Comment 168 for bug 561802

I have been suffering this bug for some time as I've attempted to build my E6410 with Ubuntu & have spun up various iterations of recent releases (10.04, 10.10 beta & now 10.10 release). My most recent attempt to get this E6410 (i5 with Intel gfx) working has resulted in an interesting find & repeatable workaround.

Ubuntu 10.10/AMD64 desktop
Linux 2.6.36-1-generic #7-Ubuntu SMP Thu Oct 21 20:36:01 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Latest Intel drivers from: https://launchpad.net/~glasen/+archive/intel-driver

With external LCD monitor connected all comes up fine: images on internal panel & external monitor; I can switch between mirrored or extended display modes. If the external monitor is deselected/turned off in the System->Monitors applet all is OK (& through a cold reboot). If the external monitor is powered off the E6410 internal display functions as expected including through a reboot/cold start. Conclusion: everything is fine with external monitor connected whether it's powered or not.

External monitor disconnected - E6410 boots to blank screen. Conclusion: the internal panel is affected by the state of an input on the VGA port. VGA port has only three inputs - optional monitor ID bit on pin 11, serial data line on pin 12 and serial clock line on pin 15.

After checking 15pin hi-density D-SUB VGA port pinouts & tying the few inputs to gnd or 5V I prove that pin 12 (serial data in) pulled high to +5V allows my E6410 to boot with a functioning internal panel. So I've now got an Ubuntu laptop that needs a hardware dongle (15pin D-SUB connector with pin12/SDA pulled to pin 9/+5V).

Next step is to get a DisplayPort cable & check out if the standard connector DisplayPort socket works.

I hope this helps direct some debug to the right resolution.