[i845] Intrepid Compiz freezes on login for i845

Verified Gnome 2 is the version that fails on IBM Thinkpad R31.

With all other Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex updates on Ubuntu except Gnome 2, R31 runs O.K. Alpha 4 Xubuntu and Kubuntu run O.K. Alpha 3 runs O.K. on the R31.

With Alpha 4 Ubuntu CD Live including Gnome 2, verified by booting on a Compaq, booting on R31 proceeds as expected until the Gnome background is supposed to load. All activity ceases, the screen never changes, nothing on the keyboard works, cannot get any logs or any data from the CD Live. The X window cursor moves however none of the buttons work. Ctrl-Alt-Backspace doesn't work. Ctrl-Alt-F1 or F2 don't work. Ctr-Alt-Del doesn't work. Power Off does....

One way to get data is to install Alpha 3, update everything but Gnome 2, verify it runs O.K. I've done that. Then put on Gnome 2 from the updates. Reboot gets the problem as stated in the bug. At that point I could bring up Alpha 3 which is installed as a dual boot, mount the failed Alpha 4 Gnome 2 install, and look for logs or debug messages or whatever. As an ordinary user, I don't know what evidence Gnome would leave if any about the failure.

Thanks for any suggestions. Jerry

Alpha 5 kernel 2.6.27-2 runs O.K. however daily build 20080916 fails again with black screen where the Gnome background should appear.

Jerry

Also, power off the only solution on a Compaq D51S with 2.6.27-3. Gnome-panel runs OK from terminal prompt. Log suggest gnome-wm.desktop failed to register.

what logs/details would you like?

Mark

Kernel 2.6.27-3 fails on IBM Thinkpad R31. Boot goes normally to the point that Gnome 2 background should load, then everything goes dead. Screen is blank except for cursor which still works, however keyboard is totally dead. Only key that works is power off.

Alpha 3 ran. Alpha 4 failed this same way. Early Alpha 5 kernel 2.6.27-2 ran O.K., installed O.K., then selected the update applet which installed 2.26.27-3 and no longer runs, fails the same way as today's CD Live:

Today's 20080918 CD Live, same results. Boot goes until Gnome background should load and then keyboard goes dead, screen is black, etc.

I'm downloading Alpha 6 now and will try it tomorrow.

Moral: update applet killed the install. Don't do any more updates! Good thing dual boot still works so I have a running 2.6.27-2 until (if) a CD Live works first.

Jerry

Alpha 6 hangs same place, after Ubuntu logon, and brown screen, then screen goes black and keyboard is dead. The IBM Thinkpad R31 is hung altogether, except for power off key.

CD Live and installed Alpha 3 worked, CD live and installed Alpha 5 worked until an update that put in 2.6.27-3 a few days ago. Alpha 5 2.6.27-2 works (that's what I'm using as I enter this comment) so long as I don't permit any updates.

Alpha 4 & Alpha 6 both hung. Since these are CD Live, no way to see any logs or messages.

Booting with quiet & splash off, everything looks normal, it gets the command prompt where startx would be issued, X comes up successfully, then where the Gnome 2 background should show the xcreen goes black and keyboard dead.

Any ideas of things to try?

Jerry

Confirm same symptoms again on Compaq Evo D51S, now with Alpha 6

Any specifics required?

Mark

Tried Alpha 5 with sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get upgrade. Same hang as Alpha 6.

Booting the installed upgraded Alpha 5 in recovery mode, can select command prompt and linux is working fine in command line mode. Issue sudo startx and the hang occurs.

Any idea of logs or anything that would be of help? Seems to me when it hangs up it doesn't report anything since it's dead.

Jerry

Same here. Compaq D51S EVO - I tried a CTRL-ALT-F1 quickly after completing the login and came back later to find a desktop. Another time I came back too quick to see the panels go away leaving me with an empty desktop and a useless mouse cursor. Same error "gnome-wm.desktop failed to register".

Booted the originally installed Alpha 5 in recovery mode. Comes up fine in root shell prompt.
sudo apt-get install update which downloaded & installed a bunch. No help, normal boot still hangs.
sudo apt-get install upgrade which downloaded & installed a bunch. No help, normal boot still hangs.
This is now kernel 2.6.27-4 after the upgrade. Still fails same way.
Did "Fix Broken Packages" which downloaded and installed a bunch. No help, normal boot still hangs.
All this updating took quite a few minutes with many megabytes downloaded and installed.
Boots fine to root shell prompt. Startx starts X windows fine, then when Gnome tries to load the background everything hangs up tight.

Jerry

Looks like the latest update has solved the problem.

Alpha 6 20081001 still fails.
-- CD Live freezes with black screen where Gnome 2 should have loaded background. It did get past the Ubuntu logon screen which is a bit farther along.
-- Install actually worked. I don't think it uses Gnome 2.
-- Booting the install fails. Here's some ugly messages from daemon.log:

Oct 1 10:36:58 Thinkpad avahi-daemon[4638]: Registering new address record for 192.168.0.3 on eth0.IPv4.
Oct 1 10:36:58 Thinkpad dhclient: bound to 192.168.0.3 -- renewal in 42075 seconds.
Oct 1 10:36:59 Thinkpad NetworkManager: <info> (eth0): device state change: 7 -> 8
Oct 1 10:36:59 Thinkpad NetworkManager: <info> Policy set (eth0) as default device for routing and DNS.
Oct 1 10:36:59 Thinkpad NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth0) successful, device activated.
Oct 1 10:36:59 Thinkpad NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 5 of 5 (IP Configure Commit) complete.
Oct 1 10:37:00 Thinkpad ntpdate[5706]: adjust time server 91.189.94.4 offset 0.058447 sec
Oct 1 10:37:05 Thinkpad x-session-manager[5564]: WARNING: Unable to find provider 'gnome-wm' of required component 'windowmanager'
Oct 1 10:37:10 Thinkpad avahi-daemon[4638]: Registering new address record for fe80::200:e2ff:fe81:a0eb on eth0.*.
Oct 1 10:37:16 Thinkpad x-session-manager[5564]: WARNING: Application 'gnome-wm.desktop' failed to register before timeout
Oct 1 10:37:27 Thinkpad x-session-manager[5564]: WARNING: Application 'libcanberra-login-sound.desktop' failed to register before timeout
Oct 1 10:37:28 Thinkpad hcid[5231]: Default passkey agent (:1.22, /org/bluez/passkey) registered
Oct 1 10:37:28 Thinkpad hcid[5231]: Default authorization agent (:1.22, /org/bluez/auth) registered

I'm an "ordinary desktop user", not a developer, however "Application 'gnome-wm.desktop' failed to register" looks bad to me.

Jerry

If I do a Ctrl-Alt-F1 just after the login screen, the command line displays O.K.
I then listen for boot to complete. When activity stops, I do a
Ctrl-Alt-F7 then the Gnome desktop displays, background, top & bottom lines, the whole bit. For about a second. Then everything goes black again.
Same thing in both CD Live and Install.

daemon.log had an interesting entry:

Oct 1 11:54:17 Thinkpad x-session-manager[5571]: WARNING: Unable to find provider 'gnome-wm' of required component 'windowmanager'

Maybe that's why Xubuntu and Kubuntu run and Ubuntu-Gnome doesn't.

Jerry

I have the same behavior on a dell dimension 5400 desktop. (about 3-4 years old). Switching to tty1 and back does the same thing, I see the panels for a flash and then they disappear. Watching daemon.log, I think the following line appeared when i switched back, not sure if it was a coincidence or not:

Oct 5 15:19:44 compy086 acpid: client connected from 5404[0:0]

Beta also fails on the IBM Thinkpad R31, see bug 277344.

I'm guessing there are going to be lots of machines with similar failures.

Thanks for your comment.

Jerry

Workaround for Beta:

Besides:

sudo apt-get remove compiz
sudo apt-get remove compiz-core

I had to edit:

/etc/X11/default-display-manager
#/usr/sbin/gdm

otherwise Firefox gets an authority error and crashes.

switcher also won't load so I start a command line to halt or reboot.

I'll probably find some other bugs as well but at least it's running, first time since initial Alpha 5. An update to Alpha 5 creamed Compiz for the Thinkpad, most likely Compiz since it works without it.

Jerry

Can this be reproduced in the latest version of Intrepid? I don't have any type of portable system to test the daily image on.

Thanks for helping.

As of 200891016 build still fails, both CD Live and installed. I can't do a CD on 20081019 or 20081020 because of oversize. I don't know how to overburn to squeeze 701.6 onto a 700 CD, nor do I know how to remove Gnome games from the iso.

On 200816 I was able to get CD Live to boot by watching for when X windows initiated, quick do a couple
Ctr;Alt-F1 for command line, then
sudo apt-get remove compiz
sudo apt-get remove compiz-core
Ctrl-Alt-F7 to continue.

On install, check to see if it failed. It did. Boot in rescue mode
select root command line
sudo apt-get remove comp;iz
sudo apt-get remove compiz-core
exit
resume
then boots to Gnome desktop. After removal, then the install just normally boots to desktop O.K.

If you have any alternatives I could install compiz and try again. The laptop is dual boot so I can boot on Beta install, get a failure, then boot on Alpha 5 NOT UPDATED and look around logs, .xsession-errors, etc.

Thanks for your attention. Jerry

See also bug 277344. I sure could use a CD Live boot option to not use compiz.

Thanks for looking at this bug. Jerry

Confirming this bug report. There should be enough information for the developers to work this issue.

Changed the summary to reflect correct description; added WorkAround to description.

Thanks for helping to improve Intrepid_Ibex.

Release Candidate has been announced... https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IntrepidIbex/RCAnnouncement

Have they fixed compiz already?

 I think that announcement is premature.? The latest community bulletin follows.? I don't expect RC unitil 10/30.
Jerry

Message: 4
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:31:28 +0100
From: Colin Watson <email address hidden>
Subject: Surprises ...
To: <email address hidden>
Message-ID: <email address hidden>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

... we'd rather not have any. Release preparation is a painstaking
business! Please read this mail carefully.

Right now, this is our list of release-critical bugs (that *must* be
fixed or deferred before release):

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/intrepid/+bugs?field.milestone=1326

We're also paying a good deal of attention to the list that includes
targets of opportunity as well:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/intrepid/+bugs

As we come up towards release, we need to be especially careful about
managing these lists, and developers can help by making sure that they
contain all the relevant bugs, and *only* the relevant bugs. Here are
some general guidelines for release-relevant bug management:

  * If you have an important bug on your plate that should be fixed for
    8.10 final but that isn't on /ubuntu/intrepid/+bugs, then we need to
    know about it NOW. Nominate or target it for the intrepid release
    (depending on your privileges), and find a member of the
    ubuntu-release team on IRC to acknowledge it. Depending on the size
    of the package and the riskiness of the update, we may say no or
    suggest some kind of alternative, but we'd much rather know than be
    surprised.

  * If you have any kind of upload to do before 8.10 final, then get it
    into the upload queue *as soon as possible* (it will be held there
    for approval). Anything uploaded later than the end of this week has
    a substantially decreased chance of being accepted, as at the start
    of next week we will need to lock down the archive completely for
    final builds and testing, and there is little room for error.

    As far as main and restricted go, this is generally only appropriate
    for language packs and critical/high targeted bugs; contact the
    ubuntu-release team in case of doubt. For universe and multiverse,
    contact motu-release or the relevant flavour delegate (see
    https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2008-September/026306.html).
    Resist the temptation to bundle non-release-critical fixes with your
    upload; those increase both the risk of regressions and the risk
    that the release team will say no.

  * If the bug is on /ubuntu/intrepid/+bugs and isn't going to be fixed
    in the 8.10 series at all (neither in the main release, nor in an
    update) then mark the intrepid task "Won't Fix". If necessary,
    Launchpad will create a new task filed against the relevant package
    without a release when you do this.

  * If the bug is on /ubuntu/intrepid/+bugs and won't be fixed in the
    main 8.10 release, but is expected to be fixed in a post-release
    update, then set the 'intrepid-updates' milestone.

  * If the bug isn't going to be fixed for 8.10 but its presence is
    likely to cause trouble for a significant number of u...

No. I can confirm this bug still exists on today's build. See bug 288370.

Please see bugs marked duplicate of this one for additional info about hardware affected.

At least myself and one other that are experiencing this problem did NOT experience it with Compiz enabled in previous versions of Ubuntu.

Compiz is apparently enabled by default, so this is a showstopper for new users.

I can also confirm that this bug still exists in today's RC.

Michael, can you look into this please?

Confirmed on the same VGA as Aero Leviathan, (Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE)
 IBM thinkpad R31 is Intel Corp. 82830 CGC, as is Compaq referenced above if this helps.

philwyett on IRC requested that I attach my .xsession-errors.

Sorry, this one.

I can confirm that this is happening with a Dell Optiplex that I have with the Intrepid RC1 release. System boots up, I get the Login splash screen. Put my username and password in and then it shows the light tan screen, then goes black screen and everything in the system is locked (keyboard, HDD, etc) except the USB mouse that I use, I can move the cursor around but the system never gets the windows manager up and running.

 I will try the workarounds from above later to get to the logs and post them.

For me, having compiz enabled caused exactly the same behaviour. I suppose you can log in to a failsafe Gnome session and use Alt+F2 > metacity --replace in order to establish graphical sessions until the bug gets fixed...

For a number of people (like me) the failure occurs so soon login & Alt+F2 can't be issued.

The metacity --replace & is only temporary and must be repeated on each boot.

sudo alt-get remove compiz & compiz core fixes it permanently. The side effects are a slight increase in speed since the compiz code doesn't get executed, and less "eye candy" if that matters to you.

jerry

Thanks for your bugreport and sorry that this was not on the radar before.

I uploaded a new compiz that adds the i830MG and i845G video cards to the blacklist. The pci ids are:
8086:3577
8086:2562

please check with "lspci" if that matches your system if you have this problem.

The upload will only make it into intrepid-proposed/updates unfortunately. For early testing I put it into:
"deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/compiz/ubuntu intrepid main"

If your system is affected, please try to start compiz after the new packages got installed and verify that it refuses to start.

Thanks,
 michael

Here is a draft for the release notes:

== Desktop effects and Intel 830MG and 845G video cards ==

There is a bug in the intel video driver for the older intel 830 and 845 integrated video cards that are used on laptops like the IBM R30. Desktop effects with compiz will not work on those chips and freeze the system. Please install using the safe graphics mode (press F4 in the startup screen) on these systems and disable desktop effects via "System/Preferences/Appearance" and click on "Visual effects" and "None".

Forgive, but I am not sure if intrepid-proposed/updates will be in effect for people upgrading rather than fresh install. If the fix will not be in place, then the release notes should address upgraders as well.
(maybe "reboot to safe graphics mode...)

Can't test the fix at present as I don't have access to the affected system right now.

jbrsks [2008-10-28 12:39 -0000]:
> Forgive, but I am not sure if intrepid-proposed/updates will be in
> effect for people upgrading rather than fresh install.

People who upgrade will generally upgrade straight to
intrepid-updates. So we need to make sure to allow the compiz upload
to intrepid-proposed right after the release, and then test it
quickly, so that it can move to -updates.

IBM Thinkpad R31 lspci shows Intel 82830 CGC rev4

This is a Release Candidate install from CD daily build 20081024 which fails to load desktop & freezes unless compiz removed by booting in recovery mode, select root shell prompt apt-get remove compiz & core.

It was updated earlier today. I didn't see compiz mentioned.

With synaptic which has Pre-released updates (intrepid-proposed) checked installed compiz version 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4
Visual Effects normal, desktop disappeared immediately. Laptop frozen.

Rebooted, compiz still installed, fails to load desktop & freezes.

Removed compiz with rescue mode boot root shell prompt. Running O.K.

I can try a new version of compiz if someone would explain how to get it, preferably with an apt-get syntax.

Thanks for looking at this bug. Jerry

My machine is an HP Pavilion minitower, not a laptop. The model number is A210N. Not sure how this might relate to the release notes text, maybe just add '...and some older desktops' to it. (It is about... 5 years old, I guess. How time flies.)

The maintainer(?) for the video card driver should also be made aware of this, because it is a regression.

As an addition to Jerry's and Aero's posts:

My desktop machine's Compaq Evo D 510 SFF (a.k.a. D51S, mentioned earlier a couple of times in this thread, with "VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 01)") and the problem persists in Intrepid, all updates done. Compiz version: 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4. I do have intrepid-proposed enabled. I second Jerry's words:

"I can try a new version of compiz if someone would explain how to get it, preferably with an apt-get syntax."

However, I would like to add (or repeat) that this Compiz issue is not the only problem with the intel driver in my desktop machine, because in most cases, logging out or trying to change user (FUSA) results in a blank (black) screen, GDM sound heard but nothing to be seen (have to Ctrl+Alt+F1 out of the situation). See LP # 221119:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/221119/comments/23

This also happens with my laptop, the graphics card is Intel Integrated Graphics 945GM.

Lee

Documented at <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IntrepidReleaseNotes#Hangs%20with%20desktop%20effects%20on%20Intel%20830MG%20and%20845G%20video%20cards>.

I have an i830 in my older desktop. (8086:2562). Until Intrepid, I ran Compiz just fine. SInce Intrepid, it fails consistently.

I am not sure this is the same bug, but after login, I get a pause of about 20 seconds before the background image loads and then another 5 secs before the welcome sound comes. In the deamon.log, it seems to return the same "gnome.wm failed to return before timeout" error as others have been describing. Unlike what other people have been experiencing though, my system, usually, starts up after the 25-30 second delay, but my keyboard/mouse have frozen up a few times with a hard reset being the only remedy! Disableing Compiz-Fusion allows me to login and start up in 4-5 seconds.

Another thing I have experienced that might be related is that the window animations is not working at all. The rest of the Compiz effects are running just fine, but no animated windows.

The computer is a 6 months old Acer Aspire 5920G with a T7300 2.0 GHz, 2 GB RAM and a GeForce 8600 GS (256 mb) upgraded directly from Hardy

Accepted into intrepid-proposed, please test and give feedback here. Please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you in advance!

Some people may not know: it is know building. It will come available within a few hours.

(now building)

O.K. I did https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed
and it says there are 24902 packages not installed.
How do I pick the one Daniel H. is built?
Thanks, Jerry

Hi Jerry,

jerrylamos [2008-10-31 18:27 -0000]:
> and it says there are 24902 packages not installed.

No, that's definitively wrong. -proposed should have in the order of
10 packages.

What is your /etc/apt/sources.list?

In my case, it says: "Not Installed Packages (24699)".
PFA my sources.list.

Here's the list, for someone that understands it.
Thanks, Jerry

Here's the window from apt. I've never used this menu.
Thanks, Jerry

Hey, in order to get sonmething "in the order of ten packages" instead of 24902 or 24699, maybe we should have replaced the asterisk with something?? (see below)

---

Package: *
Pin: release a=intrepid-updates
Pin-Priority: 900

Package: *
Pin: release a=intrepid-proposed
Pin-Priority: 400

Jerry,

oh, you are using aptitude. Indeed that's the number of packages which are available in the *entire* Ubuntu distribution which you don't have installed. You should just do a standard upgrade. If you want to cherrypick the compiz packages without testing the other updates in -proposed, upgrade the following packages:

  compiz compiz-core compiz-wrapper compiz-gnome, compiz-plugins libdecoration0

To my previous question: I mean, is the asterisk supposed to be a wildcard? Well, I suppose Martin just ansered this question, indirectly, by telling us the large numbers signify the number of unistalled packages available in the entire distro. So it is as it should be.

Would you please specify the syntax for upgrading just the mentioned *proposed* packages (see below)? Thanks!

compiz compiz-core compiz-wrapper compiz-gnome, compiz-plugins libdecoration0

oh, you were actually using apt pinning? I think that's about ten
times more complicated as it needs to be. :-)

Pajari Räsänen [2008-10-31 20:47 -0000]:
> Would you please specify the syntax for upgrading just the mentioned
> *proposed* packages (see below)? Thanks!

sudo apt-get install compiz compiz-core compiz-wrapper compiz-gnome, compiz-plugins

You can replace "apt-get" with "aptitude" if you prefer.

sudo apt-get install compiz compiz-core compiz-wrapper compiz-gnome compiz-plugins

OK, thanks, I already did that — did not think it was just the usual procedure... :)
Oh, had to tidy up the syntax a little bit — the comma! ;)

My synaptic repositories are already set up for Pre-released updates (intrepid proposed) so I just cranked up a terminal and did
sudo apt-get install compiz
and as far as I can tell it got all those packages and a few more. I copied the screen messages if anyone is interested.
Synaptic says the compiz is now 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4

I don't know how to tell if this is the latest build mentioned previously. Let me give it a whirl.

Thanks, Jerry

Pajari Räsänen [2008-10-31 21:10 -0000]:
> OK, thanks, I already did that — did not think it was just the usual
> procedure... :)

The "usual procedure" is to use the GUI (update-manager).

But nothing wrong with people loving the command line. :-)

I don't love the command line but after thrashing around this bug for two months it's simpler than cranking up Synaptic & doing a search, flipping thru windows, selecting this that and the other. Lot of mouse clicks & keystrokes.

Anyway I presume the new build isn't in the repositories yet because selecting Visual Effects Normal it said "searching for available drivers" then the screen went to hash and the keyboard died. Rebooting gave orange screen freeze.

Back up and running by using rescue mode & root shell prompt to remove compiz, see workaround at the top of the Bug report. Can't do that with the GUI because it is the GUI that won't start. Compiz is on by default.

I'll try again tomorrow.

Thanks everyone, Jerry

Installing Compiz again as well as the other proposed packages, with intrepid-proposed checked, did not change the situation: enabling "Normal" desktop effects (System > Preferences > Appearance) still causes the X session to freeze (keyboard stops responding, windows and panels disappear, and the only way out is to hard-reboot) after "searching for available drivers" for a moment. So it is pretty much the same as in Jerry's case, except that the screen does not "go to hash" (if I understood this correctly — in my non-native speaker's vocabulary, hash is the "#" sign...), but all I can see is the wallpaper and mouse pointer (which I can still move). Sorry to say.

Booted with compiz removed, the only way I could boot.
Updated & reloaded Synaptic today Nov 1.
Compiz 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4.1 now shown, the .1 indicating an update.
Installed compiz with Synaptic.
Visual Effects Normal
"searching for available drivers"
"Desktop effects could not be enabled"
Hooray. The computer ran!
Rebooted and it did!

So the fix to "blacklist" this Intel graphics worked so compiz won't be run.

Important point - on Ubuntu Forum Installation & Upgrades there are many! people getting black or tan or orange screens on boot, or other very similar problems, with a number of different computers and makes of graphics chips. I've gotten thanks for posting my workaround to remove compiz before the desktop is activated. How do the developers know how many of those to "blacklist"?

Thanks much for the fix!

Jerry

Sorry for my ignorance, but I just don't understand why I have 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4 as an installed version and Synaptic shows it also as the latest version — instead of the proposed 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4.1.

Thanks for keeping me up to date about this, and for the fix, even though I could not figure out how to get it.

This time, sorry for my impatience! Probably the local servers (in Finland) did not have the proposed fix available until a moment ago. Now I have Compiz 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4.1 and the behaviour is just as Jerry described three hours ago.

Thanks!

I still hope the next fix makes it possible to enable the effects, because I really appreciate true terminal transparency (it comes handy in some situations for us "CLI lovers").

This also affects Intel 945GM chipsets (something which the caveat in the release notes didn't make clear).

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27a2] (rev 03)

Here are some more:
"8.10 Intrepid hangs at startup
It boots up, then after the login screen, there is just a black screen with a mouse pointer in the middle and nothing happens.

Compaq Evo 510 sff 2.0 GHz processor 1 GB RAM

Dell Dimension 2400 2.4 GHz 768 MB RAM"

I'll ask what the video hardware is.

Jerry

ubuntu developer team, are you going to release a new version of ubuntu fixing this problem?

I'm seeing the same thing, orange or black depending on what variation I try.

Dell Dimension 2350 1.7 GHz (i think) 1 GB RAM

I'll try a few of the ideas listed here tomorrow and see what works. I'm
a complete beginner, so I've broken my desktop. I'm typing this on
a laptop. GD

@manzur: Myself, I'm just another non-technical end user, but I'm sure the developers are doing their best to fix this driver-related problem. In the meanwhile, you might want to remove visual effects from your setup, with the following command:

sudo apt-get remove compiz compiz-core

In order to do this, you might e.g. want to choose "Failsafe terminal" from the login options.

@glennDecker: Don't blame yourself, I don't think it's you who has "broken your desktop". You might try removing compiz and compiz-core, too.

Another way to get into a terminal in order to pass the command is to boot into "Recovery mode" from the Grub bootloader screen. If you don't see the screen by default, you should hit "Esc" before the Ubuntu Usplash screen appears. Having chosen "Recovery mode", you should choose the root terminal option when the options screen comes up. After passing the above command, you can type "reboot".

manzur [2008-11-02 2:37 -0000]:
> ubuntu developer team, are you going to release a new version of ubuntu
> fixing this problem?

We are testing the very fix right now in intrepid-proposed, and need
some more concrete feedback about it. Once it's confirmed working,
we'll release it to intrepid-updates.

Confirmed for 845 chipsets. I don't know what that searching for drivers thing is either, but on the end it shows 'Desktop effects could not be enabled'.
This is the output of compiz

compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Blacklisted PCIID '8086:2562' found
aborting and using fallback: /usr/bin/metacity

Martin Pitt, I know you will do it, but could you please release a new cd of ubuntu fixing this problem? because this make the things easy for me!

The same with my 845g card.I tried the safe graphic mode installation ,but resolution rate was only 800*600,and could not bet changed.

For what it's worth, removing compiz and compiz-core allowed the window
manager to continue. I now have a desktop machine again. thanks. GD

Dell Dimension 2350 1.7 GHz (i think) 1 GB RAM

fix from proposed confirmed working on my system (Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE) reverting to metacity.

The proposed fix works on my system (845G) as well.

From all I've read the issue seems to be with the intel driver, which is now the default in Intrepid, so... is there any way of installing the older i810 driver in Intrepid?

BillyD let me tell you something, the problem is not in the intel driver, the problem is in compiz, i love the actual intel driver because it has fix a lot of things and bugs i had before!

controllers for Dell & Compaq in post above:

Dell Dimension 2400 2.4 GHz 768 MB RAM
VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 01)

Compaq Evo 510 sff 2.0 GHz processor 1 GB RAM
Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller

I have managed to get Intrepid up by removing compiz/compiz-core (I am posting this with it right now). It works for now, thanks

My take, since 8.04 compiz works and 8.10 compiz doesn't, it's compiz's fault.

Jerry

Well ok, maybe I should phrase it differently:
The problem seems to be that compiz doesn't work with the intel driver on systems with the 830 or 845 cards, causing the system to freeze and go to a black screen, etc.

(From the release notes and Michael Vogt's post above on 2008-10-28:
"There is a bug in the Intel video driver for the older intel 830 and 845 integrated video cards that are used on laptops like the IBM R30. Desktop effects with compiz will not work on those chips and will freeze the system. For new installations, please install using the safe graphics mode (press F4 in the startup screen) on these systems and disable desktop effects via System -> Preferences -> Appearance, clicking on "Visual effects" and choosing "None".")

And the solution being proposed here (if I understand correctly) is to disable or remove compiz, using metacity instead. My question is, for those who want to use compiz on Intrepid and have the affected cards, is it possible to use the i810 driver in Intrepid, and if so how?

Copied intrepid-proposed version to jaunty.

Thanks for testing the update, marking as verified.

ATM there is no official i810 package for intrepid. I hope that we'll get an actual fixed driver into intrepid-updates soon. Until then you need to live without desktop effects, or go back to 8.04 LTS.

i think this problemn is not due to to intel driver, maybe it is because of compiz

i think this problem is not due to to intel driver, maybe it is because of compiz

 The removal of compiz, compiz-core worked on my
Dell 2350 1.7 GHz, 1 GB RAM

fyi, lspci reports

VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE
Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 03)

GD

I think this bug is due to the intel driver or xserver in Intrepid. I built and ran the latest git version of compiz in Hardy on my computer with an Intel 82845G/GL onboard video card. It worked fine with the drivers and xserver in Hardy. That version of compiz built in Intrepid freezes gnome in Intrepid. The computer is actually not locked up as I can ssh into from another computer on the network, but gdm will not restart without a reboot.

Martin, could you enlighten us as to what changed in the driver between Hardy and Intrepid? Is it a different driver, or a free vs. proprietary issue?

Everyone else, please read the entire report before commenting and avoid posting any further redundant information.

Aero Leviathan [2008-11-04 4:39 -0000]:
> Martin, could you enlighten us as to what changed in the driver between
> Hardy and Intrepid? Is it a different driver, or a free vs. proprietary
> issue?

It is the same driver, but a newer version. Also, X.org itself changed
quite a bit. As to what change caused this regression, I have no idea
I'm afraid.

Just to clarify, this stable release update is to *disable* compiz on
those affected devices. It is a safe quickfix to unbreak machines,
until we know what the actual driver problem is.

martin pitt maybe it is not a problem in the driver but in compiz, lets wait until ubuntu developer team fix this problem in compiz, because i really miss compiz effects! :)))))

I think it's a problem in Compiz. This because the composite manager for Enlightment (e17) works.
Shading of windows and transparent windows works in E17. Therfore it can't be a driver problem.

I have installed Ubuntu with E17 as a extra window-manager.

Here a screenshot of E17 on my system

On Tue, 2008-11-04 at 21:36 +0000, riny wrote:
> I think it's a problem in Compiz. This because the composite manager for Enlightment (e17) works.
> Shading of windows and transparent windows works in E17. Therfore it can't be a driver problem.
>

The problem here isn't with the composite manager component of Compiz.
Composite requires practically no driver support at all; the fact that
other composite managers work with your card isn't really relevant. No
other composite manager (with the possible exception of KDE4's kwin)
exercises these driver paths - offscreen rendering +
GL_EXT_texture_to_pixmap + (large texture) OpenGL.

The fact that compiz works everywhere else and only fails on this fairly
narrow band of fairly old graphics cards is heavily indicative of a
driver problem.

How many other paths are only used by Compiz? If paths are only used by Compiz, then are all intended customer machines checked as a matter of course by the only user?

Thanks, Jerry

Can confirm similar behavior in my HP Pavillion dv6000 _Nvidia_ GeForce 6xxx (2 year old machine) using nvidia_glx_177. compiz just hangs everything after upgrading to 8.10. Note that in 8.04 compiz had issues with the nvidia driver as well on my machine (memory leaks), but worked fine with the xgl_server.
If I can suggest changing the title of the bug as I noticed at least one other non intel driver report.
Also, I hope the powers at be don't really think this affects only "a fairly narrow band of fairly old graphics cards". One of my hopes from 8.10 was actually the ability to finally use both the nvidia graphics driver and compiz (if I read nvidia's forums correctly, 177 has a fix for the compiz memory leak issues).

Thanks,
Guy

Mine is a Dell C400 with the Intel Corporation 82830 embedded video.

Made the mistake of upgrading from Kubuntu 8.04 to Kubuntu 8.10

Same thing KDE hangs at start up.

Workaround I have is to add Driver "Vesa" into xorg.conf file and works.

Somebody decided to deprecate "i810" driver and replace with the new "intel" driver as mentioned

"https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Drivers#-intel%20video%20driver "

...apparently we're on our own.

Or is there someone out there working on this?

I'm from India, using D845GVSR motherboard with 845G onboard graphic card.
Was using Ubuntu 8.04.1 with all Effects with "i810" drivers.
But in Ubuntu 8.10, same as earlier said it hangs on login screen.
It can start be wid "vesa" driver but movie plays are very slow.
With "Intel" driver, movies plays fine but no effects.
With "i810" driver, it shows show kinda error.. and asks to revert to generic settings.

So finally switched back to 8.04.1.
Choosed "i810" drivers. Everything working fine now. with all effects.

@guy: You're the first person to comment on this bug without one of the two mentioned chipsets. The other nvidia user on this bug was seeing an entirely different, much less severe bug in compiz causing a delay during login. You probably want to file a different bug, with the output of lspci, Xorg.0.log, "compiz --replace", etc.

@k35below: The "somebody" who decided to deprecate the i810 driver was upstream: Xorg & Intel. "Driver i810" has been a synonym for "Driver intel" for quite some time on other distributions.

Copied to intrepid-updates.

not a yelp bug.

I am affected by this bug. My video card is

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 01)

Removing compiz solved the problem but now gnome is very slow (windows take some time to appear and you can see them being slowly drawn in the screen). Everything was fine in hardy. Is this a consequence of removing compiz or is it an unrelated issue?

Tantor, i have the same problem!

Once compiz is removed on this IBM Thinkpad R31, Intrepid runs comfortably well. I've had Ubuntu's on this machine starting with Dapper. Without measurements, Intrepid seems to be more responsive than any previous Ubuntu. BBC & You Tube videos are nicely usable - yes, a bit jerky, but what would you expect from a 1 gHz 32 bit Intel Celeron with 512 mb.

From my view Intrepid has given this Thinkpad a new lease on life, after battling with the bug since 8/19. I wouldn't say the screen response is sluggish.

Jerry

Okay, I think I'm reading that the 845G is blacklisted from compiz, thus dodging the bug(s) causing the hang. The status here, however, is "Fix Released." Is that right? Seems there is still an actual bug out there to be hunted.

it is not fixed for me, it is still a problem

If the bug is too difficult to fix or affects "very few" people, I would appreciate some hint on what's the component of 8.10 that I should "downgrade" to its 8.04 version. Thanks.

i got this:

manzur@manzur-desktop:~$ compiz
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Blacklisted PCIID '8086:2562' found
aborting and using fallback: /usr/bin/metacity

The "fix" to compiz doesn't "work" for me. X still hangs. It's not
checking for the PCIID of my 945GM chip.

The PCIID of it is: 8086:27a6

This said, the blacklist "fix" is no real fix at all.

check this screen shot

and when i want to activate compiz with compiz fusion icon, my system freezes. so the "fix" is no real fix at all.

@manzur:

What we see in your screenshot is precisely what SHOULD happen, since the fix (or "fix") just prevents using the visual effects. Disabling Compiz visual effects enables you to use the desktop without Compiz, that's all. This has already been explained above. Quoting Martin Pitt:

"I hope that we'll get an actual fixed driver into intrepid-updates soon. Until then you need to live without desktop effects, or go back to 8.04 LTS."

So I think we shall have to be patient and try to live without the eye candy for a while if we want to stick with Intrepid. That is, until the actual driver bug gets fixed. In my opinion, it's worthwhile to stick with it.

I see a lot of negative attention being thrown in the direction of the
developers. None of us want our problem to be swept under the rug but
before we get too pushy and make subtle and sly comments being
disrespectful to the devs, let us ask ourselves one question:

How much did I pay for Ubuntu?

I see a lot of negative attention being thrown in the direction of the developers. None of us want our problem to be swept under the rug but before we get too pushy and make subtle and sly comments being disrespectful to the devs, let us ask ourselves one question:

How much did I pay for Ubuntu?

After reading over my last post I feel it necessary to point out, I was
being serious. I am grateful for the work done and service offered me
for free. That wasn't any kind of subtlety within subtlety crud.

And back on topic... is there a way to revert back to the driver used in
the 8.04 LTS? Possibly instead of recognizing the driver and
blacklisting, instead recognize the driver and revert?

thanks Pajari Räsänen, and Drate Otin i dont think with all due respect it is a good idea to revert back to the driver used in the 8.04 LTS becoaus for me it has fixed a lot of bugs i had, now i can change my screen resolution with no bug, and so many things, so lets wait until the bug is fix...

Makes sense, and now that I am thinking clearly I realize that certain
applications have been displaying better for myself as well. I wasn't
sure if it was the driver, the removal of compiz, or an update in the
app itself. I just wondered if it was practical.

I'm the originator of this bug -
1. I'm not a developer, it appears to be a tough bug compiz using a code path not likely used by any other code plus significant changes in X. As a user I spent countless hours trying to find out how to get running - always keeping a usable install in dual boot, and even doing things like installing xfce on Ubuntu and wondering why it worked - doesn't use compiz, of course!. The other users of the Ubuntu forums finally tipped me onto a relatively simple workaround. Thank you Ubuntu for a great forum setup!
2. Compiz is about nice visual effects using fancy graphics which may be pretty to some but do in fact insert main line code. I've a main frame performance background so I do like to minimize "extra" code which does not add function. Intrepid with compiz removed makes this 1 gHz Celeron laptop nicely usable, even You Tube & BBC videos. If you have lots of gHz and fancy video hardware a bit more overhead wouldn't be seen. I imagine that's what the developers use.
3. What with developing code and fixing other bugs this one fell "under the radar" and wasn't dealt with in the release code. On one hand Ubuntu wants to widen the base on the other they didn't realize how many in the base are running Intel graphics hardware. (Intel - have you heard of that company?) Ubuntu puts out Alpha's and Beta's to get early exposure there were such a potful of bugs to deal with they didn't focus on this one.
3, I'm using early early Jaunty here with compiz removed. It's running O.K. - which means they haven't tweaked Jaunty enough, here comes Alpha 1 soon, hang onto your hat.
Jerry

Thomas Sibley [2008-11-08 20:28 -0000]:
> The "fix" to compiz doesn't "work" for me. X still hangs. It's not
> checking for the PCIID of my 945GM chip.
>
> The PCIID of it is: 8086:27a6

OK, thank you. Can you please file a new bug about this, since this
one is already closed? Please subscribe ubuntu-sru.

> This said, the blacklist "fix" is no real fix at all.

No, as said earlier it's a workaround.

Martin Pitt wrote:
> OK, thank you. Can you please file a new bug about this, since this
> one is already closed? Please subscribe ubuntu-sru.

Done.

hi i'm From mexico..

I have this problem too, i have a Intel 82845G integrated video card, im using ubuntu since 5.10 version, on Hardy, Desktop effects was working good, but updating to Intrepid i have the same problem.

There is a way to fix this?

Why this chipset is not supported?, on Debian i have much problems too.

I find it a tad annoying that although this bug is widely confirmed the importance is still marked as undecided and it has not been assigned to anyone to repair. I am referring to the bug in the intel drivers, which is still marked as confirmed but not fixed. A workaround was been implemented in compiz, and then this was forgotten. Seems to be the theme with Intrepid. Display issues abound. Yet nothing is done.

glennric, i completely agree with you.

Compiz & Intel setup work fine on Hardy.

Compiz changed. No longer works on many pc's as indicated in the Bug.

It's Compiz's fault, since Compiz changed, and it's Compiz's responsibility to fix it. Example use a codepath that works.

Jerry

jerrylamos, why do you keep insisting that this is a compiz issue when all evidence points to the intel driver. It is silly to start dropping words like "codepath" that you don't understand to argue your point. It is not that compiz uses "codepaths" that don't work, it is that compiz uses driver paths that are not working properly. The driver paths are the problem.

It is the responsibility of the driver to make the paths to the hardware properly available. The fact that these paths are not working is a problem in the driver not compiz. There are other software applications that use these paths, although not very many at this point. For example the Avant Window Navigator developers are undergoing a rewrite to see if they can start using them. These paths make it possible to achieve accelerated graphics without the overhead of cpu use by accessing the video cards hardware directly.

Now enough with the talk about compiz being at fault.

I also have this problem. I'm using an integrated Intel chipset:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 01)

i got two more things two say:
1. jerrylamos, the intel driver were not working good in hardy, because i could not change my screen resolution in a CRT monitor, i should say that this issue about changing screen resolution has being fixed in intrepid but the only problem i have now, it is this: https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/294482

2. i was trying fedora (i don't know if it is working with "xorg" can any one tell me?, because i have to say it freezes at login screen.

i'm waiting for your answer... :)

First of all, thanks for the great work everyone, for getting this issue to a workable state. It really is a beautiful thing in the open source world when bug reporting and developer insight work together to bring about betterment for all.

This weekend, I tried to install 8.10 on my brother-in-law's computer, and we ran into this issue. This page helped me through the problem, and so I'm very grateful. My question is, I'd like to keep an eye on the i845/compiz issue, so when things are sorted out, and Visual Effects are working again, we can reinstall compiz on his system and enjoy the eye-candy. Is this where I should be watching for updates on the issue, or is there another bug report I should be following?

Thanks in advance.

So in regards to the question as to where the bug originates:
I just installed Arch to the affected system, and when installing, could only get X running with i810 driver. xf86-video-intel wouldn't do it. Didn't install compiz or any 3D effects at all. My interpretation is that this implies that somehow it is a bug in the changes to X and the driver, though it makes mysterious the reason why disabling compiz is a successful workaround.
I am very confused...

It sounds like you may be experiencing a different issue. On Ubuntu 8.10, at least, the intel driver works fine for all chipsets EXCEPT the three mentioned above. On those three, once compiz is disabled, the intel driver works fine again.

Work appears to be ongoing regarding finding a fix for running compiz on these specific problematic cards.

canonical, please! fix this issue as fast as possible...
God bless you!

jerrylamos posted:

"On install, check to see if it failed. It did. Boot in rescue mode
select root command line
sudo apt-get remove comp;iz
sudo apt-get remove compiz-core "

This fixed the problem for me. Thanks Jerry and all for finding a solution to the gnome hang upon login problem!

Charlie

To those still commenting on this bug, please note that it's marked 'Fix Released'. No one is tracking this bug report any longer, so any comments you make here will not be read. Please follow Martin Pitt's directions in comment #114 and file a new bug.

One of the problems with this bug report is that its title describes a generic symptom, that can result from a wide array of different completely unrelated bugs. So everyone thinks they have "this same bug" when really they just have a similar symptom. This is why we always ask people to file bugs separately, and not "me too" onto another bug, since you may not have the same bug, and when it gets fixed your issue will not get investigated.

/me has just filed bug #309849 for the Intel 82845G/GL integrated video chipset.

please follow this bug report https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/309860

Bryce: Look a little closer. The bug is marked as 'Fix Released' for Compiz, but not for xf86-video-intel. That is where the real bug is. That has finally been assigned at least. The compiz fixes were merely workarounds. It seems pretty said to me that a bug would be closed while even some part of it is marked confirmed and not fixed. If that is the case this bug tracker concept has failed and launchpad needs to rethink how it is set up.

Perhaps the title is a bit vague, and "seemingly" indicative of a variety of problems, but that is why there is a more detailed response. Also that is the point of allowing others to comment on the bug, and how it "seems" to affect them also.

Removing Jaunty target for this bug.

We already have blacklisting for the 830 and 845 chips, so there is nothing more for us to do at the distro level.

As these pre-855 chips are obsolete, upstream does not prioritize support for them, thus it is not expected that the root issue will be fixed by upstream. The level of effort required for fixing 8xx issues is greater than can be done at the distro level (such time is better invested in the more commonly used 9xx chips).

However, I'm not going to wontfix the entire bug, in case community members wish to work on the bug. If a community developer comes up with a good patch for the problem, I'd be open to including it for Ubuntu (particularly if the patch is also accepted upstream.) But even if this happens, it's too late for inclusion in Jaunty.

I finally figured out how to get compiz working on a computer with an intel 845 chip that is running intrepid.

Make the device section of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file read as follows:
Section "Device"
 Identifier "Configured Video Device"
 Driver "intel"
 Option "AccelMethod" "XAA"
EndSection

You will also have to remark out the line in the file /usr/bin/compiz that reads:
T="$T 8086:3577 8086:2562" # Intel 830MG, 845G (LP: #259385)

@glennric: great. But is the desktop still usable (in terms of speed)?

Daniël H: I can not see a difference in speed from running compiz with the modified xorg.conf now, and when I was running compiz in Hardy on that computer. Of course it does slow the desktop down a little from when compiz is not being run. From what I have read the option that is set in the modified xorg.conf was the default before and did not need to be set manually. I think that what caused the problem to begin with is a change in the xserver that caused it to not set the correct default options for these cards.

Beautiful work Glennric!

I'd given up hope for a fix after the recent Jaunty discussion. Your
solution works beautifully -- compiz runs perhaps more smoothly / quickly
than before, to answer Daniël's question. (But it's been four months since
compiz ran on this machine so I can't be sure.)

The obvious question perhaps:
Given that the fix is so simple -- a single line in xorg.conf -- what are
the odds of reinstating it for Jaunty?

--
John E.

On Sun, Mar 29, 2009 at 9:49 PM, glennric <email address hidden> wrote:

> I finally figured out how to get compiz working on a computer with an
> intel 845 chip that is running intrepid.
>
> Make the device section of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file read as follows:
> Section "Device"
> Identifier "Configured Video Device"
> Driver "intel"
> Option "AccelMethod" "XAA"
> EndSection
>
> You will also have to remark out the line in the file /usr/bin/compiz that
> reads:
> T="$T 8086:3577 8086:2562" # Intel 830MG, 845G (LP: #259385)
>

Hi together,

since the thread started with an Thinkpad R31 with i830M graphics chipset and I am fiddeling arround with this issue for a long time and found only ONE stable solution. So I just like to add my xorg.conf for this older chipset running on Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex / 8.10:

* using XAA for acceleration method
* enabled DRI
* running with metacity compositing manager

For Jaunty 9.04 - as long for the beta 1 - I can say, that only disabling DRI in the xorg.conf prevent's the machine from freezing. Dispite of this fact, it is possible to use the metacity compositing manager.

Greets Axel

Very good job! Finally I can run compiz again. I do notice some performance
difference, but my PC isn't a great workhorse so I think it's ok. Anyway
thanks for the good work and let's see if for Jaunty there's no need to
modify files manually.

glennric you wrote ...."You will also have to remark out the line in the file /usr/bin/compiz that reads:
T="$T 8086:3577 8086:2562" # Intel 830MG, 845G (LP: #259385)"

What do you mean by this, what does this do?

This bug was fixed by adding this line in /usr/bin/compiz:
T="$T 8086:3577 8086:2562" # Intel 830MG, 845G (LP: #259385)"

This tells to not allow compiz to run on intel 845 and 830 chipsets.
(use metacity instead I thinks).
Like writeen in the file, read http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Hardware/Blacklist for more infos.

I believe glenric is a better way to fix this bug.
But as this bug is closed, I open a new one to suggest to use the glenric's workaround:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/355441

Can you guys please test this on karmic with the xorg-edgers PPA installed? In theory the new intel stack should work better on these old cards, because upstream has fixed a slew of 8xx issues.

Bryce,

I'm not sure what you want tested. I looked at the notes preceding yours and they mentioned a bunch of different things to try.

Perhaps you mean the (Bleeding-Edge) in ubuntuforums Jaunty Intel Performance Guide?

Here's where I am. Everything's running karmic updated as of today, however there haven't been many updates the last few days.

i845 on this IBM ThinkCentre A30 tower 2 gHz Celeron 1 gb memory with karmic will run:

Driver "Intel"
Option "AccelMethod" "uxa"
Option "Tiling" "false" # tiling scrambles up GlxGears display

it runs GtkPerf of 38 to 41. Flash video jerky.

With
Driver "vesa"

it runs GtkPerf of 28 to 29. Flash video jerky.

(!). Go figure. Obviously I run with "vesa" on the i845, except for testing purposes.

I'm into applications, firefox, flash video internet news, openoffice write & calc, internet mail, digital picture manipulation, ... so I consider Compiz a hindrance because it steals CPU cycles for fancy desktop effects. Hence I turn it off even on the pc's where it will work.

i830 on IBM Thinkpad R31 1.0 gHz Celeron karmic

Driver "vesa" gets flickering black screen. Can't use "vesa".

With default driver 2.7.0 which says it is for i830M etc. in Xorg.0.log I assume it's running "uxa".

GtkPerf is about 35. Flash video jerky.

On Thinkpad T40 ati video GtkPerf is about 13. That's a 1.5 gHz Pentium, karmic. Flash video good.
On Compaq Presario ati video 3.3 gHz GtkPerf gets 10 or a little less. Flash video nice.

Conclusion the i845 Celeron 2.0 gHz is relatively slower which was my opinion even on XP.

Jaunty and Karmic have not been usable on the i830 because of "font smear", see Bugzilla bug 21415. Intrepid runs fine, granted I don't do Compiz.

They claim to have a fix in process but I don't know how to test it, or whether Ubuntu will pick up the fix. Do you have any clue?

Let me have a go at karmic with (Bleeding-Edge) suggestions on the i830. It's a bit of a slog to do much with the fonts smearing all the time making it hard to read the screen. i845 should be doable if I can understand & follow the myriad steps.

Thanks, Jerry

Edgers on i839 put in driver Intel with 1.6.1.901 version 2.7.99

Gtkperf slowed way down from 35 to 65. Oops, wrong way.

Tried downgrading to get back to previous level. Didn't work, still 2.7.99 lousy performance.

So I'm putting Alpha 1 Alternate CD back on it, hope to get back to where it was before edgers.

Jerry

Bryce Harrington : compiz still freeze the computer on karmic alpha 2 with all updates from xorg-edgers ppa (i915 and drm modules restarted, X stopped and restarted)

I tested this on that hardware :
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device [8086:2562] (rev 01)

My Compiz is now working flawlessly again since yesterday's Compiz-Core Upgrade to V1.0.8.2-0ubuntu8.1

ChipSet:
Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 03)

Kernel:
Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope - Kernel 2.6.30-020630-generic

Xorg & Intel Driver Version:
(II) Module intel: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
 compiled for 1.6.0, module version = 2.7.1
 Module class: X.Org Video Driver
 ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 5.0

Note: I run compiz using "fusion-icon" and not from the Ubuntu default "Appearance Settings => Visual Effects"

Because the upstream report for this focuses on i845, I'm limiting the scope of this bug report to i845 as well. Freezes with i830 and other cards should be reported separately.

Fwiw, the way to troubleshoot -intel freezes is to collect a batchbuffer dump. Directions on this are posted at:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/Freeze#How to Get a Batchbuffer Dump (-intel only)

This bug is similar if not the same as bug #406460 on this i845. There is a batchbuffer dump, Xorg.0.log, xsession-errors, dmesg in #406460.

Note karmic A4 fails same way. Workaround is to use Driver "vesa" in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

Jerry

Jerry - this is *NOT* the same bug as yours. Compiz is not in use here.

Besides,. I'm booting a live CD. I don't see any /etc/X11/xorg.conf to be
modified. Please explain if I'm missing something. My HP desktop is still
running 8.04LTS.

Guy

On Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 9:52 PM, jerrylamos <email address hidden> wrote:

> This bug is similar if not the same as bug #406460 on this i845. There
> is a batchbuffer dump, Xorg.0.log, xsession-errors, dmesg in #406460.
>
> Note karmic A4 fails same way. Workaround is to use Driver "vesa" in
> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
>
> Jerry
>
> --
> [i845] Intrepid Compiz freezes on login for i845
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/259385
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of a duplicate bug.
>

Guy,

Ubuntu developers simply blacklist compiz on 8.10 Intrepid and don't start it on the affected processors. Same thing on 9.04 jaunty and 9.10 karmic. Compiz won't even start on the later ubuntu's for video drivers that don't support compiz.

The CD's for various releases are easy to download if you want to try them. Go to http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/cdimage/releases/ and take your pick. I find the later releases have more features and run better with some exceptions on some machines. karmic 9.10 is in process of development so it has lots of problems still. Maybe that's why I run it. The karmic A2 alpha 2 version of karmic isn't bad, A3 and A4 need a bunch of workarounds to function. karmic doesn't release until October so most bugs should be out by then.

By the way, compiz is "eye candy" and has nothing to do with internet, word processors, spreadhseets, digital pictures, email, ... compiz adds some inline graphics effects so it does slow down performance a bit.

What I did when booting CD on the levels that had trouble with compiz was boot in recovery mode, i.e. at grub boot menu, do F6 then replace "quiet splash" with "single" which boots in recovery mode. Then on the recovery mode menu root prompt selection (might have to down arrow for that selection) do apt-get remove compiz compiz-core. Then exit and resume.

On /etc/X11/xorg.conf, what the developers decided was the "default" was good for them so they decided not to put in an /etc/X11/xorg.conf for the rest of us who are having problems. I copy one in from another ubuntu. If you want to experiment, you could from the CD recovery mode root prompt:
nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "Device"
        Identifier "Configured Video Device"
        Driver "vesa"
EndSection
Ctrl-o
Ctrl-o
Ctrl-x
exit
resume boot

vesa is a default basic driver which on my pc's runs on i845, ati radeon mobility 7500, ati radeon Xpress 200, but not on intel i830.

Jerry

Looks I'm either the first to try i845 user to try Karmic Alpha5, or everyone else is giving up seeing this bug properly repaired.

The good news is that booting with acpi=off allows the boot to complete the desktop. That's progress.

The bad news is that once you're at the desktop, performance is ghastly. top shows xorg sucking back 99% cpu during a screen update, which can take 5-10 just switching focus.

See tarfile for logs etc.

Karmic A5 CD on my i845 couldn't get by the first boot screen. Nothing on the keyboard worked. The CD did boot and run on my two ati pc's so the CD burn was O.K. A5 is the same as daily build 20090902.

Daily build CD 20090905 booted and died on the i845. I usually have to put in "nomodeset" on the linux line in the boot, and add a /etc/X11/xorg.conf specifying driver "vesa". On my pc's karmic "vesa" performance is slower than intrepid while the intel driver if it runs at all can be two or three times slower than "vesa". I can get the intel driver to run somewhat by specifying DRI 0 however that is pig slow, namely 95.6 seconds to do benchmark GtkPerf from Synaptic while vesa runs it in 32.2 seconds.

Compiz itself I haven't run since Intrepid had trouble with it, and jaunty had it blacklisted for intel drivers. I usually run full screen applications so "eye candy" compiz doesn't do anything except insert extra in-line code to video applications.

This bug is about i845, but do note i830 hangs with a frozen gdm desktop. I'll try acpi=off, thanks.

Jerry

Settings back compiz to "Confirmed" as bug 385398 un-blacklisted the card.

According to upstream DRI should actually be disabled on these devices? Is that the case in karmic?

I am running Karmic, fully updated, on a Dell Dimension 2300 with the indicated Intel card see below result of lspci -vvnn command:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device [8086:2562] (rev 01)

I have the following version of compiz installed (partial output of aptitude show):
Package: compiz
State: installed
Automatically installed: no
Version: 1:0.8.3+git20090917-0ubuntu2
and the following version of the intel driver package:
Package: xserver-xorg-video-intel
State: installed
Automatically installed: no
Version: 2:2.8.1-1ubuntu1

I can confirm that the intel driver no longer is blacklisted in compiz since the line has been commented out, see below:
# blacklist based on the pci ids
# See http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Hardware/Blacklist for details
#T=" 1002:5954 1002:5854 1002:5955" # ati rs480
#T="$T 1002:4153" # ATI Rv350
#T="$T 8086:2982 8086:2992 8086:29a2 8086:2a02 8086:2a12" # intel 965
#T="$T 8086:2a02 " # Intel GM965
#T="$T 8086:3577 8086:2562 " # Intel 830MG, 845G (LP: #259385)
BLACKLIST_PCIIDS="$T"

However, starting compiz, regardless whether I do this using System --> Preferences --> Appearance or by using the compiz-fusion icon results in a desktop without panels and a free of mouse and keyboard. Also adding the previously suggested option (AccelMethod XAA) to xorg.conf does not help and also results in the freeze.

This bug was fixed in the package compiz - 1:0.8.3+git20090917-0ubuntu3

---------------
compiz (1:0.8.3+git20090917-0ubuntu3) karmic; urgency=low

  * debian/compiz-manager:
    - reenable intel 845 blacklist (LP: #259385)
  * debian/patches/016_call_glxwaitx_before_drawing.patch:
    - Call glXWaitX before we start drawing to make sure X is done
      handling rendering calls. Suggested by Michel Dänzer to ensure
      we don't have any rendering glitches.
  * debian/patches/035_ignore_workspaces:
    - patch the right file to ensure users can't use workspaces instead
      of viewports (LP: #385446)

 -- Travis Watkins <email address hidden> Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:53:04 -0500

This morning's (at least for me morning) updates resulted in new versions of compiz and xserver-xorg-video-intel packages.
compiz: Version: 1:0.8.3+git20090917-0ubuntu4
xserver-xorg-video-intel: Version: 2:2.8.1-1ubuntu2

I can confirm that indeed the intel 845G driver has been blacklisted again:
# blacklist based on the pci ids
# See http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Hardware/Blacklist for details
#T=" 1002:5954 1002:5854 1002:5955" # ati rs480
#T="$T 1002:4153" # ATI Rv350
#T="$T 8086:2982 8086:2992 8086:29a2 8086:2a02 8086:2a12" # intel 965
#T="$T 8086:2a02 " # Intel GM965
T="$T 8086:3577 8086:2562 " # Intel 830MG, 845G (LP: #259385)
BLACKLIST_PCIIDS="$T"
unset T

However ... IMHO ... this does not mean the bug is fixed. It means that with this action the symptom is prevented.
I would very much like that a solution would come in which the intel driver can be removed from the blacklist and that compiz will be working again.

can canonical deliver a new version of 8.10 in which released fixes are?

The bug is fixed as far as compiz can fix it. The bug is still open against the intel driver however.

i845G and i830 run all ordinary applications, office, internet, internet video, ... without Compiz.

Blacklisting Compiz for them is just fine with me, since I usually check on install and set System Preferences Appearance Visual Effects None anyway.

Of course I'm interested in running applications full screen so I don't have any interest in desktop eye candy anyway. I do note from comments on the forum others are interested in desktop eye candy.

By the way, my i845G and i830 are running Mavierick Beta with i915.modeset=1, KMS active, O.K. not that I do anything with KMS or switching modes. See bug #541492.

Jerry

Apart from Compiz, there are known freezes on i845, which are being worked upstream, and will involve a fairly large change to the kernel. In theory, after that things will be much better for 8xx users, but this work is still in progress upstream. To simplify tracking here in Launchpad I'm duping together all the 845 freeze bugs to the master. Those of you interested in getting functionality on 845 I'd encourage to participate in the upstream testing. See the new master bug for details.