Fix for old Ati cards under PCLinuxOS 2011 with the xorg 1.9.5

[AndrzejL]

Fix for old Ati cards under PCLinuxOS 2011 with the xorg 1.9.5

Hope this helps somebody some day!

Andy

Edit: Amended the link to the backup copy of my post since WoTW is no longer live.

[parnote]

Looks like some very useful information, Andy. I'm sure that there will be many who will benefit.

Thanks for sharing!

parnote

[T6]

i was considering the first steps and i said "i can do that"

the last steps, about the kernel

too complex, looks like a temporary fix until you update your kernel, am i wrong?

[Texstar]

So what happens if you add radeon and options to your modprobe preload but skip the recreation of the initrd? I don't see anything that says mkinitrd --preload <module> which is used to preload a kernel driver not a video driver. That part doesn't make sense. Also did you remove the nokmsboot from your grub boot line if you had it set so modprobe preload could do the modesetting?

Can you try this.

Set xorg.conf for radeon driver in pcc
Remove nokmsboot from grub boot line
Add the following to  /etc/modprobe.preload file
radeon
options radeon modeset=1

Dont do the mkinitrd stuff.

[DarkBlueKoala]

Fix for old Ati cards under PCLinuxOS 2011 with the xorg 1.9.5

Hope this helps somebody some day!

Andy

Thanks Andy!  Did this from the original instruction set and it worked.  I now have 3D effects running again.  I suspect as many have said that this will only last until the next kernel update that I do.

Also, I should have read a bit more, as then I could have tested Texstar's idea.    Oh well, live and learn.  I can always rebreak my system later this week and then try to Textstar method.  

[gseaman]

Good job, Andy! I don't have one of these cards, but I am thrilled that not all older ati cards will become obsolete with the newer xorg.

Galen

[AndrzejL]

So what happens if you add radeon and options to your modprobe preload but skip the recreation of the initrd? I don't see anything that says mkinitrd --preload <module> which is used to preload a kernel driver not a video driver. That part doesn't make sense. Also did you remove the nokmsboot from your grub boot line if you had it set so modprobe preload could do the modesetting?

Can you try this.

Set xorg.conf for radeon driver in pcc
Remove nokmsboot from grub boot line
Add the following to  /etc/modprobe.preload file
radeon
options radeon modeset=1

Dont do the mkinitrd stuff.

Texstar. http://pastebin.com/W55wQdqX Here are the last diagnostics we performed with the guys from the #radeon channel. It includes the mkinitrd part. Those are the entries with radeon word in it.

 /usr/lib/libdrm_radeon.so.1 -> /tmp/initrd.7gQtJU/usr/lib/libdrm_radeon.so.1
    /usr/lib/libdrm_radeon.so.1.0.0 -> /tmp/initrd.7gQtJU/usr/lib/libdrm_radeon.so.1.0.0

What I was told - I need to redo the initrd after adding something to /etc/modeprobe.conf After performing all this I still had the timing problem with radeon module. To make sure its a timing problem - they told me to kill X and then log in http://pastebin.com/HxsL8sTa this is the output of the X log after killing X and logging back in. To get rid of the timing problem I added the word radeon to the /etc/modprobe.preload file. It causes few seconds of a black screen during the last seconds of plymouth but who cares if You can have a working 3D again .

I will try doing it on my Missus machine without redoing the initrd and will let You know.

Andy

[AndrzejL]

Looks like some very useful information, Andy. I'm sure that there will be many who will benefit.

Thanks for sharing!

parnote

Thanks Paul .

Andy

[AndrzejL]

Fix for old Ati cards under PCLinuxOS 2011 with the xorg 1.9.5

Hope this helps somebody some day!

Andy

Thanks Andy!  Did this from the original instruction set and it worked.  I now have 3D effects running again.  I suspect as many have said that this will only last until the next kernel update that I do.

Also, I should have read a bit more, as then I could have tested Texstar's idea.    Oh well, live and learn.  I can always rebreak my system later this week and then try to Textstar method.  

I am glad it's working for You. I know it worked for me and for marcin82 as well .

Andy

[AndrzejL]

i was considering the first steps and i said "i can do that"

the last steps, about the kernel

too complex, looks like a temporary fix until you update your kernel, am i wrong?

T6 - will You try it please but skip the kernel redoing part? Let us know how it went. Btw? Why would this be a temporary fix "till next kernel upgrade"? The new kernel would be installed / compiled with the entry in the /etc/modprobe.conf and I think it should be working as well...

Try it if You feel like it. There is no must.

Regards.

Andy

[AndrzejL]

Good job, Andy! I don't have one of these cards, but I am thrilled that not all older ati cards will become obsolete with the newer xorg.

Galen

I think I got IM from You? I was sleeping. Sorry Dude .

Andy

[AndrzejL]

Ok I just tried it and it worked on Dell Latitude C610 without redoing the kernel. The modeset option is passed to kernel without redoing initrd. Will amend the post on my site.

T6 can You confirm it?

After following all the steps (without doing the mkinitrd part) reboot and when back to the system run this command as root.

Code: [Select]

cat /sys/module/radeon/parameters/modeset
Output should be 1.

[root@eleanor andrzejl]# cat /sys/module/radeon/parameters/modeset
1
[root@eleanor andrzejl]#

also run glxgears as user

[andrzejl@wishmasbell ~]$ glxgears
Running synchronized to the vertical refresh.  The framerate should be
approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate.
299 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.674 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.960 FPS
298 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.576 FPS
^C
[andrzejl@wishmasbell ~]$

The output should be equal (or very close to) Your screen's refresh rate. In my case it's 60 Hz so I am getting about 59 FPS.

If all is good try using some 3D game or app and let us know how it went.

Regards.

Andy

[mikkl]

Fantastic news team!  Nice job of chasing this down!

mikkl

[T6]

will try tonight, good to know that kernel update won't undo all this process

[marcin82]

Hi.
Yesterday I've done all things included in method given by AndrzejL. Once on PCLinuxOS 2010.12 Minime with 'mkinitrd ... ', and the second one on PCLinuxOS 2010.12 LXDE without 'miniktrd ... '. Works fine, DE is a bit faster ...

Code: [Select]

[marcin@localhost ~]$ glxgears
Running synchronized to the vertical refresh.  The framerate should be
approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate.
424 frames in 5.0 seconds = 84.749 FPS
426 frames in 5.0 seconds = 84.997 FPS
425 frames in 5.0 seconds = 84.804 FPS
425 frames in 5.0 seconds = 84.998 FPS
426 frames in 5.0 seconds = 85.004 FPS
420 frames in 5.0 seconds = 83.997 FPSThanks Andy ;]
AndrzejL na Prezydenta!