10.04 final + intel 855GM + upgrade disaster

[flanque]

Hi all,

Just wondering how do I get the 10.04 final release working with an 855GM chipset? I get the dreaded black screen after upgrading via Update Manager. I managed to figure out that it didn't create an xorg.conf file so I can get something up with the xorg.conf.minimum or whatever it is. In the end I went back to 9.10 and it installed flawlessly.

I understand that the 855 driver had some critical memory leak and that 10.04 is generally foo for intel 855 users, so how do I keep up to date with:

1. When the driver is fixed of the memory leak?
2. When the general compatibility issues with 855 chips and 10.04 are fixed?

I'd love to hear that this is all fixed.

Thanks in advance.

[frantid]

you can search launchpad for the bug and subscribe to it.

via release notes some things to try:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes

[flanque]

OK. I'm new to this so what's launchpad, do you have a bug ID?

[frantid]

Here's an example, but I don't think it is the one you need. Just use the search, it might take some digging.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/lu...ux/+bug/563277

[otchie1]

Here's an example, but I don't think it is the one you need. Just use the search, it might take some digging.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/lu...ux/+bug/563277

Not that anything written in a bug report will make a blind bit of sense to a new user.

Ubuntu has decided to blacklist your Keybooard, Mouse and Screen FFS

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes

Great, real user friendly. Couldn't flash up a warning during the upgrade process then?

Best bet is to either stick with 9.10 or jump ship to (insert distro here).

[Catharsis]

Hmm? I have an i855 and used Workaround A from the link, and my Lucid is great now. Certainly no reason to forsake it.

[otchie1]

Hmm? I have an i855 and used Workaround A from the link, and my Lucid is great now. Certainly no reason to forsake it.

Fine, so long as you are happy to upgrade and be confronted with a black screen, disabled mouse & keyboard with no explanation and no warning.

Sure you can fix it so long as you can boot to another kernel/OS, wade through forums to find a possible solution and spend some time at the CLI but this is 2010 Ubuntu not 1995 Slackware.

This isn't like a sound card falling over or certain brand of digital camera failing, this is complete user interface lock out.

[Catharsis]

It's explained very clearly in the Release Notes. You *do* read the Release Notes before you upgrade, right?

[Unicast]

I have to agree that 855GM support sucks the big one on Lucid.

I tried a few of the workarounds, but nothing worked 100% for me. I even tried updating to a mainstream kernel, but that just kept messing up gnome panels.

Have now reverted to Karmic - everything just "works".

Lucid looks nice, but I'll wait until they've ironed out some of the bugs - which may not be until 10.10 at this rate.

[James Keating]

Though I read the release notes, I failed to note the warning, which was at the end of the notes, spoke of 8xx chips I didn't realize I had, and failed to have big blinking letters telling me that a machine that has been working fine for years was suddenly going to be rendered completely incapable of booting in any mode whatsoever.

I couldn't even boot off the CD. I had to boot from a 9.10 CD in order to make the changes.

I have tried, I believe, all the workarounds mentioned in various posts. None worked for me. Some spoke of getting a newer kernel, which I had tried but decided to try again.

Success!

This worked for me:

1) edit /etc/defaults/grub (as root, on the hard drive)
2) add i915.modeset=1 to the default line:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="splash i915.modeset=1"
(Mine previously had i915.modeset=0 nomodeset, otherwise the machine froze on resuming)
3) save and run the command update-grub (as root)

That let me boot. But my system still crashed if I attempted to run any kind of video with any program. Firefox and some other programs would get stuck as soon as they opened and leave trails all over the screen if I grabbed and moved them.

The new kernel fixed that:

4) go to http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/ and find the newest directory (I used v2.6.34-rc7-lucid)
5) download the image and header files, and install them with dpkg -i or gdebi-gtk
6) reboot and choose that kernel.

I've changed a post of mine below to expand the details of this.