Crash & black screen (Graphics problem?)

[Theo148]

Okay, I've found a workaround for this problem (suggested on the bug) that seems to be working. According to the information on the bug that soro2005 linked to, using xorg.conf to override the automatic detection settings and switch from the 'intel' driver (which is used by default - the gui tool is incorrect) to the older 'i810' driver will get rid of the problem, as the bug only exists in the 'intel' driver.

So first, I backed up my existing xorg.conf file:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup

Then I opened the file with

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

And scrolled to the following section:

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Configured Video Device"
EndSection

I added one line of text (shown in bold):

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Configured Video Device"
	Driver		"i810"
EndSection

And then saved it and restarted.

I tested the new configuration with repeated logouts, shutdowns, and restarts, and have yet to encounter the crash (haven't tried video playback yet), so I'm relatively sure this will work. However, I'm not sure if there are any major issues with the 'i810' driver that anybody else might have - you could always run "sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg" to reset things if anything blows up.