Assaf Gordon composed on 2025-10-13 02:19 (UTC-0600):
> After installing Debian 13/Trixie on an older Intel desktop computer, I'm
> experiencing complete freezes (even sysrq/magic does not respond).
> This is reproducible and happens very quickly after boot, when going into
> graphic mode, and causing any non-trivial graphic display (e.g. loading a
> website, playing a movie with mplayer, etc.).
> Blacklisting the "i915" driver in /etc/modprove.d/ and rebooting avoids the
> freeze, but that's not a usable solution for me.
> I have not found a solution, and for now reverted to Debian 12 / Bookworm
> which works flawlessly.
> I'm posting this in hopes of perhaps learning of a workaround, or raising
> awareness for a possible fix.
> Technical details below.
> Thanks for your help, and your awesome work on Debian.
> Hardware details:
> This is an old Intel DH55 motherboard with i5-650 CPU (circa 2009).
Have you tried any session types other than XFCE? I never use it except on
Mint, which I typically have up no more than around an hour or so per month.
All my Debians run only TDE primarily, and IceWM for testing or fallback.
I have a test box quite like your own I suppose. I played various videos in
Firefox ESR 115.28 for a while with no apparent issues after bringing it
fully up to date:
# inxi -CMz --vs --za --hostname
inxi 3.3.39-00 (2025-08-29)
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: HP-Pavilion product: AZ220AAR-ABA HPE-150t v: N/A
serial: <filter>
Mobo: MSI model: IONA v: 1.0 serial: N/A BIOS: American Megatrends v: 5.15
date: 06/25/2010
CPU:
Info: dual core model: Intel Core i5 660 bits: 64 type: MT MCP cache:
L2: 512 KiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1200 min/max: 1200/3334 cores: 1: 1200 2: 1200 3: 1200
4: 1200
# inxi -GSaz --za --hostname
System:
Host: hp750 Kernel: 6.12.48+deb13-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
v: 14.2.0 clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm parameters: ro
root=LABEL=<filter> noresume net.ifnames=0 ipv6.disable=1 consoleblank=0
mitigations=off
Desktop: TDE (Trinity) v: R14.1.5~[DEVELOPMENT] tk: Qt v: 3.5.0 wm: Twin
v: 3.0 with: kicker vt: 7 dm: 1: TDM 2: XDM Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 13
(trixie)
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-5.75 process: Intel 45nm built: 2010 ports:
active: HDMI-A-1,VGA-1 empty: DP-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0042
class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.16 compositor: Twin v: 3.0 driver: X:
loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: crocus gpu: i915
display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3600x1200 s-dpi: 120 s-size: 762x254mm (30.00x10.00")
s-diag: 803mm (31.62")
Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-1 pos: primary,left model: NEC EA243WM
serial: <filter> built: 2011 res: mode: 1920x1200 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1)
dpi: 94 gamma: 1.2 size: 519x324mm (20.43x12.76") diag: 612mm (24.1")
ratio: 16:10 modes: max: 1920x1200 min: 640x480
Monitor-2: VGA-1 pos: right model: Dell P2213 serial: <filter> built: 2013
res: mode: 1680x1050 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 90 gamma: 1.2
size: 473x296mm (18.62x11.65") diag: 558mm (22") ratio: 16:10 modes:
max: 1680x1050 min: 720x400
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel crocus platforms: device: 0 drv: crocus
device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: crocus surfaceless: drv: crocus x11:
drv: crocus inactive: wayland
API: OpenGL v: 4.5 compat-v: 2.1 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.0.7-2 glx-v: 1.4
direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics (ILK)
device-ID: 8086:0042 memory: 1.46 GiB unified: yes
API: Vulkan v: 1.4.309 layers: 4 device: 0 type: cpu name: llvmpipe (LLVM
19.1.7 128 bits) driver: mesa llvmpipe v: 25.0.7-2 (LLVM 19.1.7)
device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: xcb,xlib
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo x11: xdriinfo,
xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
# dmidecode -t 2
...
Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 15 bytes
Base Board Information
Manufacturer: MSI
Product Name: IONA
Version: 1.0...
# dmidecode -t bios
...
Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes
BIOS Information
Vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
Version: 5.15
Release Date: 06/25/2010...
# uptime
14:17:58 up 4:15, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.02, 0.00
# dmesg | grep drm
[ 4.633030] systemd[1]: Starting [email protected] - Load Kernel Module
drm...
[ 4.810263] ACPI: bus type drm_connector registered
[ 4.814032] systemd[1]: [email protected]: Deactivated successfully.
[ 4.823555] systemd[1]: Finished [email protected] - Load Kernel Module
drm.
[ 6.809231] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Found IRONLAKE (device ID 0042) display
version 5.00 stepping N/A
[ 6.925072] [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 0
[ 7.221091] fbcon: i915drmfb (fb0) is primary device
[ 7.377593] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] fb0: i915drmfb frame buffer device
# lsmod | grep -E 'i915|video' | sort
cec 69632 2 drm_display_helper,i915
drm 774144 9
drm_kms_helper,drm_display_helper,drm_buddy,i915,ttm
drm_buddy 24576 1 i915
drm_display_helper 274432 1 i915
drm_kms_helper 253952 2 drm_display_helper,i915
i2c_algo_bit 16384 1 i915
i915 4386816 6
ttm 106496 1 i915
video 81920 1 i915
wmi 28672 3 hp_wmi,video,wmi_bmof
#
--
Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion,
based on faith, not based on science.
Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!
Felix Miata
