Ubuntu

i915/EIR errors at boot, Ubuntu 13.04

Asked by Alden Davidson

I installed Ubuntu 12.10 (now upgraded to 13.04) on a Macbook 2,1. I've also installed the Xorg-edgers ppa, in hopes that it would solve some of my performance issues. My computer is kept up to date.
Whenever I boot, I get some errors like these:

i915: render error detected, EIR: 0x00000010
i915: page table error
i915: PGTBL_ER: 0x00000102
[drm: i915_report_and_clear_eir] *ERROR* EIR stuck: 0x00000010, masking
i915: render error detected, EIR: 0x00000010
i915: page table error
i915: PGTBL_ER: 0x00000102

I think this may explain some of the performance issues* I've been having lately, probably missing some stuff to make the gpu/processor work correctly.
I haven't tried uninstalling the Xorg-edgers stuff yet, because my internet is extremely slow, and I'd like to see if anyone has any other ideas about what I can try.

Any ideas on how to solve this, or is this a bug?

*By performance issues, I mean this: When this Macbook had Mac OS X installed, it worked perfectly fine, with no noticeable graphics hangups or heat issues; with Ubuntu 13.04 installed, it often hangs for a few seconds when, for example, opening the Activities menu (I've installed Gnome Shell because the Ubuntu dash would literally take 1 min to open, and would move like molasses to do anything; likewise, the rest of the desktop/launch bar moved at an almost unusable rate) or shutting down programs, and the computer heats up like crazy, almost to the point of burning me when I touch the bottom of it.
I compared the specs for Ubuntu and Mac OS X, and Ubuntu uses significantly less resources; additionally, my computer meets the recommended specs for Ubuntu.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

Mac OS X worked well because the OS is geared to run exactly on that hardware. This is why Mac is so much more expensive as the OS is very customised for the exact system in your hands. It reduces issues which can come from a one solution for all like Windows and Linux distros. Did you not know this.

"The OS designed and installed precisely for the system in my hand worked flawlessly"

Really? Are you surprised?

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

Just an FYI but Quantal has 4 months more support than Raring. Was there a particular reason for the upgrade? Was everything ok in Quantal? If you boot a Raring livecd is it ok?

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Alden Davidson (davidsonalden) said : 		#3

Yes, I understand how and why Macs are designed like they are. I'm also under the impression that Ubuntu will generally work well with any given hardware combination, some just take a little more work than others.

As for why I upgraded, I'm under the impression there were some under-the-hood improvements to Unity, the kernel, etc. in 13.04, so I upgraded. Quantal was experiencing similar issues, such as when I log in, it'll hang for a few moments, and then when logged in I would get an error reporter for a possible gpu hang.
I will check to see if a raring livecd works, but it may be another day or so, since I will have to download the .iso, and I will post again when I have checked that.

I'm not asking for this to be perfect, I'm just trying to see if anyone has any suggestions as to how to combat these heat/performance issues, which seem a little too problematic to merely be hardware/software compatibility issues.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#4

Could also try the 3.9 or 3.10 kernel. May help

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