[SOLVED] ATI/AMD FGLRX graphics driver is activated but not currently in use.

Hello all,

I've had problems with this(these) driver(s) since day one. Currently in the Additional Drivers utility it says that the driver is activated but not currently in use. When I look in the system settings, it says my Graphics are VESAVST. When I look in the xorg.conf file it says load "glx". Should I just change that "glx" to "fglrx" in the text editor, save and reboot or is there somehting else I should be doing?

Thank you for your guidance.

in xorg.conf or xorg.conf.d/* find the line that says

     Driver   vesa

in the video card section, and get it changed to

     Driver   fglrx

amd don't trust me on the D in Driver - it could be 'driver'

Thanks bu no joy. The only file that I can find a Driver line as you describe is call xorg.conf.failsafe (upper case D by the way). I backed that up then changed the driver to fglrx and rebooted but nothing has changed. I looked at all the scripts in xorg.conf.d/ as you suggested (which for anyone reading this is in /usr/share/X11/) but none includes a graphics driver line. Any other suggestions?

Run, as root, the command

aticonfig --initial

This will generate a proper xorg.conf for use with the driver. Then just reboot the system.

Huh! I was sure that was going to work but still no joy.

The command did in fact add a bunch of lines to my xorg.conf script (see below). But still, Graphics is still VESAVST and Driver is "activated but not currently in use." Maybe I should not be worried about this because I'm not having any real problems (that I know about). I just find it strange that I can't see to get this driver to engage.

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "aticonfig Layout"
Screen 0 "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
Option "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
Option "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
Option "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
Driver "fglrx"
BusID "PCI:0:1:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
Device "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
Monitor "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Please use code-tags to post config files and output of commands.

Anyways, have you rebooted the machine?
Please show us your /var/log/Xorg.0.log, it will be a large file, so please attach it to a post instead of posting the contents.

What's a code-tag?

I think it's attached.Xorg.0.log

Originally Posted by CSA60 What's a code-tag?

See my signature.

Anyways, according to the log-file you are using the proprietary AMD driver and hardware acceleration is working, so I assume that the only problem is the Additional Drivers program showing you wrong information. If 3D acceleration is working I would just ignore that.

Originally Posted by CSA60 What's a code-tag?

If you hit "Reply" at the top of the thread, it's that symbol '#' in the lineup. If you want to do it manually, it's CODE in [] to start and /CODE in [] to end

Should I mark this as solved. There still seems to be a bug somewhere in the OS and/or driver utility.

If you really feel there's a bug, mark this solved, and get onto phoronix forums. The ati developers feel they can contact the world from there. Get on your forum and moan, but have your facts straight and follow instructions or you'll be ignored.

The AMD developers have nothing to do with the Additional Driver program, that is developed by Canonical. Since the driver seems to work correctly I would report this as bug for the Additional Drivers software, not as driver bug.

Thanks. I'll mark this as solved.