problems configuring XFree86 with ati radeon 9600

exodious · 07-19-2004, 04:08 PM

Hi, I've had problems running xwindows on an installation of red hat linux 8.0 . This is my first real attempt at configuring linux and found the determination to see it through to the end, or kill my keyboard which I almost succeeded in.

Following the ati instructions and a few of the posts here, I have determined that the source and headers are installed, the versions are:

kernel-2.4.18-14.athlon.rpm
glibc-kernheaders-2.4-7.i386.rpm

I do not know where the source has been installed to though, I installed the kernel-2.4.18-14.src.rpm and found them installed to /usr/src/redhat, so next, I created a linux link in /usr/src to what I thought was the installed source which is stored in /usr, but when I tried running ati's /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/make.sh (to rebuild the kernel as the install prog said I must do) I received an error stating that the version.h is not the correct version, I searched the whole system and found 2 version.h files, only one of them referenced redhat linux but is the wrong version (/usr/include/linux/version.h version in file is "2.4.9-9") which indeed is the wrong version, this is my first try and it's been a long day, I basically just wanted to install my graphics card to start, then get xwindows running but everything I have tried ends up with message "no screens found".

So I was hoping that perhaps someone here could give me a hand sorting the problem, otherwise I might give up - so far though, I'd say not a bad few hours work for a first timer, least its installed and seemingly working ok, except for any sort of gui that is, and I know more than I did yesterday about linux and the file system.

Thx for any help

jhibbets · 07-19-2004, 11:20 PM

So the exact problem is running xwindows?

rhl 8....I think that used redhat-config-xfree86 (if not try Xconfigurator) - what are the results of running this? Does it fail, produce an error> If so, what?

Is your font server running? ps -eaf | grep xfs

You've got some fluff in here about where your source code is installed...should be /usr/src/linux-<version>

So for Xwindows, you have a font server layer, then a display manager layer (gdm/kdm/xdm), and then you actually serve your system an Xsession (so to speak) from the X server.

Other things to consider...
hardware is deteced at boot time? /var/log/dmesg may be helpful (look to make sure the video card is detected). The /var/log/messages is pimp and may provide information on what is failing.

Stry 'startx' from runlevel 3 (text mode) and see what errors you get. That may help.

Lastly, if the drivers for your card aren't in the kernel, we may be able to set some generic drivers (like vesa) in the xfree86 config files:
/etc/X11/XF86Config

feed us more info...

exodious · 07-20-2004, 03:32 AM

Thanks for your reply,

I'm using Virtual PC and for some annoying reason I can't screen paste or print screen, so log files to disk...

The problem I have is actually running xwindows, redhat 8.0 detects my video card as an s3 trio with 4mb, and my monitor as unprobed....

This post uses a different operating system (Mandrake Linux) but has the same problem I believe: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=127822

I ran the XFree86 configuration tool and got to the stage of selecting my graphics card/monitor but the closest to Ati Radeon 9600 is 9000, or 9700?!?!?! And my monitor is an LG 915FT - which is not in the list so selected generic - if I run the login in graphical mode it is unusable - so wrongly configured.

Tried running startx and got this log back:

Code:

XFree86 Version 4.2.0 (Red Hat Linux release: 4.2.0-72) / X Window System
(protocol Version 11, revision 0, vendor release 6600)
Release Date: 23 January 2002
	If the server is older than 6-12 months, or if your card is
	newer than the above date, look for a newer version before
	reporting problems.  (See http://www.XFree86.Org/)
Build Operating System: Linux 2.4.18-11smp i686 [ELF] 
Build Host: daffy.perf.redhat.com
 
Module Loader present
OS Kernel: Linux version 2.4.18-14 (bhcompile@astest.test.redhat.com) (gcc version 3.2 20020903 (Red Hat Linux 8.0 3.2-7)) #1 Wed Sep 4 12:13:11 EDT 2002 
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
         (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
         (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/XFree86.0.log", Time: Tue Jul 20 08:47:18 2004
(EE) Unable to locate/open config file
(EE) Error from xf86HandleConfigFile()

Fatal server error:
no screens found

When reporting a problem related to a server crash, please send
the full server output, not just the last messages.
This can be found in the log file "/var/log/XFree86.0.log".
Please report problems to xfree86@xfree86.org.

I also tried your sugested ps -fea | grep fx and can see that it is running, but back to the above config...

I cannot be 100% sure that the source code has been installed to the correct places, my /usr/src dir has /usr/src/redhat and /usr/src/fglrx dir's but nothing described by any info I've found, or what jhibbets described - if I try re-installing the src using kernel-2.4.18-14.athlon.rpm, I get already installed message, I've tried --force which worked but still have no idea where it installed to... a find . etc... in / determines only 2 version.h files exist, and both are the wrong version for the operating system...

Thx for suggestions

jhibbets · 07-20-2004, 07:52 AM

I want to see somethign else too. Please provide:
lspci
lspci -n

What I am doing here is trying to match up you video card to the class. You can then cross reference the class listing in /usr/share/hwdata/pcitable.

Another thing to try (just to see if we can get X workign is to use the vesa drivers.

In your xfree86 config:

/etc/X11/XF86Config
look for a section like this:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "trident"
VendorName "Videocard vendor"
BoardName "Trident TGUI9660 (generic)"
VideoRam 2048
EndSection

and chagne Driver "whatever" to
Driver "vesa"

This is the msot generic driver we have (I think).

Try this while I look into other things.

exodious · 07-20-2004, 08:21 AM

ok, thx, I won't be able to try for another 3 hours though, still at work

Kess78 · 07-20-2004, 08:30 AM

Hi, if You use Virtual PC your video card isn't anymore your ATI or NVIDIA !!!
Your video card will become that provided/emulated by Virtual PC Software.

Look for techinical specs of Virtual PC and you'll see which card it emulates.

If you can't find it, you can use the VESA driver, it works always...

Hope this helps, bye Kess...

exodious · 07-20-2004, 05:34 PM

Hi, well, thx Kess78, I did a bit of checking and discovered a link referenced down a bit

I have 2 mice on my system, one is an intelli-mouse via ps2 and the other is a Mystify Razor Boomslang 2100, I have noticed when semi-working garbled xwindows is running that I cannot control the mouse very well, its all over the place, is this something to do with having 2 mice simultaneously running? or can I contribute this to the garbled xwindows display?

I followed jhibbets advice (thx btw) about added generic device mixed with the info Kess78 added and the other forum post - went to this link: http://blogs.msdn.com/dparys/archive/2004/03/18/91766.aspx and made the instructions the same but I'm not sure the monitor settings work properly because the display is still garbled (startx does run though)

Then I tried running the command jhibbets suggested, redhat-Xfree86-configure, and was suprised to see a windows style display panel appear with the settings I added to the XFreeConfig file, except I can't control the mouse to edit them, also, the display was garbled until I moved the mouse around quite alot, most of the display is just black screen with the display panel centred, the display reads, "Monitor model with vesa driver generic" and the various display modes I added to the xfree config file but I cannot control either mouse properly, when I installed I selected Intelli-mouse ps/2 but am not sure if the problem is due to 2 mouses, improper setup or garbled xwindows system.

This is what my config file looks like now:

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "XFree86 Configured"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
	RgbPath      "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
	ModulePath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load  "dbe"
	Load  "dri"
	Load  "extmod"
	Load  "glx"
	Load  "record"
	Load  "xtrap"
	Load  "speedo"
	Load  "type1"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Keyboard0"
	Driver      "keyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Mouse0"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option	    "Protocol" "PS/2"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/mouse"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Monitor0"
	VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
	ModelName    "Monitor Model"
	HorizSync    30-107
	VertRefresh  48-120
	Option       "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option     "noaccel"            	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "swcursor"           	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "slow_dram_refresh"  	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "slow_dram"          	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "slow_edodram"       	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "slow_vram"          	# [<bool>]
	Identifier  "Videocard0"
	Driver      "vesa"
	VendorName  "Videocard vendor"
	BoardName   "VESA driver (generic)"
	VideoRam    8192
	#BusID       "PCI:0:8:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen0"
	Device 	   "Videocard0"
	Monitor    "Monitor0"
	DefaultDepth 16
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth 16
		Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

In the Section Monitor, al the occurrences of Monitor (monitor0 etc) are displayed in orange highlight, is this normal? I would logically think there was a problem or sth. Been another long day, thankfully
not because of this problem, but thx to ur help, progress has been made... bedtime !!! (blimey, when I was a student 2 yrs ago, bed time was 2am minimum, what's going on, think I might go for my master's soon, student life again, OoooOOhh the pleasure)

Thanks for ur help, getting closer, but not quite there yet

jhibbets · 07-22-2004, 01:34 PM

OKay, this isn't a really good solution but Igot some help from so other people.

For the Radeon 9600, you can scratch the vesa stuff and use the radeon driver. Then there is a "caseid" option that you can use and I think there are hex values that go with the option. see if that gets you going and you can probably google for radeon open source caseid?

Good luck.

stevie_velvet · 09-06-2004, 12:55 AM

The VES driver will work also later versions of XFRee86 contains better support e.g 4.4.x