[Intel-gfx] Trouble with dell latitude E6420

[Georg Grabler]

PS: The debug output etc. is in the bug tracker (already).

I'll try to compile and run (reproduce the bug) on
drm-intel-next-queued as soon as possible Daniel.

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 10:09 PM, Georg Grabler <ggrabler at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Sorry to "hijack" this thread, but I'd like to know if it is probably
> the same problem I am experiencing on the same machine, see:
> https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=35812
>
> Just because I seem to be sooo alone out there with that problem :-(.
>
> Thanks,
> Georg
>
> On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 10:05 PM, Daniel Vetter <daniel at ffwll.ch> wrote:
>> On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 03:08:32PM -0400, Giacomo Comes wrote:
>>> I have a dell latitude E6420 with Sandybridge Mobile (GT2).
>>> Since I got it (about one year ago), it has been a nightmare to run linux on it.
>>> At the beginning I installed openSUSE 11.4 (kernel 2.6.37.6) and the laptop
>>> would freeze almost immediately. After that I waited for newer kernels in order to
>>> see if things would improve. They did improve indeed and finally with kernel 3.0
>>> I was able to run linux (openSUSE 11.4) without laptop freeze or screen issue.
>>> Unfortunately, the only kernel that works with my laptop is 3.0. Newer kernel
>>> (3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4) do not work.
>>> This is what happen if I run kernel 2.6.39, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4:
>>> The laptop boot and does the boot process fine. At the end of the boot process X
>>> starts and here the problem appears (about 50% of the times):
>>> the screen goes black on the left side (about 2/3 of the whole screen) with white
>>> stripes to the right side (the remaining 1/3).
>>> The laptop is not dead: I can remotely login or I can perform a clean shutdown
>>> if I press the power button, but the screen is totally dead.
>>> Another strange issue is that after a bad boot (with the black screen) at the
>>> next reboot the screen will start to flicker. The flickering will last some time
>>> and it will become less intense as the time goes until it will disappear completely.
>>> The funny thing is that the intensity of flicker depends on how long I keep the
>>> black screen. If, after the boot process, the black screen appears and I reboot
>>> the laptop immediately, then the flicked is moderate and it disappear after
>>> 1 or 2 minutes. If I keep the black screen for 1 minute or more, then after the
>>> reboot the flicker is very intense and it takes much more to fade.
>>>
>>> Right now I run openSUSE 12.1 on the laptop, but I had to perform the following
>>> trick: because openSUSE 12.1 ships with kernel 3.1, in order to make openSUSE run on my
>>> laptop I have the options:
>>> 1) downgrade to kernel 3.0 (I use 3.0.7)
>>> 2) recompile the openSUSE kernel 3.1 replacing the directory drivers/gpu/drm/i915
>>> with the content of the same directory from kernel 3.0 source tree.
>>>
>>> I choose the second option as I can run the latest openSUSE kernel with patches
>>> and fixes.
>>>
>>> I have searched google to see if other users have my same problem and
>>> I have found few references to a problem similar to mine:
>>>
>>> http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/intel-gfx/2011-March/009822.html
>>> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/linux/kernel/1474140
>>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/794474
>>>
>>> But in none there is a mention on how to fix the problem.
>>>
>>> Is there any chance to improve the intel kernel driver to make it work
>>> for my laptop as it was in kernel 3.0?
>>
>> Sure, we're always working to fix odd bugs ;-)
>>
>>> I can provide any information/testing as needed.
>>
>> A few things for you to do, pretty much random order:
>> - Can you try out the latest drm-intel-next-queued branch from the
>>  drm-intel git repo at:
>>
>> http://cgit.freedesktop.org/~danvet/drm-intel
>>
>>  This is the basic step to ensure that we haven't fixed your bug already
>>  in the latest code.
>> - Please attach xrandr --verbos and full dmesg when booting with
>>  drm.debug=0xe (take a working kernel, doesn't matter that much).
>> - If you can, please bisect which commit exactly introduced the regression
>>  betwen 3.0 and 3.1. That usually helps a _lot_ in tracking down these
>>  bugs.
>>
>> Yours, Daniel
>> --
>> Daniel Vetter
>> Mail: daniel at ffwll.ch
>> Mobile: +41 (0)79 365 57 48
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