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Old 04-03-2015, 04:12 AM   #1
mirror_man
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X server crashes on laptop with Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Chip


Hi,

I'm using a fresh install (from DVD) of opensuse 13.2 KDE (32 bit) on a Dell inspiron 1525. It has the Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller.

Various actions result in X crashing and I get kicked out to the login screen. When at the login screen I cannot simply login again from there because that results in being kicked straight back to the login screen again. I have to reboot first and then the login works.

The events I've found so far that trigger this behaviour are:

Trying to get into yast (at the point of entering root password and clicking 'ok').

Running the command xrandr.

Opening a PDF document.

Activate/deactivate desktop effects.

Clicking on 'Display and Monitor' in System Settings.

Screen blanking.

Starting knotes.

Starting Calibre.

Starting Transmission.

Trying to run an XP VM or running an opensuse install ISO in Vitualbox results in 'aborted' a few seconds after starting.

Here's some information about my system graphics:

Code:
hwinfo --gfxcard
09: PCI 02.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA)                                                           
  [Created at pci.328]                                                                                       
  Unique ID: _Znp.kIVVn0Xw8t7                                                                                
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0                                                                 
  SysFS BusID: 0000:00:02.0
  Hardware Class: graphics card
  Model: "Intel 965 GM"
  Vendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
  Device: pci 0x2a02 "965 GM"
  SubVendor: pci 0x1028 "Dell"
  SubDevice: pci 0x022f 
  Revision: 0x0c
  Driver: "i915"
  Driver Modules: "drm"
  Memory Range: 0xfea00000-0xfeafffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  Memory Range: 0xe0000000-0xefffffff (ro,non-prefetchable)
  I/O Ports: 0xeff8-0xefff (rw)
  IRQ: 44 (2061 events)
  I/O Ports: 0x3c0-0x3df (rw)
  Module Alias: "pci:v00008086d00002A02sv00001028sd0000022Fbc03sc00i00"
  Driver Info #0:
    XFree86 v4 Server Module: intel
  Driver Info #1:
    XFree86 v4 Server Module: intel
    3D Support: yes
    Extensions: dri
  Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

10: PCI 02.1: 0380 Display controller
  [Created at pci.328]
  Unique ID: ruGf.Fls7hspaQUD
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.1
  SysFS BusID: 0000:00:02.1
  Hardware Class: graphics card
  Model: "Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (secondary)"
  Vendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
  Device: pci 0x2a03 "Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (secondary)"
  SubVendor: pci 0x1028 "Dell"
  SubDevice: pci 0x022f 
  Revision: 0x0c
  Memory Range: 0xfeb00000-0xfebfffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  Module Alias: "pci:v00008086d00002A03sv00001028sd0000022Fbc03sc80i00"
  Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
Code:
/sbin/lspci -nnk
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a00] (rev 0c)
        Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:022f]
        Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (primary) [8086:2a02] (rev 0c)
        Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:022f]
        Kernel driver in use: i915
        Kernel modules: i915
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (secondary) [8086:2a03] (rev 0c)
Code:
inxi -G             
Resuming in non X mode: xdpyinfo not found. For package install advice run: inxi --recommends
Graphics:  Card: Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (primary) 
           X.org: 1.16.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) tty size: 109x38 Advanced Data: N/A for root
Apparently there are problems with the Intel graphics stack for older chips like mine, I've done lots of searching and asked for help on the opensuse forum but so far with no luck.

I'm not sure that there's anything that can be done apart from waiting to see if Intel fix the bugs or buy a laptop that doesn't have Intel graphics, but any help/advice would be most appreciated!
 
Old 04-03-2015, 04:35 AM   #2
pan64
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probably it is a hardware related error, check your RAM. Also look at the log files.
 
Old 04-03-2015, 05:26 AM   #3
mirror_man
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pan64 View Post
probably it is a hardware related error, check your RAM. Also look at the log files.
OK, thanks. I'll check the RAM later. Which log files would give me some useful information?
 
Old 04-03-2015, 05:50 AM   #4
pan64
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goto /var/log and there can be several files like Xorg*, messages, syslog and probably others. Also you can check ~/.xsession*
 
Old 04-03-2015, 11:05 AM   #5
mirror_man
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pan64 View Post
goto /var/log and there can be several files like Xorg*, messages, syslog and probably others. Also you can check ~/.xsession*
Well I ran memtest for about an hour and a half, no errors at all in that time.

Looked at a couple of logs but couldn't see anything that would seem to indicate a crash. Not that I really know what to look for.
 
Old 04-04-2015, 03:14 AM   #6
veerain
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Try switching DE from KDE to Xfce.
 
Old 04-04-2015, 03:38 AM   #7
mirror_man
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Originally Posted by veerain View Post
Try switching DE from KDE to Xfce.
I'm curious about why you think changing the DE would make any difference?
 
Old 04-04-2015, 11:18 PM   #8
veerain
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Because it has been observed that running KDE crashes with old graphics chips.
 
Old 04-05-2015, 01:58 AM   #9
mirror_man
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Quote:
Originally Posted by veerain View Post
Because it has been observed that running KDE crashes with old graphics chips.
OK, thanks, maybe I'll give that a go. Do you have any specific links where I could read about this? I have found one:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=185650

which seems relevant but they are mostly talking about kwin crashing rather than X server.
 
Old 10-09-2015, 02:30 PM   #10
mirror_man
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Well I did change to xfce (xubuntu) after a while and that ran all right with no system crashes. I want to be back on opensuse/kde though so I'm still trying to find out what the problem is with that.

I installed opensuse/kde 13.2 on an external hard drive plugged into this laptop and it runs just fine on that; no crashes at all. So I bought a new hard drive for the laptop and installed the system on that but it behaves just the same as on the older laptop hard drive, ie. the crashes still occur.

If anyone has any idea why the system runs all right on the extenal hard drive but not on the laptop hard drive(s) I would love to know. All the same hardware (except for the hard drive) is being used so what can be making the difference?
 
Old 10-10-2015, 03:54 AM   #11
pan64
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I don't think that: how long did you test it on the external drive? (probably that was not long enough). I think - as it was already mentioned - KDE eats up a lot of resources and makes the system relatively unstable. But actually it was the X server not the KDE -under heavy load.

(I could crash X any time I wanted by starting a specific app and just by moving a scrollbar)
 
Old 10-10-2015, 07:49 AM   #12
oldtechaa
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You could try OpenSUSE with XFCE. I bet it still has problems though.
 
Old 10-15-2015, 02:21 PM   #13
mirror_man
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I just want to mention that I have no general stability problems with opensuse/kde, and I don't find it to be a resource hog (boots to the desktop using just over 200 MB of RAM) either, YMMV. Also, with respect to these crashes that occur, it does not matter how long the system has been running before I try one of the aforementioned things that make the system crash; it happens if the system has been up for one minute or for five hours.

With the install on the external drive, the system does not crash, no matter what I do or for how long it has been running. What I'm interested in is this: does anyone have any idea why this might be the case?

Thanks.
 
Old 10-16-2015, 11:55 AM   #14
pan64
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to be able to go further we need to reproduce it, so I think you need to specify how can you crash your system.
 
Old 10-16-2015, 05:24 PM   #15
mirror_man
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pan64 View Post
to be able to go further we need to reproduce it, so I think you need to specify how can you crash your system.
Have a look at my first post.
 
  


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