AMD ATI Proprietary Driver, Gnome Control Center and Segmentation Fault Error

zetrotrack000 · 09-20-2014, 08:48 AM

Hi
I have installed Kali linux (which is based on debian). It is working perfectly, except gnome-control-center. After I have install AMD Proprietary Driver (by using following guide), gnome-control-center stopped working and giving 'segmentation fault' error;
http://www.blackmoreops.com/2014/03/...i-linux-1-0-6/
But if I disable this proprietary driver (by removing xorg.conf and rebooting sytem), gnome-control-system starts working fine. So there is a conflict between gnome-control-center and this proprietary driver (which i need for some features).
How can I solve this conflict?
Regards

Ztcoracat · 09-20-2014, 11:55 AM

Hi:

Anytime that I installed the AMD drivers I found that the drivers were buggy, buggy, buggy.
Nothing I tried worked so I just used the open src driver or settled for the module/driver that the kernel provided.

From what you said it sounds like you need the AMD driver for 3D acceleration-

You can try to Configure the driver but I can't guarantee that it will work.
Sections 1.2 "Configuring the driver" through 1.2.3 "Disable Kernel mode setting" could help.
***There is a warning for configuring X***

Code:

Warning: Use the --output option before committing to /etc/X11/ as an xorg.conf file will override anything in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...ing_the_driver

Like I said I tried everything and I still had conflict.
Maybe another member will chime in and know other strategies.

Good luck!

zetrotrack000 · 09-20-2014, 02:08 PM

Quote:

From what you said it sounds like you need the AMD driver for 3D acceleration-

After reading this, I did some more experiments and found that if I select High Performance GPU in Catalyst Control Center, then gnome-control-center works fine, but if I select Power Saving GPU, then gnome-control-center gives segmentation fault error. Kindly check the screenshot.
I most use Power Saving option (to save battery life), so how can I achieve this?
PS. If I select power saving option and reboot, then catalyst control center also gives segmentation fault error.

Ztcoracat · 09-20-2014, 09:06 PM

It may be that selecting High Performance GPU for optimal graphics performance is the only way to not get that error.
(I'm not sure but I suspect)
I'll look up the error. When you have the time please to post it- (see if there is a solution)

-::-What is the exact error that your getting?-::-

*Do you have more than 1 video card?*

Link that explains segmentation faults and debugging-
http://www.cprogramming.com/debugging/segfaults.html

zetrotrack000 · 09-21-2014, 05:02 AM

Quote:

What is the exact error that your getting?

If I run gnome-control-center with sudo, it does not launch and also does not give any error message, but if run it without sudo, it gives segmentation fault message, however in both situations gnome-control-center does not launch. Also tail gives following output:

Code:

root@kali:~# tail -f -n 0 /var/log/messages 
Sep 21 09:52:55 kali kernel: [  271.655030] gnome-control-c[4497]: segfault at c ip 00007f1555eb21e0 sp 00007fff21fc9548 error 4 in libxcb-glx.so.0.0.0[7f1555ea6000+16000]

Quote:

Do you have more than 1 video card?

yup, the laptop has two graphics card:

Code:

root@kali:~# lspci -v | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Thames XT/GL [Radeon HD 7600M Series] (rev ff) (prog-if ff)

Moreover, I have also tried to follow this article, but it does not work:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hybrid_graphics
i.e. vgaswitcheroo and acpi module methods does not work.

Ztcoracat · 09-21-2014, 07:39 PM

I didn't realize that you had 2 graphics cards.

If I had to guess that's the challenge here.

I think you might have to power down the one graphic's card to switch over to the integrated graphics card.
Sorry I don't have experience with that.

There are three methods for switching in between graphics cards on this page.
http://superuser.com/questions/45072...f-the-computer

One of our members was able to solve the switchable graphics issue in this thread-
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...00-4175510573/

PrinceCruise · 09-22-2014, 01:58 AM

Hi,

Unfortunately, I didn't find any practical way to switch between the two graphics card on the desktop. I'm not sure how this switching process works on laptops(possibly a motherboard thing), but on desktop I found it's next to impossible without turning off the machine and manipulating form the bios.
I can tell you that I tested pulling the VGA cable from the external card's slot and put it on the motherboard's one while the machine was on, but I didn't get anything on monitor, which means the default one was disabled when I inserted the external card.

Apologies for disappointing.

Regards.

Ztcoracat · 09-22-2014, 11:36 AM

The only other thing that I can think of is to go into your BIOS and see if you have an option to switch off the Intel graphics.

zetrotrack000 · 09-23-2014, 08:51 AM

Quote:

There are three methods for switching in between graphics cards on this page.
http://superuser.com/questions/45072...f-the-computer

One of our members was able to solve the switchable graphics issue in this thread-
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...00-4175510573/

Out of these three methods, only 3rd is applicable. Regarding module, one arch linux user told me that simply blacklisting the module is not enough.
Even vgaswitcheroo method not working.
I have installed kde desktop and experimenting with it.

Quote:

Hi,

Unfortunately, I didn't find any practical way to switch between the two graphics card on the desktop. I'm not sure how this switching process works on laptops(possibly a motherboard thing), but on desktop I found it's next to impossible without turning off the machine and manipulating form the bios.
I can tell you that I tested pulling the VGA cable from the external card's slot and put it on the motherboard's one while the machine was on, but I didn't get anything on monitor, which means the default one was disabled when I inserted the external card.

Apologies for disappointing.

Regards.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Quote:

The only other thing that I can think of is to go into your BIOS and see if you have an option to switch off the Intel graphics.

No, the bios does not have any option to turnoff/switch graphics card.

Ztcoracat · 09-23-2014, 08:15 PM

This was the only article I could find for working with two different graphics cards.

http://xpressrazor.wordpress.com/201...-linux-ubuntu/

Sorry that there isn't a way to control the graphics in your BIOS.

zetrotrack000 · 09-24-2014, 06:55 AM

KDE is going very well. I can not only disable discrete graphics card but can now access kde control center at any time

however, still no luck with gnome-control-center, but kde is serving the purpose here.

Ztcoracat · 09-24-2014, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zetrotrack000

KDE is going very well. I can not only disable discrete graphics card but can now access kde control center at any time

however, still no luck with gnome-control-center, but kde is serving the purpose here.

Glad to hear that KDE is working well for you.