Hello,
After installing Debian 13/Trixie on an older Intel desktop computer, I'm experiencing complete freezes (even sysrq/magic does not respond).
This is reproducible and happens very quickly after boot, when going into graphic mode, and causing any non-trivial graphic display (e.g. loading a website, playing a movie with mplayer, etc.).
Blacklisting the "i915" driver in /etc/modprove.d/ and rebooting avoids the freeze, but that's not a usable solution for me.
I have not found a solution, and for now reverted to Debian 12 / Bookworm which works flawlessly.
I'm posting this in hopes of perhaps learning of a workaround, or raising awareness for a possible fix.
Technical details below.
Thanks for your help, and your awesome work on Debian.
-gordon
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Hardware details:
This is an old Intel DH55 motherboard with i5-650 CPU (circa 2009).
It has been extremely reliable, never had any hardware issues, and has been running various Debian versions for the last decade.
---------------------
# dmidecode -t 2
Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 15 bytes
Base Board Information
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Product Name: DH55TC
...
---------------------
# dmidecode -t bios
Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes
BIOS Information
Vendor: Intel Corp.
Version: TCIBX10H.86A.0027.2009.1119.1517
Release Date: 11/19/2009
...
---------------------
# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 37
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 650 @ 3.20GHz
stepping : 5
microcode : 0x7
...
---------------------
# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 18)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor PCI Express x16 Root Port (rev 18)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 18)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:16.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PT IDER Controller (rev 06)
00:16.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset KT Controller (rev 06)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82578DC Gigabit Network Connection (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 06)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev 06)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev a6)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation H55 Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 06)
3f:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 05)
3f:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 05)
3f:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 05)
3f:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 1st Generation Core i3/5/7 Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 05)
3f:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 1st Generation Core i3/5/7 Processor Reserved (rev 05)
3f:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 1st Generation Core i3/5/7 Processor Reserved (rev 05)
-----
Software Details:
Many Debian versions have been working on this hardware without a hitch.
Most recently, a fresh copy of Debian 12 / Bookwork (version 12.9.0 from netinst-ISO file) has been installed, and has been working without a problem.
During installation, in the "TaskSel" step, I choose "XFCE" as the desktop environment - no other settings are changed.
The default installation works well.
The graphic display is quick and responsive, and audio works "out of the box".
Today I tried installing Debian 13 Trixie (version 13.1.0 from netinst-ISO file) .
Again I chose "XFCE" during installation, and did not change any parameters/drivers/files/anything else.
After reboot, "lightdm' starts and I login, starting "XFCE".
The display is *noticeably* sluggish (dragging windows around the screen is slow and flickering).
Opening firefox / chromium and trying to render any website results in a complete freeze (ALT+CTRL+F1 does not respond, SysRq does not respond [ I enabled SysRq of course ] ).
I downloaded "Big Buck Bunny" with wget (so I know it's not a network issue), then played it with "mplayer" - the computer again freezes after a few seconds.
If, after reboot, I switch to text console (ALT+CTRL+F1) without logging in lightdm, the computer does not freeze, including if trying to browse websites with "lynx".
I tried blacklisting the "i915" driver with:
echo "blacklist i915" > /etc/modprobe.d/foo.conf
update-initramfs -u
reboot
Then after reboot, and logging in lightdm, the computer does not freeze (and the XFCE UI is actually slightly more responsive) - but of course the resolution is terrible.
Without "i915" loaded, websites are rendered fine, and even playing "big buck bunny" with mplayer works (as best as the non-accelerated driver can do, and without audio).
For now I reverted to Debian 12.9.0 - which works without a problem.
I still have Debian 13.1.0 installed on a different partition, so I can try other things, if you have suggestions.
This is "dmesg" from the Debian 12 (which works):
# dmesg | grep -Ei 'i915|video|vga'
[ 0.094872] Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
[ 0.307962] pci 0000:00:02.0: Video device with shadowed ROM at [mem 0x000c0000-0x000dffff]
[ 0.315270] pci 0000:00:02.0: vgaarb: setting as boot VGA device
[ 0.315270] pci 0000:00:02.0: vgaarb: bridge control possible
[ 0.315270] pci 0000:00:02.0: vgaarb: VGA device added: decodes=io+mem,owns=io+mem,locks=none
[ 0.315270] vgaarb: loaded
[ 5.231960] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] VT-d active for gfx access
[ 5.232009] i915 0000:00:02.0: vgaarb: deactivate vga console
[ 5.232959] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Using Transparent Hugepages
[ 5.232963] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] DMAR active, disabling use of stolen memory
[ 5.234002] i915 0000:00:02.0: vgaarb: changed VGA decodes: olddecodes=io+mem,decodes=io+mem:owns=io+mem
[ 5.310486] [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20201103 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 0
[ 5.310690] ACPI: video: Video Device [GFX0] (multi-head: no rom: yes post: no)
[ 5.310789] input: Video Bus as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/PNP0A08:00/LNXVIDEO:00/input/input2
[ 5.437432] fbcon: i915drmfb (fb0) is primary device
[ 5.583764] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] fb0: i915drmfb frame buffer device
[ 7.429377] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
dmesg from the Debian 13 (which does not):
# dmesg | grep -Ei 'i915|video|vga'
[ 0.103102] Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
[ 0.340176] pci 0000:00:02.0: Video device with shadowed ROM at [mem 0x000c0000-0x000dffff]
[ 0.347606] pci 0000:00:02.0: vgaarb: setting as boot VGA device
[ 0.347606] pci 0000:00:02.0: vgaarb: bridge control possible
[ 0.347606] pci 0000:00:02.0: vgaarb: VGA device added: decodes=io+mem,owns=io+mem,locks=none
[ 0.347606] vgaarb: loaded
[ 2.441824] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Found IRONLAKE (device ID 0042) display version 5.00 stepping N/A
[ 2.442680] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] VT-d active for gfx access
[ 2.442738] i915 0000:00:02.0: vgaarb: deactivate vga console
[ 2.443233] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Using Transparent Hugepages
[ 2.443237] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] DMAR active, disabling use of stolen memory
[ 2.444328] i915 0000:00:02.0: vgaarb: VGA decodes changed: olddecodes=io+mem,decodes=io+mem:owns=io+mem
[ 2.518601] [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 0
[ 2.518790] ACPI: video: Video Device [GFX0] (multi-head: no rom: yes post: no)
[ 2.518903] input: Video Bus as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/PNP0A08:00/LNXVIDEO:00/input/input2
[ 2.678418] fbcon: i915drmfb (fb0) is primary device
[ 2.843132] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] fb0: i915drmfb frame buffer device
[ 8.824792] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])