Description
This is to verify that Fedora can be installed in a basic graphics mode, using highly compatible video driver.
Setup
- Prepare a live image to be tested, or an installer image allowing to install the graphical desktop of choice.
How to test
- At the initial boot screen, check that there is a menu item for booting into a basic graphics mode (usually under the Troubleshooting menu).
- Boot into the basic graphics mode.
- After booting into the desktop/installer, open a terminal application.
- In a netinst-style (non-Live) installer environment, use Ctrl+Alt+F2 to switch to a virtual terminal.
- Run the following command to verify that the system has been started with a
nomodeset
kernel boot argument:$ grep nomodeset /proc/cmdline BOOT_IMAGE=/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz root=live:CDLABEL=Fedora-WS-Live-38-20230326-n-1 rd.live.image nomodeset quiet rhgb
If this doesn't print anything, it means it wasn't configured properly, please report a bug.
Note: Other keywords might differ on your system from the example above. We're only concerned about the presence of the specified argument here. - If you booted the image in a BIOS mode (not UEFI), additionally verify that the system has been started with a
vga=791
kernel boot argument:$ grep vga=791 /proc/cmdline BOOT_IMAGE=/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz root=live:CDLABEL=Fedora-WS-Live-38-20230326-n-1 rd.live.image nomodeset vga=791 quiet rhgb
If this doesn't print anything, it means it wasn't configured properly, please report a bug.
- Run the following command to display properties of your graphics card and see if there's any
Driver:
line present:$ lspci -kvmm | sed -n '/VGA/,/^$/p' Class: VGA compatible controller Vendor: Intel Corporation Device: CometLake-H GT2 [UHD Graphics] SVendor: Lenovo SDevice: Device 22c2 Rev: 05 Module: i915
If there's no
Driver:
line, everything is correct, you're almost certainly running under a fallback graphics driver like simpledrm or vesa. If there's aDriver:
line, for example:Driver: i915
then you're running with a native hardware driver (in this case, i915; other most common drivers include radeon and nouveau). In this case, the fallback graphics were not started properly, please report a bug.
- Run the following command and see which drivers were initialized during boot:
$ journalctl -k | grep -F '[drm] Initialized' jun 10 09:48:08 hydra kernel: [drm] Initialized simpledrm 1.0.0 20200625 for simple-framebuffer.0 on minor 0
If you only see
Initialized simpledrm
or no line at all, you should be running on a fallback graphics driver correctly. If you see the initialization of a native hardware driver as well, for example:jun 10 09:48:08 hydra kernel: [drm] Initialized simpledrm 1.0.0 20200625 for simple-framebuffer.0 on minor 0 jun 10 09:48:09 hydra kernel: [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20201103 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 1
(in this case i915; or radeon, nouveau, etc), then please report a bug.
- Run the installer.
- In a netinst-style (non-Live) installer environment, press Alt+Right arrow repeatedly until you find the graphical session again.
- Proceed with installation.
- Boot the newly installed system.
- Repeat steps 4 to 7 to verify that your installed system isn't using a native hardware driver.
Expected Results
- Both the installer environment and the installed desktop must use a fallback graphics driver instead of a native hardware driver.