[Lenovo L420/L520] System boots to garbled display

amd64 is also affected.

It looks like you have one of the new Intel "Sandy Bridge" APU's:

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2540M CPU @ 2.60GHz

The graphics part of this chip is poorly supported in Ubuntu 11.04. Some people have been able to get the desktop to work but there are graphical errors/glitches, and the system crashes when running a game. Unfortunately, you cannot even get to a desktop, perhaps due to the particular display interface used in your laptop. Things improved in the upstream 2.6.39-rc6 kernel but then regressed in 2.6.39-rc7 - see http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=intel_2639_borks&num=1
It has been reported that the latest code which will be in the upcoming 2.6.40 kernel (it may possibly become the 3.0 kernel) is working again. In the meantime, if you wish to use the 2.6.39 final kernel (available in a PPA at http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/ with a date of 19-May-2011) you can boot it with the i915.semaphores=1 parameter on the GRUB command-line to avoid the regression.

Marc does booting with `i915.semaphores=1' as described in Comment #3 offer any assistance here?

@Chris -- Installing the 2.6.39 kernel and adding the "i915.semaphores=1" does not work, I still see vertical lines instead of the login screen/desktop

I found a solution for the Natty-AMD64 - Version, what is probably suitable for the 32Bit-Version as well:

When the Page of the bootmanager Grub2 comes up, press 'e' to edit the grub commands. Delete the line "set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode" and press then F10 to continue the Booting-Process. Then the Lenovo L420 starts normal without loss of display-resolution. (I tried it first with "nomodeset" as kernel parameter, but there the display-resolution suffered.)

Then, you can change the corresponing grub-file permanently:
Open the file: "/boot/grub/grub.cfg" as a superuser and delete here again all the entire entries "set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode" near the keywords "menuentry". (This has to be done several times.)
Be aware: the command "update-grub" cancels maybe these changes (I didn't try that).

Sorry, in my description above there is an important point missing:
It is necessery to add "i915.modeset=1" as a further kernel parameter after "splash" (in the Grub2-line which starts with linux /boot/vmlinuz...) This starts the graphic driver for intel graphic devices.
Again, one should add this to the /boot/grub/grub.cfg - file...

Here is the corresponding part of my own grub.cfg-file:

menuentry 'Ubuntu, mit Linux 2.6.38-8-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
 recordfail
 insmod part_msdos
 insmod ext2
 set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
 search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 2bb691c9-...
 linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=2bb691c9... ro quiet splash i915.modeset=1 vt.handoff=7
 initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-8-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, mit Linux 2.6.38-8-generic (Recovery Mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
 recordfail
 insmod part_msdos
 insmod ext2
 set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
 search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 2bb691c9-...
 echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.38-8-generic ...'
 linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=2bb691c9... ro single
 echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
 initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-8-generic
}

@gleon -- Thanks! Following your steps allows the system to boot to the desktop normally.

Assigning Timo to see why forcing KMS seems to sort things out here on the L420

what if you add 'GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text' to /etc/default/grub (run update-grub to update the actual config) and reboot, does it change anything?

Could you also try the latest mainline kernels from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/ before I'll have a chat with upstream.

@Timo -- Adding that option to grub also allows normal a normal boot to desktop.

@Timo -- Do you have a kernel in mind? I tried a couple of the latest natty rc ones, but they either don't install or fail to boot properly

nevermind, 2.6.39-rc4 boots normally.

I installed 39-rc4 but it didn't fix the problem. Once I told grub to use text mode as above, the problem went away.

I'm running natty-proposed on an ThinkPad X220T (SandyBridge like the rest) and haven't made any video changes manually. I can boot properly, but have seen the "vertical lines" output once or twice when detaching an external monitor. Not sure if you guys think this is a related or different issue.

Uncle Pedro: no it's unrelated to this one.

Others, could you put this line in a file /usr/share/grub-gfxpayload-lists/blacklist/10_lenovo and test without the earlier line in /etc/default/grub:

v8086d0126sv17aasb21dd.*

from 00_header:
# GRUB gfxpayload blacklist. The format is a sequence of lines of the
# following form:
#
# vVENDORdDEVICEsvSUBVENDORsdSUBDEVICEbcBASECLASSscSUBCLASS

so in case I typoed it, I used the vga device id and lenovo model id to create that line (from lspci output). Not sure if it matches too widely to all Lenovo models having the same processor, though..

I am seeing this problem on a ThinkPad L520. Setting GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text as suggested in Comment #10 helps.

Reverting the default/grub change and adding the blacklist didn't work I'm afraid. Attaching lspci -v.

The lspci output is incomplete, it doesn't have the data needed for the quirk line. Try 'lspci -vnn' instead, and update your quirk line to match and try again (likely the DEVICE hex needs to be changed).

No luck with v8086d0116sv17aasb21dd.*. Attaching the more detailed output.

Confirming, that adding 'GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text' to /etc/default/grub and typing 'sudo update-grub' solves the problem on the Lenovo L420.

@Timo: Concerning your comment #17:

'lspci -vnn' yields in my case:
...
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0116] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
 Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21dd]
...
So I used the following line: 'v8086d0116sv17aasd21dd.*'
But NO SUCCESS.

@Timo: Using your instructions in comment #17:

Adding only that line in the blacklist and not modifying the kernel parameters does not result in a normal boot.

Ok, one thing I forgot; you need to run 'update-grub-gfxpayload' after adding the line. Does it work then?

@Timo -- That works! I'm getting to the desktop after running that command

*phew*, that helps, thanks :)

Now we need to add the quirk for natty, and confirm oneiric works out-of-the-box..

This is happening in Natty

Marc, It will be helpful if you could confirm that this works out of the box in Oneric.

Ara, I'm not seeing this issue in oneiric (using the 07/28 image)

Marking the general task as Fix Released, as it does not happen in Oneiric

will add a quirk for this to the natty grub2 package.

Oops, wrong package.

Uploaded to natty-proposed, please test the new package.

Hello Marc, or anyone else affected,

Accepted grub-gfxpayload-lists into natty-proposed, the package will build now and be available in a few hours. Please test and give feedback here. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you in advance!

Guys, please test the package so that this bug could be closed.

Marc -- Can you confirm this with grub-gfxpayload-lists in natty -proposed?

Thanks!

--chris

Chris -- Updated to 0.2.1, still seeing the same issue.

That's weird.. You do have the blacklist file installed by the update though (/usr/share/grub-gfxpayload-lists/blacklist/10_lenovo_l420)? What if you run update-grub-gfxpayload by hand?

Timo -- 10_lenovo_l420 is present on the system, and running update-grub-gfxpayload does not seem to do anything.
10_lenovo_l420:
0
v8086d0116sv17aasd21dd.*

New version uploaded to natty-proposed.

Timo, thanks for the upload. I've rejected it from the natty-proposed queue. Please re-build your source package with -v0.2 so that all uploads to natty-proposed show in the changes file, since they will all be copied to updates together. Also be aware that v0.2.2 fixes an unrelated bug, bug #827046 , which must be verified before your upload will be able to move to -updates as well.

Right, reuploaded a proper version.

Hello Marc, or anyone else affected,

Accepted grub-gfxpayload-lists into natty-proposed, the package will build now and be available in a few hours. Please test and give feedback here. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you in advance!

Marc, could you check that the package in proposed is fine this time :)

Time -- Installed -proposed and now system is unable to boot normally. I'm seeing Bad LUM and several Bad Target Number kernel messages displayed. Still able to access VTs though. I see two entries under the blacklist:
v8086d0116sv17aasd21dd.*
v8086d0126sv17aasd21dd.*

Marc, ok so something in -proposed (kernel?) broke the boot, highly unlikely this package :) Could you just update this one and confirm that booting stock natty+the update works?

Timo, I just tried the package from natty-proposed as the only update from proposed and it works nicely with Ubuntu Classic (gnome2), Ubuntu (unity).

I forgot to add that I'm using a Lenovo Thinkpad L520.

Timo, install stock and updated grub-gfxpayload-lists to v0.2.3. Seeing the same issue. Still have to add xforcevesa and nomodeset to allow normal boot. Otherwise, I'll see the kernel messages.

"what if you add 'GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text' to /etc/default/grub (run update-grub to update the actual config) and reboot, does it change anything?"

This fixes the issue as well on the Lenovo ThinkPad L520 model which has the 1600x900 display
Without it you only get the garbled display.

grub-gfxpayload-lists 0.2.3 from natty-proposed also fixes the issue for the L520

Seeing this fixed on the L520 as well, L420 is still borked.

Marc: Please confirm that you _don't_ have /etc/X11/xorg.conf on the machine (as I wrote on the email earlier). Remove the file, install the update and reboot. It should work just fine, at least did when I tested the machine remotely.

SRU team ping: this is blocking an unrelated fix that would otherwise be moving to -updates.

Marc: Could you please confirm that this is still broken on your L420 without an xorg.conf?

Failing that, perhaps this should proceed through for the L520 fix and the L420 could be split off as a separate bug.

@Chris

Testing with another L420. Confirmed still broken on the L420 with xorg.conf file without the xorg.conf and -proposed grub-gfxpayload-lists installed with stock natty. I'm seeing a black screen after the ubuntu logo is shown, and VTs are still accessible. Though there is no /etc/X11 after installing the grub update, which is puzzling. After installing all updates however, system does boot up to the desktop normally.

This bug was fixed in the package grub-gfxpayload-lists - 0.2.3

---------------
grub-gfxpayload-lists (0.2.3) natty-proposed; urgency=low

  * Add another device to the Lenovo blacklist file. (LP: #777212)

grub-gfxpayload-lists (0.2.2) natty-proposed; urgency=low

  * Ignore broken symlinks in /usr/share/grub-gfxpayload-lists/blacklist
    (LP: #827046).

grub-gfxpayload-lists (0.2.1) natty-proposed; urgency=low

  * Add a blacklist entry for Lenovo L420. (LP: #777212)
 -- Timo Aaltonen <email address hidden> Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:35:15 +0300

It appeared to me that the most-recent status of this bug was ‘Works on L520, and also works on L420’ - and even if it didn't work on L420 it would not *regress* anything on L420, so I've accepted this into updates.

If it turns out that the L420 isn't completely fixed, please open a separate bug for that and we can get another SRU organised.