa 
  base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Apple product: MacBook2,1 v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Apple model: Mac-F4208CA9 v: PVT serial: <filter> BIOS: Apple 
  v: MB21.88Z.00A5.B07.0706270922 date: 06/27/07 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core2 T7200 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: Core Merom rev: 6 L2 cache: 4096 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 7979 
  Speed: 997 MHz min/max: 1000/2000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 997 2: 998 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Mobile 945GM/GMS 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics 
  driver: N/A bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.6 driver: fbdev,intel 
  unloaded: modesetting,vesa resolution: 1024x768~76Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 7.0 128 bits) v: 3.3 Mesa 18.2.2 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio 
  vendor: SigmaTel STAC9221 Codec driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:1b.0 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.18.0-14-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Marvell 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet driver: sky2 v: 1.30 
  port: 1000 bus ID: 01:00.0 
  IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR5418 Wireless Network Adapter [AR5008E 
  802.11bgn] 
  driver: ath9k v: kernel port: 1000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
  IF: wls1 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 223.57 GiB used: 29.71 GiB (13.3%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Crucial model: CT240BX500SSD1 size: 223.57 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 219.06 GiB used: 29.71 GiB (13.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 60.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 163 Uptime: 4m Memory: 2.90 GiB used: 783.3 MiB (26.4%) 
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 7.3.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.19 
  inxi: 3.0.27 

[trytip]

this may help, may not but it's easily undone. you need to edit /etc/default/grub as ROOT

find the line that says:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
change it to:

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GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset quiet splash"

save the file and close it. next open Terminal and type:

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sudo update-grub

reboot

open Driver Manager and see that you are able to install a driver. i don't see one in your inxi output

[mintIsFun]

Hi,
thanks for your comment. I am afraid it did not help. nomodeset was already there, I added splash as well as quiet and that changed the booting sequence in a way that I don't see the details anymore.

However, inxi -Fzx still shows the same output for the graphics section:

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Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Mobile 945GM/GMS 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics 
  driver: N/A bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.6 driver: fbdev,intel 
  unloaded: modesetting,vesa resolution: 1024x768~76Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 7.0 128 bits) v: 3.3 Mesa 18.2.2 
  direct render: Yes 

[thx-1138]

...i don't have direct experience with Macs, let alone older ones.

nomodeset will prevent the in-kernel Intel driver do it's thing properly,
so unless you have other reasons, i'd avoid setting it.
After removing such from grub's parameters, i'd try apt remove xserver-xorg-video-fbdev,
so that only the Intel's modesetting driver gets loaded instead.
If you run into issues after removing such, just re-install it (apt install xserver-xorg-video-fbdev)...

[mintIsFun]

Hey, that worked like a charm!


I adapted /etc/default/grub again (as root) by removing

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nomodeset

and ran the setup-grub again. Afterwards uninstalled fbdev using

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apt remove xserver-xorg-video-fbdev

.

Reboot and the driver is loading just fine! Awesome!

Output for

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inxi -Fzx

now looks fine:

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Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Mobile 945GM/GMS 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics 
  driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.6 driver: intel unloaded: modesetting,vesa 
  resolution: 1280x800~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 945GM v: 1.4 Mesa 18.2.2 
  direct render: Yes 

Thank you so much!