Boot Time Error Reported: "drm:i915_gem_init-stolen" [Suspect this might relate to Linux Graphics Driver]

[CPayn]

Hello everyone,

I've just encountered a remarkably interesting error when attempting to boot my computer to run Mint Linux 18.0 (Sarah) 64-Bit. I think I might have a rough idea of the problem [more detail below] but first here is a little information about the platform on which I see this...

Hardware: Asus z170i Motherboard / Intel Core i7 6700T CPU / 16Gb RAM / 1Tb Samsung 850 Pro SSD

OS Configuration: Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit / Mint 18.0, 64-Bit - dual-booting using the Mint grub bootloader

Hard Drive Configuraiton [Partitions]:-

1. System Reserved [500Mb]

2. C: NTFS Windows primary partition [512Gb]

3. / [16Gb]

4. {swap{ [16Gb]

5. /usr [16Gb]

6. /home [16Gb]

7. /var [16Gb]

8. /tmp [8Gb]

9. /media/local {D:} [357Gb]

Observation:-

Perform a routine power-on boot into Mint. Either wait for grub to time-out, or select and then press enter for "default" Mint initiation... Screen initially shows the Mint Logo and the row of dots which change between green and white in colour, then the screen clears and I observe [in what I take to be console font] the following text:-

[ 1.377121] [drm:i915_gem_init-stolen [i915_bpo]] *ERROR* conflict detected with stolen region:

[0xc6000000 - oxc8000000]Welcome to emergency mode! After logging in, type "journalctl -xb" to view system logs, "systemctl reboot" to reboot, "systemctl default" or ^D to try again to boot into default mode.Give root password for maintenance (or press Ctrl-D to continue):

If I then type in "systemctl reboot" I go back to the Mint Logo, but this time there is a new message displayed centre-screen, immediately beneath the logo, which reads,

"Unattended-upgrade in progress during shutdown, sleeping for 5s"

But here is the weird thing... I have not asked this computer to perform any unattended updates. Pretty much every time I boot Mint, I check "update Manager" and perform necessary updates... I am 99.99999% confident that there were no "background" updates being performed by this system.

Having gained access via the root password, if I explore the system I can see a few running processes and that, for example, etc/fstab has not yet been parsed...

The Windows 10 partition appears [so far] to be unaffected by this - I am using it to access the forum and post this request for help. I'm sorry that this final observation is going to come across as a bit of a rant [and it's sincerely not meant to] but since I migrated to 18.0, I've seen nothing but problems with this build. I've had the most unexpected errors, some in userland [Rhythmbox getting it's registry corrupted], in hardwareland [up until this, I had an audio system that would unilaterally reconfigure itself from optical audio out [correct] to HDMI audio out [incorrect], without prompt, whenever it felt like it. I've had several [though not many] issues where the system has simply refused to shut down, although it doesn't seem to have any problems performing a reboot. [ In fact - and you might laugh - sometimes it is easer to "reboot" from Mint into Windows 10 and then shut down from Windows 10 than it is to attempt to shut down directly from Mint... I didn't think I'd ever seen the day when I wrote that Windows was better at something than Mint...]

Suspicion:-

I wonder if this might actually relate to the Video Driver? [Hence my posting it here...] Specifically, I see the reference which says, "[drm:i915_gem_init-stolen [i915_bpo]]" and I wonder if this in some way relates to the Digital Rights Management functionality built into the HDMI interface? Could there be something between the interaction with the HDMI driver within the Intel Graphics Driver for Linux that is tripping up here?

Here's the weird thing... If I see this at boot time, then any number of attempts to reboot the machine fails to clear the issue. However, I seem to be able to clear it with a full power-off, and waiting for a few minutes. Even more interesting... The fault is entirely odd in that:- it manifests "out of the blue"... It can be persistent when seen once... It disappears without any changes being made to my system...

I *suspect* [but have not yet proven] that the error occurs if my 2 connected Monitors [and I have a pair of Dell U2415W [1920x1200] screens, one connected via HDMI and one via DisplayPort] are configured to display a signal from a different port, then I wonder if that might be enough to induce a crash. The specific build of my Mint system is:-

$ uname -a

Linux skylake 4.4.0-21-generic # 37-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 18 18:33:37 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Further System Details:-

$ inxi -v6

System: Host: skylake Kernel: 4.4.0-21-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.3.1)

Desktop: Cinnamon 3.0.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.1) dm: mdm Distro: Linux Mint 18 Sarah

Machine: Mobo: ASUSTeK model: Z170I PRO GAMING v: Rev X.0x Bios: American Megatrends v: 2002 date: 09/19/2016

CPU: Quad core Intel Core i7-6700T (-HT-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB

flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 22466

clock speeds: min/max: 800/3600 MHz 1: 799 MHz 2: 1182 MHz 3: 799 MHz 4: 2849 MHz 5: 1580 MHz

6: 2034 MHz 7: 1100 MHz 8: 880 MHz

Memory: No dmidecode memory data: try newer kernel.

Graphics: Card: Intel Sky Lake Integrated Graphics bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:1912

Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)

Resolution: 1920x1200@59.95hz, 1920x1200@59.95hz

GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 530 (Skylake GT2)

GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0 Direct Rendering: Yes

Audio: Card Intel Sunrise Point-H HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: ...

[EstebanA_C_Intel]

Hello sproggit,

Thank you for the detailed explanation! and I am sorry to hear you are having issues with this Linux-based OS while booting.

Since this seems to be related to Intel HD Graphics and Linux together, I would like to recommend checking the Linux forums for Intel HD Graphics.

This is a specialized support forum that handles inquiries related to Linux-based OS.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/graphics-drivers/000005520.html Graphics Drivers for Linux*

Please check the link and find the communities there.

Best regards,

Esteban C