Solving Gnome 3 Fallback problem and Dull graphics in Intel Graphics Chipsets

Hi Guys, I recently installed opensuse 12.1 "Asperagus" in my laptop. During installation I choose Gnome (Gnome 3) as my desktop environment. After the installation I found out that Gnome 3 is starting in Fallback Mode or Classic mode only. This is because opensuse was not detecting my default "intel" graphics correctly and using a generic driver. The consequences of the problem are:

1. I was unable use gnome 3 desktop, instead I was forced to use Gnome 3 's Fallback Mode.
2. Display is dull and I wanted to puke on that.
3. Dispaly is not full screen. As my screen is 1280x800 wide, display got a horizontal margin of 1.5 inches on both sides.

As for the above problems, if last two be solved, I can live with the first problem (As I find Gnome 3 not confortable enough than Gnome 2). I have faced these problems before when I was using Fedora 15 and RHEL 6 (Rhel 6 does not comes with Gnome 3 but problem 2 and 3 were present) and solved those problem quite easily. In Fedora and RHEL, the solution just require two small changes: one in Grub loader's "menu.lst" and other one in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. But in opensuse 12.1 there is no xorg.conf by default. So I googled and searched the forums for a solution for opensuse. I got peices of hints from various places and solved the problem. So I wanted to share to all of those who are using Intel graphics and are facing the same problem. This is how it goes:

1. After installation if you are facing all the three problems then restart your computer.


2. On the boot menu scroll to the "opensuse" or "Failsafe" option using keyboard.


3. There you will find some options near the bottom of the screen like nomodset vga=0317 etc.........


4. Use Backspace to remove all the visible text there and enter "3" (without quotes) and press enter.


5. Your system will open in RunLevel 3 with no GUI, just a black screen and some characters in white.


6. After few seconds a login prompt appears. Here login as "root" with root password. If you don't have or remember the root password, restart the system and use it as the way it allows you to use.(You cannot do any thing without root password).


7. If you loged in as root, execute the following command:
   

   Xorg -configure

   this will generate a file named "xorg.conf.new" in /root/ and contains the configuration of your system including Graphics.


8. Execute the command :
   

   cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf



9. If you are confortable with vi editor then perform the boot menu editing now or leave it for later.


10. Boot Menu Editing

(backup the /boot/grub/menu.lst first as if something goes wrong it can be restored back. Use the command: cp /boot/grub/menu.lst ~/menu.lst.old ).


 a) Login as Root in GUI. Use gedit or vi editor to edit file /boot/grub/menu.lst alternatively use command as :


gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

or


vi /boot/grub/menu.lst

b) In that file search for a word "nomodset" and remove it. (In my case this entry was only available for Failsafe menu and not for normal boot menu.)

c) After the above editing, copy the whole section related to the "Failsafe" menu and paste it below. Change the pasted Title and the "x11Failsafe" option. 
 
d) save the file and restart.


 Start the computer using the newly created Grub menu.

Now most probably your system will will open in Gnome 3 with fullscreen display and better graphics.  

Best of Luck......