FC 15 gnome-shell and Intel 915

[unibroue]

Hi everyone,

first i'll start by saying that i did some research on my problem, i even went on the FC chat to talk with some people about my problem, but they couldn't help me, so i'm trying here!

Here the problem :

i have a Dell e4310 with a Intel 915 chipset (details below), i just installed FC15 on a spare drive to give it a test, to see if i could switch to it permanently, it installed fine, but on login it says that my PC cannot run gnome-shell.

I did some research on the net, and i find that running gnome-shell --replace in Terminal would bring me the gnome-shell and see if it's working good! It is!

So ... no problem at all with the gnome-shell, no lag, no visual glitch etc... but still i receive the error that my PC cannot run it and i need to manually switch to gnome-shell each time i logon.

I find that quite annoying, since it's running fine i was hoping to find help here on how i could either bypass the verification, or find why my hardware is said as "not valid"

Here the details of my pc:

LSMOD
------------------------------------------

Module                  Size  Used by
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     28103  1 
snd_hda_codec_idt      71137  1 
binfmt_misc            17565  1 
vboxnetadp             13382  0 
vboxnetflt             28297  0 
vboxdrv               264172  2 vboxnetadp,vboxnetflt
snd_hda_intel          33211  2 
snd_hda_codec         103804  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              13604  1 snd_hda_codec
cdc_acm                22574  0 
cdc_wdm                17506  0 
snd_pcm                96625  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_midi           13324  0 
zaurus                 12932  0 
snd_rawmidi            30486  1 snd_seq_midi
arc4                   12529  2 
snd_seq_midi_event     14899  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                61621  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
cdc_ether              13208  1 zaurus
usbnet                 26165  2 zaurus,cdc_ether
snd_timer              29602  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
iwlagn                333500  0 
iwlcore               167503  1 iwlagn
i915                  514985  8 
snd_seq_device         14462  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
mac80211              294370  2 iwlagn,iwlcore
dell_wmi               12681  0 
ppdev                  17113  0 
snd                    67382  14 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
sparse_keymap          13898  1 dell_wmi
dell_laptop            13827  0 
dcdbas                 14438  1 dell_laptop
drm_kms_helper         42136  1 i915
cfg80211              178528  3 iwlagn,iwlcore,mac80211
psmouse                73535  0 
soundcore              12680  1 snd
drm                   227495  4 i915,drm_kms_helper
serio_raw              13166  0 
parport_pc             36959  0 
intel_ips              18097  0 
i2c_algo_bit           13400  1 i915
snd_page_alloc         18529  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
video                  19438  1 i915
lp                     17825  0 
parport                46458  3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
usbhid                 46956  0 
hid                    91020  1 usbhid
ahci                   25951  2 
e1000e                159096  0 
sdhci_pci              13989  0 
sdhci                  27387  1 sdhci_pci
libahci                26642  1 ahci

LSPCI
------------------------------------------

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: Dell Device 0410
	Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 42
	Region 0: Memory at f0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
	Region 2: Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Region 4: I/O ports at 60b0 [size=8]
	Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
	Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
		Address: fee0200c  Data: 4179
	Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2
		Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
		Status: D0 NoSoftRst- PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
	Capabilities: [a4] PCI Advanced Features
		AFCap: TP+ FLR+
		AFCtrl: FLR-
		AFStatus: TP-
	Kernel driver in use: i915
	Kernel modules: i915

glxinfo
-----------------------------

glxinfo | grep render
direct rendering: Yes
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ironlake Mobile GEM 20100330 DEVELOPMENT

I verified with another FC15 user with i915 driver and he can use gnome-shell without the prompt at logon, so i'm guessing there's something wrong with my setup but i can't find it on my own!

If you guys could help, i would really appreciate!

Thanks, and have a nice day!

[Diac]

I'm also having serious problems with Fedora 15 and i915.

gnome-shell works fine when I'm just using my laptop monitor but I have 2 external monitors connected via DisplayPort which are causing problems.
When I boot up with the external monitors connected and log into gnome it starts in fallback mode and I am unable to arrange the displays as I like. I've tried to do it with gnome-control-center and with xrandr.
I'm unable to control the displays, for example if I turn one display off I can't turn it on again etc.

The only way for me to use F15 on a dual monitor setup is by logging into KDE.
KDE starts up with the monitors configured as want but that's just luck.. I can't change the setup in KDE either.
It's not without problems though... Sometimes when the screensaver comes on and the displays go on standby one monitor gets garbled with horizontal lines when I wake them up again.
I've been unable to recover from this state without a reboot. It stays like this even after I exit X, so I guess the problem is rooted in the kernel driver.

I've read somewhere that i915 has a limit of 2048x2048 when it comes to DRI and that's the reason gnome-shell starts in fallback mode but somehow I was running Compiz on F14 on the same monitors without problems...

Im running Fedora 15 x86_64 on a Lenovo Thinkpad T410

Here's my Ironlake controller:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 215a
	Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 41
	Region 0: Memory at f2000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
	Region 2: Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Region 4: I/O ports at 1800 [size=8]
	Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
	Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
		Address: fee0300c  Data: 4169
	Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2
		Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
		Status: D0 NoSoftRst- PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
	Capabilities: [a4] PCI Advanced Features
		AFCap: TP+ FLR+
		AFCtrl: FLR-
		AFStatus: TP-
	Kernel driver in use: i915
	Kernel modules: i915

[unibroue]

I didn't try it on my laptop monitor which i never use!

I have a dual-monitor setup (both 1680x1050)

I'll give it a shot using the laptop monitor, but i'll guess i'll have the same problem as you! I won't run FC15 without my dual monitor ...

If anyone has an idea of how to fix ... we would appreciate! us the little people

[Diac]

Are you able to configure the monitors? Switch them around, turn them on/off etc?

[unibroue]

Ok ... i did some tests!

First, if i boot on my laptop monitor, it's working A1.

If boot on laptop monitor, and then switch on my dual-monitor, it still works, but as soon as i logout/logon it's gone!

So the problem is really the dual-monitor (or basically external monitor)

Pretty sure it's not going as it's suppose to go, cause dual-monitor is working on Linux since a few years already ... so i guess there's something messed up in gnome-shell or in FC15, my knowledge stops here!

[AdamW]

so, here's the skinny.

'i915' is just the name of the kernel module, it actually is used to cover far more than just i915 chipsets, so that doesn't tell us much and doesn't mean either of you actually have an i915 chipset precisely.

i8xx chipsets are blacklisted from ever running the Shell. i915 through i945 can run the Shell, but they do have this 2048-pixels-in-either-direction hardware limitation: if the total screen size in either X or Y axis exceeds 2048 pixels, the card won't do 3D acceleration or compositing any more, and Shell won't run. If you start off below the limit then plug in a monitor that takes you over the limit, Shell will keep running because it can't detect this change, but as soon as it tries to render something strenuous, it's liable to break in interesting ways (try activating the overview or something and see what happens). If you start up with a configuration that exceeds the limit, Shell will refuse to run and you'll get fallback mode.

Chips beyond i945 don't have the 2048 pixel limit and will basically run Shell just fine whatever you throw at them.

unibroue, btw? I love a good fin du monde...

[Diac]

AdamW

What about the problems I'm having with the control of my external monitors?
And for the garbled display from time to time?

I'd like to file a bug but I don't have a clue as to what I should file the bug against.
The kernel driver or?

[unibroue]

Very nice Adam ... at least i understand what happening, is that suppose to be by design cause of a hardware limitation or it's a driver problem?

I've tried the overview or many others "new" gnome-shell thingy while in my dual-monitor setup and no problem at all ...

That's why i want to use gnome-shell, i see no problem at all, but still it blocks me!

<OutOfContext>
Yeah Unibroue make a few really good beers!!! It's rare than anybody make the link with my username
</OutOfContext>

---------- Post added at 07:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:30 AM ----------

Just found another of your post explaining it :

NVIDIA - original GeForce or later (TNT 2 _may_ work, I think)
AMD/ATI - r300 or later is apparently the current word from X devs - that's Radeon 9500 and later (2002 vintage)
Intel - 9xx series or later is needed to be safe, but we do have some reports of 8xx series chips working. Note that everything up to and including 945 can only do 3D acceleration up to a total display resolution of 2048x2048. If your connected displays sum to more than 2048 in either width or height, you won't get hardware acceleration. If you *boot* with more than 2048 pixels, you'll get fallback mode. If you, say, boot with a 1024x768 laptop panel (and get Shell) and then plug in a 1680x1050 external monitor (causing 3D accel to be disabled), you will get a big mess. So you may want to avoid doing that. This is a hardware limitation and there's nothing we can do about it, unfortunately. 965 and anything later are safe.

---------- Post added at 08:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:49 AM ----------

Ok here how i manage to make it work for me!

First, boot on laptop monitor + one external monitor!

You should be able to login, and gnome-shell should appear (automatically)

Then, connect the 2nd external monitor and close your laptop lid!

Go in Displays and activate your new monitor, set the resolution and boom!

For now, until there's something smarter i can do, i'll give it a shot that way, to see if there's any glitch or problems, so far i see none!

[Diac]

I've done some more experimenting and it only gets weirder...

If I try to run both external monitors at the same resolution one of them is blank.
If lower the resolution on that one it turns on again.
This way I can swap and rotate the displays.

Any ideas why I can't run them at the same resolution?

Also, I tried kernel-2.6.38.6-27.fc15.x86_64 and kernel-2.6.39-1.fc16.x86_64, same behaviour on both.

[AdamW]

well, it's definitely not behaving as i'd expect. The other person who I've seen hit the 2048 pixel limit after Shell had already started up found that Shell vomited its cornflakes as soon as it actually tried to render some kind of composited effect.

It's possible your adapter isn't actually one with the 2048 pixel limitation and what we're hitting here is something else entirely, but I'm not sure. Could you give me the output of lspci -nn ? It gives the exact PCI ID of the card, which should make it easier to identify precisely...

[unibroue]

Here we go!

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller [8086:0044] (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0046] (rev 02)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation 82577LM Gigabit Network Connection [8086:10ea] (rev 05)
00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller [8086:3b3c] (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:3b57] (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 [8086:3b42] (rev 05)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 [8086:3b44] (rev 05)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 3 [8086:3b46] (rev 05)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 4 [8086:3b48] (rev 05)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller [8086:3b34] (rev 05)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev a5)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller [8086:3b0f] (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 6 port SATA AHCI Controller [8086:3b2f] (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller [8086:3b30] (rev 05)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem [8086:3b32] (rev 05)
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 [8086:422b] (rev 35)
03:00.0 SD Host controller [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd Device [1180:e822] (rev 01)
3f:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers [8086:2c62] (rev 02)
3f:00.1 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder [8086:2d01] (rev 02)
3f:02.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 [8086:2d10] (rev 02)
3f:02.1 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 [8086:2d11] (rev 02)
3f:02.2 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved [8086:2d12] (rev 02)
3f:02.3 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved [8086:2d13] (rev 02)

[AdamW]

Hum - 8086:0046 looks to be rather a lot newer than the i945 generation, so I think whatever you're seeing, it isn't the 2048 pixel limit. I'm not sure exactly what it *is*, though. I don't know why else the test would succeed with one display but fail with two. Hum. Head scratching commence...

[unibroue]

and no bug if i gnome-shell --replace, ran all day with it no problem at all

[kurt m]

so, here's the skinny.

'i915' is just the name of the kernel module, it actually is used to cover far more than just i915 chipsets, so that doesn't tell us much and doesn't mean either of you actually have an i915 chipset precisely.

i8xx chipsets are blacklisted from ever running the Shell. i915 through i945 can run the Shell, but they do have this 2048-pixels-in-either-direction hardware limitation: if the total screen size in either X or Y axis exceeds 2048 pixels, the card won't do 3D acceleration or compositing any more, and Shell won't run. If you start off below the limit then plug in a monitor that takes you over the limit, Shell will keep running because it can't detect this change, but as soon as it tries to render something strenuous, it's liable to break in interesting ways (try activating the overview or something and see what happens). If you start up with a configuration that exceeds the limit, Shell will refuse to run and you'll get fallback mode.

Chips beyond i945 don't have the 2048 pixel limit and will basically run Shell just fine whatever you throw at them.

unibroue, btw? I love a good fin du monde...

Thanks for confirming what a worthless POS Gnome 3 is. Will there be more of a focus on XFCE support in Fedora given just how useless Gnome 3 will be for a good-sized portion of fedora users?

[Mariusz W]

Thanks for confirming what a worthless POS Gnome 3 is

I don't see how Adam's post can be construed as a confirmation of what you have written. It is inevitable that novel desktop solutions put certain requirements on hardware. I myself would love that other desktop environments like e.g., fluxbox and Openbox, received more attention from Fedora developers, but this is not likely to happen on its own. A dedicated individual, or a group of individuals, are needed, then they can start a project within Fedora community devoted to optimizing experience for users of such desktops in Fedora.