In case you were wondering the intel driver for the GMA 4500m doesn't work with some of the 2.6.18 based kernels aka whatever comes with centos 5.5 and 5.6. This seems to affect a lot of linux distros (suse, ubunut, etc).
The workaround I use is to boot with the option acpi=off
Symptoms :
- run startx (using default intel drivers)
- screen flashes, gnome is visible for .5 seconds
- monitor turns *off*
- switching workspaces shows the desktop for .5 seconds
- nothing is visible. ctrl+alt+backspace = display still off
I found no solution for this problem. Plugging in an external monitor + using the hot keys to activate it doesn't work, using a different driver failed (i810).
This isn't limited to centos. During my google I found other distros with similar kernels with the same issue.
2.6.35 + intel driver + GMA 4500m = works perfect.
centos forum convo here
