I tried to install the latest NetBSD 8.0 on an older i386 HP Pavilion
laptop. The default screen resolution puts the console display into
the weeds. I tried all of the vesa modes in the boot menu and none
of them work with this laptop. Some do work with an external monitor.
The last version that I could successfully boot and install was NetBSD
6.1.5.
What was the default console display resolution for that one? How can
I make this work with NetBSD 8.0 i386?
Tom
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I may be too naive, but have you looked at `dmesg` messages?
Just after you boot, save the messages like this:
dmesg >dmesg.txt
Then grep in these:
grep -iE "monitor|framebuffer|display|graphic" dmesg.txt
For me, it returns this:
acpivga0 at acpi0 (VID): ACPI Display Adapter
acpiout0 at acpivga0 (TV, 0x0200): ACPI Display Output Device
acpiout1 at acpivga0 (CRT, 0x0100): ACPI Display Output Device
acpiout2 at acpivga0 (LCD, 0x0400): ACPI Display Output Device
acpiout3 at acpivga0 (DVI, 0x0300): ACPI Display Output Device
acpivga0: 0x0100 (acpiout1): Ext. Monitor, head 0, bios detect
acpivga1 at acpi0 (VID2): ACPI Display Adapter
drm: Memory usable by graphics device = 256M
intelfb0: framebuffer at 0xdc2ea000, size 1440x900, depth 32, stride 5760
wsdisplay0 at intelfb0 kbdmux 1: console (default, vt100 emulation), using wskbd0
wsmux1: connecting to wsdisplay0
vendor 8086 product 27a6 (miscellaneous display, revision 0x03) at pci0 dev 2 function 1 not configured
wsdisplay0: screen 1 added (default, vt100 emulation)
wsdisplay0: screen 2 added (default, vt100 emulation)
wsdisplay0: screen 3 added (default, vt100 emulation)
wsdisplay0: screen 4 added (default, vt100 emulation)
It may provide a first overview of the situation.
My problem comes a very long way before the laptop gets to the point
of being able to read a dmesg from the boot process. I can't even
do an install from the cdrom because the laptop video goes into the
weeds at the point that the video changes from green. I am able to use
an external monitor and change the vesa resolution and then boot to
the install screen. The native laptop monitor does not like any of
the choices and it is useless for anything.
This laptop started having this issue after NetBSD 6.1.5. Everything
worked OK up until then. Installing 8.0 with an external monitor and starting X works OK. Xrandr reports 1024x768 60Hz on both the builtin
and the external monitor. The builtin screen washes out and turns
black whenever I boot the install CD with any release after 6.1.5.
I have not tried using xdm and testing whether the builtin screen
comes back to life once Xorg has started. I don't rememember the
Intel Graphic chip name off-hand but can look it up if needed. When
I exit the X server, the screen turns black with white stripes running
from top to bottom.
Tom
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I see, it really mess up??
As much naively as in my previous comment, what I would: install
NetBSD 8 with the external monitor, add something in `/etc/rc.d`
so that it dump `demsg` to some file. Test this work. Unplug the
external monitor to boot with the laptop monitor, wait enough
time, then reboot with the external monitor to inspect the dumped
`dmesg`.
I must confess I?m a newbie with NetBSD.
Framebuffers in *BSD operating systems are treated very differently from other
devices like disc controllers, PCI bridge controllers and network cards. Where
all kinds of network cards get their own associated driver, graphic cards in contrast, especially PCI/ISA devices, generally are only set up by the computers BIOS or similar part and further neglected.
A document which may be of interest in this context: http://mail-index.netbsd.org/tech-kern/2002/09/13/0002.html
It says:
Framebuffers in *BSD operating systems are treated very differently
from other devices like disc controllers, PCI bridge controllers and
network cards. Where all kinds of network cards get their own associated
driver, graphic cards in contrast, especially PCI/ISA devices, generally
are only set up by the computers BIOS or similar part and further
neglected.
The document dates from early 2000, but since NetBSD is a lot stable
(one of the thing I like with it), may be it?s still relevant.
At least, my own `dmesg` dump shows there are multiple ?bios detect?,
which seems to confirm the above.
I don?t know if it was already tried, but may something to try is to
boot with the faulty monitor and try to enter BIOS setup, to see if
it works, first, then, to see if some configuration may change something.
P.S. I don?t pretend this will solve this particular issue, but I feel
this may be useful to any people facing issues of the like.
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