[SOLVED] With Excalibur the intel GPU is using LLVMPIPE instead of UHD

Danielsan · 2025-11-10 23:57:11

Hi guys,

I don't understand why my Xorg setup that was working fine with Dadedalus now is not working properly with Excalibur, the video driver is using LLVMPIPE instead of the GPU acceleration. It was going great and I expected with Excalibur to go even better... 🤷♂️

As driver I am using the Intel one provided on kernel:

lsmod | grep i915
i915                 4386816  4
drm_buddy              24576  1 i915
drm_display_helper    274432  1 i915
cec                    69632  2 drm_display_helper,i915
ttm                   106496  1 i915
drm_kms_helper        253952  2 drm_display_helper,i915
i2c_algo_bit           16384  1 i915
drm                   774144  8 i2c_hid,drm_kms_helper,drm_display_helper,drm_buddy,i915,ttm
video                  81920  3 asus_wmi,asus_nb_wmi,i915

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Intel Graphics"
	Driver      "intel"
	Option 	"DRI" "iris"
	Option      "AccelMethod"     "sna"
	Option      "TearFree"        "false"
	Option      "TripleBuffer"    "false"
	Option      "SwapbuffersWait" "false"
EndSection

It looks properly load on the XORG log:

X.Org X Server 1.21.1.16
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
[  6229.053] Current Operating System: Linux a11bk 6.12.48+deb13-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.12.48-1 (2025-09-20) x86_64
[  6229.053] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-6.12.48+deb13-amd64 root=/dev/mapper/a11bk--vg-root ro quiet
[  6229.053] xorg-server 2:21.1.16-1.3+deb13u1devuan1 (https://www.devuan.org/os/community) 
[  6229.053] Current version of pixman: 0.44.0
[  6229.053] 	Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
	to make sure that you have the latest version.
[  6229.053] Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
	(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
	(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[  6229.053] (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Mon Nov 10 01:45:21 2025
[  6229.054] (==) Using config directory: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[  6229.054] (==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[  6229.054] (==) No Layout section.  Using the first Screen section.
[  6229.054] (==) No screen section available. Using defaults.
[  6229.054] (**) |-->Screen "Default Screen Section" (0)
[  6229.054] (**) |   |-->Monitor "<default monitor>"
[  6229.054] (==) No device specified for screen "Default Screen Section".
	Using the first device section listed.
[  6229.054] (**) |   |-->Device "Intel Graphics"
[  6229.054] (==) No monitor specified for screen "Default Screen Section".
	Using a default monitor configuration.
[  6229.054] (**) Allowing byte-swapped clients
[  6229.054] (==) Automatically adding devices
[  6229.054] (==) Automatically enabling devices
[  6229.054] (==) Automatically adding GPU devices
[  6229.054] (==) Automatically binding GPU devices
[  6229.054] (==) Max clients allowed: 256, resource mask: 0x1fffff
[  6229.054] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic" does not exist.
[  6229.054] 	Entry deleted from font path.
[  6229.054] (==) FontPath set to:
	/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc,
	/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled,
	/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled,
	/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1,
	/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi,
	/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi,
	built-ins
[  6229.054] (==) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[  6229.054] (II) The server relies on udev to provide the list of input devices.
	If no devices become available, reconfigure udev or disable AutoAddDevices.
[  6229.054] (II) Loader magic: 0x55714160fea0
[  6229.054] (II) Module ABI versions:
[  6229.054] 	X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.4
[  6229.054] 	X.Org Video Driver: 25.2
[  6229.054] 	X.Org XInput driver : 24.4
[  6229.054] 	X.Org Server Extension : 10.0
[  6229.054] (++) using VT number 7

[  6229.054] (II) seat-libseat: libseat integration requires -keeptty and -keeptty was not provided, disabling libseat integration
[  6229.055] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card0)
[  6229.055] (II) Platform probe for /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0
[  6229.067] (--) PCI:*(0@0:2:0) 8086:3185:1043:1132 rev 6, Mem @ 0xa0000000/16777216, 0x90000000/268435456, I/O @ 0x0000f000/64, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072
[  6229.067] (II) LoadModule: "glx"
[  6229.068] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so
[  6229.069] (II) Module glx: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[  6229.069] 	compiled for 1.21.1.16, module version = 1.0.0
[  6229.069] 	ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 10.0
[  6229.069] (II) LoadModule: "intel"
[  6229.069] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/intel_drv.so
[  6229.070] (II) Module intel: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[  6229.070] 	compiled for 1.21.1.3, module version = 2.99.917
[  6229.070] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[  6229.070] 	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 25.2
[  6229.070] (II) intel: Driver for Intel(R) Integrated Graphics Chipsets:
	i810, i810-dc100, i810e, i815, i830M, 845G, 854, 852GM/855GM, 865G,
	915G, E7221 (i915), 915GM, 945G, 945GM, 945GME, Pineview GM,
	Pineview G, 965G, G35, 965Q, 946GZ, 965GM, 965GME/GLE, G33, Q35, Q33,
	GM45, 4 Series, G45/G43, Q45/Q43, G41, B43
[  6229.070] (II) intel: Driver for Intel(R) HD Graphics
[  6229.070] (II) intel: Driver for Intel(R) Iris(TM) Graphics
[  6229.070] (II) intel: Driver for Intel(R) Iris(TM) Pro Graphics
[  6229.071] (II) intel(0): Using Kernel Mode Setting driver: i915, version 1.6.0 0
[  6229.071] (II) intel(0): SNA compiled: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20210115-1 (Timo Aaltonen <tjaalton@debian.org>)
[  6229.071] (II) intel(0): SNA compiled for use with valgrind
[  6229.072] (--) intel(0): gen9 engineering sample
[  6229.072] (--) intel(0): CPU: x86-64, sse2, sse3, ssse3, sse4.1, sse4.2; using a maximum of 2 threads
[  6229.072] (II) intel(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section
	"Default Screen Section" for depth/fbbpp 24/32
[  6229.072] (==) intel(0): Depth 24, (--) framebuffer bpp 32
[  6229.072] (==) intel(0): RGB weight 888
[  6229.072] (==) intel(0): Default visual is TrueColor
[  6229.072] (**) intel(0): Option "AccelMethod" "sna"
[  6229.072] (**) intel(0): Option "DRI" "iris"
[  6229.072] (**) intel(0): Option "SwapbuffersWait" "false"
[  6229.072] (**) intel(0): Option "TripleBuffer" "false"
[  6229.072] (**) intel(0): Option "TearFree" "false"
[  6229.073] (II) intel(0): Output eDP1 has no monitor section
[  6229.073] (**) intel(0): Found backlight control interface intel_backlight (type 'raw') for output eDP1
[  6229.073] (II) intel(0): Enabled output eDP1
[  6229.073] (II) intel(0): Output HDMI1 has no monitor section
[  6229.074] (II) intel(0): Enabled output HDMI1
[  6229.074] (II) intel(0): Output DP1 has no monitor section
[  6229.074] (II) intel(0): Enabled output DP1
[  6229.074] (--) intel(0): Using a maximum size of 256x256 for hardware cursors
[  6229.074] (II) intel(0): Output VIRTUAL1 has no monitor section
[  6229.074] (II) intel(0): Enabled output VIRTUAL1
[  6229.074] (--) intel(0): Output eDP1 using initial mode 1366x768 on pipe 0
[  6229.074] (**) intel(0): TearFree disabled
[  6229.074] (==) intel(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
[  6229.074] (==) intel(0): DPI set to (96, 96)
[  6229.074] (II) Loading sub module "dri3"
[  6229.074] (II) LoadModule: "dri3"
[  6229.074] (II) Module "dri3" already built-in
[  6229.074] (II) Loading sub module "dri2"
[  6229.074] (II) LoadModule: "dri2"
[  6229.074] (II) Module "dri2" already built-in
[  6229.074] (II) Loading sub module "present"
[  6229.074] (II) LoadModule: "present"
[  6229.074] (II) Module "present" already built-in
[  6229.075] (II) intel(0): SNA initialized with Geminilake (gen9) backend
[  6229.075] (==) intel(0): Backing store enabled
[  6229.075] (==) intel(0): Silken mouse enabled
[  6229.075] (II) intel(0): HW Cursor enabled
[  6229.075] (==) intel(0): DPMS enabled
[  6229.075] (==) intel(0): Display hotplug detection enabled
[  6229.075] (II) intel(0): [DRI2] Setup complete
[  6229.075] (II) intel(0): [DRI2]   DRI driver: iris
[  6229.075] (II) intel(0): [DRI2]   VDPAU driver: va_gl
[  6229.075] (II) intel(0): direct rendering: DRI2 enabled
[  6229.075] (II) intel(0): hardware support for Present enabled
[  6229.075] (II) Initializing extension Generic Event Extension
[  6229.076] (II) Initializing extension SHAPE
[  6229.076] (II) Initializing extension MIT-SHM
[  6229.076] (II) Initializing extension XInputExtension
[  6229.076] (II) Initializing extension XTEST
[  6229.076] (II) Initializing extension BIG-REQUESTS
[  6229.076] (II) Initializing extension SYNC
[  6229.077] (II) Initializing extension XKEYBOARD
[  6229.077] (II) Initializing extension XC-MISC
[  6229.077] (II) Initializing extension SECURITY
[  6229.077] (II) Initializing extension XFIXES
[  6229.077] (II) Initializing extension RENDER
[  6229.077] (II) Initializing extension RANDR
[  6229.078] (II) Initializing extension COMPOSITE
[  6229.078] (II) Initializing extension DAMAGE
[  6229.078] (II) Initializing extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
[  6229.078] (II) Initializing extension DOUBLE-BUFFER
[  6229.078] (II) Initializing extension RECORD
[  6229.078] (II) Initializing extension DPMS
[  6229.079] (II) Initializing extension Present
[  6229.079] (II) Initializing extension DRI3
[  6229.079] (II) Initializing extension X-Resource
[  6229.079] (II) Initializing extension XVideo
[  6229.079] (II) Initializing extension XVideo-MotionCompensation
[  6229.079] (II) Initializing extension SELinux
[  6229.079] (II) SELinux: Disabled on system
[  6229.079] (II) Initializing extension GLX
[  6229.136] (II) AIGLX: Loaded and initialized iris
[  6229.136] (II) GLX: Initialized DRI2 GL provider for screen 0
[  6229.136] (II) Initializing extension XFree86-VidModeExtension
[  6229.136] (II) Initializing extension XFree86-DGA
[  6229.136] (II) Initializing extension XFree86-DRI
[  6229.136] (II) Initializing extension DRI2
[  6229.138] (II) intel(0): switch to mode 1366x768@60.0 on eDP1 using pipe 0, position (0, 0), rotation normal, reflection none
[  6229.144] (II) intel(0): Setting screen physical size to 361 x 203
[  6229.186] (II) config/udev: Adding input device Video Bus (/dev/input/event9)
[...]

However when I check (and I test it) it using LLVMPIPE:

glxinfo -B
name of display: :0.0
display: :0  screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
    Vendor: Mesa (0xffffffff)
    Device: llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7, 128 bits) (0xffffffff)
    Version: 25.0.7
    Accelerated: no
    Video memory: 3745MB
    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: 31 MB, largest block: 31 MB
    VBO free aux. memory - total: 1509 MB, largest block: 1509 MB
    Texture free memory - total: 31 MB, largest block: 31 MB
    Texture free aux. memory - total: 1509 MB, largest block: 1509 MB
    Renderbuffer free memory - total: 31 MB, largest block: 31 MB
    Renderbuffer free aux. memory - total: 1509 MB, largest block: 1509 MB
Memory info (GL_NVX_gpu_memory_info):
    Dedicated video memory: 660757 MB
    Total available memory: 664502 MB
    Currently available dedicated video memory: 31 MB
OpenGL vendor string: Mesa
OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7, 128 bits)
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.5 (Core Profile) Mesa 25.0.7-2
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 25.0.7-2
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 25.0.7-2
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20

Any recommendation to fix this?
Thanks... 🙏

RedGreen925 · Yesterday 02:55:32

However when I check (and I test it) it using LLVMPIPE:

What testing did you do? I have the idea on my Debian systemd less install it says it is using llvmpipe but the glxgears gives the same FPS output as Devuan booted on it saying it is using the HD630 integrated graphics. In my case a total false positive output. Oh and if you do not know it the glxgears should give the same FPS as the refresh rate of your monitor if working correctly.

Danielsan · Yesterday 04:40:57

I check with intel_gpu_top but especially with Netflix, I was getting an average of 20% CPU and 30% GPU, and now again with 100% CPU...

RedGreen925 · Yesterday 05:52:12

especially with Netflix, I was getting an average of 20% CPU and 30% GPU, and now again with 100% CPU

That tells you nothing but a bloated website is running like shit which can be due to many reasons. Do an actual test like I suggested if the glxgears fails to run properly then you have a problem, it does nothing but test the performance of the graphics.

kapqa · Yesterday 08:08:44

vblank_mode=0 glxgears

sudo apt install mesa-utils

glmark2

Last edited by kapqa (Yesterday 08:16:07)

tux_99 · Yesterday 14:01:38

RedGreen925 wrote:

That tells you nothing but a bloated website is running like shit which can be due to many reasons.

I think he was talking about video playback, not the website.
100% cpu during video playback is a clear sign of software cpu-based video decoding. I have a HTPC using an ancient Atom 330 cpu from more than 15 years ago and that one can play back all current videos thanks to the Nvidia card that does all the decoding in hardware, if it was using the cpu it would run at 100% and still stutter.

Last edited by tux_99 (Yesterday 14:05:16)

RedGreen925 · Yesterday 19:12:22

I think he was talking about video playback, not the website.

How else do you access Netflix video on Linux except through a web browser and that garbage javascript all of them sites use. That is the main reason I have noscript running to prevent that trash from spiking my cpu every time I visit one of them sites that use that junk.

stultumanto · Yesterday 20:33:21

I have a HTPC using an ancient Atom 330 cpu from more than 15 years ago and that one can play back all current videos thanks to the Nvidia card that does all the decoding in hardware, if it was using the cpu it would run at 100% and still stutter.

Is this on Linux, and if so, what driver are you using? I disabled hardware acceleration in Firefox last night because I suspected vdpau was crashing the nouveau driver and bringing down the X server. This is just a guess, as the xorg.0.log stack trace was completely blank. It seemed to help, at least. I have a GTX 765M and I'm trying to resist the urge to install the ancient proprietary NVIDIA driver for this card. The last time I tried, it seemed to cause more problems that it solved. In fact, I'm not even sure it's possible on this version of the kernel.

tux_99 · Yesterday 22:09:36

stultumanto wrote:

Is this on Linux, and if so, what driver are you using?

Yes, Linux (Mageia is the distro I use on that) with the Nvidia proprietary drivers. Mageia is the only distro I know of that includes the Nvidia proprietary drivers directly on the Live CD image making the installation of the proprietary drivers extremely easy. The Nvidia card I use in the HTPC is a GT 1030.

My experience with the noveau drivers has always been bad, I wouldn't use them for anything.

stultumanto wrote:

have a GTX 765M and I'm trying to resist the urge to install the ancient proprietary NVIDIA driver for this card. The last time I tried, it seemed to cause more problems that it solved. In fact, I'm not even sure it's possible on this version of the kernel.

I'm afraid you might be right with that, the GTX 765M does not seem to be supported by the 535 or 550 driver series that Devuan provides, the newest driver that supports the GTX 765M seems to be 418.113 according to nvidia.com and this driver only officially supports up to kernel 5.4.
https://www.nvidia.com/en-eu/drivers/details/153781/

There are some unofficial patches that might make it work with newer kernels but for the 418.113 it's only up to kernel version 5.11:
https://github.com/MeowIce/nvidia-legacy

What I would try in your situation is to install a 5.4 kernel (for example by taking the deb kernel packages from Linux Mint 20.3 which should be fairly straightforward as Mint is based on Ubuntu and therefore Debian) and then install the 418.113 Nvidia driver.

Last edited by tux_99 (Yesterday 22:10:04)

stultumanto · Yesterday 22:29:50

Thanks for the info, tux_99, that's very helpful. Perhaps it's finally time to retire this system to home server duty. Thirteen years is a pretty good run, I guess.

Danielsan · Yesterday 23:21:03

I tried to triggering the guc from the kernel but nothing has changed... I don't understand, it looks correct and I get errors nowhere... 😩

Last edited by Danielsan (Yesterday 23:29:33)

stultumanto · Today 00:03:47

It definitely seems to indicate a real problem that glxinfo shows you using llvmpipe. I've had weird issues with Intel drivers before, but not with your exact model. In searching for your problem, I came across this post, where someone said they fixed your specific issue (albeit on Mint) by un-setting the environment variable MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE. Maybe it's worth checking to see if that value has been set in your ~/.bashrc.

Danielsan · Today 00:41:21

I found the problem, it was a pebcak, I tried to move on modesettings removing: xserver-xorg-video-intel; the driver can work practically stateless since none of the options above are recognized anymore...

Now opengl and video decode are working fine:

intel-gpu-top: Intel Geminilake (Gen9) @ /dev/dri/card0 -  152/ 162 MHz;  39% RC6;  0.92/ 4.55 W
        285 irqs/s

         ENGINES     BUSY                                                                   MI_SEMA MI_WAIT
       Render/3D   55.70% |███████████████████████████████████▏                           |      0%      0%
         Blitter    0.00% |                                                               |      0%      0%
           Video    0.00% |                                                               |      0%      0%
    VideoEnhance    0.00% |                                                               |      0%      0%

 PID      MEM      RSS     Render/3D          Blitter            Video          VideoEnhance    NAME       
7404  219480K  219480K |████████▏       ||                ||                ||                | librewolf  
7011   51548K   51036K |▉               ||                ||                ||                | Xorg       
7529     980K     980K |                ||                ||                ||                | RDD Process

However I have this impression that I was confusing and mixing stuff together... So the point is with the MESA driver I can get hardware acceleration practically stateless; with the i915 I couldn't get the hardware and video acceleration; weird but true... 🤷

Last edited by Danielsan (Today 01:05:51)

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#1 2025-11-10 23:57:11

[SOLVED] With Excalibur the intel GPU is using LLVMPIPE instead of UHD

#2 Yesterday 02:55:32

Re: [SOLVED] With Excalibur the intel GPU is using LLVMPIPE instead of UHD

#3 Yesterday 04:40:57

Re: [SOLVED] With Excalibur the intel GPU is using LLVMPIPE instead of UHD

#4 Yesterday 05:52:12

Re: [SOLVED] With Excalibur the intel GPU is using LLVMPIPE instead of UHD

#5 Yesterday 08:08:44

Re: [SOLVED] With Excalibur the intel GPU is using LLVMPIPE instead of UHD

#6 Yesterday 14:01:38

Re: [SOLVED] With Excalibur the intel GPU is using LLVMPIPE instead of UHD

#7 Yesterday 19:12:22

Re: [SOLVED] With Excalibur the intel GPU is using LLVMPIPE instead of UHD

#8 Yesterday 20:33:21

Re: [SOLVED] With Excalibur the intel GPU is using LLVMPIPE instead of UHD

#9 Yesterday 22:09:36

Re: [SOLVED] With Excalibur the intel GPU is using LLVMPIPE instead of UHD

#10 Yesterday 22:29:50

Re: [SOLVED] With Excalibur the intel GPU is using LLVMPIPE instead of UHD

#11 Yesterday 23:21:03

Re: [SOLVED] With Excalibur the intel GPU is using LLVMPIPE instead of UHD

#12 Today 00:03:47

Re: [SOLVED] With Excalibur the intel GPU is using LLVMPIPE instead of UHD

#13 Today 00:41:21

Re: [SOLVED] With Excalibur the intel GPU is using LLVMPIPE instead of UHD

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