Graphics trouble running Tumbleweed KDE 32-bit on ThinkPad X41

English Hardware
1

I installed Tumbleweed KDE 32-bit on a ThinkPad X41. The X41 had run openSUSE 13.2 nicely, but when 32-bit support ended I tried Mint, and now am testing Tumbleweed.

Mint 18.2 32-bit runs fine as dual-boot on a separate hard drive, but Mint announced their end of KDE, so now a test of TW.

Installation went OK using the DVD iso on a USB stick.
When booting the new installation, it got to a text screen with several lines ending with a login prompt. That screen flashed on and off a couple of times per second. I had to REISUB to get out. Booting with nomodeset gets the KDE desktop, but with very slow performance. kwin_x11 frequently uses over 50% CPU, and never less than 20% (in Mint it uses 1%).

I installed intel drivers from the repository as

Installation Successfully Finished
Packages
Installed Packages: 6
intel-gpu-tools, intel-vaapi-driver, libvdpau_va_gl1, libvulkan_intel, libXvMC1, xf86-video-intel
Statistics
Elapsed Time: 00:26
Total Installed Size: 72.74 MiB
Total Downloaded Size: 7.46 MiB
Details
Installation log

Then the system would boot to the login screen, but after entering password, the splash screen showed with the revolving circular trace, but the trace stopped and the system froze there. I ctrl+alt+bksp and get a reboot. Once a notice popped up about a segfault in kmserver(?) but I cannot reproduce that message.

When booted to KDE with nomodeset, the system info is:

howard@localhost:~> inxi -Fxz                                                                                                  
Resuming in non X mode: xdpyinfo not found. For package install advice run: inxi --recommends                                                  
System:    Host: localhost.localdomain Kernel: 4.13.11-1-pae i686 bits: 32 gcc: 7.2.1                                                          
           Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.11.2 (Qt 5.9.2) Distro: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20171109                                                          
Machine:   Device: laptop System: IBM product: 2526C3U v: ThinkPad X41 serial: N/A                                                             
           Mobo: IBM model: 2526C3U serial: N/A BIOS: IBM v: 74ET64WW (2.09 ) date: 12/14/2006                                                 
Battery    BAT0: charge: 40.6 Wh 94.9% condition: 42.8/44.0 Wh (97%) model: SANYO IBM-92P1003 status: N/A                                      
CPU:       Single core Intel Pentium M (-UP-) arch: Dothan rev.8 cache: 2048 KB                                                                
           flags: (nx pae sse sse2) bmips: 3192 speed/max: 1596/1600 MHz                                                                       
Graphics:  Card: Intel Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0                                                     
           Display Server: x11 (X.org 1.19.5 ) drivers: fbdev (unloaded: modesetting,vesa) tty size: 143x45
Audio:     Card Intel 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller
           driver: snd_intel8x0 ports: 1c00 18c0 bus-ID: 00:1e.2
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.13.11-1-pae
Network:   Card-1: Broadcom Limited NetXtreme BCM5751M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express
           driver: tg3 v: 3.137 bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection
           driver: ipw2200 v: 1.2.2kdmprq bus-ID: 04:02.0
           IF: wlp4s2 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 65.0GB (39.2% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: SAMSUNG_MZMPA064 size: 64.0GB
           ID-2: USB /dev/sdb model: Castella size: 1.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 19G used: 5.0G (29%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-2: /home size: 7.3G used: 151M (3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 4.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda4
Sensors:   None detected - is lm-sensors installed and configured?
Info:      Processes: 149 Uptime: 0:18 Memory: 494.1/2007.0MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: N/A
           Client: Shell (bash 4.4.121) inxi: 2.3.40 
howard@localhost:~>

and

howard@localhost:~> /sbin/lspci -nnk| egrep 'VGA|3D|Display' -A3
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller [8086:2592] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM ThinkPad X41 [1014:0582]
        Kernel modules: i915
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller [8086:2792] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM ThinkPad X41 [1014:0582]
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:2660] (rev 03)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
howard@localhost:~>

and (edited to show only i915 lines)

howard@localhost:~> lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
i915                 1429504  0
i2c_algo_bit           16384  1 i915
drm_kms_helper        151552  1 i915
drm                   303104  2 i915,drm_kms_helper
video                  40960  2 thinkpad_acpi,i915
button                 16384  1 i915
howard@localhost:~>

In Mint, the system info is:

howard@X41baseLM182KDE ~ $ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: X41baseLM182KDE Kernel: 4.10.0-38-generic i686 (32 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.8.8 (Qt 5.6.1) Distro: Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya
Machine:   System: IBM (portable) product: 2526C3U v: ThinkPad X41
           Mobo: IBM model: 2526C3U Bios: IBM v: 74ET64WW (2.09 ) date: 12/14/2006
CPU:       Single core Intel Pentium M (-UP-) cache: 2048 KB
           flags: (nx pae sse sse2) bmips: 3192 speed: 1600 MHz (max)
Graphics:  Card: Intel Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1024x768@50.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 915GM x86/MMX/SSE2 GLX Version: 1.4 Mesa 17.0.7 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller
           driver: snd_intel8x0 ports: 1c00 18c0 bus-ID: 00:1e.2
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.10.0-38-generic
Network:   Card-1: Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5751M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express driver: tg3 v: 3.137 bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection
           driver: ipw2200 v: 1.2.2kmprq bus-ID: 04:02.0
           IF: wlp4s2 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 125.0GB (10.6% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: SAMSUNG_MZMPA064 size: 64.0GB
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: HTS541060G9SA00 size: 60.0GB ID-3: USB /dev/sdc model: Castella size: 1.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 20G used: 8.7G (47%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb1
           ID-2: /home size: 4.5G used: 461M (11%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb2
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 3.54GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb4
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 51.0C mobo: 42.0C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 4760
Info:      Processes: 187 Uptime: 13 min Memory: 456.1/2004.2MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0                     
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35                                                                         
howard@X41baseLM182KDE ~ $

and

howard@X41baseLM182KDE ~ $ lsmod                                                                                             
Module                  Size  Used by                                                                                        
i915                 1187840  3
i2c_algo_bit           16384  1 i915
drm_kms_helper        139264  1 i915
drm                   303104  5 i915,drm_kms_helper
video                  40960  2 thinkpad_acpi,i915
howard@X41baseLM182KDE ~ $

One obvious difference is the 4.10 kernel and i915 used by 3 in Mint, and 4.13 kernel and i915 used by 0 in TW.

In TW, if I boot into IceWM, graphics are fine, similar to Mint KDE. Details are:

howard@X41oS-TW:~> /sbin/lspci -nnk| egrep 'VGA|3D|Display' -A3
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller [8086:2592] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM ThinkPad X41 [1014:0582]
        Kernel driver in use: i915
        Kernel modules: i915
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller [8086:2792] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM ThinkPad X41 [1014:0582]
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:2660] (rev 03)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
howard@X41oS-TW:~>

How can I get KDE plasma TW to use the right graphics driver?

2

Do you see any meaningful messages in the error logs?

/var/log/Xorg.0.log
~/.xsession-errors-:0

journalctl -b …

Hendrik

3

I’ve been making lots of changes suggested in search results, and now cannot boot. Will check logs when I’m back in.
Thanks,
Howard

4

I reinstalled and reproduced the events as before. Nothing in the logs you mention points me to the trouble, although I admit I am not sure what I am looking for. I’ll keep testing to see what else I can determine.
Thanks,
Howard

5

I tried to boot into KDE without nomodeset, and it locked at the splash screen shortly after logging in. I hit ctrl+shift+bksp twice quickly and that went to the log in window. I shutdown TW and booted Mint KDE on the other hard drive. There I retrieved the Xorg.0.log file from the TW drive. It is at http://susepaste.org/71993064. Can anyone see why this freezes when trying to use the i915 driver?
Thanks,
Howard

6

As another test, I installed kernel 4.13.0-16 (newest offered) in Mint KDE, and it boots correctly, using plasma 5.8.8.

Those are closer to TW’s kernel 4.13.11-1 and Plasma 5.11.2, but maybe the newer TW versions are the problem.

7

I don’t see anything strange in your Xorg.0.log.
I can not compare it with my old laptop of the same age, because it has a dedicated ATI graphics card, but with my desktop (64 bit, Core i5 2500) with onboard Intel graphics chip.
There I uninstalled in August the module “xf86-video-intel” because of some trouble and it works.
Might by worth a try …

Hendrik

8

Yes, it was worth a try, but did not help. I uninstalled xf86-video-intel, but then the system would not give a graphical login screen. There was a text login, so I did that, ran YaST, and reinstalled xf86-video-intel. Now I get the normal graphical login screen and can run IceWM, but trying to log into a plasma session fails with a text screen flashing on and off. I had to REISUB to get out. At the moment, even with nomodeset, I cannot start a KDE plasma desktop.
Thanks,
Howard

9

Lately I had a problem with flashing on the login screen with sddm.
For my ATI graphics I solved it by creating a file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-radeon.conf
with

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Radeon"
        Driver "radeon"
        Option "EXAVSync" "on"
        Option "TearFree" "on"
EndSection

I have no idea if Intel graphics suffers from something similar and how to solve that.

Hendrik

10

I created a file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf containing

Section "Device"
  Identifier  "Intel Graphics"
  Driver      "intel"
  Option "Accel" "false"
EndSection

That got through the login window and boot splash, but when the splash went away I had a black screen with only the mouse pointer.

Xorg.0.log contained a line

    18.001] (WW) intel(0): loading DRI2 whilst acceleration is disabled.

So, slightly different behavior, but not yet right. I’ll continue reading the intel man pages to see if some other option might help.
Regards,
Howard

11

I suggest “TearFree”.
Otherwise the Arch Wiki is a good source of information:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/intel_graphics#Xorg_configuration

Hendrik

12

I tried

Option "TearFree" "true"

but no difference.
I tried one suggestion from the Arch Wiki

/etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
options i915 enable_rc6=1 enable_fbc=1 semaphores=1

that rendered the system unbootable.
I’ll keep tinkering.
Thanks,
Howard

13

There is one difference between Mint and TW:
On Mint

howard@X41baseLM182KDE ~ $ systool -m i915 -av
Module = "i915"

  Attributes:
    coresize            = "1449984"
    initsize            = "0"
    initstate           = "live"
    refcnt              = "3"
    srcversion          = "74D7581D3BCC3434ABB5148"
    taint               = ""
    uevent              = <store method only>

and on Tumbleweed:

howard@X41int-oS-TWKDE:~> systool -m i915 -av
Module = "i915"

  Attributes:
    coresize            = "1429504"
    initsize            = "0"
    initstate           = "live"
    refcnt              = "7"
    srcversion          = "4441BA14F7F293351A9C120"
    taint               = ""
    uevent              = <store method only>

The rest of the outputs were identical.
Anything significant here?
Thanks,
Howard

14

Obviously the versions are different. Otherwise I see nothing suspicious.

Hendrik

15

Solved. More searching turned up https://forum.manjaro.org/t/kde-hangs-after-login-with-sddm-classic-stable-update-2017-10-26/33563/52 All that was needed was in IceWM to edit ~/.config/kwinrc file and disable the compositor by adding Enabled=false to the general section, save and close. System now boots KDE plasma correctly. Whew.
Cheers,
Howard