Trouble initializing gfx on X200(s)

[Daniel Kulesz]

Hi folks,

using the latest coreboot master, I tried several combinations and various config options but I did not succeed to initialize gfx on a X200s so that typical graphical boots work such as:

- Ubuntu CD Installer Splashscreen
- Windows 7 Installer
- Windows 10 Installer
- ...

I tried with both native gfx init and the vga blob using various resolutions, fb options etc. but no success so far. :/ Of course, graphics initialization works fine in Linux.

One thing I noticed: When using the vga blob, Seabios gives only a blinking cursor while GRUB works fine. When loading Seabios as a payload from GRUB (was hard to get that done!), the blinking cursor issue does not occur. However, the above mentioned operating system installers still fail to boot

Any ideas? Or did someone ever get one of those graphical things booted on a X200 with Coreboot?

Cheers, Daniel

[Nico Huber]

Hi Daniel,

On 17.04.2017 02:11, Daniel Kulesz via coreboot wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> using the latest coreboot master, I tried several combinations and
> various config options but I did not succeed to initialize gfx on a
> X200s so that typical graphical boots work such as:
> Ubuntu CD Installer Splashscreen - Windows 7 Installer - Windows 10
>
> Installer - ...

these all require a Video BIOS. SeaBIOS has an open-source version,
SeaVGABIOS, that works on top of native gfx init but is currently
too limited for many use cases (patches pending).
> I tried with both native gfx init and the vga blob using various
> resolutions, fb options etc. but no success so far. :/ Of course,
> graphics initialization works fine in Linux.

When using the original Video BIOS blob, there are two options: 1. run
it in coreboot (usual if your payload is not SeaBIOS), 2. run it in
SeaBIOS (preferred). The latter might require you to adapt the PCI ID
in the blob since SeaBIOS doesn't have an aliasing list like coreboot,
IIRC.
> One thing I noticed: When using the vga blob, Seabios gives only a
> blinking cursor while GRUB works fine. When loading Seabios as a payload
> from GRUB (was hard to get that done!), the blinking cursor issue does
> not occur. However, the above mentioned operating system installers
> still fail to boot

Strange that cursor thing, no idea about it.
> Any ideas? Or did someone ever get one of those graphical things booted
> on a X200 with Coreboot?

You can try native gfx init together with Siro's SeaVGABIOS patches [1].

I suspect that you didn't run the blob within SeaBIOS. So if the patches
don't help, you can try that. Disable CONFIG_VGA_ROM_RUN in coreboot
and make sure the PCI IDs match and SeaVGABIOS isn't included into the
image.

Hope that helps,
Nico

[1] https://mail.coreboot.org/pipermail/seabios/2017-March/011275.html