Boot issues and screen tearing with Intel UHD Graphics 630

[Schwarzer Kater]

Today I have started installing Kubuntu 20.04 on a newly bought desktop computer for a friend's buisiness.
It's a Lenovo ThinkCentre M720s SFF with Intel Core i5-9400, 16GB RAM, 512 GB Samsung 860 Pro SSD etc. - a nice-looking, quiet and quite fast workhorse.

Graphics are handled by the onchip Intel UHD Graphics 630 - and this seems to be problematic in combination with Kubuntu 20.04 (and Ubuntu 20.04, which I also have tested with the new computer earlier today):

Fortunately my friend doesn't need her new computer until the beginning of June, so I do still have some time to play around with it.

1. Booting from an USB Kubuntu 20.04 live installer in default mode ("Start Kubuntu") causes the computer to freeze.
You have to select the second option "Start Kubuntu (safe graphics)". Then everything is as I am used to and installation works fast and without any surprises.
Well, no, there is a surprise: when you start Kubuntu for the first time, the system freezes just before the Plasma login-screen (screen is black and you can see a mouse pointer). No keys or key combinations do anything.

What I did to resolve this issue:

• force-restarted the computer
• held down "ESC"-key to enter GRUB boot menu ("ESC", because this computer uses UEFI - if you find yourself in the grub shell at this point instead of the menu, enter "normal" and hit the "ESC"-key again directly thereafter)
• chose "Advanced options for Ubuntu" and booted with the latest kernel in recovery mode
• chose root to get to the shell
• cd /etc/default ; cp grub grub.orig ; nano grub
• added nomodeset after "quiet splash" with a space and within the quotation marks
• saved the modified grub and update-grub
• reboot

Now, finally, the new computer did boot Kubuntu 20.04 without any freezes.

This forum and the following web-site have helped finding a solution for that: https://itsfoss.com/fix-ubuntu-freezing/


But…
2. Whenever you move a window, for example in Dolphin, or scroll a large document there is really ugly screen tearing…

KDE Info Center -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL shows that there does not seem to be a matching driver for the Intel UHD Graphics 630, it claims that Vendor is "VMware, Inc." and says Renderer is "llvmpipe (LLVM 9.0.1, 256 bits)"…

And KDE System Settings -> Driver Manager says that there are "No additional drivers available."

Hm. Earlier today I had installed Kubuntu 18.04.4 (kernel 5.3) - unfortunately I did not look up graphics in KDE Info Center then, but installation in standard mode caused no problems at all and there was absolutely no screen tearing in Plasma. Moving windows was much smoother.

Intel UHD Graphics 630 is really no exotic GPU at all, in fact it is quite common in buisiness-settings - neither did Intel release their UHD Graphics 630 yesterday or the day before…

Any ideas, any solutions?
I would really prefer not to give this system to my friend in the current state (June is some weeks away, so I do have hope!), neither would I like to install 18.04.4 instead of 20.04 for her everyday-work - I had just convinced her to show Windows the middle finger…

Thanks a lot for reading and thinking.

[claydoh]

[I]KDE Infocenter -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL shows that there does not seem to be a matching driver for the Intel UHD Graphics 630, it claims that the manufacturer is "VMware, Inc." and says the renderer is "llvmpipe (LLVM 9.0.1, 256 bits)"…[/I]

That means that the system is using software rendering for opengl (and was made by Vmware). Dunno why yet, but this issue seems somewhat common across distros over the past few years, mainly when this chipset was new-ish ('17-'18).

[COLOR=#333333]And [/COLOR][I]KDE Systemsettings -> Driver Manager says that there are "No additional drivers available."
[/I]

correct, as there are no proprietary drivers for intel graphics chips.


I don't see a remedy, though i am probably overlooking something obvious or basic for troubleshooting. Intel are usually problem-free.

No added PPAs or anything, fully up to date and rebooted, etc, I assume?

[Schwarzer Kater]

Thank you.

"Standard" full installation with non-free software, no added PPAs (except for "Canonical partner", this is kind of a reflex ;-) ), fully up to date (with "standard" manual optimizations for the SSDs and ufw enabled, but this has nothing to do with graphics at all), rebooted (several times now) - the systems works exactly as good as on my old private desktop (well, much faster of course) - except for the ugly tearing.

I installed the latest firmware for the Lenovo M720s three minutes ago and will install Kubuntu 20.04 from scratch now, but somehow I doubt that will change anything… I will see in fifteen minutes and be back to give a feedback.

[Schwarzer Kater]

No, as supposed nothing has changed by installing the latest UEFI firmware for the computer and reinstalling Kubuntu 20.04 from scratch…

Will install 18.04.4 now and look in KDE Info Center if a driver - and which one - is used there.

UPDATE:
Kubuntu 18.04.4 seems to use the appropriate driver.
KDE Info Center -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL shows that Vendor is "Intel Open Source Technology Center", Renderer is "Mesa DRI Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (Coffeelake 3x8 GT2)" and Kernel module is "unknown".

There is something seriously wrong indeed with 20.04 concerning this GPU.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Tonight I have installed the Ubuntu mainline kernels 5.5.19, 5.6.10 and 5.6.11, but none of them made any difference concerning 20.04 not selecting the correct driver for the Intel UHD 630 GPU.
It is still "VMware, Inc. / llvmpipe (LLVM 9.0.1, 256 bits)" and the tearing is still there, of course.

I have followed the instructions on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/MainlineBuilds

What should I do next?

[claydoh]

I have not dug much deeper, but have you tried using the 'nomodeset' option in grub?
It is a sort of generic thing to try, and can be done temporarily before making it permanent if it works

A thorough how-to

https://www.dell.com/support/article...ooting?lang=en

[Schwarzer Kater]

Yes, I already did (see post #1), thanks. This resolved the freeze issue.
But the screen tearing issue remains, because 20.04 does not use the correct driver for the GPU but software rendering (18.04.4 does, see above)…

[Schwarzer Kater]

No work today, so I have tested my friend's new Lenovo ThinkCentre M720s with Kubuntu 19.10 and openSUSE Leap 15.2 beta…

Kubuntu 19.10:
Booting from an USB Kubuntu 19.10 live installer in default mode ("Start Kubuntu") causes the screen to go black. The monitor simply goes into energy-saver-mode…
You have to select the second option "Start Kubuntu (safe graphics)". Then everything works without any surprises.
When you start Kubuntu 19.10 for the first time, the system boots without any issues and without any need to add nomodeset to grub.

There is no screen tearing and KDE Info Center -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL shows that Vendor is "Intel Open Source Technology Center", Renderer is "Mesa DRI Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (Coffeelake 3x8 GT2)" and Kernel module is "i915".

The kernel version is the same as in Kubuntu 18.04.4: 5.3.0-51.

openSUSE Leap 15.2 beta:
No issues at all during installation.

There is no screen tearing and KDE Info Center -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL shows that Vendor is "Intel Open Source Technology Center", Renderer is "Mesa DRI Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (Coffeelake 3x8 GT2)" and Kernel module is "i915".

The current kernel version is 5.3.18.

Sigh…
So Kubuntu 18.04.4, Kubuntu 19.10 and openSUSE Leap 15.2 beta all use the correct driver for the Intel UHD 630 GPU, though Kubuntu 18.04.4 says the kernel module is "unknown".
One thing all three have in common: they all use kernel 5.3.x…

Next step for me will be to test the computer with another distro that uses a more recent kernel, like Fedora 32.
Will keep you up to date.

UPDATE:
Fedora 32 KDE boots without any problems from the live installer.

There is no screen tearing and KDE Info Center -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL shows that Vendor is "Intel", Renderer is "Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)" and Kernel module is "i915".

The current kernel version of the live installer is 5.6.6.

[Snowhog]

Thank you.

"Standard" full install with non-free software, no added PPAs (except for "Canonical partner", this is kind of a reflex ;-) ), fully up to date (with "standard" manual optimizations for the SSDs and ufw enabled, but this has nothing to do with graphics at all), rebooted (several times now) - the systems works exactly as good as on my old private desktop (well, much faster of course) - except for the ugly tearing.

I installed the latest firmware for the Lenovo M720s three minutes ago and will install Kubuntu 20.04 from scratch now, but somehow I doubt that will change anything… I will see in fifteen minutes and be back to give a feedback.

Have you looked at which Rendering is being used? If it's OpenGL 3+, set it to OpenGL 2+, save, and reboot.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Thank you for your idea. I suppose you refer to "KDE System Settings -> Display and Monitor -> Compositor"?
On my friend's computer Kubuntu 20.04 uses OpenGL 2.0, as do Kubuntu 18.04.4, Kubuntu 19.10, openSUSE Leap 1.52 beta and Fedora 32 KDE live installer.

I did the opposite of your idea then and switched it to OpenGL 3.1 in Kubuntu 20.04 and rebooted, but nothing changed - so I switched it back to OpenGL 2.0 again.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Out of desperation and hopefully to do something that helps a (K)ubuntu expert to locate the reason for the issue with 20.04 and the Intel UHD 630 GPU I have installed the Ubuntu mainline kernels 5.4.28, 5.5.19 and 5.6.11 for Kubuntu 19.10 (the last Kubuntu that uses the correct driver for the Intel UHD 630 GPU).

Afterwards there still was no screen tearing in Kubuntu 19.10 and KDE Info Center -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL still showed that Vendor is "Intel Open Source Technology Center", Renderer is "Mesa DRI Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (Coffeelake 3x8 GT2)" and Kernel module is "i915".

But there were some messages in Konsole during the installation that could give some insight to an expert, I hope:

During installation of kernel 5.4.28 (last of the 5.4 mainline kernels available for download by Ubuntu for amd64):

…
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-5.4.28-050428-generic
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/tgl_dmc_ver2_04.bin for module i915
…

During installation of both kernels 5.5.19 and 5.6.11 there were more:

…
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-5.6.11-050611-generic
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/icl_dmc_ver1_09.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/tgl_dmc_ver2_04.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/skl_huc_2.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/bxt_huc_2.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/kbl_huc_4.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/glk_huc_4.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/kbl_huc_4.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/cml_huc_4.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/cml_guc_33.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/icl_huc_9.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/ehl_huc_9.0.0.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/ehl_guc_33.0.4.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/tgl_huc_7.0.3.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/tgl_guc_35.2.0.bin for module i915
…

[Schwarzer Kater]

Another desperate test today: fresh normal installation of Kubuntu 19.10 and upgrade to Kubuntu 20.04 LTS directly thereafter.

Well, it worked - somehow…
Screen tearing is finally gone in 20.04 and KDE Info Center -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL shows that Vendor is "Intel", Renderer is "Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)" and Kernel module is "i915".

So here is what I did:

• I still had to boot from the Kubuntu 19.10 USB installation media with the second option "Start Kubuntu (safe graphics)", of course.
• After the normal installation the computer booted without any problems and I changed the usual stuff in /etc/fstab and /etc/sysctl.conf for the benefit of the two SSDs, changed /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf to get the onboard sound working and rebooted.
• sudo apt update ; sudo apt autoremove, changed KDE System Settings -> Regional Settings to German in Language and Spell Check and rebooted again, just to be on the safe side.
• sudo do-release-upgrade -m desktop to upgrade to Kubuntu 20.04 and rebooted
• sudo apt autoclean and copied an untouched /etc/apt/sources.list from another Kubuntu 20.04 installation to /etc/apt/ , because I was too lazy to correct the remaining rubbish there by hand…

For me this clearly is more of a workaround than a solution - that's why i didn't mark this thread as "solved".
When I install a computer system for somebody else's buisiness I do prefer to be able to make a fresh, clean installation of the system software.
Currently I am not able to tell if there are any "bodies" left behind by the former Kubuntu 19.10 installation…

Kubuntu 20.04 seems to work correctly with my friend's computer's hardware now, but sometimes during the past days I felt reminded of the horrific times of buisinesses' Windows NT installations… :-D

I wonder if other people with an Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU experience the same problems with a fresh installation of (K)ubuntu 20.04, or if this is something specifically concerning the Lenovo M720s-series / this mainboard-chipset combination…

Looking forward to some other, fresh thoughts to solve the issue with a clean 20.04-only installation and the (or this?) Intel UHD 630 GPU!

[Schwarzer Kater]

Here is some additional info about my upgraded-to-20.04 Kubuntu 19.10:

In Kubuntu 19.10 KDE Info Center -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL shows
Vendor is "Intel Open Source Technology Center"
Renderer is "Mesa DRI Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (Coffeelake 3x8 GT2)"
OpenGL version is "3.0 Mesa 19.2.8"
Kernel module is "i915"

In Kubuntu 20.10 LTS, upgraded from 19.10, KDE Info Center -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL now shows
Vendor is "Intel"
Renderer is "Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)"
OpenGL version is "4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 20.0.4"
Kernel module is "i915"

Screen tearing is still gone as I mentioned above, but somehow I don't fully trust an upgraded system…

[Schwarzer Kater]

Another test, another dollar (for the supplier of electric energy at least…): This time I freshly installed a normal Kubuntu 18.04.4 LTS and upgraded it to Kubuntu 20.04 LTS directly thereafter.

Basically I did the same as in post #12, except I had to sudo do-release-upgrade -d -m desktop and additionally had to sudo apt autoremove after the reboot.

There is no screen tearing - so it worked again, somehow…

In Kubuntu 18.04.4 LTS KDE Info Center -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL shows
Vendor is "Intel Open Source Technology Center"
Renderer is "Mesa DRI Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (Coffeelake 3x8 GT2)"
OpenGL version is "3.0 Mesa 19.2.8"
Kernel module is "unknown"

In Kubuntu 20.10 LTS, upgraded from 18.04.4 LTS, KDE Info Center -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL again shows
Vendor is "Intel"
Renderer is "Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)"
OpenGL version is "4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 20.0.4"
Kernel module is "i915"

There were some warnings during the upgrade this time, though:

dpkg: Warnung: Paket nicht in der »status«- oder »available«-Datenbank in Zeile 2: libswresample2:amd64
dpkg: Warnung: Paket nicht in der »status«- oder »available«-Datenbank in Zeile 3: libboost-filesystem1.65.1:amd64
dpkg: Warnung: Paket nicht in der »status«- oder »available«-Datenbank in Zeile 4: libfreerdp-core1.1:amd64
dpkg: Warnung: Paket nicht in der »status«- oder »available«-Datenbank in Zeile 5: libmagickwand-6.q16-3:amd64
dpkg: Warnung: Paket nicht in der »status«- oder »available«-Datenbank in Zeile 6: libusbmuxd4:amd64
dpkg: Warnung: Paket nicht in der »status«- oder »available«-Datenbank in Zeile 7: libwinpr-registry0.1:amd64
dpkg: Warnung: Paket nicht in der »status«- oder »available«-Datenbank in Zeile 8: oxygen5-icon-theme:all
dpkg: Warnung: Paket nicht in der »status«- oder »available«-Datenbank in Zeile 9: xserver-xorg-video-intel-hwe-18.04:amd64
dpkg: Warnung: unbekannte Pakete wurden gefunden; dies könnte bedeuten, dass die »available«-Datenbank veraltet ist und durch
eine Frontend-Methode aktualisiert werden muss; bitte ziehen Sie die FAQ <https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg/FAQ> zu Rate.

PS:
The information shown in KDE Info Center -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL after the upgrade from either 18.04.4 LTS or 19.10 is exactly the same as in the current Fedora 32 KDE spin (32-1.6).

If I won't find a solution to install (K)ubuntu 20.04 LTS directly with driver support for the Intel UHD 630 GPU, I will prefer the upgrade from Kubuntu 19.10 to the upgrade from 18.04.4, because the installer has removed Akonadi, KMail, etc. as it would be the case in a fresh Kubuntu 20.04 LTS installation.

My interim conclusion:
I presume there could be something missing on the (K)ubuntu 20.04 live installation ISO in contrary to the available files one gets by upgrading a 18.04.4 or 19.10 by internet - or there could be a bug in the installation process on the (K)ubuntu 20.04 ISO itself…

[kkozak]

Where you able to get anywhere with this beyond what you've listed here? I am having the exact same issue - only starting from 18.04 and upgrading did not solve the issue long term. Any thoughts or suggestions?