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I recently bought a Compaq Presario CQ61 Notebook and installed Debian Lenny on it. It works quite well, but doesn't autodetect a correct video driver: the highest screen resolution offered is 1024x768, which looks distorted on the wide monitor. I can watch videos on YouTube, but the quality is really bad.
I've been playing with Unix and Debian for more than 10 years, but my hardware knowlegde is humble and obsolete, so it took me some time to understand that my notebook has an ATI controller.
But which one to choose there? The only answer I could imagine was "Linux x86" / "Notebook" / "HP", which lead to a statement:
Advisory:
The display driver supplied by the laptop manufacturer is customized for the
built-in flat panel display, and the graphics features and functions specific to the
laptop. It is strongly recommended to use the supplied drivers.
If installing a different operating system other than the one included with the laptop,
the laptop may not meet all the requirements, and supported drivers may not be
available.
The laptop manufacturer is the exclusive provider of driver updates. If the required
driver update is not available at the laptop manufacturers’ website, it is recommended
to contact the manufacturer directly, to see if an updated driver will be made
available in the future.
AMD cannot provide driver updates directly from AMD.com.
AMD has provided a list of the major laptop manufacturers and corresponding support
websites below for your convenience.
(They also asked "What can we do to improve this information?", which I answered with "Provide useful information for Linux users who are trying to find a driver for your product.")
HP asks me for the product number, then "Which operating system is used with your product?". There are 6 possible answers, all starting with "Microsoft Windows".
And then the laconic explanation:
Don't see your operating system?
If your operating system is not listed above, HP does not have software or driver
downloads available for this product in that operating system.
What model graphics card? If "lscpi" doesn't tell you, then look up the stats for your laptop model from your laptop's manufacturer's site.
What driver is X actually loading? Look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Thank you, AlucardZero. Here are my answers to your questions. I'm afraid that I still need help with understanding them...
I guess you mean "lspci":
Code:
rose:~# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 Host Bridge Alternate
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 9602
00:05.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 1)
00:06.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 2)
00:11.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
00:12.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:12.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller
00:12.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 3c)
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 LPC host controller
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] HyperTransport Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Miscellaneous Control
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Link Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Device 9712
01:05.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc Device 970f
02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. Device 002b (rev 01)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev
02)
My Notebook is a Compaq Presario CQ61-310EN, and the Product Specifications says "NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G" for "Video Graphics".
And here are some excerpts from my `/var/log/Xorg.0.log` (I hope my intuition let me choose the right ones):
Code:
(II) VESA: driver for VESA chipsets: vesa
(II) Primary Device is: PCI 01:05:0
(--) Assigning device section with no busID to primary device
(--) Chipset vesa found
(...)
(II) VESA(0): initializing int10
(II) VESA(0): Primary V_BIOS segment is: 0xc000
(II) VESA(0): VESA BIOS detected
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE Version 3.0
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE Total Mem: 16384 kB
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM: ATI ATOMBIOS
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Software Rev: 10.94
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: (C) 1988-2005, ATI Technologies Inc.
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: RS880M
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: 01.00
(II) VESA(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section
"Default Screen" for depth/fbbpp 16/16
(==) VESA(0): Depth 16, (--) framebuffer bpp 16
(==) VESA(0): RGB weight 565
(==) VESA(0): Default visual is TrueColor
(==) VESA(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
(II) Loading sub module "ddc"
(II) LoadModule: "ddc"(II) Module "ddc" already built-in
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE DDC supported
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM: ATI ATOMBIOS
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Software Rev: 10.94
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: (C) 1988-2005, ATI Technologies Inc.
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: RS880M
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: 01.00
(II) VESA(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section
"Default Screen" for depth/fbbpp 16/16
(==) VESA(0): Depth 16, (--) framebuffer bpp 16
(==) VESA(0): RGB weight 565
(==) VESA(0): Default visual is TrueColor
(==) VESA(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
(II) Loading sub module "ddc"
(II) LoadModule: "ddc"(II) Module "ddc" already built-in
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE DDC supported
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE DDC Level 2
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE DDC transfer in appr. 1 sec.
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE DDC read successfully
(II) VESA(0): Manufacturer: AUO Model: 10ec Serial#: 0
(II) VESA(0): Year: 2008 Week: 1
(II) VESA(0): EDID Version: 1.3
(II) VESA(0): Digital Display Input
(II) VESA(0): Max H-Image Size [cm]: horiz.: 34 vert.: 19
(II) VESA(0): Gamma: 2.20
(II) VESA(0): No DPMS capabilities specified; RGB/Color Display
(II) VESA(0): First detailed timing is preferred mode
(II) VESA(0): redX: 0.640 redY: 0.342 greenX: 0.310 greenY: 0.580
(II) VESA(0): blueX: 0.150 blueY: 0.120 whiteX: 0.313 whiteY: 0.329
(II) VESA(0): Manufacturer's mask: 0
(II) VESA(0): Supported additional Video Mode:
(II) VESA(0): clock: 72.0 MHz Image Size: 344 x 193 mm
(II) VESA(0): h_active: 1366 h_sync: 1414 h_sync_end 1446 h_blank_end 1486 h_border: 0
(II) VESA(0): v_active: 768 v_sync: 771 v_sync_end 775 v_blanking: 806 v_border: 0
(II) VESA(0): AUO
(II) VESA(0): B156XW01 V0
(II) VESA(0): EDID (in hex):
(II) VESA(0): 00ffffffffffff0006afec1000000000
(II) VESA(0): 01120103802213780ae6b5a3574f9426
(II) VESA(0): 1e505400000001010101010101010101
(II) VESA(0): 010101010101201c5678500026303020
(II) VESA(0): 340058c1100000180000000f00000000
(II) VESA(0): 00000000000000000020000000fe0041
(II) VESA(0): 554f0a202020202020202020000000fe
(II) VESA(0): 004231353658573031205630200a002a
(II) VESA(0): EDID vendor "AUO", prod id 4332
(II) VESA(0): Printing DDC gathered Modelines:
(II) VESA(0): Modeline "1366x768"x0.0 72.00 1366 1414 1446 1486 768 771 775 806 -hsync -vsync (48.5 kHz)
(II) VESA(0): Searching for matching VESA mode(s):
Mode: 100 (640x400)
ModeAttributes: 0xbb
Your xorg log shows that the "vesa" driver is being automatically loaded. While this driver will work with everything, it sucks. First thing to try is to edit your xorg.conf to specify the "ati" driver (make a backup of xorg.conf!).
Code:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "ati"
EndSection
or Driver "radeon" - I'm not sure of the difference. Restart X and see if it's better.
I tried with ati, radeon, radeonhd and fglrx (as explained in DebianWiki AtiProprietary), but none works. Here is the /var/log/Xorg.0.log after "radeonhd"; the last lines are always the same
Code:
(II) RADEONHD: X driver for the following AMD GPG (ATI) graphics devices:
RV505 : Radeon X1550, X1550 64bit.
RV515 : Radeon X1300, X1550, X1600; FireGL V3300, V3350.
RV516 : Radeon X1300, X1550, X1550 64-bit, X1600; FireMV 2250.
R520 : Radeon X1800; FireGL V5300, V7200, V7300, V7350.
RV530 : Radeon X1300 XT, X1600, X1600 Pro, X1650; FireGL V3400, V5200.
RV535 : Radeon X1300, X1650.
RV550 : Radeon X2300 HD.
RV560 : Radeon X1650.
RV570 : Radeon X1950, X1950 GT; FireGL V7400.
R580 : Radeon X1900, X1950; AMD Stream Processor.
R600 : Radeon HD 2900 GT/Pro/XT; FireGL V7600/V8600/V8650.
RV610 : Radeon HD 2350, HD 2400 Pro/XT, HD 2400 Pro AGP; FireGL V4000.
RV620 : Radeon HD 3450, HD 3470.
RV630 : Radeon HD 2600 LE/Pro/XT, HD 2600 Pro/XT AGP; Gemini RV630;
FireGL V3600/V5600.
RV635 : Radeon HD 3650, HD 3670.
RV670 : Radeon HD 3690, 3850, HD 3870, FireGL V7700, FireStream 9170.
R680 : Radeon HD 3870 X2.
M52 : Mobility Radeon X1300.
M54 : Mobility Radeon X1400; M54-GL.
M56 : Mobility Radeon X1600; Mobility FireGL V5200.
M58 : Mobility Radeon X1800, X1800 XT; Mobility FireGL V7100, V7200.
M62 : Mobility Radeon X1350.
M64 : Mobility Radeon X1450, X2300.
M66 : Mobility Radeon X1700, X1700 XT; FireGL V5250.
M68 : Mobility Radeon X1900.
M71 : Mobility Radeon HD 2300.
M72 : Mobility Radeon HD 2400; Radeon E2400.
M74 : Mobility Radeon HD 2400 XT.
M76 : Mobility Radeon HD 2600;
(Gemini ATI) Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT.
M82 : Mobility Radeon HD 3400.
RS600 : Radeon Xpress 1200, Xpress 1250.
RS690 : Radeon X1200, X1250, X1270.
(II) RADEONHD: version 1.2.1, built from non-git sources
(II) Primary Device is: PCI 01:05:0
(--) Assigning device section with no busID to primary device
(EE) No devices detected.
Fatal server error:
no screens found
Hmm, you didn't replace the entire contents of your xorg.conf, did you? I meant you only should add the Driver line to the Section "Device", while leaving the other Sections intact.
Hmm, you didn't replace the entire contents of your xorg.conf, did you? I meant you only should add the Driver line to the Section "Device", while leaving the other Sections intact.
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