# FreeBSD and i915KMS result in black screen



## krax (Jan 20, 2014)

I only had 800*600 resolution when I installed x11/xorg and x11-wm/openbox. I did some digging and I found out I have to activate it. so I added this to my /etc/make.conf:


```
WITH_NEW_XORG=true
  WITH_KMS=true
```

and update my base system and also portmaster -af to update all my packages. That update worked; **but now every time I am trying to do `startx` or `X -configure`, my monitor goes black and and its power light starts blinking like it is on standby. Further investigation showed this black screen happens whenever I do `kldload i915kms`. Now I am out of ideas and options.


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## wblock@ (Jan 20, 2014)

What version of FreeBSD is being used?

Why are you loading the kernel module?  That is not necessary.

Here are the instructions on updating to use KMS: Installing KMS Ports.


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## krax (Jan 21, 2014)

I am not loading anything I add the  WITH_NEW_XORG=true WITH_KMS=true and did `portmaster -af` that's all. then I did reboot then `startx` and the rest is black monitor.

Tell me this; Does FreeBSD supports Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller?


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## jaga (Sep 22, 2019)

Hi all, i have the same problem.

When i start <FreeBSD 12.0-RELEASE-p10 GENERIC  amd64> in the beginning all is fine, but with time, when i open new applications, i see only black windows....

i get this output, if i run the check (intel-kms-pciid-checker.sh) =

_$ sh test.sh

Your CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3320M CPU @ 2.60GHz (2591.65-MHz K8-class CPU)
pciid to match: 0x0166

Support in the base driver: {0x8086, 0x0166, 0, "Intel IvyBridge (M)"},
{0x10DE, 0x0166, NV40, "NVidia GeForce Go 6400"}, \

Support in drm-next-kmod: No match

Result:
Your graphics is supported by the driver in base, no need to install drm-next-kmod.
To /etc/rc.conf, add the following line:
kld_list="i915kms"
In case you have created xorg.conf or driver-intel.conf remove it.
Reboot. That's it._


And when i wirte this <kld_list="i915kms"> in the /etc/rc.conf my gnome3 doesn't start. Show the screenshot, it changes between this and a black screen.
i must make a "hard-reboot" and boot in "single-user-mode" and delete this entry <kld_list="i915kms"> from the rc.conf.


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## Sevendogsbsd (Sep 22, 2019)

FYI - this is a 5 year old thread but the /etc/rc.conf  entry you have listed is incorrect. The entry should be:

```
kld_list="/boot/modules/i915kms.ko"
```


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## Alain De Vos (Sep 22, 2019)

I have the same problem with a compaq hp laptop. Solution none.
Well it works fine with netbsd and openbsd which is kind of weird.


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## Phishfry (Sep 22, 2019)

Sevendogsbsd said:


> the /etc/rc.conf entry you have listed is incorrect. The entry should be:


Well this is not totally right.
It really comes back to the version of CPU Graphics.
IvyBridge (As shown) Graphics do not require the port graphics/drm-next-kmod. It is baked into our base system.
So the /etc/rc.conf shown is correct for using the Intel DRM driver built into FreeBSD.

For the ports version of Intel DRM needed for newer CPU Graphics (>=Haswell) you are correct that you must point to
/boot/modules/
Where any ports modules get installed.

Making this murky is the fact that this is a really old post.
On Sandy/IvyBridge I install the x11-drivers/xf86-video-intel driver from ports along with base Intel DRM enabled.


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## Phishfry (Sep 22, 2019)

I also want to call attention to this:


jaga said:


> {0x10DE, 0x0166, NV40, "NVidia GeForce Go 6400"}, \


This tells me you have 'hybrid' graphics. That means Optimus in most laptops.
So you need to buff up on this.
Perhaps you need to tell Xorg which graphics card is default with a config file.
There is an effort to get Optimus supported:








						Nvidia Optimus Driver for FreeBSD
					

Hi, I made a modified version of x11/nvidia-driver that works with optimus laptops/devices (muxless). It provides an optimus service (managing extra X server we need, nvidia modules, configs and etc) and a optirun command to run programs on the nvidia gpu:    Right now I could only test it on my...




					forums.freebsd.org


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## shkhln (Sep 22, 2019)

Nah, it's a bug in the script, notice both GPUs have 0x0166 as an id. It's impossible to have a GeForce 6400 / Ivy Bridge combo, these components are 6 years apart from each other.


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## Phishfry (Sep 22, 2019)

Yup I stand corrected.
Same ProductID different VendorID.


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## jaga (Sep 27, 2019)

I switch back to ubuntu in the lubuntu variant, because my old refurbished notebook will live a long time for me 
But Freebsd 12 would be a good thing for the Virtualbox till the graphic-problem would be solved.
I will try OpenBSD, if OpenBSD doesn't has the graphic-problem, i don't need ubuntu


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## k.jacker (Sep 27, 2019)

shkhln said:


> Nah, it's a bug in the script


It's actually not a bug. I posted to not use the script anymore after FreeBSD 12.0-RELEASE was out. The script was only supposed to work on 11.2-RELEASE to help people figure out if they had graphics that required compiling i915kms.ko from source or not.


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