Screen tearing in installer

[debiman]

that's not tearing, but something far more serious.
what hardware are you trying to install to?

I have an HP Probook 450 G1 with an i5-4200M and 8gb ram.

seems to be some sort of switchable graphics with an amd gpu (and the intel chip i suppose).
my next try would be to boot the installer with a 'nomodeset' option.
something like this:
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php ... st13028883
basically you have to get to the linux boot command line and edit it, before you even boot the installer.

or is it a live system?

[hellvetica]

that's not tearing, but something far more serious.
what hardware are you trying to install to?

I have an HP Probook 450 G1 with an i5-4200M and 8gb ram.

seems to be some sort of switchable graphics with an amd gpu (and the intel chip i suppose).
my next try would be to boot the installer with a 'nomodeset' option.
something like this:
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php ... st13028883
basically you have to get to the linux boot command line and edit it, before you even boot the installer.

or is it a live system?

Nomodeset is one of the first things that i tried. I never heard of those acpi settings though. I'll try that as soon as i can.
Also, i tried turning off hybrid graphics in the BIOS already and it made no difference.

[hellvetica]

seems to be some sort of switchable graphics with an amd gpu (and the intel chip i suppose).
my next try would be to boot the installer with a 'nomodeset' option.
something like this:
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php ... st13028883
basically you have to get to the linux boot command line and edit it, before you even boot the installer.

or is it a live system?

Nomodeset is one of the first things that i tried. I never heard of those acpi settings though. I'll try that as soon as i can.
Also, i tried turning off hybrid graphics in the BIOS already and it made no difference.

Where would i exactly insert the acpi arguments? I tried inserting them before and after the "quiet" arg. but it made no difference.

[stevepusser]

Those two video commands in the Ubuntu forum thread that set the resolution to 1280x1024 and the refresh to 60 look promising, since your "tearing" looks like the refresh rate is incorrect. I think you are meant to try one or the other.

Your next issue could be getting the wifi to work, judging by what the web searches turn up, since it doesn't look like that device is supported in the kernel.

This might help: https://github.com/tobiasBora/MT7630E_3.16

[debiman]

you haven't even answered yet what graphics hardware you really have in there.
afaiu, these laptops always come in many different flavors, even under the same model number... the switchable amd/intel graphics is something that is likely to cause problems, so we (you!) need to know for sure.
also from now on whenever you try something someone suggested you have to document it fully, show exactly what you did and where you failed and also remember to UNDO what didn't work.

PS:
it would be good to get output from

Code: Select all

lspci -k

but i understand you can't even get that far.
or can you boot into a live session? debian or sth else?

[hellvetica]

Woah.
So, i tried running a live session like debiman suggested but the pc couldn't detect my bootable usb so i put my bios boot mode in to legacy mode, ran it and the installer menu looks fine. I have no "tearing" now.

I have a hunch that i'll quickly run into plenty more issues so i'll be reporting back.

[hellvetica]

you haven't even answered yet what graphics hardware you really have in there.

Ok, my laptop is a
HP ProBook 450 G1 model#: FOY18EA

[stevepusser]

Yes, the wi-fi is probably going to be an issue...do you have a wired connection to fall back on until it gets running?

[debiman]

you haven't even answered yet what graphics hardware you really have in there.

Ok, my laptop is a
HP ProBook 450 G1 model#: FOY18EA

what do you expect me to do with this information?

[Siernan]

I am also experiencing this on an HP laptop with Debian and derivatives. I also explored mucking about with kernel boot parameters in GRUB.

It is an HP 840 G1 EliteBook - System SKU: F1R92AW#ABA

That said, those above were inquiring about specific hardware, so below is a summary of things I figured were of note (acquired on the Windows side, from msinfo32.exe, Windows 10 Enterprise 1703):

General System Info:
System Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
System Model HP EliteBook 840 G1
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU F1R92AW#ABA
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4300U CPU @ 1.90GHz, 2501 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Hewlett-Packard L71 Ver. 01.39, 9/26/2016
SMBIOS Version 2.7
Embedded Controller Version 21.89
BIOS Mode UEFI
BaseBoard Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB

Network Devices Info:
Product Type Intel(R) Ethernet Connection I218-LM
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_155A&SUBSYS_198F103C&REV_04\3&B1BFB68&0&C8

Product Type Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-N 7260
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_08B1&SUBSYS_40608086&REV_73\D8FC93FFFFCACC2C00

Display (probably the truly important info):
Name Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0A16&SUBSYS_198F103C&REV_0B\3&B1BFB68&0&10
Adapter Type Intel(R) HD Graphics Family, Intel Corporation compatible
Adapter Description Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
Adapter RAM 1.00 GB (1,073,741,824 bytes)
Color Table Entries 4294967296
Resolution 1366 x 768 x 59 hertz
Bits/Pixel 32

Audio Device (built in speakers):
Name High Definition Audio Device
Manufacturer Microsoft
PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_111D&DEV_76E0&SUBSYS_103C211E&REV_1003\4&35E8259D&0&0001

I have tried base Debian, and the derivatives Kali and Parrot, all experience the same issue. That said, the live boot options for both Kali and Parrot work (didn't try it with Debian), though, when they start, they initially experience the same issue, until about 4s into the boot process when they clear up the screen and continue logging boot things until they load the login prompt/desktop. Interestingly enough (to me), I was able to get Kali installed by slapping the laptop onto its dock and plugging in a VGA monitor to the dock (didn't try DisplayPort). For that install the laptop was shut down (and in Windows the hibernation/fast boot is off, so it is truly shut down and not in a hybrid state), then lid closed, put on the dock, and used the dock power button to boot. The lid remained closed throughout (forced it to use the external display). The output to the VGA monitor was completely unscrambled and perfectly normal. I'm going to try Parrot with an external (VGA) display plugged directly into the laptop, though for that I may have to change the video options in the BIOS if I can.

I am new-ish to Linux (though attempting to learn), and pretty competent in Windows. I am extremely curious to see where this issue leads and if a fix can be found. If there is any more information that I can provide that would assist or that I should look at myself, please let me know. I'm pretty comfortable digging most things out of Windows via PowerShell/cmd or GUI methods, and if instructed on the Linux end can dig stuff out of Kali to assist as well if that is more familiar/helpful output to others attempting to assist.

Thanks in advance for everyone's time!

Regards,
Siernan

[debiman]

Siernan, please start a new thread for a separate problem.
It looks like you provided lots of good info; I will read it when you present it as your own problem, not "the exact same problem", because that's impossible.

[Siernan]

debiman,

I am perfectly content to do so, however, from the evidence I have seen, it *is* the same problem (or at least the same symptom). I also experienced this on a different HP laptop model, a ProBook 650 G1. I have not checked the hardware on that one yet to see if it's the same model/generation of integrated Intel graphics on the board however, but will probably have some free time today. So far the theme is that perhaps it is a specific hardware component with a series/generation of HP laptops (the ProBook and EliteBook product lines are targeted more at business deployment than consumer btw). I also have a generation 2 (G2) ProBook 650 I could play with at work to see if it too experiences the same issue.

Though, if a new thread is preferred I am happy to start one and gather as much information as I can. I will probably do so later in the afternoon (TZ is Eastern US) or early evening.

Thanks for the next steps.

Regards,
Siernan

[debiman]

siernan, if your problem was the same, then this would help:

So, i tried running a live session like debiman suggested but the pc couldn't detect my bootable usb so i put my bios boot mode in to legacy mode, ran it and the installer menu looks fine. I have no "tearing" now.

...in any case, let's continue this discussion in your other thread now.