i915 module results in total lockups without any dmesg trace on a NP900X5N Kaby Lake machine

[Jan Vlietland <j.vlietland@nisi.nl>]

Hello all,

First of all happy new year. Based on advice of Greg K-H herewith a mail 
about my continuous (frustrating) issue with my laptop.

I installed various Kali linux versions up to Linux 4.20.0-rc7 
(downloaded, compiled and installed) on a Samsung NP900X5N laptop and 
have an issue with the driver after loading.

My configuration:

- i7 7500
- 16 gb / 256 gb ssd
- nvidia 940MX (for 3D graphics)

Shortly after loading the module the screen goes black (af if screen 
saver) and stays black. I tried to fix it myself.and 'studied' the 
behaviour for about 20 hours, I think it is a bug in the i915 module 
itself. I consider it much more efficient to ask you guys for some help.

A summary of the test I performed.

- I tried several versions and distributions (about 7). They all result 
in the same behaviour. Screen goes black.I do not see any logging in 
the  logs. I enabled ssh and the machine is unresponsive after the 
screen going black. The more tests I do (rebooting via holding power 
key) the sooner the screen goes black. I wonder if the gpu gets too hot 
locally. Btw, the processor is not hot as the fan stays off.

- I tried changing various parameters in the i915 module. No luck. For 
example, no compression, no power reduction.

- Guc/huc setting to 0x03 seems to delay the black screens but the black 
screens continue.

- When I disable the driver in grub or in the modprobe.d dir I do not 
have any black screens.

- After closing and opening the lid the machine does not wake up.

- With Windows 10 the machine does not results in lockups (kept the 
machine on for more than 24 hours).

I would really appreciate some help here because the machine is unusable 
with Linux. Furthermore my older NP900X4D is working with Linux for 
almost 5 years now. I love linux and rather throw the machine away than 
using Windows 10 :-)

ps: my Nouveau gives MMIO Faults so is not usable as well.

-- 

Met vriendelijke groet,

*dr. Jan Vlietland*, namens

spin-off

Nederlands Instituut voor de Software Industrie

_j.vlietland@nisi.nl_| 06 – 20 411 834 | 030 – 268 53 98
Princetonplein 5 | 3584 CC  Utrecht | www.nisi.nl