Dual-Head Troubles on FC5

joeyjwc · 07-17-2006, 06:27 AM

Hi.
I'm just starting to get back into Linux after having left it for a period of a few years. One of the first things that I'm trying to do is to set up dual monitors.

I have an nVidia GeForce2 MX with 32mB of memory in the AGP slot and a Matrox Millenium card with 4mB of RAM in a PCI slot (to explain the lack of power here: this is just a testing system). Attached to the nVidia card is a Dell monitor and attached to the Millenium card is a ViewSonic monitor.

I have installed Fedora Core 5. Foolishly, I forgot to unplug the PCI card, and this caused all sorts of trouble with the installation program (it looks like it tried to load up the Matrox mga drivers for the nVidia card), but it did install in text mode fine.

Then, I tried to use the System Display Configuration to set up the dual head configuration automatically, but alas, it failed.

I have done a lot of searching both through these forums and through others, but I keep finding only bits of information that I'm finding a bit hard to apply to my situation.

Below is my configuration file and the logfile as well:
xorg.conf: http://www.joeyjwc.x3fusion.com/briefcase/xorg.conf
Xorg.0.log: http://www.joeyjwc.x3fusion.com/briefcase/Xorg.0.log

As you can see from the log file, the error occurs at this point:
(WW) MGA: No matching Device section for instance (BusID PCI:2:8:0) found
And then:
(EE) Screen 1 deleted because of no matching config section.

Also, when booting up the system, it first starts out on my Dell monitor. When it gets to Starting udev, my ViewSonic screen turns on and it continues listing the boot process from there. But the cursor after Starting udev _ keeps blinking even after. Is there any way to force it to display everything on one screen?

And in my BIOS, the primary card is the AGP card.

Thanks for your help.

gloomy · 07-20-2006, 08:56 AM

Hmm, I can't find any major problems with a quick glance at your xorg.conf and the provided log.

However, two reasons that may cause the problem: (a) define the BusID of both cards and (b) put also a screen notation under the other device. So it might look as:

Code:

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Videocard0"
	Driver      "nv"
	VendorName  "Videocard vendor"
	BoardName   "nVidia GeForce2 MX"
        BusID       "PCI:X:X:X"
        Screen      0
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Videocard1"
	Driver      "mga"
	VendorName  "Videocard Vendor"
	BoardName   "Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA 2064W [Millennium]"
	ChipRev     0x1
	BusID       "PCI:2:8:0"
	Screen      1
EndSection

I would personally also use the binary drivers provided by nVidia, although your card is pretty old.

joeyjwc · 07-22-2006, 11:14 AM

Hi. Sorry for not responding sooner.
I did what you suggested, but the error message did not change at all. I also played around with ChipRev and ChipID too, but still no luck.

I'll use the binary drivers by nVidia after I get these default ones working. This is my testing computer, so that's why the cards are so old. Gaming, video editing, etc. is reserved for my main one.

Any suggestions?

gloomy · 07-24-2006, 12:11 AM

Hi.

Noticed that you utilize the open-source "nv"-driver instead of the closed-source "nvidia"-driver. That's one obvious reason for the failure. However, the nv-driver might be more appropriate, given that GeForce 2 is in the "grey zone" of supported cards by the binary driver (i.e. some versions of that card are not supported).

Are both cards recognized? What does lspci -v | grep VGA say? Have you configured the Matrox Millenium in the kernel?

Electro · 07-24-2006, 12:48 AM

I suggest backing up the present xorg.conf file. Then test each graphics card individually. This is divide and conquror method which works well in most troubled systems. Leave the cards in while you are testing each one. Include modelines in the monitor sections, so X Window System does not have to figure out them.

nVidia is not supporting GeForce2 cards any more. You have to search through their archive and used an older 2.6.x kernel. Also Fedora is a pain because it uses the GCC version 4 compiler which is very different than what nVidia used in their older drivers (modules). Even I do not attempt to install the GCC version 4 compiler because I have to do a complete system compile and hope shit does not hit the fan.