Problem starting X after upgrade to 4.4

[Tony Power]

> I believe this a regression in support for Core2 intel graphics in the
> i915.ko drm kernel module, which has made great improvements for more
> modern chips.  I have one machine with the same problem which I moved to
> using VESA instead with a manually configured xorg.conf.
>
> On this particular machine if I try to kldload i915 the screen goes blank,
> the monitor complains, and system is unreachable on network, only
> power-cycling brings it back.  I have no idea how to trace the problem
> down, and the core2duo desktop hardware becomes more and more obsolete
> each
> day...
>
Yes, thats exactly what was happening, I needed to reboot to restore the
computer. No problem anyway, I reverted to using VESA instead (compton
compositor helps!). I think a hardware upgrade is overdue. Thanks, Tony.