Black screen and I don't know how to apply a patch

This should be simple, but I'm new to Linux. My Lenovo u160 has a known problem where the screen is black and won't display anything. Someone has a patch for it, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to apply a patch.

I read this about the u160: (I'm only concerned with #1) Ubuntu Linux on the Lenovo U160 | Zen of Linux

So then I used this try and patch it, but I'm stuck on #5: How to Recompile Your Ubuntu 10.10 Kernel for Patching or to add Support for a Specific Device I don't know how apply the patch which is found here: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/attachment.cgi?id=41123 What do I do with that information? Copy and Paste it in? This is where I need the help. Steps 1-4 went fine, but I just don't know how to do the patch.

Any help would awesome.

Thanks,

~350


EDIT: After some reading, it appears that the patch has caused people's displays to fail completely and as a result the patch is no longer available. Really sucks. I really like Linux, but it looks like I'm hung out to dry like always. CRAP!

 

what version of Ubuntu were you trying? there must be a way out of this....

 

Have you tried the i915.modeset=0 boot parameter from GRUB? That was the easy fix recommended in the first link.

To apply that patch, you'd move to your kernel source directory and run patch -p0 < patch_file

You may not need to redo your entire kernel for this, at a quick glance it looks like you may just be able to recompile the i915 module (from the kernel source dir):

Code:

make drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915.ko

Then you can rmmod i915 and insmod drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915.ko to see if it works. You'd have to do this from the console with X stopped.

 

This happens on every single Linux distro I have tried. I like Linux Ubuntu Netbook 10.10 the best so far....

As for the i915 thing; The writer said that the screen was all distorted, thus the reason why I haven't tried it. I'll give it a shot but I'm new to Linux and it takes me forever to figure anything out. Hopefully with a your help and Google, I might actually be able to use Linux on this.

Thanks.

 

If you add that boot parameter on the fly when you boot (instead of adding it to a config file) it will only apply for that one session. You can reboot and it won't be there, so it's not a permanent change.

 

i915 doesn't work. It shows the loading screen for about a second then an error message saying something stopped. Is there any chance that the next update to Ubuntu could have this problem fixed? I don't see why this isn't working as it seems like a simple process. This is doing nothing but aggravating me and wasting time.(Spent the last 3 days trying to get this to work.) Still, thank you for trying to help me.

 

Are you on 2.6.35? You can try installing a newer kernel from 2.6.37 onwards which should have the patch included. For example the one here:
Index of /~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.37.3-natty

 

there ya go, ~350....give that a shot

 

I am on 2.6.35. How do I go about updating the kernel?

 

Just download the linux-image deb package and install it.

Assuming you're on 64-bit...

Download the package

Code:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.37.3-natty/linux-image-2.6.37-02063703-generic_2.6.37-02063703.201103080905_amd64.deb

Install the package

Code:

sudo dpkg -i linux-image-2.6.37-02063703-generic_2.6.37-02063703.201103080905_amd64.deb

When you reboot the GRUB menu will show both of your installed kernels, 2.6.37.3 should be at the top of the list so you don't need to do anything special to select it.

 

I think I'm using 32 bit. i386 error when I tried to install. I'm using the Windows installer to put it on my laptop and it didn't give any choices...(64 or 32 bit. Doesn't really matter though.)

 

If you're on 32 bit you need the 32 bit kernel:

Code:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.37.3-natty/linux-image-2.6.37-02063703-generic_2.6.37-02063703.201103080905_i386.deb

Code:

sudo dpkg -i linux-image-2.6.37-02063703-generic_2.6.37-02063703.201103080905_i386.deb

 

Update worked, but still a black screen.

 

unreal.....maybe there's a boot option....e.g., for my precision I have to set dma remapping as a boot option or my machine won't hibernate or suspend.

 

UPDATE:

I'm currently running Ubuntu 11.04 and guess what?! The screen finally works and Ubuntu 11.04 is a lot like Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Edition. But there is a problem. I can't seem to connect to wireless. I installed the drivers and when I click to enable wireless, nothing happens. Any thoughts on how to get it up and running? I'm running a Broadcom wireless card.

Thanks

EDIT: I'm having problems on Windows too. Looks like a hardware issue.