Fixing GPU hang caused by i915 driver

Ran updates on my laptop recently, and after rebooting, my laptop started behaving weirdly. After I logged in, the screen started flickering, and as soon as I opened a window (the application menu worked just fine), the whole screen froze, except that I was still able to move the mouse.

dmesg is reporting a GPU hang, dmesg output cna be found here: https://pastebin.com/jha5bXQe . The problem still persists after a complete system reinstall, and after installing all updates.

What could I try to get the PC back to working?


z.Z. kannst du die "nomodeset" option beim booten nutzen.

  • im Grub Menü Taste "e" drücken
  • nomodeset an der richtigen Stelle einfügen (s.h. ubuntuusers nomodeset)
  • "F10" drücken
  • bei jedem bootvorgang

oder dauerhaft in /boot/grub/grub.cfg eintragen

bis die Inteltreiber aktualisiert wurden.


currently you can use the "nomodeset" option when booting.

  • Press the "e" key in the Grub menu
  • Insert nomodeset in the right place (see ubuntuusers nomodeset)
  • Press "F10"
  • with every boot process

or enter it permanently in /boot/grub/grub.cfg

until the Intel drivers have been updated.


After 20.04 apt update & upgrade at 12/1/2021 X-windows freeze just after login, only cursor move, but ctrl-alt-F3 gave consol and dmesg gave: i915 GPU HANG

  1. bios update (Asrock B85) didn't help
  2. grub update: nomodeset didn't help

But stable lowlantency kernel seems work fine.

I have had Ubuntu and dual monitor setup all time latest 14 years in my desktop. Lately there has been several unsolved problem with the Xserver config (20.10 can't install into dual setup at all, resolution problems with vga, reso conflicts, etc (yes, it was hard to configure X by hands, but it was possible;-)).