I had the same problem for a bit. What i found that fixed it was to manually load the fglrx module. Just "modprobe fglrx". I got tired of having to manually load so today I went and tried to rebuild my kernel so it would auto load. No dice, now fglrx wont compile. Sad eh?
Try doing a modprobe fglrx.

Tenser

I think i am having a similar problem. I am using the 2.4.22-1.2115.nptl kernel (Fedora core 1) with my ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (RV350) and am attempting to get it to work with the fglrx driver. Both agpgart and fglrx modules have been build and present no errors when loading. I have created my XF86Config-4 file using the included tool (fglrxconfig) but i do not get 3d acceleration with these drivers. Instead, glxinfo and fglrxinfo always show the use of the Mesa drivers and glxgears agrees as i only get about 80-100 FPS. fgl_gears will not run at all. Is it just my xconfig file that is messed up?

I've tested this guide at Mandrake 10, radeon 9800, intel875 chipset, sata disks. mandrake 10 was the only distro i got to run. and now i have the radeon drivers as well. nice!!
i want to add this: if you have problems when running the make.sh and the make_install.sh script, you might have the same problem as me, i forgot to install the kernel source. its an rpm you can install from cd3. and i was refused to install so i ran chmod 755 on both files.
code:
chmod 755 make.sh
chmod 755 make_install.sh

I'm going to run som tests later today, got to get the tv out to work too :P

thank you for a very nice guide

looks like i've gotten it working! I blame the nvidia drivers for messing it up! I assume they removed something having to do with DRI. In order to fix this, I killed x, (init 3) and force removed the following packages:

fglrx
XFree86
Xfree86-Mesa-libGL
XFree86-Mesa-libGLU

Then i simply reinstalled them. After that, i reinstalled them all in reverse order, ran fglrxconfig, and bam! It was all working! YAY! glxgears is pulling 2500 fps! Thanks to all for you helpful posts. I'm going to go play UT2K4 now

The solution isn't that simple.

First you must make sure that the nvidia_agp driver loads, aswell as the fglrx one.

Do this.
Add the following line to the /etc/modprobe.conf file.
install fglrx /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install fglrx && { /sbin/modprobe nvidia_agp; /bin/true; }

and add '/sbin/modprobe fglrx' to '/etc/rc.d/rc.modules' (no quotes)

Then restart Xserver.

This sometimes can be overwritten if you make changes to the soundcard or the video card.

Make sure external AGP is set to yes.

Oh and have your kernel sources installed before you try install the fglrx drivers.

[opticus@dhcppc0 opticus]$ fgl_glxgears
363 frames in 5.0 seconds = 72.600 FPS
425 frames in 5.0 seconds = 85.000 FPS
426 frames in 5.0 seconds = 85.200 FPS
---------------------------
[opticus@dhcppc0 opticus]$ fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: RADEON 9800 Pro Generic
OpenGL version string: 1.3 (X4.3.0-3.7.6)
---------------------------
any idea what is wrong here?

ATI module generator V 2.0
==========================
initializing...
kernel includes at /usr/src/linux/include not found or incomplete
file: /usr/src/linux/include/linux/version.h

This is my error message, anyone can help? What Kernel Source i need instal to get results?

you need to install the kernel source, its is on cd3 and it is an rpm called something starting with kernel and ending with .rpm

Did you turn on AA when you set up the Fglrx drivers?

How significant is the renderer string? i have a 9600 pro but the renderer string only reads "radeon 9600 generic". Is it possible that the driver is not recognizing my card correctly? Might this be a reason why i'm not too impressed with it's performance?

I followed this guide exactly, i dont know what AA is...

(this is copied from another post that got no replies)

Maxsin, I also have Mandrake 10.0 Community, a GeCube 9600XT and have tried just about everything to get 3D enabled. I'm pleased to see that you got it going so it must be possible for me too. I have a few questions for you that might clue me on the difference between you and me..

1. Did you install 10.0 with LSB or without LSB (Linux Standard Base)
2. Did you set your video card to the default radeon driver at the end of the distrubution install?
3. Did you have 2.6 kernel sources installed under /usr/src?
4. Did you tell the distribution to start in X automatically?
5. Did you have to go back to init 3 to start the whole process and run rpm -i <driver>.rpm --force?
6. If the answer to 5 is yes, then how did you manage to read all the output information in the console and that there were no errors? (when in console mode, I can't find a way to scroll back up the screen to read errors - once it leaves the top of the screen, it's gone)
7. Does 3D accel still work for you if you re-run fglrxconfig and say to use Internal fgl AGP instead of external agpgart?

Sorry for all the questions. There has to be some element of difference in the way you do it and the way I do it.

I didn't install LSB, because that required an 2.4 kernel install.
When I installed mandrake, it picked up Radeon(fglrx), but this wasn't 100% working, I still had to install the ati drivers.
The kernel sources were installed, from the mandrake disk through RPMdrake.
Startx was enabled for me, and it booted nto gnome or whatever I had set automatically.
I didn't have to go into init 3 mode, but it worked like that too.
I'd say try it in the terminal , and if you get errors, try fix them before going into init 3 to reinstall them. You must be root to install these drivers so that make, and make install work.
Type SU in console and type your password, and then do rpm -Uh --force fglrxbalhblah.rpm

This should run through the process, and work fine, even doing make and make install automatically.

Then run fglrxconfig.

I selected use external agpgart and enable xfree-dga (for quakeworld mouse issues)

In some case the nforce drivers may need to be installed FIRST, but it's not required for mandrake 10 with the 2.6 kernel. (For me anyway)

What can happen then is you might lose the 3D support when you reboot, so you have to add the following line to the /etc/modprobe.conf file.

install fglrx /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install fglrx && { /sbin/modprobe nvidia_agp; /bin/true; }

Then restart X

This got it working perfectly.

To check, go into the terminal and type SU and enter root password.
Type lsmod and look for the following things.
fglrx
agpgart
nvidia-agp or nvidia_agp

These things need to be present, or else the mesa drivers will be back in force.

type fglrxinfo to confirm that ATI Radeon 9600 Generic is written
and then do the following in a terminal (in x)

glxgears
This will run the 3d gears (usually in a small window) you should get 4000 ish in a window, and over 200 in full screen.

fgl_glxgears
if this works you can be pretty sure your 3D is fine, but you should get over 500fps in a window, and 200 ish in fullscreen.

with my radeon 9600 pro, i am only getting about 2000-2200 fps of glxgears. this sounds signifigantly lower than yous. what other things could be effecting this? I think the card is only running at 8x, but could it really do that much damage? I'm not confident that i have all the drivers configured correctly.

No thats fine, we probably have different cpus, or you just might have it in a slightly bigger window than me, which makes a difference! Games are what counts. Try quake3