[arch-general] i915 Module Problem

[cantabile]

On 07/09/2010 04:22 PM, Xiaochen Gao wrote:
>   Dear All,
> Sorry for the spam.
> I am new to this list and I'm fairly new to Arch Linux. I encountered a
> problem when I tried to install and use Arch Linux 2010.05. It seems to
> be: if modules auto-load is set to yes or I manually set i915 to load in
> rc.conf, my computer will stop and chang to blank black screen. If I
> disable i915 the system will start without error, but only with low
> defination display.
> My computer is new lenovo Thinkpad X201, with i5-540 processor and
> integrated Intel HD Graphics. Here I'm wondering whether it is a i915
> error, or BIOS or any problem of my computer? And can I have an
> alternative method to start my Arch Linux system with normal defination
> display?
>
> Thank you very much.
>
> Xiaochen

Are you sure it actually hangs? On my laptop, during the boot process, 
when it says "Loading modules" the i915 module is loaded and the screen 
changes resolution. Sometimes this produces a blank screen, but the 
laptop doesn't actually hang. A few seconds later I can log in blindly 
and start x, which fixes the blank screen issue.

A workaround is to put i915 and intel_agp in the initramfs. Details are 
on the intel wiki page: 
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel#KMS_.28Kernel_Mode_Setting.29