Help! Cannot install any version of Linux on 12 yr old machine

[redwhiteandblue]

Alright I'm confused.

I found this:

Debian -- Details of package firmware-misc-nonfree in sid

Which describes many of the binary files in the repository Osprey linked to, with the codenames of the Intel CPUs.

The codename for the generation the i3 2120 was part of was "Sandy Bridge". Although possibly they seem to have renamed it Sugar Bay here

Intel Processors and Chipsets by Platform Code Name

Search and browse Intel processors and chipsets by platform code name, brand name, application, or release date.

www.intel.co.uk

But there is nothing in that package list that relates to the "Sandy Bridge" processors that I can see. I have some missing files from the repository at kernel.org but it doesn't look like any of them are for this processor. Which is the one I need??!!!

 

[redwhiteandblue]

Right, using some instructions from here

Intel graphics - ArchWiki

wiki.archlinux.org

In /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ I have created 20-intel.conf and added

Section "Device"
 Identifier "Intel Graphics"
 Driver "Intel"
 Option "NoAccel" "True"
EndSection

And booting with that I can get a desktop in 1920x1080 that is fairly stable! But of course has no hardware acceleration, so things get a bit slow when trying to play videos and do other stuff at the same time, and the CPU fan is stretching its legs.

It did crash, when I played a local .mp4 in the built-in media player (don't know what it's called). Playback was terrible, tearing and missing lines etc, then it crashed.

But, playing the same in VLC doesn't crash. I think VLC uses a whole different API.

What's odd is that just logging in choosing the "software rendering" option, it is nowhere near as stable as this and would have long since crashed.

 

[ML_113]

I think you are caught in the PAE/non PAE crap.

 

[redwhiteandblue]

I think you are caught in the PAE/non PAE crap.

That's to do with 32 bit CPUs, no?

 

[redwhiteandblue]

Well this PC is becoming the graveyard of Linux distros. MX is the latest casualty, doesn't get past the splash screen.

 

[ML_113]

Last suggestion... don't junk it.
Run from a USB pendrive. I recommend EasyOS.

 

[redwhiteandblue]

Last suggestion... don't junk it.
Run from a USB pendrive. I recommend EasyOS.

Won't make any difference. It doesn't matter where it is run from, if it's using some aspect of the graphics driver it will crash. I have run Fedora from the USB stick and it seemed fine but when I tried that again it crashed before it got to the desktop. The only way I can get any of them to run is to boot with "nomodeset" or boot in recovery mode, or add the "NoAccel" option to the Xorg config file as I described above.

I don't know what the issue will turn out to be and I don't know if I'll ever find out, it could be something that only affects Sandy Bridge i3 CPUs running in a Gigabyte H67 motherboard, or any Sandy Bridge CPU running in a Gigabyte H67 motherboard, or any Sandy Bridge CPU running in any board with the H67 chipset, or who knows what else?

I should have the graphics card with me tomorrow and hopefully that will fix the problem even if it doesn't answer the question of what exactly is going wrong.

 

[redwhiteandblue]

Update.

Adding a graphics card (Nvidia GeForce GT610) stops the crashing. Unfortunately this card, a cheapie one off Ebay, doesn't do video decoding so video playback is actually worse as the Intel onboard GPU was handling it before.

After a bit more research it seems Intel stopped supporting these CPUs four or five years ago and therefore the graphics drivers aren't getting updated.

So if you have a system with Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge CPU and you want to run Linux and use the onboard graphics, it seems basically you can't. Get a graphics card or a newer CPU instead.

I think I'm inclined to just upgrade the whole thing now. Of course that's what Intel want, except I'm probably going to replace with AMD Ryzen...

 

[osprey]

redwhiteandblue wrote:

After a bit more research it seems Intel stopped supporting these CPUs four or five years ago and therefore the graphics drivers aren't getting updated.

So if you have a system with Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge CPU and you want to run Linux and use the onboard graphics, it seems basically you can't.

According to: https://www.intel.com.au/content/www/au/en/support/articles/000005526/graphics.html,
both Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge are supported. If one presses the "Expand all" link on that page, supported graphics are shown.

 

[redwhiteandblue]

According to: https://www.intel.com.au/content/www/au/en/support/articles/000005526/graphics.html,
both Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge are supported. If one presses the "Expand all" link on that page, supported graphics are shown.

Yes, for Windows. The drivers for Linux are no longer supported.

Looks like I came up against the same problem as this guy (click on the link for the last two comments)

Missing driver Intel HD graphics 3000 on Ubuntu 20.04

After installing x64 Ubuntu 20.04 the driver for the integrated video card was not installed. The OS hands after login. Hard reboot or power off is required. Changing linux grub 'nomodeset' load op...

askubuntu.com

 

[osprey]

redwhiteandblue wrote:

Yes, for Windows. The drivers for Linux are no longer supported.

There appears to be some misunderstanding here. Intel does support drivers for the linux kernel, including the graphics drivers. The support is such that intel motherboards and graphics are basically "plug and play" on linux. Modern systems have come to use firmware, which also needs to be included, and often is by default. I note in post #81 you wrote:

I have some missing files from the repository at kernel.org

If they are missing from /lib/firmware/i915/, they likely need to be copied into that directory.

Whether that helps or not, I can't say because there appear to be a few confounding variables still perhaps unknown.

Perhaps check out: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/intel_graphics, and the links.

On that website I linked to in post #89, if you indeed pressed on the "Expand all" link as suggested, and then read the column headed "linux" it would have been entirely clear that linux is supported for virtually every intel graphics card. The hint that this was the case was actually in the first sentence on that webpage: "Intel® Graphics Products support a wide range of Operating Systems", and the proof was in the link.

 

[bob466]

Well this thread seems to be going nowhere fast.

 

[redwhiteandblue]

On that website I linked to in post #89, if you indeed pressed on the "Expand all" link as suggested, and then read the column headed "linux" it would have been entirely clear that linux is supported for virtually every intel graphics card. The hint that this was the case was actually in the first sentence on that webpage: "Intel® Graphics Products support a wide range of Operating Systems", and the proof was in the link.

"Intel does not provide direct downloads and technical support for Linux drivers for these products. The Intel Graphics Linux driver is primarily supported through the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or the Linux distribution vendor."

 

[osprey]

"Supported" means that the the intel graphics cards work with linux. On the page in which the supported operating systems are listed, there is a prefacing sentence: "Once you have identified your processor and/or graphics product, locate them in the tables below to see supported operating systems".

The expression "support" does not mean that intel provide anything for the user, like "direct downloads and technical support", rather intel make available the source code and blobs for the kernel developers to include in the kernel and modules and firmware so that developers and others can code and package up what is necessary to have the intel hardware operate optimally. That is all that is necessary for the intel hardware to work on linux and be supported.

I fear that your research and understanding have misled you in some important respects, in particular to think that your old intel graphics card is unsupported, but this is not the case. Linux is known to work exceedingly well on old hardware, and particularly with intel hardware. Unfortunately your experience hasn't been able to get you where you'd like to be, but it doesn't look at all like there should be a problem with intel. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, there just seems to be some unknown confounding variables.

 

[redwhiteandblue]

I don't know what confounding variables there can be.

The graphics driver for the Intel HD 2000 integrated graphics causes Linux running on this particular hardware to crash.

It's nothing to do with the distro, I've tried every one suggested and more with the same result.
It's not the installation, I've tried all the suggestions by yourself and others and nothing was wrong.
It's not the hardware. I've tested the memory, I've tried installing on SSD, HDD, and running live from a USB.
The hardware runs, and had been running, Windows 7 for eight years without a hitch.

Running Linux without that graphics driver installed, either running with no driver at all by booting with "nomodeset" or in recovery mode, or running with another driver for the discrete graphics card, it is stable.

Furthermore, running with an option to limit the functionality by creating a config file for the driver and adding the "NoAccel" option makes it somewhat stable but not completely.

So what conclusion can you draw except that there's something wrong with the graphics driver running in this particular hardware?

I think this thread is in danger of going round in circles now. At least I've learned a lot more about Linux in the past week....

 

[Brickwizard]

At least I've learned a lot more about Linux in the past week....

What was that Carpenters song... oh yes.. "we've only just begun", and so have you and the rest of us, Linux is a never ending learning experience.

 

[osprey]

redwhiteandblue wrote:

The graphics driver for the Intel HD 2000 integrated graphics causes Linux running on this particular hardware to crash.

Perhaps have a look here and experiment with the suggested kernel parameters which are suggested for crashing intel experiences: https://linuxreviews.org/Intel_graphics#Troubleshooting. It would be a very experimental approach and it lacks precision. I would take the tone of the article with a grain of salt.

 

[redwhiteandblue]

Perhaps have a look here and experiment with the suggested kernel parameters which are suggested for crashing intel experiences: https://linuxreviews.org/Intel_graphics#Troubleshooting. It would be a very experimental approach and it lacks precision. I would take the tone of the article with a grain of salt.

Thanks for finding that, that makes for interesting reading. So it's possible setting the "modesetting" driver in the config file may have solved the issue. Trouble is, I've dismantled the machine now and rebuilt with nice new hardware!

 

[osprey]

Thanks for finding that, that makes for interesting reading. So it's possible setting the "modesetting" driver in the config file may have solved the issue. Trouble is, I've dismantled the machine now and rebuilt with nice new hardware!

Hehe ... I smiled at that ... it goes the way it goes. I hope the rebuild goes smoothly.

 

[Col Fustercluck]

I used to watch the 6 Million Dollar man on TV back in the dark ages. It showed what was possible, maybe even achievable. We can repair him.... was a motto or catch cry.

The way I see it is that you got a piece of old rubbish (otherwise known as "my treasure") that doesn't really function as a real, practical computer any more.

And now we are gunna try to sort out the software and do updates and upgrades. Even if the CPU and other hardware won't work or accept such upgrades.

And we will spend countless hours of heartbroken mental agony.......... in order to prove that you can win a pyrrhic victory.

Well OK, and great if you can prove that it's possible. But it may have taken 450 hrs out of your life and put you in a mental depression hole.... where you could have purchased a 5 year old computer, for $5 more, that is still usually upgradable with little effort.

Although everything is workable in theory and doing computer software 'adjustments' often works very well, there becomes a point when you (should) realise, that the mission is doomed. One upgrade or refresh may depend on another... the one that didn't go well........ that sort of thing. And it can go very bad, very quickly.

I know that maybe you do this sort of stuff for personal fulfillment or satisfaction....... and if that's the case, good on you!!!

This may keep you occupied for a long time, and off the "FBI 10 most wanted" TV program.

But for a quick n easy upgrade, or to make a computer come back to life...... and is actually usable in a practical sense, I recommend working on a computer (PC) up to 5 to 7 years old. Beyond that, in the real world, you can be confronted by "no longer supported", Software now unavailable.... 32 Bit no longer supported or available etc , etc etc. And particularly, Windows 10 and 11 actually makes it difficult to use hardware suited for Windows 7 and everything else out there. Like Linux.........

Good Luck
Col Fustercluck

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