Fixing "(EE) Intel(0): No kernel modesetting drivers detected" on Intel GMA 945G

A computer in one Tuneeca muslim fashion office is a Intel i945 system with Intel GMA 945G (Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02) ) graphics card that doesn't work out-of-the-box in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.

X window system / desktop crashes/cannot start with the /var/log/Xorg.0.log log file as follows:

[     6.966] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for vesa
[     6.966] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for fbdev
[     6.966] (II) Loading sub module "fbdevhw"
[     6.966] (II) LoadModule: "fbdevhw"
[     6.967] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so
[     6.967] (II) Module fbdevhw: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[     6.967]    compiled for 1.9.0, module version = 0.0.2
[     6.967]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 8.0
[     6.967] (EE) open /dev/fb0: No such file or directory
[     6.986] (EE) intel(0): No kernel modesetting driver detected.
[     6.986] (II) UnloadModule: "intel"
[     6.986] (EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.
[     6.986]
Fatal server error:
[     6.986] no screens found

It's possible to skip the problem by using vesa Driver. However there is a much better solution.

After trying many things, from boot options: i915.modeset=1, i915.modeset=0, nomodeset. It turns out the problem is ACPI.

Solution is adding acpi=force to the GRUB2 boot options.

Edit /etc/default/grub by running:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

and change:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

into:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi=force"

Then run:

sudo update-grub

Restart and now X desktop should work, and the PC is much faster (than with ACPI disabled).

References:

• http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=10438656&postcount=6
• http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=10438660&postcount=4
  
• https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/661645/comments/9

The lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ/P/PL Memory Controller Hub (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 01)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)