SOLVED ~ Compiled and installed MC, Xorg, Fluxbox, Xfe & Leafpad, error on startx

This is my 1st experience with FreeBSD, I've been using Linux Mint for the last few years so have some experience with terminal, but I'm not overly technical. I followed trihexagonal's instalation tutorial (trihexagonal org/tutorial html). And got as far as typing startx before encountering a terminal error.
From the searching I've done it appears it is a problem with video drivers.

System HP EliteBook 840 G1 Notebook PC
CPU Intel Core i5-4300U CPU
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4400

Error received Cannot run in framebuffer mode. Please specify busIDs for all framebuffer devices

I've attached a photo of the screen with the error messages. The laptop has a BIOS and I included VESA drivers as well as all the Intel graphic drivers I seen when I installed.
As I am not proficient with FeddBSD, if you need more information please be explicit as to how I should obtain it. The same with instituting any solution. I used ports for this install, I'm not above starting over with packages but would prefer not to, this is a learning exercise more than anything.

 
A quick search of the model name give this information:

discrete graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 8750M, with 1GB dedicated DDR5 video memory

It appears that this is a dual graphics system, if it is the case you will need to tell Xorg to use the integrated one(assuming that this is the one that is connected to the screen).

If you could give us /var/log/Xorg.0.log it will be better
 
let's try the picture again
 

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A quick search of the model name give this information:

discrete graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 8750M, with 1GB dedicated DDR5 video memory

It appears that this is a dual graphics system, if it is the case you will need to tell Xorg to use the integrated one(assuming that this is the one that is connected to the screen).

If you could give us /var/log/Xorg.0.log it will be better
I hadn't seen the info about the desecrate video I'm assuming the integrated one is the one that controls the screen. How would be the best way to do these things? I tried to open the log file with nano (not installed) and vi which I have no experiance with and ended up stuck in a screen of tildes and no idea what how to get out.
 
Can you post 'kldstat' command output? If I remember correctly, you need to install graphics/drm-kmod and xf86-video-intel. Do you have it?
I don't know how would I find out and if I don't how do I get them and install them?
 

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Thank you.

vi which I have no experience with and ended up stuck in a screen of tildes and no idea what how to get out.

People get stuck in vi(1) too often. Sorry. As a joke, I made a desktop background of a hint that's integral to FreeBSD:

<https://forums.freebsd.org/posts/519987>

If you accidentally end up inside vi, you can quit it by pressing Escape, colon (:), q (q), bang (!) and pressing return.

It's helpful, but still, laughable (LOL).

Future installations of FreeBSD might allow newcomers to choose something more user-friendly from the outset.



To people who want to argue about ee, nano or vi: please don't waste the space here. Instead:

 
I have experience with 850 G2 but not 840 G1.

… Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4400 …

… If I remember correctly, you need to install graphics/drm-kmod and xf86-video-intel.

Not quite. If I recall correctly (I'm not at my usual computer): not in combination with each other.

<https://www.freshports.org/x11-drivers/xf86-video-intel/#description> expresses support, but not as a requirement.

From the mention of Intel i5-4200U (Intel® HD Graphics 4400) at <https://github.com/freebsd/drm-kmod/issues/44#issue-771462643> I assume that with FreeBSD 13.0, drm-kmod should suffice.


Yes, output from this command will be useful but first, Otho please run the command below as root, then restart FreeBSD.

sysrc -f /etc/rc.conf kld_list+=i915kms

sysrc(8)

let's try the picture again

I'm sorry that your computer, or FreeBSD, is a tortoise :-)

Do BIOS settings – probably function key 10 (F10) on your HP – include anything to disallow use of the discrete graphics card?

(You might ultimately use the AMD graphics hardware, if present, but for now it might be better to focus on driving the Intel hardware.)
 
Not quite. If I recall correctly (I'm not at my usual computer): not in combination with each other.

<https://www.freshports.org/x11-drivers/xf86-video-intel/#description> expresses support, but not as a requirement.

From the mention of Intel i5-4200U (Intel® HD Graphics 4400) at <https://github.com/freebsd/drm-kmod/issues/44#issue-771462643> I assume that with FreeBSD 13.0, drm-kmod should suffice.

The situation with Intel drivers is a bit complicated. I had to install both of these. Yes, drm-kmod *should* suffice, but if not, install the other driver too.

Yes, output from this command will be useful but first, Otho please run the command below as root, then restart FreeBSD.

sysrc -f /etc/rc.conf kld_list+=i915kms

But first run 'kldload i915kms' as root and see if you will be able to run X then. If yes, run the above command.

Try to read this first. Trihexagonal's tutorial misses some crucial steps.
 
You can use termbin to post your xorg log
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | nc termbin.com 9999
Also try to do startx with a non root account, some GUI application will not work if run by root.
Do not forget to add the regular user to the video group

Also the output of
pciconf -lv | grep -B3 display
 
… The situation with Intel drivers is a bit complicated. I had to install both of these. Yes, drm-kmod *should* suffice, but if not, install the other driver too. …

Interesting (thanks for that), I hesitate before referring to this, but here goes:

<https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=259410#c3>

Reading between the lines there, I assume a third xf86-video-⋯ item: xf86-video-intel and "… These are used if you don't have any graphics driver installed …". Good assumption, or poor conflation? I don't know, sorry, whilst I'm without my usual system.

Also I hesitate because for a long time, maybe years: I, too, had the port of an XFree86 driver installed alongside a KMS driver; loading something other than the i915kms module; and for a while, specifically not naming the module to load it.

Otho if you're drowning in jargon, sorry!

Friend Of Jolly Devil there's much more to my case, feel free to open a topic about your case then we can compare notes. Thanks.
 
To check if you have both installed run
pkg info xf86-video-intel drm-kmod

If it says 'no package matching' install it using ports. After installation run as root 'kldload i915kms' and check if you can startx.
 
Yes, output from this command will be useful but first, Otho please run the command below as root, then restart FreeBSD.

sysrc -f /etc/rc.conf kld_list+=i915kms

sysrc(8)



I'm sorry that your computer, or FreeBSD, is a tortoise :-)

Do BIOS settings – probably function key 10 (F10) on your HP – include anything to disallow use of the discrete graphics card?

(You might ultimately use the AMD graphics hardware, if present, but for now it might be better to focus on driving the Intel hardware.)
Ran the command rebooted twice hope it wasn't a one off thing, no change.
As the Mock Turtle said "We called him Tortoise because he taught us." (it's a learning experience)
I poked in to every nook and cranny of my BIOS and see no place to select graphics cards or chip sets.
 
But first run 'kldload i915kms' as root and see if you will be able to run X then. If yes, run the above command.
Can't load i915kms: Operation not permitted
To check if you have both installed run
pkg info xf86-video-intel drm-kmod

If it says 'no package matching' install it using ports. After installation run as root 'kldload i915kms' and check if you can startx.
xf86 - yes
drm-kmod - no - how would be the eaisest way to do that?
You can use termbin to post your xorg log
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | nc termbin.com 9999
Also try to do startx with a non root account, some GUI application will not work if run by root.
Do not forget to add the regular user to the video group

Also the output of
pciconf -lv | grep -B3 display
after mistyping twice
-sh: v: not found
 
I poked in to every nook and cranny of my BIOS and see no place to select graphics cards or chip sets.

You could post some pictures ;)

Can't load i915kms: Operation not permitted

As I wrote above, you must log in as root to execute the command. For that you use 'su' command after you've logged in as your normal user and provide root password you've set up during installation.

xf86 - yes
drm-kmod - no - how would be the eaisest way to do that?

The easiest way to do that is to use pkg as root:

# pkg install drm-kmod

If you want to use ports, you just do the same things as for other ports you've installed, you just need to go to graphics/drm-kmod under your ports tree and install it from there.
My suggestion is to install it with pkg first, if you succeed in starting X you can install it from ports.

Friend Of Jolly Devil there's much more to my case, feel free to open a topic about your case then we can compare notes. Thanks.

I'm not sure if this is not solved already. I found similar problem on a mailing list from last year (April?), the difference is i915kms was missing after drm-kmod installation, and installing xf86-video-intel had solved it. In my case i915kms was missing after xf86... installation and I had to install drm-kmod. I must try again on fresh install first, and if it's still broken I'll open a topic. On this computer even if I remove drm-kmod everything's still working :)
 
I poked in to every nook and cranny of my BIOS and see no place to select graphics cards or chip sets.
It's often abbreviated, PEG is PCI Express Graphics, in other words, a PCIe video card. IGD is Integrated Graphics Device, in other words, the iGPU that's built into the CPU.
 
Do not forget to add the regular user to the video group
I just figured out how to do this, added both root and user still not working with either.
What is the output of: ls /dev/dri
And also groups (for the user running startx)
no such file or directory
wheel operator video
You could post some pictures ;)



As I wrote above, you must log in as root to execute the command. For that you use 'su' command after you've logged in as your normal user and provide root password you've set up during installation.



The easiest way to do that is to use pkg as root:

# pkg install drm-kmod

If you want to use ports, you just do the same things as for other ports you've installed, you just need to go to graphics/drm-kmod under your ports tree and install it from there.
My suggestion is to install it with pkg first, if you succeed in starting X you can install it from ports.



I'm not sure if this is not solved already. I found similar problem on a mailing list from last year (April?), the difference is i915kms was missing after drm-kmod installation, and installing xf86-video-intel had solved it. In my case i915kms was missing after xf86... installation and I had to install drm-kmod. I must try again on fresh install first, and if it's still broken I'll open a topic. On this computer even if I remove drm-kmod everything's still working :)
thought I had done it as root - can't load i915kls: No such file or directory
I'll try to figure out porting later tonight, I'm going to have to work it out sooner or later anyway.
It's often abbreviated, PEG is PCI Express Graphics, in other words, a PCIe video card. IGD is Integrated Graphics Device, in other words, the iGPU that's built into the CPU.
I looked again the closes references are to set video memory size, Virtualization Technology (VTx) and Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VTt)
 
I looked again the closes references are to set video memory size, Virtualization Technology (VTx) and Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VTt)
Not all implementations have it, so it's not uncommon to not have that setting.
 
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