Drivers for Intel Graphics Card Linux Mint 18.2

[Danny Fitzgerald]

I have installed Linux Mint 18.2 64Bit on my laptop and my graphics card does not seem to be running properly. When I check for drivers nothing comes up except Unknown device with a button set to use intel-microcode.

how can i get all my hardware running to its full potential?

here are the details of my system.

Code: Select all

System:    Host: danny Kernel: 4.10.0-27-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.4.4 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3) dm: lightdm Distro: Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya
Machine:   System: HP (portable) product: HP Spectre x360 Convertible Chassis: type: 31
           Mobo: HP model: 81A1 v: 33.78 Bios: American Megatrends v: F.46 date: 06/01/2017
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i7-6500U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 4096 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 10368
           clock speeds: min/max: 400/3100 MHz 1: 1277 MHz 2: 1224 MHz 3: 1521 MHz 4: 1220 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Sky Lake Integrated Graphics bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:1916
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 2048x1152@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 520 (Skylake GT2)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 12.0.6 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9d70
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.10.0-27-generic
Network:   Card: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:095a
           IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: NA (-) ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 model: N/A size: 512.1GB serial: N/A
Partition: ID-1: / size: 196G used: 9.2G (5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p7
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 8.50GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/nvme0n1p8
RAID:      System: supported: N/A
           No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
           Unused Devices: none
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 40.5C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/apandada1-brightness-controller-xenial.list
           deb http: //ppa.launchpad.net/apandada1/brightness-controller/ubuntu xenial main
           deb-src http: //ppa.launchpad.net/apandada1/brightness-controller/ubuntu xenial main
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/danielrichter2007-grub-customizer-xenial.list
           deb http: //ppa.launchpad.net/danielrichter2007/grub-customizer/ubuntu xenial main
           deb-src http: //ppa.launchpad.net/danielrichter2007/grub-customizer/ubuntu xenial main
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/noobslab-themes-xenial.list
           deb http: //ppa.launchpad.net/noobslab/themes/ubuntu xenial main
           deb-src http: //ppa.launchpad.net/noobslab/themes/ubuntu xenial main
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
           deb http: //mirror.internode.on.net/pub/linuxmint-packages sonya main upstream import backport
           deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-security main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http: //archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ xenial partner
Info:      Processes: 196 Uptime: 2:16 Memory: 1665.0/7892.9MB
           Init: systemd v: 229 runlevel: 5 default: 2 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
Client: Unknown python2.7 client inxi: 2.2.35

Any help would be much appreciated, I am brand new to Linux.

cheers
Danny.

[Hoser Rob]

I'm pretty sure you're already using the i915 driver. To check copy/paste this into the terminal:

Code: Select all

sudo lshw -C video

And it'll tell you. And there are no other Intel drivers. They don't actually do binary closed source video drivers so none are going to show up in Driver Manager.

intel-microcode is actually a CPU firmware update and not a driver as such. But it's proprietary so it shows up in driver manager because that's the only place for it. Ubuntu (which Mint except for LMDE is based on) does the same thing.

Before installing intel-microcode check its release date in Synaptic and compare it to the BIOS date from your inxi report. If the BIOS is newer than the intel-microcode version, DO NOT install it. Otherwise it should be fine.

Now, could you state more clearly what problems you're having with the video performance?

[DAMIEN1307]

hi danny fitzgerald...cead mile failte...oregon state university has an open source driver repository for intel drivers for linux...i have used this for many installs for new linux users and it has always worked for me...i will supply you with the link for it here...when you see the list, go towards the bottom of the list and the next to last listing is...intel-microcode 3.20170707.1 deb 9ul_amd64.deb 13jul-2017...this is the one to click on for the latest update for generic linux substitiutes for the intel drivers which are proprietory by nature...this is the link...hope this works out ok for you...it has always worked well for me...they also have an AMD processor site as well but this is just for the intel im giving out here... http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/no ... microcode/ ...DAMIEN

[Hoser Rob]

... generic linux substitiutes for the intel drivers which are proprietory by nature...

Actually all Intel Linux video drivers are open source. I very much doubt Debian would be hosting them if they weren't.

[Hoser Rob]

... generic linux substitiutes for the intel drivers which are proprietory by nature...

Actually all Intel Linux video drivers are open source except for the ones they outsourced to PowerVR. I very much doubt Debian would be hosting them if they weren't.

[DAMIEN1307]

personally hoser...i do not give a rats behind what your comment says...i never once said deb was behind it...i only stated that oregon state university has these in their repository and since ive converted 47 at last count...former windows users to linux mint and found wheather it was AMD or intel, if there were problems with the existing drivers even those that driver manager conjures up which are older, i have found this particular entity to always work without a problem...if you have more than 47 different computers . make models etc. that you have this much experience on with the results i have had...ie...not one failure...than please enlighten me thereof...DAMIEN

[jronpaul]

I just installed mint 18 on a laptop and it freezes from time to time.. mouse moves but no other input.

i see some errors that may indicate a display driver issue?

laptop
Aspire-ES1-572
Linux Aspire-ES1-572 4.4.0-91-generic #114-Ubuntu SMP Tue Aug 8 11:56:56 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Linux Mint 18.1 Serena \n \l

error found
gpu hang: kicking stuck wait on blitter ring

VGA compatible controller : Intel Corporation Sky Lake Integrated Graphics (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Sky Lake Integrated Graphics
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
version: 07
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pciexpress msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Sky Lake Integrated Graphics (rev 07)

lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Sky Lake Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 08)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Sky Lake Integrated Graphics (rev 07)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 21)
00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Thermal subsystem (rev 21)
00:15.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller (rev 21)
00:15.1 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller (rev 21)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP CSME HECI (rev 21)
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 21)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port (rev f1)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port (rev f1)
00:1e.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO UART Controller (rev 21)
00:1e.4 SD Host controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d2b (rev 21)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP LPC Controller (rev 21)
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PMC (rev 21)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio (rev 21)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SMBus (rev 21)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 3165 (rev 81)

grep drm /var/log/syslog.1
Aug 9 23:39:13 Aspire-ES1-572 kernel: [136519.342594] [drm:intel_pipe_update_end [i915_bpo]] *ERROR* Atomic update failure on pipe A (start=5871109 end=5871110) time 136 us, min 763, max 767, scanline start 761, end 768
Aug 10 03:21:41 Aspire-ES1-572 kernel: [149868.425574] [drm] GPU HANG: ecode 90x00000000, reason: Kicking stuck wait on blitter ring, action: continue
Aug 10 03:21:41 Aspire-ES1-572 kernel: [149868.425580] [drm] GPU hangs can indicate a bug anywhere in the entire gfx stack, including userspace.
Aug 10 03:21:41 Aspire-ES1-572 kernel: [149868.425582] [drm] Please file a _new_ bug report on bugs.freedesktop.org against DRI -> DRM/Intel
Aug 10 03:21:41 Aspire-ES1-572 kernel: [149868.425585] [drm] drm/i915 developers can then reassign to the right component if it's not a kernel issue.
Aug 10 03:21:41 Aspire-ES1-572 kernel: [149868.425587] [drm] The gpu crash dump is required to analyze gpu hangs, so please always attach it.
Aug 10 03:21:41 Aspire-ES1-572 kernel: [149868.425589] [drm] GPU crash dump saved to /sys/class/drm/card0/error
Aug 10 03:21:45 Aspire-ES1-572 kernel: [149872.413723] [drm] GPU HANG: ecode 90x00000000, reason: Kicking stuck wait on blitter ring, action: continue
Aug 10 03:21:49 Aspire-ES1-572 kernel: [149876.413856] [drm] GPU HANG: ecode 90x00000000, reason: Kicking stuck wait on blitter ring, action: continue
Aug 10 03:21:53 Aspire-ES1-572 kernel: [149880.425944] [drm] GPU HANG: ecode 90x00000000, reason: Kicking stuck wait on blitter ring, action: continue
Aug 10 03:21:57 Aspire-ES1-572 kernel: [149884.426069] [drm] GPU HANG: ecode 90x00000000, reason: Kicking stuck wait on blitter ring, action: continue
Aug 10 03:21:59 Aspire-ES1-572 kernel: [149886.425821] [drm] no progress on blitter ring
Aug 10 03:21:59 Aspire-ES1-572 kernel: [149886.426200] [drm] GPU HANG: ecode 90x00000000, reason: Engine(s) hung, action: reset
Aug 10 03:21:59 Aspire-ES1-572 kernel: [149886.429362] drm/i915: Resetting chip after gpu hang

[mr_raider]

Try upgrading to the 4.10 kernel in update manager. Apply all lower level updates, including level 4 updates like mesa and xorg.

[MintBean]

jronpaul, in line with forum rules please start a fresh thread if you want help with a new problem in future.
Saves us reading a bunch of old posts and finding they're irrelevant.

[jronpaul]

ohh im sorry..
i thought this was the same issue..

and the system is up 2 date.
how do i get to the 4.10 kernel?
do i need to add an outside repo ?

[JerryF]

I have installed Linux Mint 18.2 64Bit on my laptop and my graphics card does not seem to be running properly.

What do you mean when you say "does not seem to be running properly?

Also, there's no need to put all your post in bold.

Thanks.

[catweazel]

personally hoser...i do not give a rats behind what your comment says...i never once said deb was behind it...i only stated that oregon state university has these in their repository and since ive converted 47 at last count...former windows users to linux mint and found wheather it was AMD or intel, if there were problems with the existing drivers even those that driver manager conjures up which are older, i have found this particular entity to always work without a problem...if you have more than 47 different computers . make models etc. that you have this much experience on with the results i have had...ie...not one failure...than please enlighten me thereof...DAMIEN

How to lose friends and alienate people.

[64bitguy]

I have an Acer E15 also (in my pile)...

I have found that all of the newer chipsets with Intel Graphics (like this one with Intel 520) run much better WITHOUT those old Intel drivers. In fact, Fedora and Debian have dumped them.

I dumped xserver-xorg-video-intel and (IMHO, still there so Mint remains compatible with legacy Intel GPU's in the i8xx and i9xx family of chipsets). Those proprietary drivers (can) severely decrease the performance and stability of newer Intel video chipsets and in my experience can often be responsible for "screen tearing" on the 520 systems. I suggest you try removing it and using the newer and better, "modesetting" driver instead (it's already in the new kernel).

That Acer (Aspire-ES1-572) doesn't have AMD or Nvidia and just uses Intel 520.

To get all of the issues to go away, try this:
Open Terminal and paste:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get remove xserver-xorg-video-intel

Enter your password and when it is complete, reboot.

Then go into terminal and paste:

Code: Select all

inxi -G

You should see something like this now:
Graphics:
Card: Intel Device 5xyz
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1366x768@60.00hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 520 (SkyLake)
GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.0.7

You'll know for sure if this worked by running the following in terminal:

Code: Select all

grep modesetting /var/log/Xorg.0.log

The last two lines of output should say something like:
[ 20.036] (II) modesetting: Driver for Modesetting Kernel Drivers: kms
[ 20.047] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for modesetting

This really helped my Acer system (though I'm running Kabylake GT2 and Intel 620 Video), I hope it helps yours.

Mine looks like this after making these changes and works great:
Graphics: Card: Intel Device 5916
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1920x1080@60.01hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 620 (Kabylake GT2)
GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.0.7

If for some reason, the above solution doesn't work out or you have any problems with modesetting (like you're trying to render trapezoid fills, in which case you probably need a new computer) or you just want to go back to those original/latest Intel drivers, you can. Just open terminal and paste the below in.

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel

After install, reboot and you'll be right back with Intel drivers.

Hope this helps! Let me know. (edit... left out the undo code for some reason... sorry).

[Hoser Rob]

personally hoser...i do not give a rats behind what your comment says...i never once said deb was behind it...i only stated that oregon state university has these in their repository and since ive converted 47 at last count...former windows users to linux mint and found wheather it was AMD or intel, if there were problems with the existing drivers even those that driver manager conjures up which are older, i have found this particular entity to always work without a problem...if you have more than 47 different computers . make models etc. that you have this much experience on with the results i have had...ie...not one failure...than please enlighten me thereof...DAMIEN

I'm going to tell you one of the biggest dirty Linux secrets.

Unless you have Red Hat, support is done on a voluntary basis. Ask any IT consultant and they will tell you that with some people, you'd have to be paid to support them. You are one of those arseholes. Goodbye.

[DAMIEN1307]

oooh so touchy are we not? lol...i did take note that rather than "enlightening" me to the contrary, as requested that you have instead resorted to the last redoubt of the less noble of human instincts...attack and belittle...I do not know if others have ever told you this before but your comments while mildly amusing can of course be quite acerbic in nature...A Dale Carnegie course on "how to Win Friends and Influence People" could assist you greatly...DAMIEN

[paradinglunatic]

Just wanted to say this DEFINITELY helped my intel graphics driver issues I was having. Granted I'm not running anywhere near the same laptop. I have an ASUS N550J series with a hybrid graphics card (Intel and Nvidia). Got the Nvidia drivers to the most recent compatible version but it obviously didn't help while switched to the intel driver. I was initially having problems with the screen flashing (not tearing) especially while playing youtube videos or similar going. Followed this process and switched back to using the intel graphics card and it's working great for me.

I have an Acer E15 also (in my pile)...

I have found that all of the newer chipsets with Intel Graphics (like this one with Intel 520) run much better WITHOUT those old Intel drivers. In fact, Fedora and Debian have dumped them.

I dumped xserver-xorg-video-intel and (IMHO, still there so Mint remains compatible with legacy Intel GPU's in the i8xx and i9xx family of chipsets). Those proprietary drivers (can) severely decrease the performance and stability of newer Intel video chipsets and in my experience can often be responsible for "screen tearing" on the 520 systems. I suggest you try removing it and using the newer and better, "modesetting" driver instead (it's already in the new kernel).

That Acer (Aspire-ES1-572) doesn't have AMD or Nvidia and just uses Intel 520.

To get all of the issues to go away, try this:
Open Terminal and paste:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get remove xserver-xorg-video-intel

Enter your password and when it is complete, reboot.

Then go into terminal and paste:

Code: Select all

inxi -G

You should see something like this now:
Graphics:
Card: Intel Device 5xyz
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1366x768@60.00hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 520 (SkyLake)
GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.0.7

You'll know for sure if this worked by running the following in terminal:

Code: Select all

grep modesetting /var/log/Xorg.0.log

The last two lines of output should say something like:
[ 20.036] (II) modesetting: Driver for Modesetting Kernel Drivers: kms
[ 20.047] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for modesetting

This really helped my Acer system (though I'm running Kabylake GT2 and Intel 620 Video), I hope it helps yours.

Mine looks like this after making these changes and works great:
Graphics: Card: Intel Device 5916
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1920x1080@60.01hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 620 (Kabylake GT2)
GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.0.7

If for some reason, the above solution doesn't work out or you have any problems with modesetting (like you're trying to render trapezoid fills, in which case you probably need a new computer) or you just want to go back to those original/latest Intel drivers, you can. Just open terminal and paste the below in.

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel

After install, reboot and you'll be right back with Intel drivers.

Hope this helps! Let me know. (edit... left out the undo code for some reason... sorry).

[dragon2knight]

My thanks to 64bitguy as well, this definitely helped my AsRock J3455M build with the Apollo Lake chip set in it. Stopped screen tearing and blanking completely in both the Chrome browser and the Firefox browser. I also noticed an improvement in speed across the board. IMHO Mint should join the other distros in removing the outdated Intel drivers and just use the built in modsetting to run Intel chip sets while putting those ancient i915 drivers in the repositories for those folks that need it. It's just the right thing to do...

[64bitguy]

Sorry, just be catching up after being off for a while.

As for some of the above... well... I don't know what most of that is about. Oh, and yeah, this is volunteer give back time.... but I digress.

I'm glad that using the kernel drivers has helped a few people anyway. It would be nice to hear more feedback from the threads author.

I wanted to mention that at the time of posting this, the system(s) in question were, actually are, running Mint 18.2 64-bit (Cinnamon 3.4.6) Kernel 4.10.0-40. In 18.2, that was the most stable kernel with all of the features that I needed for these various laptop chipsets/CPUs (that is, everything working) at the original time of publication.

kernel 4.10.0-40.png

I'm thinking about upgrading some of the day to day laptops to 18.3 today... I need to investigate the defaults, new kernels, etc.. before I make the leap; but also wanted to talk about testing.

If you want to really test your drivers in a browser, I recommend the following website.
https://earth.nullschool.net/.

When it renders, if you get errors, it's definitely the video drivers.

If you want to play with the basic settings, click the word, "Earth" in the lower left corner to bring up various global options.

kernel 4.10.0-40.png

You can see live wind and water animations and its a great way to test your kernel/CPU/chipset/drivers/browser together and really helps distinguish when one mode works better than another. Your mileage may vary; but it should work flawlessly in Firefox 57.0 and Chrome 62.0.3202.94

[packetracket]

Thanks for the post 64 bit guy. I ran into issues with Sky Lake integrated graphics version 7 running 18.3 kernel 4.15.0-34-generic #37~16.04.1 after some updates. Problem was inability to rotate one of two external monitors (I have one portrait and one landscape) in the display>preferences manager of cinnamon. This has always worked fine until recently, so not clear what update or how I introduced the issue. However, removing the intel-xorg package named in your post solved the issue.