Feisty + Intel i915 module on 915GEVL motherboard + Xorg = scrambled display
 

Xorg

Kubuntu 7.04/Feisty Fawn on Intel 915 motherboard using onboard graphics with Samsung SyncMaster 720n (17" LCD/TFT) Max res supprt - 1280x1024 at 75 Hz.
behavior:
Startup and all daily routines are normal. Problem arises when I have to shift to vt 1-6 or during shutdown. The screen is garbled with near horizontal lines. It is noticed that Top 25% of the scrambled screen shows the correct display albeit in near horizontal lines. Lower 75% of the screen is filled with garbage... that may include colors or their blocks from the display we have switched or RGB speckles or something at random. What ever it is, it is in form of those near horizontal lines on the whole screen, I think it can be called noise.
However, I can shift back to vt7 using Ctrl+Alt+F7 where everything seems normal. Here's the catch - WHEN I RESTART XSERVER USING CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE AND THEN SHIFT TO ANY OF THE TERMINAL (VTs), EVERYTHING IS PERFECTLY FINE!!
Screenshot:
http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/...7_dscn0001.jpg
More observations:
* If x fails during startup, for e.g. due to bad xorg.conf, vt1-6 are available.
* Testing done by uncommenting one by one the 'Screen...' lines in ServerLayout section.
* Xorg reconfigured too using 'dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg', no change in behavior
* Starting a new GUI session in another vt caused the same behavior to reappear even after xserver has been zapped/restarted using Ctrl+Alt+BackSpace once before in vt7
* Once the server is restarted and VTs restored, the logout screen (the one that comes while shutting down) scrambles.
* Same behavior observed in dyne:bolic
* Same behavior observed on CRT => it is an X problem

Doubt:
What's the difference between Monitor and Screen in xorg.conf?
What are the zeros for in 'Screen 0 "Default Screen" 0 0' and what do they stand for?

*****Current xorg.conf********All the Wacom devices have removed as i am on a desktop*****
*************************************More Info*****************************************
(when run as normal root)

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82915G/GV/910GL Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 04) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 4556
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
Memory at ff480000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
I/O ports at ec00 [size=8]
Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Memory at ff440000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2

reveals...
i915 24448 2
drm 81044 3 i915
video 16388 0


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I am willing to provide more information on demand.

Regards,
Dev

i tried to switch to intel driver by replacing xserver-xorg-i810 with xserver-xorg-intel as i have a 915G onboard graphics subsystem. It switched to unknown refresh rates and monitor just said to switch to 1280x1024 @ 60Hz. After many reconfigurations using dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg, and many other refresh rate combos, i got the same error.

Finally I have reverted back to i810 and am facing the same old problem as outlined above.

workaround

try 'vesa' instead of 'i810' , you might get 800x600 if your lucky! & buy you time

Thanks for replying Stevie... guess you missed one line from the original post..

I have a lot of time on my hands. ;)

Guess I did !