Failed to allocate framebuffer. Is your VideoRAM set too low?

loadedmind · 08-05-2008, 06:00 PM

Hi All. I'm running CentOS 5 on Supermicro hardware. The video card installed is on the PCI bus, not AGP. The chipset of the video is Intel E7221 Integrated Graphics Controller. The monitor is a 19" widescreen Viewsonic VA1912wb. I believe, from other forums, I have the proper settings for this particular monitor's hsync/vsync, but I've been wrong before. Xorg version is 7.1.1. When I attempt to startx, I'm met with the error in the subject line. Here's my xorg.conf file:

Code:

----Begin Paste----
Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "X.org Configured"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
	RgbPath      "/usr/share/X11/rgb"
	ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
	FontPath     "unix/:7100"
	FontPath     "built-ins"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load  "dbe"
	Load  "record"
	Load  "xtrap"
	Load  "extmod"
	Load  "vnc"
	Load  "glx"
	Load  "dri"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Keyboard0"
	Driver      "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Mouse0"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option	    "Protocol" "auto"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
	Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	#DisplaySize	  410   260	# mm
	Identifier   "Monitor0"
	VendorName   "VSC"
	ModelName    "VA1912w-3"
 ### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
	HorizSync    30.0 - 82.0
	VertRefresh  50.0 - 85.0
	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     "ColorKey"           	# <i>
        #Option     "CacheLines"         	# <i>
        #Option     "Dac6Bit"            	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "DRI"                	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "NoDDC"              	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "ShowCache"          	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvMCSurfaces"       	# <i>
        #Option     "PageFlip"           	# [<bool>]
	VideoRam    7832
	Identifier  "Card0"
	Driver      "i810"
	VendorName  "Intel Corporation"
	BoardName   "E7221 Integrated Graphics Controller"
	BusID       "PCI:0:2:0"
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
----End Paste----

and my Xorg error log from Xorg.0.log file:

Code:

----Begin Paste----
(II) Loading sub module "int10"
(II) LoadModule: "int10"
(II) Reloading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libint10.so
(II) I810(0): initializing int10
(WW) I810(0): Bad V_BIOS checksum
(II) I810(0): Primary V_BIOS segment is: 0xc000
(II) I810(0): VESA BIOS detected
(II) I810(0): VESA VBE Version 3.0
(II) I810(0): VESA VBE Total Mem: 7872 kB
(II) I810(0): VESA VBE OEM: Intel(r)E7221 Graphics Chip Accelerated VGA BIOS
(II) I810(0): VESA VBE OEM Software Rev: 1.0
(II) I810(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: Intel Corporation
(II) I810(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: Intel(r)E7221 Graphics Controller
(II) I810(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: Hardware Version 0.0
(--) I810(0): Xv is disabled because it needs 2D accel and AGPGART.
(II) I810(0): Allocated 128 kB for the ring buffer at 0x0
(II) I810(0): Allocating at least 219 scanlines for pixmap cache
(II) I810(0): Initial framebuffer allocation size: 4972 kByte
(EE) I810(0): Failed to allocate framebuffer. Is your VideoRAM set too low ??

Fatal server error:
AddScreen/ScreenInit failed for driver 0
----End Paste----

For the X error log, I only pasted the last section since the thing was so stinking huge. If you want me to post the entirety, just let me know.

I would have posted my dmesg output, but the forum message says I've exceeded the amount I'm allowed to post so if you want this, I'll be happy to provide.

and, finally, the lsmod output:

Code:

----Begin Paste----
Module                  Size  Used by
autofs4                24389  2 
hidp                   23105  2 
rfcomm                 42457  0 
l2cap                  29633  10 hidp,rfcomm
bluetooth              53925  5 hidp,rfcomm,l2cap
sunrpc                144253  1 
ip_conntrack_netbios_ns     6977  0 
ipt_REJECT              9537  0 
xt_state                6209  0 
ip_conntrack           53025  2 ip_conntrack_netbios_ns,xt_state
nfnetlink              10713  1 ip_conntrack
iptable_filter          7105  0 
ip_tables              17029  1 iptable_filter
ip6t_REJECT             9409  1 
xt_tcpudp               7105  6 
ip6table_filter         6849  1 
ip6_tables             18181  1 ip6table_filter
x_tables               17349  6 ipt_REJECT,xt_state,ip_tables,ip6t_REJECT,xt_tcpudp,ip6_tables
ipv6                  251393  17 ip6t_REJECT
cpufreq_ondemand       10573  2 
acpi_cpufreq           12485  1 
dm_multipath           21577  0 
video                  19269  0 
sbs                    18533  0 
backlight              10049  0 
i2c_ec                  9025  1 sbs
button                 10705  0 
battery                13637  0 
asus_acpi              19289  0 
ac                      9157  0 
lp                     15849  0 
floppy                 57125  0 
sr_mod                 19941  0 
cdrom                  36705  1 sr_mod
sg                     36061  0 
i2c_i801               11469  0 
i2c_core               23745  2 i2c_ec,i2c_i801
tg3                   104133  0 
parport_pc             29157  1 
parport                37513  2 lp,parport_pc
pcspkr                  7105  0 
serio_raw              10693  0 
dm_snapshot            20709  0 
dm_zero                 6209  0 
dm_mirror              28741  0 
dm_mod                 58201  9 dm_multipath,dm_snapshot,dm_zero,dm_mirror
usb_storage            76193  0 
ahci                   23621  0 
ata_piix               18501  0 
libata                115833  2 ahci,ata_piix
sd_mod                 24897  0 
scsi_mod              132685  5 sr_mod,sg,usb_storage,libata,sd_mod
ext3                  123337  2 
jbd                    56553  1 ext3
ehci_hcd               32973  0 
ohci_hcd               23261  0 
uhci_hcd               25421  0 
----End Paste----

I apologize ahead of time if anyone feels I've posted too much information. I wanted to ensure everyone saw the full picture. The video card is at 8MB and the BIOS picks it up as 8MB shared. One of the posts said to try and manually tell Xorg how much RAM within the Devices section so I did, but that didn't get rid of the error. I'm at my wit's end with this. Ironically, trying to get X setup for the RHCT exam I'm going to take this Friday and if it weren't for the fact that the test required X, I wouldn't even post such a nuisance - especially since I stay in the shell most times anyway. Thanks ahead of time for any/all insight/suggestions/comments into this problem.

Regards,
LoadedMind

Unforeseen · 08-06-2008, 08:30 PM

I finally fixed this error by running modprobe intel-agp

I haven't yet found this solution posted anywhere for this error but it's what worked for me after trying everything else I was able to find.

Cheers

loadedmind · 08-09-2008, 01:30 PM

Thanks for your suggestion. It appears that this CentOS version (5) doesn't recognize that chipset. How might I insmod that particular module into my kernel without recompiling it? The solution sounds viable, but I suppose I'm too newbish to figure this one out. Sorry ahead of time.

Loadedmind

loadedmind · 08-14-2008, 07:29 PM

Does anyone have any suggestions for this sort of thing? I'm fairly confident that the video card itself is in working condition and fairly confident X just needs to be told which chipset to use for starting X successfully.

Thanks,
Loadedmind

loadedmind · 08-19-2008, 11:07 AM

Ok, I found out some more data after backing up the existing xorg.conf file and trying a few other xorg configurations (one I let the system generate). Within the Xorg error, I can see "Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/i810drv.so, but further into the error log, I see i915 chipset detected, E7221 Intel chipset followed by "int10". The final resulting error of attempting to startx is: "Fatal Server Error: Add Screen/Screeninit failed for driver 0. What's odd is that this same server, using the same videocard, seems to work just fine when RedHat Enterprise Server 5 is used. I actually went a step further with this and copied off its xorg.conf, but to no avail.

Are there any other Xorg troubleshooting utilities I can use that might provide more details? Perhaps if I posted an strace startx here or something?

Thanks,
Loadedmind

hlingler · 08-22-2008, 01:35 AM

Try the following:
> Comment out the "VideoRAM" line in xorg.conf - let Xorg probe and use the value it finds, don't attempt to force it.
> Check your BIOS and see if you can bump up the AGP aperture setting (yes, I know it's a PCI card, but...); There is no such thing as "too high" for this setting, so crank it up.
> As root user, pre-load the kernel driver modules:
modprobe drm
modprobe i810
modprobe i915

It doesn't matter if they're all needed or not, unused modules only occupy RAM. However, the order is important: drm module first.

> Re-start X-server. Log back into desktop and assess. Report results. Attach copy of entire /var/log/Xorg.0.log to a post, or pastebin it, so we can see the entire output.

Good Luck,
V

loadedmind · 08-22-2008, 03:15 AM

Here's my xorg.conf currently:

Code:

# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "single head configuration"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Keyboard0"
	Driver      "kbd"
	Option	    "XkbModel" "pc105"
	Option	    "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Videocard0"
	Driver      "i810"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen0"
	Device     "Videocard0"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

As you can see from the brief data within the xorg.conf file, there's no VideoRAM setting here so I couldn't comment anything out. I looked through the BIOS on this Supermicro mobo and was unable to find any option to adjust AGP aperture. I modprobed all three drivers exactly in the order you listed. Then, as the regular user, I ran startx which generated the information contained within this Xorg.0.log file you see here:

Code:

X Window System Version 7.1.1
Release Date: 12 May 2006
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 7.1.1
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.9-42.0.3.ELsmp i686 Red Hat, Inc.
Current Operating System: Linux centosNISserver 2.6.18-53.el5 #1 SMP Mon Nov 12 02:22:48 EST 2007 i686
Build Date: 10 November 2007
Build ID: xorg-x11-server 1.1.1-48.26.el5 
	Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
	to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
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/Xorg.0.log", Time: Thu Aug 21 22:28:07 2008
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(==) ServerLayout "single head configuration"
(**) |-->Screen "Screen0" (0)
(**) |   |-->Monitor "<default monitor>"
(**) |   |-->Device "Videocard0"
(==) No monitor specified for screen "Screen0".
	Using a default monitor configuration.
(**) |-->Input Device "Keyboard0"
(==) |-->Input Device "<default pointer>"
(==) The core pointer device wasn't specified explicitly in the layout.
	Using the default mouse configuration.
(==) No FontPath specified.  Using compiled-in default.
(==) FontPath set to:
	unix/:7100,
	built-ins
(==) RgbPath set to "/usr/share/X11/rgb"
(==) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
(II) Open ACPI successful (/var/run/acpid.socket)
(II) Module ABI versions:
	X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.3
	X.Org Video Driver: 1.0
	X.Org XInput driver : 0.6
	X.Org Server Extension : 0.3
	X.Org Font Renderer : 0.5
(II) Loader running on linux
(II) LoadModule: "bitmap"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/fonts/libbitmap.so
(II) Module bitmap: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
	compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.0.0
	Module class: X.Org Font Renderer
	ABI class: X.Org Font Renderer, version 0.5
(II) Loading font Bitmap
(II) LoadModule: "pcidata"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libpcidata.so
(II) Module pcidata: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
	compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.0.0
	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 1.0
(--) using VT number 7

-----Skipping PCI labeled content (irrelevant?)-----

Code:

(II) I810(0): <default monitor>: Using hsync range of 30.00-82.00 kHz
(II) I810(0): <default monitor>: Using vrefresh range of 50.00-85.00 Hz
(II) I810(0): <default monitor>: Using maximum pixel clock of 140.00 MHz
(WW) I810(0): Unable to estimate virtual size
(II) I810(0): 52552 kBytes additional video memory is required to
	enable tiling mode for DRI.
(II) I810(0): 12624 kBytes additional video memory is required to enable DRI.
(II) I810(0): Disabling DRI.
(--) I810(0): Virtual size is 1280x1024 (pitch 1280)
(**) I810(0): *Built-in mode "1280x1024"
(**) I810(0): *Built-in mode "1024x768"
(**) I810(0): *Built-in mode "800x600"
(**) I810(0): *Built-in mode "640x480"
(II) I810(0): Attempting to use 75.02Hz refresh for mode "1280x1024" (858)
(II) I810(0): Attempting to use 85.00Hz refresh for mode "1024x768" (854)
(II) I810(0): Attempting to use 85.14Hz refresh for mode "800x600" (852)
(II) I810(0): Attempting to use 85.01Hz refresh for mode "640x480" (850)
(**) I810(0): Display dimensions: (410, 260) mm
(**) I810(0): DPI set to (79, 100)
(II) Loading sub module "fb"
(II) LoadModule: "fb"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfb.so
(II) Module fb: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
	compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.0.0
	ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.3
(II) Loading sub module "xaa"
(II) LoadModule: "xaa"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libxaa.so
(II) Module xaa: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
	compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.2.0
	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 1.0
(==) I810(0): VBE Restore workaround: enabled.
(II) Loading sub module "shadow"
(II) LoadModule: "shadow"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libshadow.so
(II) Module shadow: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
	compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.1.0
	ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.3
(==) Depth 24 pixmap format is 32 bpp
(II) do I need RAC?  No, I don't.
(II) resource ranges after preInit:
	[0] 0	0	0xd0380000 - 0xd03bffff (0x40000) MS[B]
	[1] 0	0	0xc0000000 - 0xcfffffff (0x10000000) MS[B]
	[2] 0	0	0xd0300000 - 0xd037ffff (0x80000) MS[B]
	[3] -1	0	0x00100000 - 0x3fffffff (0x3ff00000) MX[B]E(B)
	[4] -1	0	0x000f0000 - 0x000fffff (0x10000) MX[B]
	[5] -1	0	0x000c0000 - 0x000effff (0x30000) MX[B]
	[6] -1	0	0x00000000 - 0x0009ffff (0xa0000) MX[B]
	[7] -1	0	0xd0200000 - 0xd020ffff (0x10000) MX[B]
	[8] -1	0	0xd0100000 - 0xd010ffff (0x10000) MX[B]
	[9] -1	0	0xd0000000 - 0xd0000fff (0x1000) MX[B]
	[10] -1	0	0xd03c3000 - 0xd03c33ff (0x400) MX[B]
	[11] -1	0	0xd03c0000 - 0xd03c03ff (0x400) MX[B]
	[12] -1	0	0xd0380000 - 0xd03bffff (0x40000) MX[B](B)
	[13] -1	0	0xc0000000 - 0xcfffffff (0x10000000) MX[B](B)
	[14] -1	0	0xd0300000 - 0xd037ffff (0x80000) MX[B](B)
	[15] 0	0	0x000a0000 - 0x000affff (0x10000) MS[B](OprD)
	[16] 0	0	0x000b0000 - 0x000b7fff (0x8000) MS[B](OprD)
	[17] 0	0	0x000b8000 - 0x000bffff (0x8000) MS[B](OprD)
	[18] 0	0	0x0000e000 - 0x0000e007 (0x8) IS[B]
	[19] -1	0	0x0000ffff - 0x0000ffff (0x1) IX[B]
	[20] -1	0	0x00000000 - 0x000000ff (0x100) IX[B]
	[21] -1	0	0x00000500 - 0x0000051f (0x20) IX[B]
	[22] -1	0	0x0000f000 - 0x0000f00f (0x10) IX[B]
	[23] -1	0	0x0000e400 - 0x0000e41f (0x20) IX[B]
	[24] -1	0	0x0000e300 - 0x0000e31f (0x20) IX[B]
	[25] -1	0	0x0000e200 - 0x0000e21f (0x20) IX[B]
	[26] -1	0	0x0000e100 - 0x0000e11f (0x20) IX[B]
	[27] -1	0	0x0000e000 - 0x0000e007 (0x8) IX[B](B)
	[28] 0	0	0x000003b0 - 0x000003bb (0xc) IS[B](OprU)
	[29] 0	0	0x000003c0 - 0x000003df (0x20) IS[B](OprU)
(II) Loading sub module "int10"
(II) LoadModule: "int10"
(II) Reloading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libint10.so
(II) I810(0): initializing int10
(WW) I810(0): Bad V_BIOS checksum
(II) I810(0): Primary V_BIOS segment is: 0xc000
(II) I810(0): VESA BIOS detected
(II) I810(0): VESA VBE Version 3.0
(II) I810(0): VESA VBE Total Mem: 7872 kB
(II) I810(0): VESA VBE OEM: Intel(r)E7221 Graphics Chip Accelerated VGA BIOS
(II) I810(0): VESA VBE OEM Software Rev: 1.0
(II) I810(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: Intel Corporation
(II) I810(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: Intel(r)E7221 Graphics Controller
(II) I810(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: Hardware Version 0.0
(--) I810(0): Xv is disabled because it needs 2D accel and AGPGART.
(II) I810(0): Allocated 128 kB for the ring buffer at 0x0
(II) I810(0): Allocating at least 558 scanlines for pixmap cache
(II) I810(0): Initial framebuffer allocation size: 9192 kByte
(EE) I810(0): Failed to allocate framebuffer. Is your VideoRAM set too low ??

Fatal server error:
AddScreen/ScreenInit failed for driver 0

Thank you SO MUCH for trying to help me on this. I ordinarily don't get into the GUI much, but I need to take a test that requires you to memorize the locations of certain utilities/processes so I definitely need X to work. Some other info you might find relevant is that it is an integrated graphics controller connected to a Viewsonic VA1912wb widescreen display. I remember having to specify hsync/vsync information within xorg.conf of my Fedora box, but it had a better video card (AGP) in it.

Best regards,
Loadedmind

loadedmind · 08-22-2008, 03:16 AM

One last note - I have tried a few different xorg.conf files so, if you want, I can post those also.

Loadedmind

hlingler · 08-22-2008, 01:02 PM

Although it's not marked as an "error" ("EE") or even a "warning" ("WW"), the fatal error is here:

Code:

(II) I810(0): 52552 kBytes additional video memory is required to
	enable tiling mode for DRI.
(II) I810(0): 12624 kBytes additional video memory is required to enable DRI.
(II) I810(0): Disabling DRI.

At that point, it's basically all over, although auto-loading continues until the fatal error stops the whole process.

Try:
> Reduce default color depth to 16 bpp (aka "Thousands of colors", "HiColor"); this will cut VRAM requirement exactly in half, but will reduce display quality somewhat, and may affect some advanced graphical apps (like Google-Earth).
> Reduce maximum screen resolution to 1024x768; this will reduce VRAM requirements also.

Code:

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen0"
	Device     "Videocard0"
	DefaultDepth     16
	SubSection "Display"
                Virtual 1024 768
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     16
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Remember to re-start X-server after making such changes. If those fail to produce a working X11/GUI, then there are various other tricks yet to try....

V

P.S. I run both of my older machines at 16 bpp color depth precisely because of very low VRAM limitations (4MB && 8 MB VRAM ATI Rage Pros), but have 3D/DRI enabled on both. Since I'm not going to get the "IKandi" no matter what I do, I can tolerate a slightly lower visual quality display, in order to get maximum performance via DRI. As a last resort, you could also disable DRI, which will free up some more VRAM.

loadedmind · 08-22-2008, 01:43 PM

I really appreciate the information, a lot. I've been working on this problem now for a little over 2 weeks from beginning until present. First thing, I'll give 'er a go when I get home tonight and post results of Xorg.0.log and any error received from startx with your items, then I'll try and unload DRI and do the same process as before.

Thanks!
Loadedmind