Unable to boot without nomodeset (integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics)

Dear all, I have been using eos for year on my thinkpad yoga x1 (gen 6).
Recently, out of the blue, I got a black screen after the grub window.

The only way to get into GNOME is by setting “nomodeset“ in the kernel parameters.

Following are some info on the system (obtained by starting it with nomodeset):

NOTE: using a a live OS on a USB stick also requires nomodeset.

OS: EndeavourOS x86_64
Host: ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6
Kernel: Linux 6.18.1-arch1-2
Uptime: 25 mins
Packages: 1771 (pacman), 29 (flatpak-system), 14 (flatpak-user)
Shell: fish 4.2.1
Display (Unknown 21"): 1600x1200 in 21", 60 Hz
DE: GNOME 49.2
WM: Mutter (Wayland)

I would really be grateful if somebody could help.

Thank you a lot.

Changing from grub2 to systemd-boot removed the need for modeset.
Nevertheless, the problems with graphic drivers are not completely solved.

Here is the output of inxi -Gx:

Graphics:
Device-1: Intel TigerLake-LP GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] vendor: Lenovo
driver: N/A arch: Xe bus-ID: 00:02.0
Device-2: Syntek Integrated Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB
bus-ID: 3-4:3
Display: wayland server: X.Org v: 24.1.9 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.9
compositor: cosmic-comp driver: X: loaded: intel unloaded: modesetting
dri: i965 gpu: N/A resolution: 3840x2400~60Hz
API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: swrast platforms:
active: wayland,x11,surfaceless,device inactive: gbm
API: OpenGL v: 4.5 vendor: mesa v: 25.3.2-arch1.1 glx-v: 1.4
direct-render: yes renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 21.1.6 256 bits)
API: Vulkan Message: No Vulkan data available.
Info: Tools: api: eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo gpu: gputop,
intel_gpu_top, lsgpu x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr

Check out this and see if it will work for you:

NB!

Make sure you have an alternate solution to boot in order to revert if necessary.

@cactux thank you for your suggestion.

Unfortunately this did not solve the problem.
NOTE: the entries in systemd-boot contain “nomodeset“. I suppose this is because when I created them, the kernel was loaded with the “nomodeset“ set.

What annoys me the most is that even with live USB installations, I cannot boot without using “nomodeset“.

I am really confused.
But thank you for trying to help.

Salvo

Does it work with an lts kernel? Install that one and try it out.

I’ve noticed something else, you have Iris XE Graphics on Tiger Lake (11th Gen), and you are using deprecated intel driver in combination with mesa’s i965 DDX. It’s running on software renderer. It’s amazing this combo worked correctly before on wayland.

Remove intel driver and reboot

yay -R xf86-video-intel

Anyway, I think this probably is an issue with mesa, you can try downgrading mesa packages

The Arch wiki has lots of details about Intel graphics.
And this article might be useful: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=275302

No, it does not work with LTS.

jake99:

Remove intel driver and reboot

Removing xf86-video-intel was one of the first things I did, but it did not solve the problem.

My EOS installation, dates back to about 4 years ago before the new intel drivers for Iris XE became default. I never installed the video drivers manually.

I will check on how to downgrade, and see if it helps.

Reading the ArchWiki page about intel graphics seems the drivers I have installed are correct (mesa, and vulkan-intel). As suggested, the problem might be related to mesa.

Thank you for your suggestions.

Thank you @manuel

I checked the post you suggested, and unfortunately it is mainly about fixes regarding Xorg.

I am anyway posting some of the information they also suggest to check.

Output of pacman -Qs intel

local/ibus 1.5.33-1
Intelligent input bus for Linux/Unix
local/intel-gmmlib 22.8.2-1
Intel Graphics Memory Management Library
local/intel-gpu-tools 2.2-1
Tools for development and testing of the Intel DRM driver
local/intel-media-driver 25.3.4-1
Intel Media Driver for VAAPI — Broadwell+ iGPUs
local/intel-ucode 20251111-1
Microcode update files for Intel CPUs
local/libmfx 23.2.2-5
Intel Media SDK dispatcher library
local/libva-utils 2.22.0-1
Intel VA-API Media Applications and Scripts for libva
local/libvpl 2.15.0-1
Intel Video Processing Library
local/linux-firmware-intel 20251125-2
Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for Intel devices
local/onetbb 2022.3.0-2
oneAPI Threading Building Blocks - a high level abstract threading library
local/vulkan-intel 1:25.3.2-1
Open-source Vulkan driver for Intel GPUs
local/whois 5.6.5-1
Intelligent WHOIS client


Output of glxinfo -B

name of display: :0
display: :0  screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
Vendor: Mesa (0xffffffff)
Device: llvmpipe (LLVM 21.1.6, 256 bits) (0xffffffff)
Version: 25.3.2
Accelerated: no
Video memory: 31809MB
Unified memory: yes
Preferred profile: core (0x1)
Max core profile version: 4.5
Max compat profile version: 4.5
Max GLES1 profile version: 1.1
Max GLES[23] profile version: 3.2
Memory info (GL_ATI_meminfo):
VBO free memory - total: 0 MB, largest block: 0 MB
VBO free aux. memory - total: 27593 MB, largest block: 27593 MB
Texture free memory - total: 0 MB, largest block: 0 MB
Texture free aux. memory - total: 27593 MB, largest block: 27593 MB
Renderbuffer free memory - total: 0 MB, largest block: 0 MB
Renderbuffer free aux. memory - total: 27593 MB, largest block: 27593 MB
Memory info (GL_NVX_gpu_memory_info):
Dedicated video memory: 0 MB
Total available memory: 31809 MB
Currently available dedicated video memory: 0 MB
OpenGL vendor string: Mesa
OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 21.1.6, 256 bits)
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.5 (Core Profile) Mesa 25.3.2-arch1.1
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.50
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile

OpenGL version string: 4.5 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 25.3.2-arch1.1
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.50
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL profile mask: compatibility profile

OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 Mesa 25.3.2-arch1.1
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20

To tell you the truth, it is difficult to interpret for me.
Thank you for your help.

@jake99 unfortunately downgrading to the previous mesa version did not solve the problem.

I ended up doing afresh install, but even the live USB requires “nomodeset“.

This happens regardless of the distro I use (mainly tested debian and arch).

Do you think it could be an hardware problem? Or maybe I should downgrade to a version of mesa < 23?

Thank you a lot.