PCLOS 2012 and ACER laptops - SOLVED

[Neal ManBear]

Hi Forum,

Would this possibly be something for the distro builders / testers ?

If so, does anyone have contact info. for that venerable group ?

many thanks,

semper-linux.

     
  "venerable group" Sheesh! We are all members of this community and active in this forum. You have already been getting help from some of our development team. We don't go with that stuff of separating ourselves from our people. It's non-productive.     

==============================================
When running XFdrake, choose the fglrx driver. That is the ati driver.     

In the shot above, you show the kde desktop. Did you wait for it to completely load? That is, wait until after the logon sounds run and then a bit longer? Or did you just start clicking as soon as you saw the desktop graphics?     

ATI graphics cards can be problematic. Acer laptops, too. I have neither to test on.     

[semper-linux]

Hi Forum,

Thank you Neal ManBear for your reply.

The screenshot of the KDE desktop was actually a boot-up done in a virtual machine - VirtualBox. I experimented with that to see if I could get any more information but it didn't turn up anything new.
For what it was worth, I did wait (several minutes) waiting to see if the desktop would become active but it did not.

I have never managed to get to that position with a "normal" LiveCD boot-up.

I can find six 'versions' of the fglrx driver in XFdrake..........
1)   VENDOR | ATI | FirePro (radeon / fglrx)
2)   VENDOR | ATI | FirePro (radeonhd / fglrx)
3)   VENDOR | ATI | HD2000 and later (radeon / fglrx)
4)   VENDOR | ATI | HD2000 and later (radeonhd / fglrx)
5)   VENDOR | ATI | (vesa / fglrx)
6)   xorg : ati

Versions 1) to 5) - when trying to run xinit, all crash with BSOD - must switch off / on to re-start machine.

Version 6) - when running xinit, the system produces the error output information given earlier and recovers to the terminal prompt.

You're absolutely right about ACER laptops - I've always had problems getting the graphics to run correctly under Linux distros.
Most often, the LiveCD just crashes and I never get the opportunity to load up and test the distro.

You guys do a first class job and all credit to you - your efforts are appreciated - even if we don't tell you !!!

semper-linux

[AS]

semper-linux,

try this please:
1) in BIOS set graphics to "Integrated"
2) boot a LiveCD, even in text mode, and post the ouput of:

Code: [Select]

lspci  --nn  -k

[semper-linux]

Hi Forum,

Thanks for the reply AS.

I looked into the BIOS a while ago to see if I could make any changes along the lines you suggest - absolutely nothing.
The only thing reported regarding graphics / video is the memory size - 256 MB.

The BIOS is Phoenix Technologies SecureCore V1.15 - 25/12/2009.
There are no advanced options - it is the most inflexible BIOS I have ever seen - virtually  nothing configurable.
Because of that, I actually take it to mean that there are no on-board graphics other that the ATI Radeon system.

Nevertheless, I ran "lspci -n -k" from a terminal booted up from the LiveCD.
There was a mass of output so I've included what I'm guessing is the part you're looking for..........

02:00.0  0300  1002:68e0
VGA Compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technology Inc. Manhattan [Mobility Radeon HD5400 series] [1002 : 68e0]
Subsystem : ACER Inc. [ALI] Device [1025 : 0347]
Kernal driver in use : fglrx_pci
Kernel modules : fglrx


I actually ran the same command for the working Kubuntu system on this machine - output as follows.......

02:00.0  0300:   1002:68e0
Subsystem: 1025:0347
Kernal driver in use : fglrx_pci
Kernel modules : fglrx, radeon

(in both cases there were no further references to graphics / video systems)

I see a difference in the kernel modules - critical ?

Many thanks

semper-linux

[AS]

At very first boot after installation ... the system will rebuild the dkms drivers, including fglrx ... Are you sure you didn't interrupt that process before it completed ?  (that phase really look like a frozen system ...)

[semper-linux]

I've never tried an installation - I always felt that if I couldn't get the LiveCD to run, there was not much point in putting my running system at risk trying to install a system where the LiveCD didn't run correctly.

I know it would be relatively straightforward to recover with the Kubuntu LiveCD but it would mean a lot of re-building to get the system back to where it is now.

semper-linux

[semper-linux]

Maybe hard to believe, but I have PCLOS installed and running like a dream 

I started the LiveCD and selected "Safe graphics mode - FBDEV" and, after a few heart-stopping moments, the system booted up completely.
(I'm convinced I tried that option and it didn't work. I know I tried the FBDEV driver in XFdrake and that didn't work - but what the heck - it's running.)

The graphics were rubbish so I downloaded the correct driver from AMD and installed it. I logged out and logged in again and the machine ran as sweet as a nut.

Then, with my heart in my mouth, I selected "Install to hard drive" and let it run - no problem at all.
Machine didn't automatically re-boot - I waited at least 5 mins as it sat and did nothing - plucked up the courage to do a manual re-start and up it came.

I have a separate /home partition and also use Firefox / Thunderbird and everything came up a treat.

Machine seems to be normally stable and have re-booted several times with no problems.


Many thanks to all who took the time and effort to assist  with this problem - I certainly learned a lot from your input.

********************************************************************

Problem solution..........................

Start the LiveCD and select "Safe graphics mode - FBDEV". The machine may take some time but let it run.

That will hopefully take you a desktop although the graphics will most likely require attention.
Download (you should know beforehand what the correct driver for your system is and where to find it ) and install your driver - this should give properly functioning graphics.

Now you can install to the hard drive.

*******************************************************************

semper-linux

[AS]

Maybe hard to believe, but I have PCLOS installed and running like a dream 

I started the LiveCD and selected "Safe graphics mode - FBDEV" and, after a few heart-stopping moments, the system booted up completely.
(I'm convinced I tried that option and it didn't work. I know I tried the FBDEV driver in XFdrake and that didn't work - but what the heck - it's running.)

The graphics were rubbish so I downloaded the correct driver from AMD and installed it. I logged out and logged in again and the machine ran as sweet as a nut.

Glad you got it working. 
So, what is the correct driver, which is not included in PCLinuxOS ?

Then, with my heart in my mouth, I selected "Install to hard drive" and let it run - no problem at all.
Machine didn't automatically re-boot - I waited at least 5 mins as it sat and did nothing - plucked up the courage to do a manual re-start and up it came.

.. Hmmm... usually a LiveCD when shutting down ask to press ENTER after the CD was removed ... at it seems to me it was at that stage ...  if you ever will reinstall, the next time try to press ENTER... even if you don't see any message on the screen ...

I have a separate /home partition and also use Firefox / Thunderbird and everything came up a treat.

Machine seems to be normally stable and have re-booted several times with no problems.


Many thanks to all who took the time and effort to assist  with this problem - I certainly learned a lot from your input.

********************************************************************

Problem solution..........................

Start the LiveCD and select "Safe graphics mode - FBDEV". The machine may take some time but let it run.

That will hopefully take you a desktop although the graphics will most likely require attention.
Download (you should know beforehand what the correct driver for your system is and where to find it ) and install your driver - this should give properly functioning graphics.

Now you can install to the hard drive.

*******************************************************************

semper-linux

[semper-linux]

Hi Forum,

Thanks for the reply AS.

What I download and use from AMD is not actually a driver but a .run package which no doubt includes a driver and several other parts as well.
These may well be kernel modules or lib packages - but exactly what I don't know.
The package title is : amd-driver-installer-12-2-x86.x86_64.run - Google "AMD drivers" and the correct site will be at the top of the page.

However, it appears I'm not out of the woods yet as I've noticed some strange graphics behaviour..........

1)    Difficulty in coming out of "full screen" viewing - the collapse button flickers and takes several seconds and repeated operation to respond.

2)   The Adobe Flash player plug-in in Firefox has crashed a couple of times - I use Firefox to watch streamed television.

I looked in Control Centre and it told me I had the original fglrx driver (from the LiveCD disk) - "lspci -n -k" reports the same !!
I know I said I had installed the new AMD package but I had to use the "-- force" as I couldn't un-install the flgkrx driver.
I assumed the package had been correctly installed but I doubt that now.

When the AMD package is correctly installed, "lspci" should report "Kernel modules : fglrx, radeon"
As it is, the only Kernel module is "fglrx"

I decided to re-install the AMD package but first of all try to remove the fglrx driver.

It appears that many of the fglrx components cannot be removed because the MD5 checksum of those components does not match therefore the uninstall process abandons them. - I found this in the /etc/ati/uninstall log file.

I now wonder if this may be something to do with the difficulties in running the LiveCD - I'm sure "xinit" tries to build the various packages into the required graphics sub-system and, the failure to load modules, could well be a symptom of this checksum mis-match.
Goodness knows if this is truly relevant but it may be worth investigating.

Anyway, my current problem is removing all the fglrx components - can you advise me on how to force the removal ?
I tried "apt-get remove --purge xorg-driver-fglrx fglrx*" but the install always fails.

Many thanks,

semper-linux

[AS]

Hi Forum,

Thanks for the reply AS.

What I download and use from AMD is not actually a driver but a .run package which no doubt includes a driver and several other parts as well.
These may well be kernel modules or lib packages - but exactly what I don't know.
The package title is : amd-driver-installer-12-2-x86.x86_64.run - Google "AMD drivers" and the correct site will be at the top of the page.

However, it appears I'm not out of the woods yet as I've noticed some strange graphics behaviour..........

There is a reason why installing packages from outside the officials repo is strongly discouraged!!!

After all PCLinuxOS provide the same drivers, only prepared and packaged for PCLinuxOS, currently PCLinuxOS provide Ati-Catalyst 11.2 (and 12.1 in testing), unless you have a very recent card, supported only from 12.2 I guess you should get far better results using the PCLinuxOS provided drivers.

1)    Difficulty in coming out of "full screen" viewing - the collapse button flickers and takes several seconds and repeated operation to respond.

2)   The Adobe Flash player plug-in in Firefox has crashed a couple of times - I use Firefox to watch streamed television.

flash may have issue for itself, it is a problematic package sometimes, leave that for later time.

I looked in Control Centre and it told me I had the original fglrx driver (from the LiveCD disk) - "lspci -n -k" reports the same !!
I know I said I had installed the new AMD package but I had to use the "-- force" as I couldn't un-install the flgkrx driver.
I assumed the package had been correctly installed but I doubt that now.

When the AMD package is correctly installed, "lspci" should report "Kernel modules : fglrx, radeon"
As it is, the only Kernel module is "fglrx"

I decided to re-install the AMD package but first of all try to remove the fglrx driver.

It appears that many of the fglrx components cannot be removed because the MD5 checksum of those components does not match therefore the uninstall process abandons them. - I found this in the /etc/ati/uninstall log file.

I now wonder if this may be something to do with the difficulties in running the LiveCD - I'm sure "xinit" tries to build the various packages into the required graphics sub-system and, the failure to load modules, could well be a symptom of this checksum mis-match.
Goodness knows if this is truly relevant but it may be worth investigating.

Anyway, my current problem is removing all the fglrx components - can you advise me on how to force the removal ?
I tried "apt-get remove --purge xorg-driver-fglrx fglrx*" but the install always fails.

Many thanks,

semper-linux

Check docs coming with the downloaded drivers, there should be instruction on how to remove that self-installed packages, I would suggest a complete re-installation, it will be a faster and clean job! 

[Neal ManBear]

The package title is : amd-driver-installer-12-2-x86.x86_64.run

     
You installed a 64bit driver on a 32bit system? From outside sources? Installing from outside sources renders your system officially unsupported.       

However, it appears I'm not out of the woods yet as I've noticed some strange graphics behaviour..........

     
No surprise.     

I tried "apt-get remove --purge xorg-driver-fglrx fglrx*" but the install always fails.

     
  That isn't an install command.      

[AS]

The package title is : amd-driver-installer-12-2-x86.x86_64.run

     

That's actually a script that autodetect the target arch and install the correct driver automatically.

[semper-linux]

Hi Forum,

The problem appears to be whatever firefox plug-in is in use when viewing full screen.

I see the LiveCD installation automatically installs firefox with a plethora of plug-ins..............

DivX Browser plugin,
Google VLC multimedia plugin
Mozplugger 1.14.3
mplayerplugin 3.55
Quicktime plugin 7.4.5
Real player 9
Shockwave flash
Windows media player plugin and, of course, Adobe Flash player 11.1.102.55.

Little wonder if there's maybe some conflict here.

I think I'll try and do a basic firefox installation and build up from there.

semper-linux