• Laptop Graphic Card Resolution

    From Thomas Laus@21:1/5 to All on Thu Oct 11 10:32:56 2018
    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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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Yannick_Duch=C3=AAne?=@21:1/5 to All on Thu Oct 11 15:56:09 2018
    Hello,

    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.

    Le jeudi 11 octobre 2018 17:33:01 UTC+2, Thomas Laus a écrit :
    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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  • From Thomas Laus@21:1/5 to All on Thu Oct 11 19:35:23 2018
    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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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Yannick_Duch=C3=AAne?=@21:1/5 to All on Fri Oct 12 05:10:57 2018
    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.

    Le vendredi 12 octobre 2018 02:35:29 UTC+2, Thomas Laus a écrit :

    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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  • From Thomas Laus@21:1/5 to yannick_duchene@yahoo.fr on Fri Oct 12 10:02:10 2018
    On 2018-10-12, Yannick Duch?ne <yannick_duchene@yahoo.fr> wrote:
    I see, it really mess up??

    It washes the screen to a white slate before turning black.


    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.

    I generated a dmesg file for both NetBSD 6.1.5 & NetBSD 8.0 on my
    HP Pavilian laptop. I posted both files on:

    http://dmesgd.nycbug.org/index.cgi

    In the NetBSD section. The titles are:

    dmesg_6.1.5
    dmesg 8.0

    It has been a long term problem for me, but probably doesn't affect too
    many other people. It is an old laptop that I only use for running a
    few amateur radio programs that are only available on NetBSD. I would
    like to bring this laptop up to something more recent. There have been
    many security fixes since 6.1.5 and editing my programs so that they
    will still run is getting to be a chore.

    I am a retired VMS programmer and use NetBSD on my MicroVAX 4100 and a
    couple of Alpha DS-10's. I use mostly FreeBSD for most of my other
    projects. I maintain a couple of OpenBSD instance on Amazon EC2 for
    a few friends that own small businesses.

    Tom


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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Yannick_Duch=C3=AAne?=@21:1/5 to All on Sat Oct 13 05:43:51 2018
    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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  • From Thomas Laus@21:1/5 to yannick_duchene@yahoo.fr on Sat Oct 13 09:48:32 2018
    On 2018-10-13, Yannick Duch?ne <yannick_duchene@yahoo.fr> wrote:
    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.

    I can boot to the BIOS screen on the builtin laptop monitor. There are not many reconfiguration choices listed for devices. An external monitor will function if the vesa option in the boot screen is set to a couple of res- olution choices. None of the choices will allow the builtin screen to function. Requiring an external monitor to boot a laptop sort of defeats
    the purpose of having a laptop. There are error log messages recorded that list a drm problem and suggest that it is a kernel related issue since the
    X server is not involved at this point in the boot process. I think that something broke in NetBSD after 6.1.5 that keeps this model laptop from
    a console based fresh installation because of a graphics chip issue. Maybe earlier NetBSD versions used something else for the console and switched
    to using drm after 6.1.5. This triggered a bug in the laptop device
    memory map. Reprogramming the laptop memory map is beyond my skill level.
    HP no longer lists any new BIOS for my Pavilian.

    To summarize:

    NetBSD 6.1.5 boots and runs as expected, but is beyond supported lifetime.

    NetBSD kernel after 6.1.5 causes the laptop screen to wash out to a white
    on white image before turing completely black. Using an external monitor
    with vesa setting of 1024x768 32 bit boots OK and runs the X server. It
    also works with a few other vesa settings. Starting X on the external
    monitor and switching to the builtin screen will work and xrandr shows
    1024x768 60 Hz. Exiting the X server will turn both screens black with vertical white stripes. Enabling xdm doesn't help the builtin screen to function.

    It looks to me that the boot process on installation CD's > 6.1.5 are triggering a problem with drm that was not an issue in earlier releases.
    This keeps me from having a workable laptop running a recent NetBSD
    version.

    Tom

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