Graphics problems with Intel 915GM on Dell Latitude D610
 

New company laptop: Dell latitude D610 with Intel 915GM graphics.
Internal display is 1400x1050,
when docked external screen is 1600x1200

I use debian derivatives and tried both current Mepis 3.3 (XFree) and Ubuntu 5.04 (xorg).

=================
MEPIS:
Booting from Mepis as liveCD doesn't display X properly. only a fuzzy screen
Had to get to virtual console ctrl-alt-f1 and edit XF86Config so that
- modelines are commented out,
- DPMS option is true.

I can only get 1280x1024 with the vesa driver (which as non native res looks fuzzy plus the driver is slow).
Installed to HD with that (sound didn't work too out of the box, but running alsaconf fixed it).

google showed intel has drivers but not being tailored for Debian
I was unable to compile them.
=================
UBUNTU:
xorg uses the "i810" driver which doesn't work on mepis' XFree.
with this the internal panel works only at 1280x1050 and I can't get it to 1400x1050.
with the external monitor, the "i810" driver gets me only at 640x480 and to use 1600x1200 I have to use the very poorly performing "vesa" driver.

I have also posted the Xorg.0.log files here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=24495

can anyone help ?
has anyone succeeded in running mepis/ubuntu on such a Dell D610 ?:confused:

I'm running Slack 10.1, but I completely feel your pain on the video drivers. The drivers provided at Intel's website are outdated and won't build under anything newer than 2.6.8 (from what I found on the web). So, to fix the problem, this is what I did. Go here ...

http://dri.freedesktop.org/snapshots/

and find the latest i915 driver (which as of this moment is i915-20050409-linux.i386.tar.bz2). Download it, untar it and go into the "dripkg" directory that is created. From inside here, as root, run the "install.sh" script. This will walk you through compiling the latest i810/i915 driver for your Xorg. Interestingly enough, you don't have to re-run this every time you build a new kernel. However, you do have to re-run it every time you upgrade Xorg versions (say, from 6.8.1->6.8.2).

After doing this, you can edit your /etc/X11R6/xorg.conf file to use the "i810" driver instead of using the "vesa" driver.

My applicable section in xorg.conf looks something like this ...

Section "Device"
Identifier "Intel i915GM"
Driver "i810"
VideoRam 131070
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

And in my "Screen" section, I am using a 24-bit depth and 1280x1024. From what I've read, it isn't possible to get 1400x1050 yet unless you want to try and build 6.8.2cvs. However, from what I found on the web, 6.8.3 should have support built in for this.

I know it may not get you higher resolution than what you already have, but looking at my screen, the clarity is pretty darn good using the i810 driver.

One other thing I forgot to mention...you may need to load the i915 kernel module upon boot-up. I have the appropriate modprobe in my /etc/rc.d/rc.local to take care of this for me. YMMV if you are using Mandrake.

Good luck.

thanks a lot, I will try this

I had this problem too, on my laptop Dell D610 with I915GM inside.
I 've tried a lot of things from several posts and nothing works :( !
But this one WORKS ! No black screen anymore.
!!! Thanks a lot :D !!!
Chris

i tried on mepis 3.3 kernel 2.6.10
installed kernel sources
downloaded i915-20050412-linux.i386.tar.bz2

compile fails

ln -s . linux
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.10/source SUBDIRS=`pwd` DRMSRCDIR=`pwd` modules
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.10'
CC [M] /mnt/sda5/SHARED/downloads/freedesktop/dripkg/drm/linux-core/drm_auth.o
In file included from include/linux/module.h:10,
from /mnt/sda5/SHARED/downloads/freedesktop/dripkg/drm/linux-core/drmP.h:45,
from /mnt/sda5/SHARED/downloads/freedesktop/dripkg/drm/linux-core/drm_auth.c:36:
include/linux/sched.h:4:37: asm/param.h: No such file or directory
In file included from include/linux/posix_types.h:47,
from include/linux/types.h:13,
from include/linux/capability.h:16,
from include/linux/sched.h:7,
...
from /mnt/sda5/SHARED/downloads/freedesktop/dripkg/drm/linux-core/drm_auth.c:36:
include/linux/types.h:18: error: parse error before "__kernel_dev_t"
include/linux/types.h:18: warning: type defaults to `int' in declaration of `__kernel_dev_t'
include/linux/types.h:18: warning: data definition has no type or storage class
include/linux/types.h:21: error: parse error before "dev_t"
include/linux/types.h:21: warning: type defaults to `int' in declaration of `dev_t'
include/linux/types.h:21: warning: data definition has no type or storage class
include/linux/types.h:22: error: parse error before "ino_t"
include/linux/types.h:22: warning: type defaults to `int' in declaration of `ino_t'
include/linux/types.h:22: warning: data definition has no type or storage class
include/linux/types.h:23: error: parse error before "mode_t"
...
include/linux/file.h:33: error: storage size of `fd_array' isn't known
include/linux/pci.h:515: error: storage size of `dev' isn't known
/mnt/sda5/SHARED/downloads/freedesktop/dripkg/drm/linux-core/drmP.h:555: error: storage size of `fops' isn't known
/mnt/sda5/SHARED/downloads/freedesktop/dripkg/drm/linux-core/drmP.h:622: error: storage size of `ctxlist_sem' isn't kno
wn
make[3]: *** [/mnt/sda5/SHARED/downloads/freedesktop/dripkg/drm/linux-core/drm_auth.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** [_module_/mnt/sda5/SHARED/downloads/freedesktop/dripkg/drm/linux-core] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.10'
make[1]: *** [modules] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/mnt/sda5/SHARED/downloads/freedesktop/dripkg/drm/linux-core'
make: *** [i915.o] Error 2

Both Ubuntu and Mepis now work with the respective VESA drivers
thanks to
this tool that allows you to overwrite (in RAM) the video bios modes.
http://www.geocities.com/stomljen/
I have to run it once befopre X starts to rewrite an unused 1900x1400 mode as 1400x1050

as for XF86Config-4, I had to
in monitor sectrion
remove modelines, enable DPMS

in device section
disable all options, use the vesa driver

in screen section
leave the modes native to my screens in this order
"16000x1200""1400x1050"

Thanks to the link that EdoardoC provided above, I am now using 1400x1050 resolution on my laptop. Many thanks! However, I didn't have to switch from the "i810" driver to the "vesa" driver. I left everything the same in my xorg.conf file -- with the exception of adding "1400x1050" to the appropriate screen section. I also didn't have to add "1600x1200".

Wow, what a difference -- everything is very crystal clear now (it was good before, now it is superb).

to be precise, I still use i810 on Ubuntu 5.04 (xorg)
I have to use just vesa on Mepis 3.3 (Xfree)

BTW, to automate the thin, I placed a script in /etc/init.d/

$ cat /etc/init.d/915reso.sh
#!/bin/sh
/root/915resolution/915resolution 3c 1400 1050

and then using ksysv I set it to be run before kdm :

/etc/rc5.d/S55915reso.sh -> ../init.d/915reso.sh

Edo

Hello, I have the same problem that EdoArdoc
I tried the solution of Tino27.
I have downloaded the Intel drivers, extracted them. But during the installation I have a problem. It can't compile and if I look in the dri.log (the file which describe errors) it is a problem with the kernel config file.
Can you help me ?

criket -- post the errors you are seeing in your dri.log file. Also, did you download the drivers from the Intel website or from the site posted in my original post? I found that I had problems with the drivers from the Intel website.

The dri.log says
Makefile:163: ***Cannot find a kernel config file. Stop.

Just to precise, I am a newcomer in the Linux World. I have tried a lot of things. I think some packages are missing, I tried to install some of them but I think I made a lot of bad operations and I don't know exactly what I have to install. So I decided to reinstall Ubuntu 5.04.

I'm guessing you probably need to install your kernel source files (they are usually packaged in a single RPM).

I have installed linux-hearders-2.6.10-5-386 and gcc.
I can't install linux-source-2.6.10
I use the command "apt-get install linux-source-2.6.10". The message tells that the package exists in the database but it can't find it. So I used my installation cd to get the linux-source-2.6.10 folder but I don't know what to do with it. I tried to copy it in usr/src but nothing changed.

I tried again the installation of the Intel driver and the error in the dri.log changed. It is now

make DRM_MODULES=i915.o modules
make[1]: entrant dans le répertoire « /home/criket/dripkg/drm/linux-core »
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.10-5-386/build SUBDIRS=`pwd` DRMSRCDIR=`pwd` modules
make[2]: entrant dans le répertoire « /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.10-5-386 »
/home/criket/dripkg/drm/linux-core/Makefile:279: *** CONFIG_X86_CMPXCHG needs to be enabled in the kernel. Arrêt.
make[2]: *** [_module_/home/criket/dripkg/drm/linux-core] Erreur 2
make[2]: quittant le répertoire « /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.10-5-386 »
make[1]: *** [modules] Erreur 2
make[1]: quittant le répertoire « /home/criket/dripkg/drm/linux-core »
make: *** [i915.o] Erreur 2

Have you a new idea to help me ?

I'm going to apologize for dragging up an old thread, I know most forums frown on that, but my problem directly relates to this. I'm currently running FC4 on a Toshiba Tecra A3. I've run the installation and I'm attempting to make changes to my
/etc/X11/xorg.conf
however the section I think I'm supposed to change looks different:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
driver "vesa"
VendorName "Videocard Vender"
BoardName "Vesa driver (generic"
Endsection

I also note below I see the following:
Section "Screen"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
etc

if I change the name above to read intel i915GM should I also change it in the following section?

X.Org file
 

The "Identifier" line can actually be whatever you'd like it to be. And, of course, each type of device, the video card, the monitor, the screen resolution, can have whatever type of "Identifier" you'd like -- make it desciptive of what you have. Whatever "names" you pick in those sections, have to carry forward in the xorg.conf file.

The "driver" line, however, has to be "i810" for the Intel 915 card instead of "vesa".

If you have additional questions, please feel free to post them.