Audio and video problems on Mdk 9.0
 

Hey there,

I built my first computer recently :
motheboard : ASUS P4S8X-X (built-in soundcard : AD1980, AC97)
video : NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440

I put Linux Mandrake 9.0, with kernel 2.4.19-16mdk
The install worked fine : everything detected correctly ; everything worked fine : , X, KDE, and all (except the sound but I read here I should download a recent version of alsa - I haven't tried yet).

However, the video drivers that came with the distro are not optimized (the games are very slow), so I downloaded the driver setup utility from NVidia website and I ran it as indicated :

%sh NVIDIA-Linux-driver...

It seemed to work fine (detecting, unpacking... although there was no test) until I reboot : the LILO boot (checking up the system and starting the services) is OK, but it freezes in a black screen instead of starting X and KDE.

I am quite new to Linux (I already have a computer working perfectly (sound, video, internet, burning CDs, reading DVDs) with both win XP and Linux Mdk 9.0 ; and it wasn't easy to get it all to work), and I'd really like to keep any M$ stuff away from this new computer's hard-disk.

Now I don't even know where to start to fix it up.

Please help !!




Here are some outputs (I got them booting in failsafe mode) :

--------------------------------
kdm.log
--------------------------------

(EE) NVIDIA(0) : Failed to initialize NVIDIA kernel module !
(EE) NVIDIA(0) : *** Aborting ***
(EE) screen(s) found, but none has a usable configuration

Fatal error : No screens found

--------------------------------
/var/log/messages
--------------------------------

localhost 0 : kernel : nvidia : loading NVIDIA Linux x86 nvidia.o Kernel Module 1.0-4363
localhost kernel : Linux agpgart interface v0.99
localhost kernel : agpgart : Maximum main memory to use for agp memory : 819M
localhost kernel : agpgart : Unsupported SiS chipset (device id : 0648), you might want to try agp_try_unsupported=1
(*)
localhost insmod : /lib/modules/2.4.19-16mdk/kernel/driver/char/agp/agpgart.o.gz Init_Module : No such device
localhost insmod : Hint : insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters. You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg
localhost modprobe : modprobe : insmod agpgart failed
localhost kernel : 0 : NVRM : AGPGART : unable to retrieve symbol table

--------------------------------
/var/log/syslog
--------------------------------
shows about the same as /var/log/messages, except for the line marked with (*) :
localhost kernel : agpgart : no supported devices found

and in several instances :
localhost kdm[1150] : server for display :0 terminated unexpectedly

the last line is :
localhost kdm[1150] : Display :0 is being disabled (restarted too fast)

--------------------------------
output of lspci
(only those entries relative to video or sound)
--------------------------------
00:00.0 Host bridge : Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] : Unknown device 0648 (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI Bridge : Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5591/5592 AGP
(...)
00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller : Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS7012 PCI Audio Accelerator (rev a0)
(...)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller : nVidia Corporation NV1X (rev a3)

--------------------------------
lsmod doesn't show any nvidia entry
--------------------------------

Can you also print your xf86config file? I know in the past several modifications had to be made to the xf86config in order for the Nvidia driver to load correctly. The only error message that means anything to me is
Sounds to me like the AGP chipset module (agpgart) is not loading, and this is causing failures farther down with trying to load the Nvidia drivers. Have you tried passing the option to the Kernel mentioned in the error message (agp_try_unsupported=1).

Thats all I can think to begin with. Don't worry, we'll get it figured out.

slight

I made the modifications in /etc/XF86Config-4 (in the section relative to the video card, set driver "nividia" instead of "nv" ; there was a line : option "DPMS" which I deleted) and that turned out bad : I got the black screen.
When I change it back to "nv", I have the graphic interface running (very slow for games).

As for the option "agp_try_unsupported", how shall I pass it ?

Thanks

Depends.... LILO or GRUB?

slight

LILO

If your computer shows the Lilo boot screen as it is booting up, you can press control-x and do a command line boot. This is where you would type 'append agp_try_unsupported=1' to pass that option to the Kernel.

slight

I tried that, Slight, but it doesn't work : the "agp_try_unsupported" option doesn't appear in the "kernel command line" line of dmesg.
The system boots on a terminal (tty shows /dev/vc/1).

I also have a message (in dmesg) :

Warning ! only 896 Mb will be used.
Use a HIGHMEM enabled kernel.
896Mb LOWMEM available.

I have 1Gb of memory, and although it has nothing to do with the video issue, should I upgrade my kernel ? Maybe the agp thing has been fixed in recent kernels.

Its possible... what kernel are you running now?

Sorry the unsupported option didn't work (maybe the syntax was incorrect?). It still seems to me as if agpgart is where the problem lies. I'll do some googling and see what I come up with. :)

slight

By default Mandrake installs ALSA. Go to
http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc...odule=intel8x0
for instructions how to setup your audio device. It would not hurt to upgrade to the newest ALSA version.

Do you remember what XF86 version that you picked during installation. If not you can type X -v (I think).

SIS motherboards are a pain to setup. Do a search in this forum. Some of the post should get you closer on supporting your hardware.

If you want to use all the memory, you have to recompile the kernel for high memory or for 4 gigabytes. You don't have to upgrade the kernel unless the new kernel supports your hardware.

If the screen blinks and it tries to go to the console. This means you need to adjust the mode lines in XF86config or XF86Config-4. I think running Xfconfig (I don't remember name) something similar will help you setup the monitor.

Thanks Electro

I have upgraded ALSA already ; I only have a tiny problem, that is I have to run artswrapper as root after KDE startup so as to have the sound working, and it won't keep my mixer settings. I opened a thread about it.

My kernel is 2.4.19-16mdk, with Mandrake 9.0, so maybe the hardware is better supported by more recent kernels ??

I installed XF86 4.2.1

I'll try and recompile the kernel for high mem support.

As for the blinking, that's exactly what happens, so I'll dig in that Xfconfig thing.

Thanks a lot

Mimil

If I wanna upgrade my kernel (I've been visiting www.kernel.org) how do I know which version would best fit my needs ?
Do I really have to go through all the changelogs ?