Intel integrated Graphic Card, Problem exists 13.2KDE, but not on 13.1KDE

English Hardware
1

Hello,

it has been a while since I posted anything here, because many of the previous issues I’ve dealt with in the past no longer exist (i.e. constant wifi roaming issues in my school network).

I have been extensively using my laptop with OpenSuse OS, since it wasn’t quite compatible on Linux Mint 17, Ubuntu 14.04 and Debian 6. I have been with this distribution for about 5 months now and I believe that I will stick with it.

I originally installed OpenSuse 13.1 KDE, with many customization, I became very comfortable with it. Over the Christmas break in December, I decided to do a fresh install with 13.2 KDE. I bumped into small issues here and there and I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on.

My laptop is Lenovo T410S
core intel i5 M560 2.67Ghz, RAM 8GB 1600Mhz ,GPU I believe is Intel HD 3000Mobile(I cannot confirm this at this time).

I have seen the screen becoming glitchy from time to time.

  1. Screen blinks whenever I get to “logout screen” and I move the mouse cursor over any options. (No problem on 13.1)
  2. it is a laptop, as I dim the screen brightness, 0% turns the screen off.(On 13.1, it was dim but still lit)

Now I’m certain that something is not right since I seem to be unable to play old PC games installed through playonlinux/crossover.
I only get a black screen, everything else sounds to be responsive.
(Stronghold, Caesar 3, older games which ran on OpenSuse 13.1 perfectly).

I have looked into finding the proper drivers for my laptop and without success. I would appreciate it if someone can help me with:

  1. Identify my Graphics card, I know it is an integrated intel HD series.
  2. Where to find Linux drivers for my Graphic card
  3. How to install the driver.

Thank you for your time
-SJL

2

Well, there is only one intel driver, and that is included in the distribution.
You should be able to identify your card via “/sbin/lspci” or “hwinfo --gfx” or YaST->Hardware->Hardware Information though.

Please install the package “Mesa-demo-x” and post the output of:

glxinfo | grep render

and/or the file /var/log/Xorg.0.log to see whether the intel driver is actually in use (I would guess yes, otherwise you probably wouldn’t see flickering when getting the logout dialog).

Is your system up to date? There were some updates to fix problems with the intel driver.

One common problem (particularly on 13.1 though) is that the new SNA acceleration has problems on certain chips.
Try to switch to the older UXA:
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Switch_xf86-video-intel_to_UXA
If you already did that on 13.1, try to revert the change. Actually UXA is unmaintained (there’s only work on SNA being done any more), so it might be broken for your chipset now in 13.2 but SNA works well instead.

And what are your settings in “Configure Desktop”->“Desktop Effects”->Advanced?
For best performance “Compositing type” should be one of the “OpenGL” options, and “Qt graphicssystem” should be “Raster”.
But try to switch desktop effects off completely too.

3 

09: PCI 02.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA)              
  [Created at pci.328]
  Unique ID: _Znp.u4GoGlTTvQ4
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0
  SysFS BusID: 0000:00:02.0
  Hardware Class: graphics card
  Model: "Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller"
  Vendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
  Device: pci 0x0046 "Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller"
  SubVendor: pci 0x17aa "Lenovo"
  SubDevice: pci 0x21c1 
  Revision: 0x02
  Driver: "i915"
  Driver Modules: "drm"
  Memory Range: 0xf2000000-0xf23fffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  Memory Range: 0xd0000000-0xdfffffff (ro,non-prefetchable)
  I/O Ports: 0x1800-0x1807 (rw)
  IRQ: 41 (77729 events)
  I/O Ports: 0x3c0-0x3df (rw)
  Module Alias: "pci:v00008086d00000046sv000017AAsd000021C1bc03sc00i00"
  Driver Info #0:
    Driver Status: i915 is active
    Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe i915"
  Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown





direct rendering: Yes
    GLX_MESA_multithread_makecurrent, GLX_MESA_query_renderer, 
    GLX_MESA_multithread_makecurrent, GLX_MESA_query_renderer, 
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ironlake Mobile 
    GL_NV_blend_square, GL_NV_conditional_render, GL_NV_depth_clamp, 
    GL_OES_fbo_render_mipmap, GL_OES_get_program_binary, GL_OES_mapbuffer,

The system is up to date.

4

So this is a “Intel HD Graphics” or GMA HD card (not HD 3000 but a bit older), integrated into your Westmere (Arrandale) CPU.

direct rendering: Yes
GLX_MESA_multithread_makecurrent, GLX_MESA_query_renderer,
GLX_MESA_multithread_makecurrent, GLX_MESA_query_renderer,
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ironlake Mobile
GL_NV_blend_square, GL_NV_conditional_render, GL_NV_depth_clamp,
GL_OES_fbo_render_mipmap, GL_OES_get_program_binary, GL_OES_mapbuffer,

Ok, the intel driver seems to be in use and working.

The system is up to date.

Good.
Have you tried my other suggestions?

5

I am currently in between classes, I will try it as soon as I get home.

6

I just did the SDB switch you’ve recommended and rebooted so far:

  1. No Glitchy screen on “log-off” menu
  2. 0% brightness still turns the screen off
  3. I will try the installation of the games I mentioned and I will get back to you,

Thank you
-SJL

Edit:
4. Desktop Effects become glitchy. I have currently returned to how it was.

7

When you have time, please upload your /var/log/Xorg.0.log to http://paste.opensuse.org/
and post the URL that it generates so we can review it.

8

http://paste.opensuse.org/28311992

9

It could be that there is a regression affecting your chipset, and so a bug report required (if no solutions are forthcoming).

It might be worth reviewing the following

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel_graphics#SNA_issues

In particular,

Tear-free video

The SNA acceleration method causes tearing for some people. To fix this, enable the “TearFree” option
in the driver:

/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

Section "Device"
   Identifier  "Intel Graphics"
   Driver      "intel"
   Option      "TearFree"    "true"
EndSection
10

Thank you,

I think I may need to file a bug report because from what I can tell, I do not have “20-intel.conf” in “/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/”

11

You may indeed need to file a bug report, but that has nothing to do with whether you have 20-intel.conf or not. The wiki just mentions a suggestion (that may help with some screen tearing issues incurred with some Intel hardware). Anyway, you can create this file as root if needed

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

and proceed as already mentioned. Be careful with typing, once completed and saved, you then restart the X-server, and observe the behaviour.

12

I’ve created the file and enabled tear-free.

  1. Glitchy log-off screen is now gone
  2. Desktop effect seems to be working greatly
  3. I will re-install the games and get back to you
13

Games: still no good.
Brightness 0% still turns the screen off

14

Yes, well it is specifically mentioned

**Note: **

  • This option may not work when SwapbuffersWait is false.
  • This option is problematic for applications that are very picky about vsync timing, like Super Meat Boy.

So, some games may not be compatible with this option enabled. The option will not correct back-light issue.

15

I don’t quite understand why I didn’t have these issues on 13.1, but on 13.2.

Also, Is there a way to set the minimum brightness? I played around with it a bit and “1%” would be optimal to be set to 0%

16

Well, I already explained that it could be due to a regression that will need a bug report submitted :wink: Stuff happens.

Also, Is there a way to set the minimum brightness? I played around with it a bit and “1%” would be optimal to be set to 0%

I doubt it. It will be related to the graphics driver coding.

17

I can tell you I have had the same with some of my Intel Laptops where I moved from 13.1 to 13.2

However my current main Laptop Lenovo E531 is OK with item 1. you listed
But still the same with item 2. you listed

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller [8086:0154] (rev 09)        Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:5018]
        Kernel driver in use: ivb_uncore
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller [8086:0166] (rev 09)
        Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:5018]
        Kernel driver in use: i915
        Kernel modules: i915

And yes. Ubuntu/kubuntu 14.04 were trouble free regarding those two points

18

My Toshiba Z930 ultrabook has the same behaviour wrt minmimum brightess means a black screen. I made a note to myself sometime back, never to set minumum brightness, as it can mislead one as to what is happening wrt one’s display.

My assumption is this is an upstream graphic drive implementation, where I believe the Intel graphic driver is provided with the kernel packaging.

Its not an issue with me - hence it never occured to me to even post about it.
.

19

Would you help me how to file a bug report?
I have never filed a bug report before, and I don’t know what kind of information I may need to provide.

20

There is guidance here:
https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Submitting_bug_reports

You can use your openSUSE forum username and password when logging on to bugzilla.