intel graphics laptop crashes with external monitor

The time stamp in dmesg.txt at [36.312025] is when I plug in my external monitor and go to system->preferences->Display.

This happens if I were to type xrandr --auto, which is what I've been doing for years.

This happens every single time, completely predictable, same outcome every time.

I have the same problem with an Acer Travelmate notebook, 15' laptop screen (1024x768 ) and a external 19' Benq (1280x1024) and a clean Ubuntu 9.10 install.

Using the system/preferences/screen menu I can use one or the other, or even both (but cloned, not extended), if i try to get them working as extended everything crashes (well, apps are still working as rhythmbox keeps playing, but no keyboard nor mouse, black screen and can't get to console through Ctrl+Alt+F1) so i need to do a hard reboot.

#lspci | grep -e VGA -e Display
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)

#xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2304 x 1024, maximum 4096 x 4096
VGA1 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 376mm x 301mm
   1280x1024 60.0*+ 75.0
   1152x864 75.0
   1024x768 75.1 70.1 60.0
   832x624 74.6
   800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3
   640x480 72.8 75.0 66.7 60.0
   720x400 70.1
LVDS1 connected 1024x768+1280+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 304mm x 228mm
   1024x768 60.0 + 85.0 75.0* 70.1 60.0
   832x624 74.6
   800x600 85.1 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
   640x480 85.0 72.8 75.0 59.9
   720x400 85.0
   640x400 85.1
   640x350 85.1
TV1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Confirming this problem for my Toshiba Satellite Laptop, with an Intel 945 Express Chipset Family graphics card.

When I click 'Display' in the menu, the screen goes blank. Sometimes I can Ctrl-Alt-F1 and get a psudeo-terminal.

Confirmed for my Acer Aspire 3680 laptop with an Intel 945GM graphics card. When I connect an external monitor and goto System->Preferences->Display the Xserver crashes and all I can see is a blank screen with a mouse button on it(doesn't move). I tried using my keyboard special keys to switch, same result.

And another confirm: my Dell latitude D620 laptop. I even installed Karmic Koala out of the box to see if it would change this behavior, but with no luck.

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

nlv04101@starfish:~$ xrandr --auto
nlv04101@starfish:~$ sudo xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1024 x 768, maximum 4096 x 4096
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
LVDS1 connected 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 304mm x 190mm
   1280x800 59.9 +
   1024x768 60.0*
   800x600 60.3
   640x480 59.9
DVI1 connected 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 376mm x 301mm
   1280x1024 75.0 + 75.0
   1152x864 75.0
   1024x768 75.1 70.1 60.0*
   832x624 74.6
   800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
   640x480 72.8 75.0 66.7 60.0
   720x400 70.1
TV1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Same problem on my Medion Akoya mini E1210 with Intel 945GM with 10.2' 1024*600 screen.
But only when plugging in the external monitor (19' 1280*1024) after boot. Works fine if monitor is connected before boot, but then crashes if I press FN+F2 (=switch screen) twice.

If I turn off all visual effects System->Preferences->Appearance->Visual Effects->None Then the external monitor will work and the laptop doesn't crash.

So this is a problem with the intel driver, compiz and external monitors. I can live without compiz, but it is a bit annoying really. I wouldn't like this as a permanent solution.

Confirmed: cannot use the external monitor, computer will crash as soon as I try to switch in on with toshset -video both. Was working ok with 9.04.

Hardware: Toshiba Portege M400, with intel 945GM.

Software: Ubuntu 9.10 (upgrade from 9.04) on AMD64

Juan

Confirmed: cannot use the external monitor, computer will crash as soon
as I try to switch in on with toshset or xrandr or Gnome tool . Was working ok with
9.04.

Hardware: Toshiba Portege R600, with intel 945GM.

Software: Ubuntu 9.10 (clean install)

Mips

Confirmed: cannot have external monitor and laptop LCD at same time, unless running mirrored at laptop's resolution. Black screen with mouse pointer that doesn't move. Can have external monitor only at it's resolution if I set resolution to 1024x768, apply, turn on mirrored displays, apply, disable internal LCD, apply, then change resolution to 1920x1080. Then to change back, set resolution to 1024x768, apply, enable internal LCD, apply etc...

Hardware: Dell Latitude D410, with Intel 915
Software: Ubuntu 9.10 (clean install)

Hi again,

After disabling desktop effects, and waiting for a while (?) the X-server restarted and now I can use the external monitor and internal in mirror mode (I have external at 1600x1200, internal at 1024x768). Other configurations (xrandr --output VGA1 --above LVDS1...) do not change anything.

All the time I have the following output on dmesg:

[ 8784.334136] i915 0000:00:02.0: LVDS-1: EDID invalid.
[ 8784.744512] [drm:edid_is_valid] *ERROR* Raw EDID:
[ 8784.744517] <3>00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
[ 8784.744520] <3>00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
[ 8784.744522] <3>00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
[ 8784.744524] <3>00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
[ 8784.744543] <3>00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
[ 8784.744545] <3>00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
[ 8784.744547] <3>00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
[ 8784.744549] <3>00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
[ 8784.744551]

xrandr gives:
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1600 x 1200, maximum 4096 x 4096
VGA1 connected 1600x1200+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 360mm x 270mm
   1600x1200 75.0*+
   1280x1024 75.0
   1152x864 75.0
   1024x768 75.1 70.1 60.0
   832x624 74.6
   800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3
   640x480 72.8 75.0 60.0
   720x400 70.1
LVDS1 connected 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1024x768 60.0*+ 85.0 75.0 70.1 60.0
   832x624 74.6
   800x600 85.1 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
   640x480 85.0 72.8 75.0 59.9
   720x400 85.0
   640x400 85.1
   640x350 85.1
DVI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Juan

After turning off all compiz effects I was able to run with my external monitor. However after a while the system was running so slowly that I had to reboot it. Sorry no debug, it took about 5 minutes to do Crtl+Alt+F2, login and do sudo poweroff

I won't be using the external monitor until this bug is sorted, if this isn't working within a week or so then I will be going back to 9.04 or switching to Debian Lenny

For me turning compiz off worked! I can switch screens using the Gnome tool or even Fn+F2.
I suggest the following explanation: Compiz can't deal with the resolution of the extended Desktop (2304*1024 in my case). As extended desktop is the default option when connecting a new screen, compiz crashes immediately.
Visual effects would still be nice...

confirmed on a IBM x60t.
With compiz on, either "detect monitors" in the Display Menu, or Fn+F7 (switch screen on IBMs) freezes the screen while the system continus to run for a while (had a skype conversation continuing for some minutes).

With compiz off, everything runs as expected. When trying to turn on compiz with an external monitor active, the "appereance" Menu of gnome says that visual effects could not be activated. When trying to switch on compiz by the fusion-icon, it freezes again.

We need a fix for that. Nearly as annoying as the tablet screen rotation bug with compiz back then.

simply executing 'xrandr' on a gnome-terminal with compiz on, blanks and freezes screen

Same problem with Fujitsu Siemens S7110. Chipset Intel 945GM

Ok, two different bugs. On toshiba laptops using toshset to activate external monitor, you get a black screen no matter even if you use X (also with X off, from a virtual terminal). Obviously it does not matter whether compiz is on or not.

The problem, at least for my toshiba m400 is in the KMS module (Kernel video mode switching). If I select nomodeset as a kernel boot option, I can use the external monitor with toshset, and I do not get the black screen. I am still testing what penalties do I have. I cannot use the latest X from xorg-edgers beause it seems to require KMS activated.

Juan

Hi

I have the same problem in my HP Pavilion dv2035la laptop, with an Intel 945GM graphic card.

When I connect an external monitor and try to open the "Display" tool, both laptop and external monitor go black and the system freezes. If I switch Visual Effects to "none", I can use the "Display" tool normally. I even get both monitors working in extended mode. Then I can turn on visual effects without having the system frozen.

Also, if i turn on the PC with the external monitor already connected, everything works fine.

Thanks!!

Sebastián

@smarchi,
when your external monitor is connected before boot, it even works with visual effects? That does not work for me with the same 945GM on Medion Akoya mini E1210...

Ive got problem with external monitor in my acer 3003wlmi (4 yeares old) with sis m760. Cpu is very slow (useless) after connecting external monitor...Im using ubuntu 9.04 (downgrade from 9.10) and it looks ok but external monitor never was recognized in display menu...
Sorry for my poor english.

Juan of post #21: many thanks! Same problem on Toshiba Portege R600. Setting "nomodeset"
as kernel parameter did the trick and made my second-monitor script combining xrandr and toshset, posted at http://www.astro.uu.nl/~rutten/Recipes_Ubuntu.html,
work again. I had no idea how to set a kernel parameter but found clear instructions at http://grumpymole.blogspot.com/2007/05/ubuntu-how-to-edit-grub-boot-parameters.html

This fix saved my big lecture tomorrow just in time! (this projection business is one thing the MacBook Pro I discarded in favor of Ubuntu did better...)

Rob Rutten

And more re Juan post #21 recipe to set kernel parameter nomodeset:

1. Playing movies on both laptop screen and external monitor/projector hangs the external
after a few seconds

2. Movies played with the image processing language IDL hang also after a few seconds or
some GUI clicking.

Are these X penalties from setting nomodeset?

Rob Rutten

I can also confirm this bug in a Acer Aspire One. It also happen using mutter as windows manager insted of compiz (mutter --replace) in the standard gnome configuration and when usign gnome-shell. At first I think that was a problem with compositing, but the system didn't crash using metacity with compositing.

PD. Sorry for my bad english

Let me add to my comments #25 and #26 above: this bug kills all my lecturing and makes me contemplate asking my wife to give the MacBrook Pro back to me, and to quit my one-year foray into Ubuntu as a MacOSX replacement. I don't know whether the blankout of the second monitor (using the nomodeset fix in kernel loading) when video playing and similar freezes on my own screen when video playing in IDL have to do with this bug but together they kill the functionality of my Toshiba R600 in my work even with the nomodeset fix. So I hope that this bug gets some attention.

I saw this marked as a duplicate of 408432 (marked with "low" importance).

But again all that seems to be directed to Xorg problems. This bug happens without Xorg (only virtual console is enough) (see #21, #25), just when enableing the external monitor with toshset.

Should we open a new bug for this issue on Toshiba laptops?

Comment on Rob #28, I have also bad instability using nomodeset, ususally a crash every couple of hours (everything freezes including mouse, fan speeds up). This bug is making my computer unusable, and I cannot trust it to give a talk.

Juan (#29): Agreed. I gave up and decided to re-install 9.04. It took me three full days to get everything working properly again, notwithstanding my extensive notes posted at http://www.astro.uu.nl/~rutten/Recipes_Ubuntu.html, I again had to re-invebt the weel for many tunings. Even the basic reinstall was problematic, the Ubuntu top install website only offers 9.10 and 8.04 "LTS" but trying the latter gave me endless bad-video screens without installation. I then found an .iso for 9.04 and found that one should NOT click on Install, but on "Try Ubuntu without changing your computer", and install only after that has opened, from the install icon that then appears. Now I have a usable computer again and I can lecture again.

So I feel that Ubuntu adds a clicker "update" in the update manager there should also be a clicker "undo update".

I also confirm the bug on my Lenovo S10 running UNR 9.10. Same issues as everyone else, external monitor works fine running Metacity except that I cant play audio or video - it will crash in the same manner as if I had Compiz enabled initially if I try to play audio or video w/ external connected running Metacity.

Dell D410 Laptop, thanks for the tip regarding System->Preferences->Appearance->Visual Effects->None. At least I can use extended 19 inch monitor. Have an issue where I can not get the main toolbar (gnome?) to move to my extended monitor as primary.

I get exactly the same problem in my Toshiba Satellite U205. Also the 945GM intel card.

Running Linux Mint 8 ~= Ubuntu 9.10
Same problem on HP Mini 5101 with the following Intel graphics controller:

$ lspci | grep -e VGA -e Display
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

This is confirmed many times by now.

This also affects my HP Compaz nc4400.

$ dpkg --status mesa-utils | grep Version
Version: 7.6.0-1ubuntu4
$ glxinfo -l | grep GL_MAX_TEXTURE_SIZE
    GL_MAX_TEXTURE_SIZE = 2048
$ lspci | grep -e VGA -e Display
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
$

I have the bug on same chipset (Intel Mobile 945GME express integrated rev03) on an asus 1000h. Confirming setting effects to none is a workaround.

Looked through kern.log, syslog, debug, didn't find anything relevant. Can post contents of Xorg.0.log if needed (I don't know as much about reading that one).

Upon a successful (no visual effects) connect, I get the following in kern.log: Integrated sync not supported and [drm] DAC-6: set mode f

Same here with an Asus Eeepc 1000. Turning off visual effects prevents the crash, but then the resolution on the external monitor is fixed at 640x480 with no way to adjust. In this mode it is unusable. The comp can recognize the native resolution of the external monitor, but will not let me run it at that resolution.

Is this problem still not fixed??? How many months is this now?? This bug, for many people, provides seriously reduced functionality with a large impact on the way people use laptops.

I am the original poster of this bug and I got around this a few months back. I installed Debian Lenny on my laptop. Ubuntu is built around Debian, while Ubuntu has newer versions of almost everything, it lacks the stability of Debian (In a much broader sense than the limited confines of this bug). This external monitor Ubuntu bug is not an issue at all in Debian.

I may look again when Ubuntu 10.04 comes out, probably put it on a test machine, but for my production machines, I'm long gone (for many many more reasons that just this bug).

The problem is with the Intel driver. This is a known limitation:

No support for X Screens larger than 2048 pixels in either direction before the 965.

xrandr seems to report the wrong maximum screen size (as 4096 in either direction).

Turning off compiz is not an option for me as it's used for productivity purposes. Spent all of last night writing a script with the limitation in mind but am now unable to figure out how to replace Ubuntu's action for the video out key.

Is there any documentation for doing this??

Same bug confirmed for Acer Aspire One (Model: AOA150-1063) with Intel Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (Ver. 03) and external 19" LCD monitor Acer AL1916.

Ubuntu 9.04 (upgraded from 8.10) Desktop edition.

Weird behaviour... With VGA cable attached before boot, show 1280x1024 resolution at 75Hz in external monitor (with compiz activated and working flawless), but some minutes after, begin to blink sporadicly until the screen goes blank or sometimes crash the system (hard reboot needed).

Confirmed on dell latitude d610:

I found maybe a workaround to bypass the problem:
Just try to use the system->monitor settings menu, disable the dvi monitor, activate the vga one with the preferred resolution. Click ok and you've what you wanted.

Is anyone actually working on this?

The "work-arounds" that people are suggesting aren't a solution.

Is this a problem with the driver? e.g. report the correct maximum resolution to xrandr based on the type of video card rather than JUST the driver used.

Is the problem with xrandr?

Is the problem with the way that the gnome screen settings application work?

Seriously - there's a problem here. People are finding ways to not work with the full capabilities of their hardware. This error report seems to be being ignored. Can we please have something happening....

same problem comfirmed with my Hasee laptop

$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

This is a severe problem... it involves a sudden total crash i.e. data loss in many cases.

Is there really no way to at least prevent the crash? That "unassigned" field up at the top makes me sad...

This is happening with newest kernels and ironlake chipsets, too.

Seems to be some greater issue with some kind of intel chipsets.

^^ Therefore I presume, someone with the needed knowledge and accounts should report this at kernel and intel bugtrackers.

Following the earlier suggestions, I have posted a bug report specific to the Toshiba Portege R600 at:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/751453

This bug was filed against a series that is no longer supported and so is being marked as Won't Fix. If this issue still exists in a supported series, please file a new bug.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.