System freezes due to Intel videocard failure

Question

I have a Dell XPS 15 running ubuntu 14.04 . At first all was fine, but for the past couple of months things are getting strange. Many times the laptop fails to suspend, or even freezes not allowing to perform any operation (services and process keep on running).

Most of the time, the only solution is to reboot and prey to not happen again.

A very common error that leads me to point the blame on the video card is this one:

Oct  3 14:42:38 ged kernel: [17810.185895] [drm:intel_dp_aux_native_write] *ERROR* too many retries, giving up
Oct  3 14:42:38 ged kernel: [17810.185900] [drm:intel_dp_start_link_train] *ERROR* failed to enable link training
Oct  3 14:42:38 ged kernel: [17810.192638] [drm:intel_dp_aux_native_write] *ERROR* too many retries, giving up
Oct  3 14:42:38 ged kernel: [17810.192640] [drm:intel_dp_complete_link_train] *ERROR* failed to start channel equalization
Oct  3 14:42:38 ged kernel: [17810.200577] [drm:intel_dp_i2c_aux_ch] *ERROR* too many retries, giving up
Oct  3 14:42:38 ged kernel: [17810.207829] [drm:intel_dp_i2c_aux_ch] *ERROR* too many retries, giving up
Oct  3 14:42:39 ged kernel: [17810.689571] [drm:intel_dp_aux_native_write] *ERROR* too many retries, giving up
Oct  3 14:42:39 ged kernel: [17810.689577] [drm:intel_dp_start_link_train] *ERROR* failed to enable link training
Oct  3 14:42:39 ged kernel: [17810.696431] [drm:intel_dp_aux_native_write] *ERROR* too many retries, giving up
Oct  3 14:42:39 ged kernel: [17810.696434] [drm:intel_dp_complete_link_train] *ERROR* failed to start channel equalization
Oct  3 14:42:39 ged kernel: [17810.704342] [drm:intel_dp_i2c_aux_ch] *ERROR* too many retries, giving up
Oct  3 14:42:39 ged kernel: [17810.711543] [drm:intel_dp_i2c_aux_ch] *ERROR* too many retries, giving up

This goes on and on for[almost]ever.

Since I almost always work with an external monitor, I believe that something is related to it.

Any hint would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I had a similar issue with a desktop, while using two monitors and working with paraview, that one was solved with installing the right driver for the graphic card. Though there is a little chance that this be your problem since xps is fully supported by ubuntu as far as I know, but take a look in your drivers see if there is any other possibility available there.

Cheers,

Answer 2

As suggested by @Sia i looked for a proper driver. In the end, installing the Intel Tool for this job solved the issue.