ATI card and compositing support?

adamk75 · 03-03-2010, 12:52 PM

In the ServerLayout section, try adding this line and then restart X:

Code:

        Option  "AutoAddDevices" "off"

Basically, Xorg tries to use hal to autodetect input devices. If you let Xorg do that, and yet you define your own mouse and keyboard devices, bad things can happen. If you want to define the Mouse and Keyboard, you should tell Xorg *not* to use hal, which is what that option does.

Adam

deesto · 03-03-2010, 02:18 PM

It looks like adding Option "AutoAddDevices" "off" got the devices loaded ... and then unloaded at the end of the X load?
http://deesto.pastebin.com/k70k7jgN

Also got a bunch of these when trying to 'xinit gnome-terminal':

Code:

(EE) config-hal: NewInputDeviceRequest failed (8)

adamk75 · 03-03-2010, 02:33 PM

Boy, you have more problems than anyone I've seen in a long time.

Alright, so if you remove the /etc/X11/xorg.conf, and just let Xorg detect everything, do the mouse and keyboard work when you run 'xinit /usr/bin/gnome-terminal'?

Adam

deesto · 03-03-2010, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adamk75

Boy, you have more problems than anyone I've seen in a long time.

Heh, no comment, except that's both funny and pathetic.

Quote:

Alright, so if you remove the /etc/X11/xorg.conf, and just let Xorg detect everything, do the mouse and keyboard work when you run 'xinit /usr/bin/gnome-terminal'?

Nope: screen flickers like crazy in the terminal, otherwise it's exactly the same as before: all black except for white terminal, and can't get mouse or keyboard input.

adamk75 · 03-03-2010, 02:57 PM

Alright, how about using this as your xorg.conf:

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "X.org Configured"
        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
EndSection
 
Section "Files"
        ModulePath   "/usr/lib64/xorg/modules"
        FontPath     "catalogue:/etc/X11/fontpath.d"
        FontPath     "built-ins"
EndSection
 
Section "Module"
        Load  "dbe"
        Load  "dri2"
        Load  "dri"
        Load  "extmod"
        Load  "glx"
        Load  "record"
EndSection
 
Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
        ModelName    "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Card0"
        Driver      "radeon"
        VendorName  "ATI Technologies Inc"
        BoardName   "Mobility Radeon HD 3600 Series"
        BusID       "PCI:7:0:0"
EndSection
 
Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Card0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     1
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     4
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     8
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     15
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     16
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
        EndSubSection
EndSection

This way we let Xorg configure the input devices, but we specify everything else regarding the video card. When this happens ("all black except for white terminal, and can't get mouse or keyboard input") are you able to switch to a console and kill X?

Adam

deesto · 03-03-2010, 03:05 PM

Nope: same as before actually with this config, even after a reboot. Flickery terminal, no input. What the ... heck?!?

adamk75 · 03-03-2010, 03:10 PM

How are you grabbing the log file to pastebin it if you can't switch to a console? Are you logging in remotely?

Adam

deesto · 03-03-2010, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adamk75

How are you grabbing the log file to pastebin it if you can't switch to a console? Are you logging in remotely?

I can switch to another TTY console ([ALT]+[F2]|[F3]|etc.), and then throw it into AFS, so I can grab it from another machine and paste it.

But I forgot to mention before that even though I can't get any input to the X terminal, I can kill the X session with [CTRL]+[ALT]+[BS].

adamk75 · 03-03-2010, 04:24 PM

I'm running out of ideas. I'm not sure if this is a radeon driver issue or something else. Can you use that xorg.conf but change the driver from 'radeon' to 'vesa' and see if that gets you into X with your mouse and keyboard working?

Adam

Alex_Dc · 03-03-2010, 05:54 PM

Adam,

I think we're both wrong on this one. I don't think this is a configuration, a driver, or a KMS issue at all. Between the two of us, we've covered any plausible angles (at least that I can think of), and I think you'd be in agreement with me that the vesa proposal is doubtful at best.

Everything we've tried so far has made things worse, with the exception of the sole time we first disabled KMS, set the framebuffer, and used the opensource drivers. But I don't think is an indicator of anything, really, because the second time Deesto tried this solution, it didn't work.

What I think is really going on here, is with all this installing, uninstalling, and re-installing, the package manager dropped the ball somewhere along the line (more likely a couple places) and we have a bunch of cruft screwing everything up.

I had a similar problem when I first started using Linux, Ubuntu, and wanted to try out a bunch of different DEs and WMs. Things started getting weirder and weirder, and eventually it got to the point where X would just crash continuously, no matter what I did.

Deesto, try out vesa. If that doesn't work, it's probably time to back up and reinstall. Unless we're dealing with buggy drivers, I can't think of any possible reason for the series of events you have described.

EDIT: If you can't reinstall for some reason, an alternative solution might be to try and get your Nvidia working again. I assume you had no problems with that card before, but were just trying to upgrade. Is this correct?

adamk75 · 03-03-2010, 06:37 PM

Yeah, this seems pretty likely, especially with the installing and uninstalling of fglrx. If fglrx is not properly uninstalled, it can screw all sorts of things up, and it can be hard to say if it's completely uninstalled.

Another possible test would be to use the Fedora 12 live CD to see if it works, if that's even an option in this case.

Adam

Alex_Dc · 03-03-2010, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adamk75

Another possible test would be to use the Fedora 12 live CD to see if it works, if that's even an option in this case.

Agreed. In fact, this is probably the preferred option. It would prevent a needless re-installation just to find out that there isn't anything we can do anyway.

Deesto, if you don't have a LiveCD, or a blank you can use, if you can burn an iso to a usb, or another removable media, if you have one big enough. I've never actually done this myself, but it should be fairly straight-forward.

deesto · 03-04-2010, 08:21 AM

Thanks guys. So there are two things I think I should reiterate and respond to before moving forward:
- I had a working system with a working nVidia card, and replaced it with an "upgraded" ATI Radeon card
- I was running Fedora 12 64-bit with the KDe environment (not gnome)

I have just booted with a Fedora 12 KDE LiveCD: it took a loooooooong time to get from the kernel prompt to a desktop enviroment, but it did get there eventually ("starting udev" took about 15 minutes, and then things started moving along). I end up at a full KDE desktop, with both monitors at full resolution, though the system rejected attempts to enable desktop effects/compositing ("check your X settings", of which there are none, so I assume this is a live CD restriction). Session X log is here:
http://deesto.pastebin.com/eBH8Kv5t

Let me know if there's any other information that would be useful?

adamk75 · 03-04-2010, 08:29 AM

OK, well this at least means that the 2D video driver and input drivers all work. The 3D effects wouldn't work because they require the r600_dri.so library which is part of mesa-drivers-experimental which, as you now know, does not come preinstalled on F12.

I'm not sure I have much of a suggestion other than to try reinstalling F12. It should work out-of-the-box, just as it does from the CD. You could then install mesa-drivers-experimental and have working 3D desktop effects.

Adam

deesto · 03-04-2010, 10:09 AM

Grrrr ... maybe you're right Adam. I'll grab an install DVD image and start from scratch. If only I could find a F12 KDE 64 image that is _not_ torrented (blocked at work) and _not_ a live disc. I seem to be having problems installing from the live CD, likely because ... maybe I should mention this also (possibly related, but I don't think so):
- My F12 install is on top of a hardware RAID1. I had no trouble installing on this before, but now the installer on the Live CD is crapping out while scanning for devices.