Dennis HilkLinux diagnosticsDE

Intel graphics

Intel Ivy Bridge GT2 mobile

Mobile Ivy Bridge GT2: an i915 table match does not identify the laptop or the renderer an application selected.

Editorial source review: Share public profileOpen in the identification tool
On this page
  1. Overview & identity
  2. Driver & binding
  3. Firmware
  4. Read-only diagnostics
  5. Limitations & related issues
  6. References

Overview & identity

The shared Intel header places 0x0166 in the Ivy Bridge mobile GT2 list. This is a GPU-function family tag, not proof of a specific Core processor or laptop. The address is needed to distinguish the integrated display function from a separate discrete GPU or its audio function.

Curated identifiers
pci 8086:0166

A numeric match establishes a candidate family within the reviewed evidence. Marketing names, board variants, subsystem conditions and successful operation remain separate questions.

Driver & binding

i915 consumes this family macro in its PCI table. The reviewed Xe table starts with later platform families and is not evidence for this Ivy Bridge entry. A bound i915 device can still coexist with CPU-rendered applications if the userspace stack or application selection differs.

  • i915 — kernel driver/module candidate

Detected, bound, operational: learn the difference

Firmware

No host payload established here

No exact externally loaded image was established for this older family in the reviewed profile sources. This describes the evidence here; it does not assert that the hardware or its system firmware is firmware-free. A BIOS, video BIOS or platform initialization report remains separate evidence.

Inspect firmware packaging on your distribution

Read-only diagnostics

Run one displayed command at a time. Replace uppercase placeholders with the affected device, interface or module from your own output. Commands are never executed here. Read-only output can still contain private identifiers.

Identify this Intel graphics function

lspci -nnk -s BDF

Replace BDF with the display function address. This summary normally needs no sudo. Keep 8086:0166 and the “Kernel driver in use” observation together; the candidate module list does not establish the selected driver.

Read the active graphics implementation

readlink /sys/bus/pci/devices/BDF/driver

BDF must include the full PCI domain. The read-only driver link normally requires no sudo. Its last component identifies the active implementation; no link is a binding observation, not proof that the platform is unsupported.

Associate DRM nodes with the PCI address

ls -l /sys/bus/pci/devices/BDF/drm

This read-only directory listing normally needs no sudo. Associate any card/render names with this function rather than assuming card0 is the desired GPU. A missing directory can follow disabled hardware, unbound graphics or failed probe; a listed render node does not prove an application uses acceleration.

Separate engine, display and firmware messages

journalctl -k -b --no-pager

Read the current boot and retain the first i915 or Xe error associated with this address. A GPU hang, DMC warning and EDID rejection describe different subsystems. Journal group permissions may restrict reading; a permissions error is not a GPU result.

Limitations & related issues

The mobile GT2 label says nothing about an OEM panel, docking port or available graphics API. No external firmware filename is established for this profile; that does not mean the platform has no BIOS or device firmware.

These guides are linked for relevant observations, not as known defects of every device in this family.

Choose a hardware diagnostic workflow · Inspect a log excerpt in Fix Lab

References

Source review records a checked implementation or document, not a reproduced hardware test. Version-specific tables do not establish a minimum kernel or guaranteed operation.