boot - Getting 14.04 to run in graphics mode on thinkpad 430s (after upgrade)

I have recently upgraded my Thinkpad430s from 12.10 -> 13.10 -> 14.04.
After the upgrade to 13.10 I could not boot in graphics mode and in
order to start the system I had to edit the grub entry to boot to the
console. After logging in from the console I could run startx and it
was ok enough to proceed to upgrade to 14.04. However, I still cannot
boot into graphics mode. And, while Unity runs ok (after doing a
startx from the console) I tried gnome and it was a failure (incorrect

screen updates, blurry icons, etc.).

I am not sure how to determine the graphics drivers (or even if I have
an nvidia controller).

Just to be clear, if I boot in graphics mode, e.g., /etc/default/grub has:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

Then I see spash screen, then I see the login screen, then it goes
gray. If I press ctrl-alt-f1 (or f7, or any other) I can see the
login prompt, but only for about 1 second. Then it goes back to the
gray screen and nothing I type gets to the login prompt.

If I change /etc/default/grub to:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="text"
GRUB_TERMINAL=console

Then, I boot into console mode, login, and run startx, and voila Unity (mostly) works.

One more thing, instead of startx, I can also run sudo service lightdm start and I am shown the normal login screen.

BTW: in 12.10 everything worked perfectly.

I think there are two problems here:

• some timing issue which won't allow lightdm to start properly at boot time


• a driver issue which causes gnome to not function properly (and unity to have some flaws too)

Below is some information about my graphics controller. What else do
you need to help me diagnose the problem?

Graphics Information:

$ sudo lshw -numeric -C display

  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller [8086:166]
       vendor: Intel Corporation [8086]
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 09
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom

       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:45 memory:d0000000-d03fffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff ioport:5000(size=64)
$ sudo lspci -vnn  | grep VGA -A 12
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller [8086:0166] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21fb]
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 45
    Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
    Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
    I/O ports at 5000 [size=64]
    Expansion ROM at  [disabled]

    Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
    Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2
    Capabilities: [a4] PCI Advanced Features
    Kernel driver in use: i915

----------- output of grep -E "Linux version|render ring" /var/log/syslog

Sep 23 11:45:09 name-ThinkPad-T430s kernel: [    0.000000] Linux version 3.13.0-36-generic (buildd@toyol) (gcc version 4.8.2 (Ubuntu 4.8.2-19ubuntu1) ) #63-Ubuntu SMP Wed Sep 3 21:30:07 UTC 2014 (Ubuntu 3.13.0-36.63-generic 3.13.11.6)

------------ output of uname:

prompt> uname -a
Linux name-ThinkPad-T430s 3.13.0-36-generic #63-Ubuntu SMP Wed Sep 3 21:30:07 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
prompt> uname -r
3.13.0-36-generic

---------------- output of lspci -nn

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller [8086:0154] (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller [8086:0166] (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller [8086:1e31] (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 [8086:1e3a] (rev 04)
00:16.3 Serial controller [0700]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family KT Controller [8086:1e3d] (rev 04)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection [8086:1502] (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 [8086:1e2d] (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller [8086:1e20] (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 [8086:1e10] (rev c4)

00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 [8086:1e12] (rev c4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 [8086:1e14] (rev c4)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 [8086:1e18] (rev c4)
00:1d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 [8086:1e26] (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation QM77 Express Chipset LPC Controller [8086:1e55] (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [8086:1e03] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller [8086:1e22] (rev 04)
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 [8086:4238] (rev 3e)

-------------------------------- output of dkms status
i915-3.15-3.13, 0.01, 3.13.0-36-generic, x86_64: installed
openafs, 1.6.7, 3.11.0-26-generic, x86_64: installed
openafs, 1.6.7, 3.13.0-36-generic, x86_64: installed