Problems with xorg-server-1.8.1 and xf86-video-intel-2.11.0

For the past day or so, I have been working on a clean Gentoo installation on my Samsung NC10 netbook. Things were going along quite nicely with the rebuild using the testing (~arch) branch, including the initial installation of X. However, when I issued the lovely startx command, I was continuously getting:

(EE) intel(0): No kernel modesetting driver detected.
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.

Even though KMS was clearly set in my kernel, as evidenced by the output of:

# cat /usr/src/linux/.config | grep KMS
CONFIG_DRM_KMS_HELPER=y
CONFIG_DRM_I915_KMS=y

After fighting for several hours with different kernel configurations, rebuilding all X packages (xorg-server, mesa, video & input drivers), downgrading the Intel video drivers and xorg-server in various combinations, and even running env-update (for some unknown reason, but hey, I was desperate ;)), I decided to ask for some help. Josh (nightmorph) recommended that I run:

eselect opengl set xorg-x11

a couple times. I couldn’t see what this would do, as I had set opengl already, and xorg-x11 was the only option. However, after running it a couple times, logging out and back in again, my X server finally started without error! Thank you Josh, and everyone else who made suggestions. I hope that this post helps someone else with the same issue.

|:| Zach |:|

8 comments

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  1. Any ideas why it wasn’t working before?

    • Ch00k on Friday, 11 June 2010 at 09:52
    • Reply

    Nice to hear the problem was fixed 🙂 But what’s the reason to run this several times. Isn’t this a bug and shouldn’t it be filed into Gentoo’s bugzilla?

    • BenderbendingRodriguez on Thursday, 10 June 2010 at 08:42
    • Reply

    I don’t know if samsung N130 has the same Intel graphics card (if you can call this crap like that) but i very often get hard locks when using desktop effects (yeah, i got fstack protection so that may be the cause 🙂

    • john on Thursday, 10 June 2010 at 06:00
    • Reply

    hey zach,

    are you running compiz on your nc10? I have been playing with >=xorg-server.1.8.0 and had some weird behaviour (windows disappearing, or focus not working) using the latest intel drivers…

    greetings,
    john

  2. Uh, asking out of curiosity, is there any explanation how running eselect opengl set xorg-x11 a couple of times can help?

    • RealNC on Wednesday, 9 June 2010 at 17:13
    • Reply

    If you needed to run this a couple of times instead of just once, then it’s a bug and should be reported.

  3. I had to use this in my 3 laptops running Intel to work, very strange bug…

  4. Cool tip, although it is pretty messed up O_o

    Have you noticed any benefits from the 1.8.x X11 server and the latest intel drivers?

    I’m currently on AMD64 stable, but playing any 3D game on my “HD” Intel is anything but great 😛

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