Comment 12 for bug 147606

I have similar problems in Kubuntu intrepid:

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu intrepid (development branch)
Release: 8.10
Codename: intrepid
$ uname -a
Linux galar3 2.6.27-3-generic #1 SMP Wed Sep 10 16:02:00 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

The graphics card is an Intel 965GM; the relevant part of lscpi is as follows:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

Booting with "video=intelfb:mode=1280x800-16@60,accel,hwcursor" as suggested in the intelfb documentation gives the following:

$ dmesg | grep intelfb
Sep 13 01:04:45 galar3 kernel: [ 1.887112] intelfb: Framebuffer driver for Intel(R) 830M/845G/852GM/855GM/865G/915G/915GM/945G/945GM/965G/965GM chipsets
Sep 13 01:04:45 kernel: [ 1.887177] intelfb: Version 0.9.5
Sep 13 01:04:45 kernel: [ 1.887274] intelfb 0000:00:02.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Sep 13 01:04:45 kernel: [ 1.887330] intelfb: 00:02.0: Intel(R) 965GM, aperture size 256MB, stolen memory 7932kB
Sep 13 01:04:45 kernel: [ 1.887392] intelfb: cannot acquire agp

Loading the intelfb module after boot up gives the following:

$ sudo rmmod intelfb
$ sudo modprobe intelfb mode=1280x800-16 accel=1 hwcursor=1
Sep 13 01:46:14 galar3 kernel: [ 729.428154] intelfb: Framebuffer driver for Intel(R) 830M/845G/852GM/855GM/865G/915G/915GM/945G/945GM/965G/965GM chipsets
Sep 13 01:46:14 kernel: [ 729.428171] intelfb: Version 0.9.5
Sep 13 01:46:14 kernel: [ 729.428269] intelfb: 00:02.0: Intel(R) 965GM, aperture size 256MB, stolen memory 7932kB
Sep 13 01:46:14 kernel: [ 729.436525] intelfb: Non-CRT device is enabled ( LVDS port ). Disabling mode switching.
Sep 13 01:46:14 kernel: [ 729.436552] intelfb: Video mode must be programmed at boot time.

Also, the uvesafb fails miserably, trying "video=uvesafb:1280x800-16@60" at boot gives " uvesafb: Unknown parameter `mode'". modinfo uvesafb gives the correct parameter name as "mode_option", so next boot is with "video=uvesafb:mode_option=1280x800-16@60"; which gives:

Sep 13 02:22:24 kernel: [ 6.896009] uvesafb: Getting VBE info block failed (eax=0x4f00, err=1)
Sep 13 02:22:24 kernel: [ 6.896063] uvesafb: vbe_init() failed with -22
Sep 13 02:22:24 kernel: [ 6.896113] uvesafb: probe of uvesafb.0 failed with error -22

Also, the helper v86d is in the initram used by this kernel:

$ zcat /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-3-generic | cpio -t | grep v86d
sbin/v86d

If any more information is required I'd be happy to provide it.