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Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

Graphical Environments, Managers, Multimedia & Desktop questions.
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DirkusMaximus
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Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#1 Post by DirkusMaximus »

I've tried searching for others having this issue, but can't seem to find any information. The system is a HP RP5800, uses an Intel HD Sandybridge chip set. The symptom is that most 3D objects (games, GLwhatever screensavers, etc) show hidden surfaces that should be behind or inside an object over top of what should be the "front" of the object. It's like everything is stuck in an Escher-inspired nightmare.

Keep in mind that I'm just coming back to the One True OS after being away for the better part of a decade. Just installed Debian on this old dumpster-bound system yesterday. Be gentle please, and thanks in advance for any advice.

Not sure if this information helps at all, but here is a snippet from glxinfo that I believe shows the driver version:

OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Sandybridge Desktop
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 13.0.6
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30

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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#2 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

This is a Debian stable system, right?

Anything relevant in ~/.xsession-errors?
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DirkusMaximus
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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#3 Post by DirkusMaximus »

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:This is a Debian stable system, right?
Yes, Stable branch (Stretch).
Head_on_a_Stick wrote:Anything relevant in ~/.xsession-errors?
Nothing at all. Apparently the computer sees nothing wrong with displaying Lovecraftian geometry. :lol:

DirkusMaximus
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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#4 Post by DirkusMaximus »

Interestingly, some things render just fine. For instance, in the "Lament" screen saver. The box by itself looks fine. Once any part of it starts to move, it starts rendering the interior and back surfaces over top of the front. I tried uploading a sample image to the forum, but the server gave me an error 500. Here's a dropbox link to the image instead.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/md8gcap8wpbtn ... s.JPG?dl=0

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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#5 Post by stevepusser »

Is the system using the modesetting or the intel (i915) driver? (install inxi and execute "inxi -G" in a terminal)
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DirkusMaximus
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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#6 Post by DirkusMaximus »

stevepusser wrote:Is the system using the modesetting or the intel (i915) driver? (install inxi and execute "inxi -G" in a terminal)
Looks like I'm on the modesetting driver. hmmm.

Graphics: Card: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
Display Server: X.Org 1.19.2 drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1440x900@59.89hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Desktop GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 13.0.6

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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#7 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

Install xserver-xorg-video-intel then, Debian recommend the modesetting DDX driver because it tends to be less buggy but the Intel specific version does offer (slightly) better performance.

The DDX driver isn't for 3D rendering but perhaps something else is going wrong with the display.
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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#8 Post by DirkusMaximus »

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:Install xserver-xorg-video-intel then...
It looks like it's already installed. How do I force it to use this instead of the modesetting driver?

dirk@oldPOS:~$ sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel
[sudo] password for dirk:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
xserver-xorg-video-intel is already the newest version (2:2.99.917+git20161206-1).
xserver-xorg-video-intel set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#9 Post by stevepusser »

Create a text file called 20-intel.conf with these contents:

Code: Select all

Section "Device"
   Identifier  "Intel Graphics"
   Driver      "intel"
#  Option      "AccelMethod" "uxa"  #could also use the default "sna"
   Option      "TearFree"     "true"
EndSection
Then copy it as sysadmin to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d:

Code: Select all

cp 20-intel.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
Reboot and check with "inxi -G", then test it with your troublesome applications. You can also uncomment the uxa line to test that acceleration method if you still have problems.
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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#10 Post by DirkusMaximus »

stevepusser wrote:Create a text file called 20-intel.conf... ...Reboot and check with "inxi -G"... ...You can also uncomment the uxa line to test that ...
No luck. Creating the configuration file and rebooting as recommended did change the driver to read "intel" instead of "modesetting", but I still see the same glitch. I then uncommented the "AccelMethod" line and rebooted again, still the same issue.

The good news is that after further deliberation, I think I've figured out the root of the issue. I took a very close look at the hardware itself, and after some deep thought and poking with a stick, I've discovered that my monitor is attached to a piece of garbage. A new-ish graphics card will be on order soon. Never had this trouble with NVidia chipsets, and I'm making the mistake of expecting good 3D performance and correct rendering from an onboard chipset in a machine that was once a lowly Point-Of-Sale terminal (thus the hostname "oldPOS" :wink: )

Thanks again for the assistance. I'm going to roll back the changes for now, and keep on trucking with what I've got until the video card arrives.

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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#11 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

NVIDIA is a poor choice for open source operating systems, the non-free drivers integrate poorly and nouveau is a drain on the resources of the open source community.

AMD at least has an open source driver, even if they do require non-free firmware.
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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#12 Post by stevepusser »

It might be worth testing the integrated card with different kernels, versions of the intel driver, or live sessions other distros, just to see if they've got it working.

The modesetting and part of the "intel" driver are built into the kernel, and maybe have been fixed in newer kernels.

For example, I have some bleeding edge Coffee Lake Intel Hardware, and it's buggy (big horizontal lines in openGL apps) with the latest xserver-xorg-video anywhere in Debian, but works fine with a git source pull and package build of that driver dating from from a few weeks ago. Modesetting fixes the GL issues, maybe that's why Debian doesn't update the driver, but seems really buggy if I use the Compton compositer.
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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#13 Post by DirkusMaximus »

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:NVIDIA is a poor choice for open source operating systems, the non-free drivers integrate poorly...
I know, but despite the headaches of non-free drivers I have always had better luck with NVIDIA than most other graphics chipset manufacturers. (ATI in particular) I'm d@mned if I do and d@mned if I don't, so if I'm d@mned either way then I may as well do it. :twisted:
stevepusser wrote:It might be worth testing the integrated card with different kernels, versions of the intel driver, or live sessions other distros, just to see if they've got it working...
I was wondering if there might be some merit in trying out the Testing branch. I've only just set this system up, so I don't have much invested in it yet. If it hangs and catches fire, dozens of minutes of work will be lost. :roll:

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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#14 Post by Wheelerof4te »

DirkusMaximus wrote:I was wondering if there might be some merit in trying out the Testing branch.
No need for that, you can use Debian backported kernel:
https://backports.debian.org/Instructions/

Compiling the the latest kernel from kernel.org is another option, albeit more advanced.

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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#15 Post by DirkusMaximus »

Wheelerof4te wrote:No need for that...
Too late. Had to fight with some dependencies with uim and its associated packages, but I got it straightened out and did a dist-upgrade. And no, that didn't straighten up the graphics glitching either.
Wheelerof4te wrote:Compiling the the latest kernel from kernel.org is another option, albeit more advanced.
I haven't compiled a kernel in forever. I'd need a few more weeks of getting used to Linux again and relearning all the stuff I've forgotten before I get into it that deep.

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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#16 Post by stevepusser »

The backports kernel is going to be easiest to install. If you're need any nonfree firmware packages or dkms drivers, it's best to update those at the same time from backports. Any newer versions of those are backwards-compatible with the standard 4.9 kernel, which you should keep as a backup boot option.

I've gotten pretty good at backporting the Sid kernels myself...I leapfrogged stretch-backports today to 4.17.14:

https://build.opensuse.org/package/show ... linux-4.17
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Re: Intel HD graphics problem - M. C. Escher weirdness

#17 Post by Wheelerof4te »

DirkusMaximus wrote:And no, that didn't straighten up the graphics glitching either.
Then it can only be weird artifacts caused by your hardware. You have mentioned it's an old system.
I don't think this is software problem.

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