Description of Problem: IBM NetVista A30 8313,8315 (maybe all) with Intel 82845G on motherboard. Black Screen of Death in (CTL)(ALT)(F7) in init 5 as described below. Only a warm or cold reboot can fix this. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): IBM 8313-52U with shipped BIOS (28a) and flashed to 11/04/02 version 24jt31a. IBM 8315-11U with shipped BIOS (28a) and flashed to 11/04/02 version 24jt31a. Both with Red Hat Kernels 2.4.18-3 and 2.4.18-18.7. note: BIOS update fixed i810 sound. note: kernel update turned on dma reported in hdparm. How Reproducible: Every Time. Steps to Reproduce: 1. Log Off of first KDE session after system boot. 2. Restart X server at KDE login. 3. Switching from (ctrl)(alt)(K1-6) to (K7) after the reverse, whether logged into KDE or not. Actual Results: Monitor briefly turns off (1 sec) and then turns on black. There is no problem switching back to text mode in (ctrl)(alt)(K1-6) Expected Results: X Window Operation. Additional Information: IBM Bios set to 8192 Bytes of Memory, tried all possible apertures from 32 to 256 mb, anaconda sets vesa driver and finds 4096 bytes of memory, display mode is set to 1024x768 with a color depth of 16 (tried 8). Xconfigurator cannot find it. X11 runs perfectly until one of the above described events happen. Currently attempting XFree86-4.2.99.2-0.20021110.10.i386.rpm but havn't figured out all the dependencies yet. Have yet to find an alternate plug in graphics card that will boot. Conrad Stucki engineering
Intel i845 Graphics hardware is totally unsupported in both Red Hat Linux 7.3 and 8.0. In 8.0 there is some code backported from CVS which I did in hopes that it would work for someone, and it has worked for a few people, but it is just something I did for goodwill of whoever it happens to work for, and is not officially supported by Red Hat. XFree86 4.3.0 will be the first XFree86 release to support the i845 hardware. In the mean time, your only option is to use an alternate graphics adaptor. Closing bug as NOTABUG, since the hardware is not supported, which is not a bug.
When linux doesn't support a chip such as the 845G, it defaults to the "vesa" driver. It is this "vesa" driver that fails to re-start as shown above. Intel provided a default vesa mode on the 845G chipset, and the vesa driver should have supported it out of the box. It almost did. This would have made us happy. Perhaps this should be brought up to XFree86.org. I believe support for vesa modes should continue for future releases of linux for future unsupported chipsets with vesa default modes. The Release 8.0 package does work with the 845G chipset on these machines, although at 84-85 Hz at 1024x768, above the maximum 75 Hz entered in XF86Config for the LCD screens we ship. Our workaround is selected XFree86 rpm's to upgrade 8.0 to work with these monitors. Thank you for the information. Conrad Stucki engineering
As I said... i845 is not supported. Unsupported hardware is totally unsupported. The existing code in 8.0 was an effort done by me in my own unpaid personal time, in hopes that i845 would work minimally for at least someone. It is provided as-is and unsupported. Unsupported hardware will get no official attention until it is officially supported. The solution for users and customers is to purchase hardware which is supported. Sorry there is nothing I am able to do for you. XFree86 4.3.0 will support this hardware when it is released. I'd also like to note that the video modes available in the vesa driver are the ones provided by the VESA VBE BIOS in the video card. If a mode isn't available, then it is not in the BIOS.