Can't configure Intel video card: hard freeze or fallback to VESA

[Bob Willcox]

On Thu, Mar 23, 2017 at 08:07:21AM -0700, Conrad Meyer wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 23, 2017 at 7:44 AM, Bob Willcox <bob at immure.com> wrote:
> > On Thu, Mar 23, 2017 at 02:50:23PM +0100, Nicolas Kovacs wrote:
> >> I'm reading the fine FreeBSD handbook, but right now it looks like I
> >> have a showstopper. In my office I have a "sandbox" network consisting
> >> of three Dell Optiplex 330 PCs. This kind of hardware is extremely
> >> common in schools or administrations in France.
> >>
> >> All three PCs have the following video card.
> >>
> >> vgapci0 at pci0:0:2:0:   class=0x030000 card=0x02201028 chip=0x29c28086
> >> rev=0x0a hdr=0x00
> >>     vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
> >>     device     = '82G33/G31 Express Integrated Graphics Controller'
> >>     class      = display
> >>     subclass   = VGA
> >>
> >> My first attempt was based on FreeBSD 10.3 amd64. After a number of
> >> failed attempts, I gave 11.0 and even 12.0 CURRENT a spin, with the same
> >> results.
> >>
> >> I tried to install a TrueOS system, and this worked correctly. I can't
> >> say what's the magical combination the TrueOS developers applied here,
> >> and before I launch into some more trial and error and more guesswork, I
> >> thought I'd rather ask here. Ideally, I would like to run FreeBSD 10.3
> >> as a desktop on these machines. I would be thankful for any pointers on
> >> how to configure this kind of hardware. I'm not a lamer for RTFM, by the
> >> way.
> 
> Hi Nicolas,
> 
> Do you have the i915kms kernel module loaded before starting X?  If
> not, try loading that first.  Second, can you try the "modesetting"
> Xorg video driver in place of "intel"?
> 
> > I'm no expert on this, but have been struggling with Intel GPU support in
> > FreeBSD for some time now. If your Dell Optiplex 330 has one of the newer
> > Intel CPUs (e.g., Broadwell, Skylake) then the current official versions of
> > FreeBSD don't support the internal GPUs in them. I am running an Intel NUC
> > with a i7-5557U CPU (Broadwell) and it isn't supported. Currently I'm running
> > the 'work in progress' freebsd-base-graphics version of FreeBSD (a spin-off
> > from 12-current) that seems to be doing ok (just been running it now for two
> > days). Here's some info regarding this version and how to fetch/install/build
> > it:
> >
> > https://github.com/FreeBSDDesktop/freebsd-base-graphics
> >
> > Good luck, hope you get FreeBSD working for you.
> 
> Hi Bob,
> 
> >From what I can tell, the Optiplex and graphics hardware are actually
> fairly old (<2010) and should be supported by mainline FreeBSD.
> 
> Best,
> Conrad

Ah, well then the new stuff shouldn't be needed.

Bob

-- 
Bob Willcox    | You're dead, Jim.
bob at immure.com |       -- McCoy, "The Tholian Web", stardate unknown
Austin, TX     |