intel video driver fail
Posted on | March 9, 2010 | 5 Comments
i have been browsing for a laptop replacement to the compaq i currently have since well before christmas last year. i’ve compared, looked for new features, priced out the current options, and found none that i wanted…until the hp g26t which seemed to be something that had all the things i wanted. intel core i5, 4 gb ram (with room for 8 gb later), non-ati video drivers, nice design. i have specific wants with regard to keyboard and asthetics which also strongly drove my search.
hp g26t
i purchased the laptop with money from tax return, and it shipped to me. i picked it up on friday and unboxed it immediately only to find the keyboard wasn’t what i thought it was going to b (first unmet expectation). i took it home, ran the dvd backup software first, then shoved my fedora 12 (64-bit) dvd into the player for the reboot. the installation went smoothly. i ran the upgrade next (since i hadn’t previously downloaded a f12 respin image and didn’t want to wait for it).
when it rebooted, i noticed the resolution was still stuck on 1024×768. this thing does better, i reasoned. i copied the xorg.conf file to my home directory and rebooted. when it restarted, i had no screen. i rebooted again. same deal. i tried to ctrl+alt+f2 to a straight up text login. nothing. all the f-keys gave me nothing.
i tried rebooting into vesa mode, nomodeset, noacpi…all the same blank nothingness. i set my init to 3 and booted to a command line. checked intel hardware, looked on the google for any hope of someone posting a solution or even a sympathetic blog post of the same problem. nothing out there about it. this machine is too new for that.
after asking for more advice in the #fedora channel on freenode (irc), i realized i’d found an intel video driver the linux kernel didn’t support. i decided it was best to send it back. which i did.
now, i’m back to where i was just before i found this laptop. my second interest laptop isn’t a strong enough want to just simply purchase it. maybe if i wait, i’ll find something i want when they put out some new laptops.
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5 Responses to “intel video driver fail”
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March 11th, 2010 @ 13:38
I too had some recent video woes with Intel drivers. I purchased a dell mini 10 with the gma500 chipset when it first came out and didn’t realize what sort of shape I was in until after the return period.
The gma500 video chipset was a massive boondoggle which this link can explain better than I, http://www.happyassassin.net/2009/01/30/intel-gma-500-poulsbo-graphics-on-linux-a-precise-and-comprehensive-summary-as-to-why-youre-screwed/
March 11th, 2010 @ 13:54
this little experience has me sticking with nvidia cards for the time being. and even with those, you always have to check the compatibility list to make sure it’s covered.
March 13th, 2010 @ 23:15
Well, you could always get yourself a macbook and install Fedora or dual boot with OS X, or triple boot for that matter.
check this out:
http://www.derekhildreth.com/blog/fedora-12-constantine-on-macbook-aluminum-51-guide
March 13th, 2010 @ 23:18
oh yes, with nvidia cards…
March 15th, 2010 @ 09:54
i don’t think a mac is worth the money. the design is good, but price isn’t. and if i’m going to be putting a better os on whatever laptop i get, why not get an i5 or i7 intel cpu?