HOW TO: Configuring Xorg for use with Intel i810 and higher video cards

[shakin]

I've seen a lot of people having issues with integrated Intel video chipsets. I though I'd share my success story (well, mostly success. There is one minor problem addressed at the bottom of this how-to). I successfully ran Xorg on an integrated i915 chipset, but I believe this will work for any i810 or higher video chipset since I'm using the i810 driver.

In my case, the specific problem I was dealing with is that the Hoary installer gave me the vesa driver, which is servicable, but not great. After running dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg and manually selecting the i810 driver, my LCD monitor would fail to accept the requested video mode unless I commented out the horiz and vert refresh lines in my xorg monitor config, then it would force me to use 640x480. This is apparently because a faulty video bios that doesn't report valid video modes. Thus, I needed to use a program called 855resolution to force a better video mode. This how-to walks you through the process of installing and configuring 855resolution, then changing your xorg.conf file to start with the i810 driver.

Let's go...

- run 'wget http://ftp.psn.ru/debian/pool/main/8/855resolution/855resolution_0.3-4_i386.deb'
- run 'dpkg -i 855resolution_0.3-4_i386.deb'
- run 'sudo gedit /etc/default/855resolution'
- add config from modes list

Mode 30 : 640x480, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 32 : 800x600, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 34 : 1024x768, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 38 : 1280x1024, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 3a : 1600x1200, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 3c : 1400x1050, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 41 : 640x480, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 43 : 800x600, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 45 : 1024x768, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 49 : 1280x1024, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 4b : 1600x1200, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 4d : 1400x1050, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 50 : 640x480, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 52 : 800x600, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 54 : 1024x768, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 58 : 1280x1024, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 5a : 1600x1200, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 5c : 1400x1050, 32 bits/pixel

eg. (you need 3 lines in the file)

MODE=58
XRESO=1280
YRESO=1024

(look in /usr/share/doc/855resolution/README.Debian for more configuration information if you want)

- run 'sudo /etc/init.d/855resolution start' (should provide feedback that the patch is complete)
- run 'sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf'
- In gedit, change your video driver to i810 (Driver "i810") in your device section. It is probably set to vesa by default.
- Restart X by pressing ctrl-alt-backspace or rebooting your computer.
- If X won't start after doing this you can go into command prompt mode from the Grub menu (recovery mode) and edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to change your driver back to what it was (probably vesa)

- Note: on my system there is a problem where X initially starts in an invalid mode and my LCD won't display it. I switch to another terminal (ctrl-alt-F1) and then switch back to X (alt-F7) and then it works. I believe this is a refresh rate problem. I will update this how-to with a solution when I find it.

[wxm505]

Hi mate. I did everything as u recommanded.
But it still does not work well.
I post some threads about this issue a couple weeks ago.
Would u like to have a look to find where the problem is of my
box.Thank u very much indeed

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...8&page=1&pp=10
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...8&page=1&pp=10

[jr_G-man]

FYI,

A BIOS update resolved this problem for me.

I have a Dell Optiplex GX260. It HAD the A06 BIOS. I upgraded it to A09...and I get normal resolutions.

If this is an option, I highly recommend giving it a shot.

[Gandalf]

well i installed this and i still have the same problem which is low FPS
glxgears reports

1588 frames in 5.0 seconds = 317.600 FPS
1684 frames in 5.0 seconds = 336.800 FPS
1690 frames in 5.0 seconds = 338.000 FPS
1690 frames in 5.0 seconds = 338.000 FPS
1688 frames in 5.0 seconds = 337.600 FPS
1685 frames in 5.0 seconds = 337.000 FPS
1683 frames in 5.0 seconds = 336.600 FPS

can we get more FPS???

[Sav]

Originally Posted by Gandalf well i installed this and i still have the same problem which is low FPS glxgears reports 1588 frames in 5.0 seconds = 317.600 FPS 1684 frames in 5.0 seconds = 336.800 FPS 1690 frames in 5.0 seconds = 338.000 FPS 1690 frames in 5.0 seconds = 338.000 FPS 1688 frames in 5.0 seconds = 337.600 FPS 1685 frames in 5.0 seconds = 337.000 FPS 1683 frames in 5.0 seconds = 336.600 FPS can we get more FPS???

Did you enable the DRI acceleration?

[Gandalf]

Originally Posted by Sav Did you enable the DRI acceleration?

how to do it???

[wxm505]

Originally Posted by Gandalf well i installed this and i still have the same problem which is low FPS glxgears reports 1588 frames in 5.0 seconds = 317.600 FPS 1684 frames in 5.0 seconds = 336.800 FPS 1690 frames in 5.0 seconds = 338.000 FPS 1690 frames in 5.0 seconds = 338.000 FPS 1688 frames in 5.0 seconds = 337.600 FPS 1685 frames in 5.0 seconds = 337.000 FPS 1683 frames in 5.0 seconds = 336.600 FPS can we get more FPS???

THe same thing happened to me.

[domo]

Originally Posted by Gandalf well i installed this and i still have the same problem which is low FPS glxgears reports 1588 frames in 5.0 seconds = 317.600 FPS 1684 frames in 5.0 seconds = 336.800 FPS 1690 frames in 5.0 seconds = 338.000 FPS 1690 frames in 5.0 seconds = 338.000 FPS 1688 frames in 5.0 seconds = 337.600 FPS 1685 frames in 5.0 seconds = 337.000 FPS 1683 frames in 5.0 seconds = 336.600 FPS can we get more FPS???

If that can help:
Be sure that the module are load:

domo@xmas:~/data/nwn $ lsmod | grep drm
drm                    59540  2 i915
agpgart                32040  3 drm,intel_agp

And check if you have this lines on your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
On the Section "Module"

        Load  "glx"
        Load  "dri"

Plus:

Section "DRI"
        Mode 0666
EndSection

[dmatubu]

I have an Intel 855GM in my laptop. I just CAN'T get it to go over 800x600 after trying many things, including 855resolution, even though the chipset supports 1024x768. In fact, the default Ubuntu xorg.conf did not even work - had to run xorgconfig to even get it to work at 800x600. I downloaded the driver from Intel, but I can't even run that, as it asks for the "latest kernel", which I already have. In the System->Preference->Screen Resolution panel it never displays anything greater than 800x600 at 70Hz.

I would REALLY like to get away from Windoze and start using Ubuntu full-time, especially since learning that Microsoft was (is) one of the Korporations that wanted to profit from the "war" (correct word: invasion) in the middle east. I would greatly appreciate any knowledge on getting this funky video chip's chip off its block. I wouldn't even mind 800x600 except for the fact that some programs I will need to run have default screens larger than this res.

[brokenladder]

I went through a night or two of hell with this issue until finally I got it working..and I'm not entirely sure how. I started off doing what was advised in the first message, adding the modes, whatever that did. It didn't seem to immediately fix anything, but as far as I know it might have been part of what fixed the problem later.

I also did xorgconfig, or whatever it's called, and even tried manually editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Nothing. I was stuck in a low terrible resolution.

I later was advised to do: sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-org, which I did several times to no avail.

At some point, after doing various combinations of these procedures many many times, I went into xorg.conf, and found that my horizontal and vertical rates were not defined. I defined them, and instantly it all worked. Here is my xorg.conf if this helps anyone:

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file) # # This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using # values from the debconf database. # # Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page. # (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.) # # This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only* # if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg # package. # # If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated # again, run the following commands: # # cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.custom # sudo sh -c 'md5sum /etc/X11/xorg.conf >/var/lib/xfree86/xorg.conf.md5sum' # sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg Section "Files" FontPath "unix/:7100" # local font server # if the local font server has problems, we can fall back on these FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc" FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic" FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled" FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled" FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1" FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID" FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi" FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi" # paths to defoma fonts FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType" FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/CID" EndSection Section "Module" Load "GLcore" Load "bitmap" Load "dbe" Load "ddc" Load "dri" Load "extmod" Load "freetype" Load "glx" Load "int10" Load "record" Load "type1" Load "v4l" Load "vbe" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Generic Keyboard" Driver "keyboard" Option "CoreKeyboard" Option "XkbRules" "xorg" Option "XkbModel" "pc105" Option "XkbLayout" "dvorak" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Configured Mouse" Driver "mouse" Option "CorePointer" Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Intel Corporation 82865G Integrated Graphics Device" Driver "i810" BusID "PCI:0:2:0" VideoRam 64000 EndSection Section "Monitor" Identifier "Acer AL1715" Option "DPMS" HorizSync 31.5-80 VertRefresh 36.5-75 EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "Default Screen" Device "Intel Corporation 82865G Integrated Graphics Device" Monitor "Acer AL1715" DefaultDepth 24 SubSection "Display" Depth 1 Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 4 Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 8 Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 15 Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 16 Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 24 Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" EndSubSection EndSection Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "Default Layout" Screen "Default Screen" InputDevice "Generic Keyboard" InputDevice "Configured Mouse" EndSection Section "DRI" Mode 0666 EndSection