Video Acceleration?
 

I have recently upgraded to Linux Mint 15 Cinnamon 64bit and I keep getting a message on my screen at startup telling me that I have no video acceleration ...
I didn't have this problem with LM14.
How do I switch on Video Acceleration?
My graphics is Intel GMA HD series.

Thanks, Gael.

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 18)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 18)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 06)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 06)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 06)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev 06)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev 06)
00:1c.6 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 7 (rev 06)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 8 (rev 06)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev a6)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 06)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)
ff:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 05)
ff:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 05)
ff:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 05)
ff:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 05)
ff:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 05)
ff:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 05

Can you post the output of the following commands.
jdk

lsmod |grep video
uvcvideo 80847 0
videobuf2_vmalloc 13056 1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops 13202 1 videobuf2_vmalloc
videobuf2_core 40513 1 uvcvideo
videodev 129260 2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
video 19390 1 i915

lsmod |grep drm
drm_kms_helper 49394 1 i915
drm 286313 3 i915,drm_kms_helper

Hope that helps.

gael

It looks like you're using the i915 driver. Is that correct? Can you post the output of this command.
Aside from the message at bootup telling you that you have no video acceleration, are there any other symptoms? Any programs that don't run properly?
jdk

$ dmesg |grep drm
[ 17.807893] [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810
[ 17.862072] [drm] Supports vblank timestamp caching Rev 1 (10.10.2010).
[ 17.862074] [drm] Driver supports precise vblank timestamp query.
[ 18.085860] fbcon: inteldrmfb (fb0) is primary device
[ 18.318364] i915 0000:00:02.0: fb0: inteldrmfb frame buffer device
[ 18.318492] [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20080730 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 0

Sorry I couldn't get this to you earlier ... life got in the way :)

Looks ok. To repeat my question:
jdk

Nope! apart from the initial message at startup there appears to be no other symptoms ... all the programs work just fine.

Right below your excellent tagline about the magician place the following:
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. :)
jdk

HaHaHa! you have a point. However, normally error messages require investigation and I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem since moving to LM15 Cinnamon???

Thank you for responding, it was appreciated.

gael.

You're quite welcome. And you're sure it was an error message and not just a warning?
You can try this link and see how it goes.
http://www.craftymind.com/factory/gu...amingTest.html
jdk

The message on the screen says, "Running in software rendering mode".
The whole message says, " Cinnamon is currently running without video hardware acceleration and, as a result, you may observe much higher than normal CPU usage.
There could be a problem with your drivers or some other issue. For the best experience, it is recommended that you only use this mode for troubleshooting purposes."

Incidentally, the gaming test ran perfectly although I wasn't quite sure what it was supposed to do :)

gael

I think it just tests the video acceleration. If it looks normal then I guess it passes the test. If Mint is constantly whinging for no good reason, switch to Debian or at least LMDE.
jdk

Your not going to believe this ... I installed another desktop environment, in this case XFCE as it's fairly lightweight, and the "Message" problem disappeared. I switched back to Cinnamon and the "Message" no longer appears ... Talk about weird :)

Why do you recommend Debian & LMDE?

gael.

I guess it's just a matter of personal taste. It's hard to put into words. If you try Debian you'll see what I mean.
jdk

The two commands I use to test for video acceleration are:

The second one shows gears spinning, and gives your FPS reading. It's stopped by pressing "q". If the FPS reading is lower than it should be, then there's a problem. Try it on Mint, and then on another distro (IE, run by Live CD) and see if there's a difference. If not, then there is no problem (though, from the sound of it, it seems you've solved the problem anyway, so good!)