HOWTO: Jaunty Intel Graphics Performance Guide

[Craig73]

Well, if you're using the 2.6.30-rc2 kernel, you'll notice that the write-combining range is active when you first boot your computer (without any need for the script). When you restart X, however, the write-combining range disappears - in this case, you should use the script.

Therefore, use the script only if you have restarted X.

This does seem to reflect what I'm experiencing except the MTRR fix doesn't really seem to change anything for me; I need to reboot to get that extra MTRR line back. Note that having or not these values seem to change the status of my problems (which perhaps are slightly different?)

Running an Inspiron 700m so I have an 855GME and have applied your guide and upgraded to the latest kernel/driver/etc. I do see the performance increase in ppracer. [Note I had not tried just turning on UXA under the default setup, but that is 2d and doesn't related to 3d]

My issue seems to be related to closing a graphics app. If I close ppracer (3d) it hangs. If I close world of goo (2d I think?) it hangs. If I play a flash video and close that tab it hangs. Note first I thought it was X hanging in the case of the games, but if I launch the game from a terminal, then I can kill/close the terminal to close the app (note I can't terminate the app directly)

Video does seem to play slowly in Totem... but fine in VLC and Flash (although Flash seems to intermitedly stick and needs a boot, by moving the slider on the movie timeline, to unstick it).

Anyway... at least for the hanging games, at least I have a way to play them without having to reboot and more importantly a way to reproduce this problem without needing to reboot as I look for a solution.

If you have any suggestions for running a debugger to identify what is actually getting stuck (driver/x/whatever) I'll see what I can do

[OK I've had a couple hangs launching ppracer... weird how it worked well for a while and now just doesn't with no change that I know if]

[koycan]

Maybe you are seeing higher temperatures because of a bug in the driver causing the graphics hardware to poll constantly. Have you tried disabling compiz to see if it helps? Also try disabling UXA to see if it reduces temperature.

I don't have compiz, it does not work because of blacklisting (and I don't fancy it either).
I disabled UXA, no joy.
This looks like a kernel problem, because the temp readings returned back to normal after booting the stock Jaunty kernel 2.6.28-11. However, my display intermittently flickers when I boot kernel 2.6.28-11 and brightness keys don't work (these happen regardless of the version of intel driver). With 2.6.30-rc2, display no longer flickers and brightness keys work perfect, but the system overheats
Overall, I seem to suffer some acpi instability.

EDIT:
Per your advice I opened up the laptop, came across a dust ball blocking half of the heat sink, cleaned it. Now, I've been using the laptop for an hour and the temp has not exceeded 55C so far! It seems kernel 2.6.30-rc2 was actually doing the right thing. Thanks psyke83, you're the man =D>

[mikhmv]

Hi,

Good topic.
Just want to add rc3 is available now.
changing in your methods rc2 on rc3 work perfectly.

Thanks

[Sesivany]

Hi,
I upgraded to new drivers and kernel, too. But brightness control on Thinkpads doesn't work at all. It works with new drivers and standard kernel (.28). The bug has been filed and patch sent. It's supposed to be fixed in 2.6.30RC3 but it doesn't still work with RC3 from kernel.ubuntu.com.
Do you still have the same problem? I hope it will be fixed until the final version is released. Because that's the only problem I have. Everything else works fine and performance is much better than with 2.6.28.

[psyke83]

Hi,
I upgraded to new drivers and kernel, too. But brightness control on Thinkpads doesn't work at all. It works with new drivers and standard kernel (.28). The bug has been filed and patch sent. It's supposed to be fixed in 2.6.30RC3 but it doesn't still work with RC3 from kernel.ubuntu.com.
Do you still have the same problem? I hope it will be fixed until the final version is released. Because that's the only problem I have. Everything else works fine and performance is much better than with 2.6.28.

Unless someone can correct me, you shouldn't file bugs on Launchpad for the 2.6.30-rcX kernels, or the xorg-edgers packages either. These are unsupported.

[Jenda]

Thanks for the guide - it seems to have helped somewhat. The sound was broken with the new kernel, though, but switching everything to OSS seems to have fixed that.

[Sesivany]

Unless someone can correct me, you shouldn't file bugs on Launchpad for the 2.6.30-rcX kernels, or the xorg-edgers packages either. These are unsupported.

I'm not talking about Launchpad. I'm talking about the kernel bugzilla. And I didn't file that bug, somebody else did.

[umaxtu]

will the new drivers alone fix the problem of intel graphics and desktop effects?

[psyke83]

will the new drivers alone fix the problem of intel graphics and desktop effects?

Depends on what "problem" you mean - the initial posting explains the aims fully.

If you notice that desktop effects refuses to be enabled, but 3D applications work fine otherwise, it means that your graphics adapter has been deliberately blacklisted due to crashes in compiz - this guide is not relevant to you.

Search the forum for compiz + blacklist + jaunty, and you'll find one of the many posts explaining this.

[VMC]

lspci |grep VGA:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)

also just did - as I now know - not successfully the following:

1. added ppa x to /etc/apt/apt.sources:
#...
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates/ubuntu jaunty main

...
as root:
apt-get update ; apt-get dist-upgrade

2. activated uxa in /etc/X11/xorg.conf: Don't use my BUS ID if not matched

3. reboot

...

This method does NOT work for my integrated Intel chip

$ lspci -nn|grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 82865G Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2572] (rev 02)