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gustaf4711

The debian was installed onto a SCSI disc in a 2004 Dell desktop.
Installation messages displayed properly in a simple VGA-style.
All terminated normally.

Upon restart, debian starts to inform of its progress in quite a small but still readable font.

Then some process starts and the display goes into an incompatible mode represented by broad flickering and well separated lines of varying colours.

Does anyone have a hint? The motherboard features an embedded Intel 82845 graphics driver. Intel.com hints that all Linux distros should have the proper Intel-driver included ...

PCNetSpec · Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 2:34 pm Post subject:

Have you tried the old trick of adding:

nomodeset

or

i915 modeset=0

as a kernel boot parameter ?

More info on Kernel ModeSetting (KMS) here:
http://wiki.debian.org/KernelModesetting
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gustaf4711 · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 1:55 pm Post subject:

Thank you PCNetSpec for your suggestion.

Being a beginner I do not know how to handle your suggestion. Therefore:

1. Into which (bootstrap?) file do I enter the nomodeset or "i915 modeset=0" commands?

2. Since the VDU becomes unreadable during the standard bootstrap, I would have to break out of it into a console-mode in order to be able to set the kernel parameter, I guess. Is that possible?

Ch

P.S. On the web I found this not-very-promising post:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-laptop-and-netbook-25/the-dreaded-82845g-intel-integrated-graphics-does-any-linux-work-with-it-802465/

PCNetSpec · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:56 pm Post subject:

OK, you need to edit a line at the GRUB menu screen at bootup, instructions here for GRUB2 (Ubuntu):
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Editing%20Menus%20During%20Boot

and add a space after quiet splash then the i915 modeset=0 (or nomodeset)

so the end reads:

quiet splash i915 modeset=0

It should be *similar* in Debian and/or GRUB legacy. (though it might be the Esc key rather than Shift)

remember, this will NOT survive a reboot, so you will have to add it permanently to GRUB after booting and update-grub

Which version of Debian ? .. or GRUB ?

[EDIT]
Or you could use a working LiveCD (or Recovery Mode root prompt) to navigate (on you hard drive) to:
/etc/modprobe.d/i915-kms.conf
and change its contents from:

options i915 modeset=1
to:
options i915 modeset=0

Save the file, and reboot.

as explained here:
http://wiki.debian.org/KernelModesetting
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gustaf4711 · Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 4:43 am Post subject:

Thanks PCNetSpec! Your advice solved my problem.

To break out of Debian 6 while it booted I used ctrl+alt +F2. I then edited the /etc/modprobe.d into
options i915 modeset=0
and the graphics output became acceptable.