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Display Driver for my Compaq Presario CQ61

I recently bought a Compaq Presario CQ61 Notebook and installed Debian Lenny on it. It works quite well, but doesn't autodetect a correct video driver: the highest screen resolution offered is 1024x768, which looks distorted on the wide monitor. I can watch videos on YouTube, but the quality is really bad.

I've been playing with Unix and Debian for more than 10 years, but my hardware knowlegde is humble and obsolete, so it took me some time to understand that my notebook has an ATI controller.

My `/etc/X11/xconf.org` contains only:

Code:

Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier      "Generic Keyboard"

        Driver          "kbd"

        Option          "XkbRules"      "xorg"

        Option          "XkbModel"      "pc105"

        Option          "XkbLayout"    "ee"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier      "Configured Mouse"

        Driver          "mouse"

EndSection



Section "Device"

        Identifier      "Configured Video Device"

EndSection



Section "Monitor"

        Identifier      "Configured Monitor"

EndSection



Section "Screen"

        Identifier      "Default Screen"

        Monitor        "Configured Monitor"

EndSection

Here are some more diagnostics:

Code:

rose:~# lshw -class video

  *-display UNCLAIMED

      description: VGA compatible controller

      product: ATI Technologies Inc

      vendor: ATI Technologies Inc

      physical id: 5

      bus info: pci@0000:01:05.0

      version: 00

      width: 32 bits

      clock: 33MHz

      capabilities: pm msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list

      configuration: latency=0

Code:

rose:~# hwinfo --gfxcard

11: PCI 105.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA)

  [Created at pci.310]

  UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_1002_9712

  Unique ID: ul7N.hoF65UtRFT7

  Parent ID: vSkL.Wwwe8lyjkRE

  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:05.0

  SysFS BusID: 0000:01:05.0

  Hardware Class: graphics card

  Model: "ATI VGA compatible controller"

  Vendor: pci 0x1002 "ATI Technologies Inc"

  Device: pci 0x9712

  SubVendor: pci 0x103c "Hewlett-Packard Company"

  SubDevice: pci 0x363f

  Memory Range: 0x80000000-0x8fffffff (rw,prefetchable)

  I/O Ports: 0x3000-0x3fff (rw)

  Memory Range: 0x90300000-0x9030ffff (rw,non-prefetchable)

  Memory Range: 0x90200000-0x902fffff (rw,non-prefetchable)

  IRQ: 10 (no events)

  I/O Ports: 0x3c0-0x3df (rw)

  Module Alias: "pci:v00001002d00009712sv0000103Csd0000363Fbc03sc00i00"

  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

  Attached to: #30 (PCI bridge)

Primary display adapter: #11

According to http://wiki.debianforum.de/AtiTreiberInstallation or
http://www.debianhelp.org/node/9347, I must download these drivers from
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

But which one to choose there? The only answer I could imagine was "Linux x86" / "Notebook" / "HP", which lead to a statement:

Advisory:
The display driver supplied by the laptop manufacturer is customized for the
built-in flat panel display, and the graphics features and functions specific to the
laptop. It is strongly recommended to use the supplied drivers.

If installing a different operating system other than the one included with the laptop,
the laptop may not meet all the requirements, and supported drivers may not be
available.

The laptop manufacturer is the exclusive provider of driver updates. If the required
driver update is not available at the laptop manufacturers’ website, it is recommended
to contact the manufacturer directly, to see if an updated driver will be made
available in the future.

AMD cannot provide driver updates directly from AMD.com.

AMD has provided a list of the major laptop manufacturers and corresponding support
websites below for your convenience.

(They also asked "What can we do to improve this information?", which I answered with "Provide useful information for Linux users who are trying to find a driver for your product.")

They then link me to http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html

HP asks me for the product number, then "Which operating system is used with your product?". There are 6 possible answers, all starting with "Microsoft Windows".
And then the laconic explanation:

Don't see your operating system?
If your operating system is not listed above, HP does not have software or driver
downloads available for this product in that operating system.

What else can I do?

(There is a maintained version of this posting at
http://code.google.com/p/lino/wiki/AtiOnDebian)

What model graphics card? If "lscpi" doesn't tell you, then look up the stats for your laptop model from your laptop's manufacturer's site.

What driver is X actually loading? Look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlucardZero (Post 3959283)

Thank you, AlucardZero. Here are my answers to your questions. I'm afraid that I still need help with understanding them...

I guess you mean "lspci":

Code:

rose:~# lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 Host Bridge Alternate

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 9602

00:05.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 1)

00:06.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 2)

00:11.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 SATA Controller [AHCI mode]

00:12.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller

00:12.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller

00:12.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller

00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller

00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller

00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller

00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 3c)

00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 LPC host controller

00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] HyperTransport Configuration

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Address Map

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] DRAM Controller

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Miscellaneous Control

00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Link Control

01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Device 9712

01:05.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc Device 970f

02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. Device 002b (rev 01)

03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev

 02)

My Notebook is a Compaq Presario CQ61-310EN, and the
Product Specifications says "NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G" for "Video Graphics".

And here are some excerpts from my `/var/log/Xorg.0.log` (I hope my intuition let me choose the right ones):

Code:

(II) VESA: driver for VESA chipsets: vesa

(II) Primary Device is: PCI 01:05:0

(--) Assigning device section with no busID to primary device

(--) Chipset vesa found

(...)

(II) VESA(0): initializing int10

(II) VESA(0): Primary V_BIOS segment is: 0xc000

(II) VESA(0): VESA BIOS detected

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE Version 3.0

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE Total Mem: 16384 kB

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM: ATI ATOMBIOS

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Software Rev: 10.94

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: (C) 1988-2005, ATI Technologies Inc.

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: RS880M

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: 01.00

(II) VESA(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section

        "Default Screen" for depth/fbbpp 16/16

(==) VESA(0): Depth 16, (--) framebuffer bpp 16

(==) VESA(0): RGB weight 565

(==) VESA(0): Default visual is TrueColor

(==) VESA(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)

(II) Loading sub module "ddc"

(II) LoadModule: "ddc"(II) Module "ddc" already built-in

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE DDC supported

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM: ATI ATOMBIOS

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Software Rev: 10.94

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: (C) 1988-2005, ATI Technologies Inc.

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: RS880M

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: 01.00

(II) VESA(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section

        "Default Screen" for depth/fbbpp 16/16

(==) VESA(0): Depth 16, (--) framebuffer bpp 16

(==) VESA(0): RGB weight 565

(==) VESA(0): Default visual is TrueColor

(==) VESA(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)

(II) Loading sub module "ddc"

(II) LoadModule: "ddc"(II) Module "ddc" already built-in

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE DDC supported

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE DDC Level 2

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE DDC transfer in appr. 1 sec.

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE DDC read successfully

(II) VESA(0): Manufacturer: AUO  Model: 10ec  Serial#: 0

(II) VESA(0): Year: 2008  Week: 1

(II) VESA(0): EDID Version: 1.3

(II) VESA(0): Digital Display Input

(II) VESA(0): Max H-Image Size [cm]: horiz.: 34  vert.: 19

(II) VESA(0): Gamma: 2.20

(II) VESA(0): No DPMS capabilities specified; RGB/Color Display

(II) VESA(0): First detailed timing is preferred mode

(II) VESA(0): redX: 0.640 redY: 0.342  greenX: 0.310 greenY: 0.580

(II) VESA(0): blueX: 0.150 blueY: 0.120  whiteX: 0.313 whiteY: 0.329

(II) VESA(0): Manufacturer's mask: 0

(II) VESA(0): Supported additional Video Mode:

(II) VESA(0): clock: 72.0 MHz  Image Size:  344 x 193 mm

(II) VESA(0): h_active: 1366  h_sync: 1414  h_sync_end 1446 h_blank_end 1486 h_border: 0

(II) VESA(0): v_active: 768  v_sync: 771  v_sync_end 775 v_blanking: 806 v_border: 0

(II) VESA(0):  AUO

(II) VESA(0):  B156XW01 V0

(II) VESA(0): EDID (in hex):

(II) VESA(0):  00ffffffffffff0006afec1000000000

(II) VESA(0):  01120103802213780ae6b5a3574f9426

(II) VESA(0):  1e505400000001010101010101010101

(II) VESA(0):  010101010101201c5678500026303020

(II) VESA(0):  340058c1100000180000000f00000000

(II) VESA(0):  00000000000000000020000000fe0041

(II) VESA(0):  554f0a202020202020202020000000fe

(II) VESA(0):  004231353658573031205630200a002a

(II) VESA(0): EDID vendor "AUO", prod id 4332

(II) VESA(0): Printing DDC gathered Modelines:

(II) VESA(0): Modeline "1366x768"x0.0  72.00  1366 1414 1446 1486  768 771 775 806 -hsync -vsync (48.5 kHz)

(II) VESA(0): Searching for matching VESA mode(s):

Mode: 100 (640x400)

        ModeAttributes: 0xbb

I don't get why you have an ATI RS880M when your specs say you should have an NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G.

Well, a 9712 is an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Series.

Your xorg log shows that the "vesa" driver is being automatically loaded. While this driver will work with everything, it sucks. First thing to try is to edit your xorg.conf to specify the "ati" driver (make a backup of xorg.conf!).

Code:

Section "Device"

        Identifier      "Configured Video Device"

        Driver        "ati"

EndSection

or Driver "radeon" - I'm not sure of the difference. Restart X and see if it's better.

Further resources include this guy with your card, Debian wiki for the open source driver, Debian wiki for the closed source driver, and Ubuntu wiki for the open source driver.

I tried with ati, radeon, radeonhd and fglrx (as explained in DebianWiki AtiProprietary), but none works. Here is the /var/log/Xorg.0.log after "radeonhd"; the last lines are always the same

Code:

(II) RADEONHD: X driver for the following AMD GPG (ATI) graphics devices:

        RV505 : Radeon X1550, X1550 64bit.

        RV515 : Radeon X1300, X1550, X1600; FireGL V3300, V3350.

        RV516 : Radeon X1300, X1550, X1550 64-bit, X1600; FireMV 2250.

        R520  : Radeon X1800; FireGL V5300, V7200, V7300, V7350.

        RV530 : Radeon X1300 XT, X1600, X1600 Pro, X1650; FireGL V3400, V5200.

        RV535 : Radeon X1300, X1650.

        RV550 : Radeon X2300 HD.

        RV560 : Radeon X1650.

        RV570 : Radeon X1950, X1950 GT; FireGL V7400.

        R580  : Radeon X1900, X1950; AMD Stream Processor.

        R600  : Radeon HD 2900 GT/Pro/XT; FireGL V7600/V8600/V8650.

        RV610 : Radeon HD 2350, HD 2400 Pro/XT, HD 2400 Pro AGP; FireGL V4000.

        RV620 : Radeon HD 3450, HD 3470.

        RV630 : Radeon HD 2600 LE/Pro/XT, HD 2600 Pro/XT AGP; Gemini RV630;

                FireGL V3600/V5600.

        RV635 : Radeon HD 3650, HD 3670.

        RV670 : Radeon HD 3690, 3850, HD 3870, FireGL V7700, FireStream 9170.

        R680  : Radeon HD 3870 X2.

        M52  : Mobility Radeon X1300.

        M54  : Mobility Radeon X1400; M54-GL.

        M56  : Mobility Radeon X1600; Mobility FireGL V5200.

        M58  : Mobility Radeon X1800, X1800 XT; Mobility FireGL V7100, V7200.

        M62  : Mobility Radeon X1350.

        M64  : Mobility Radeon X1450, X2300.

        M66  : Mobility Radeon X1700, X1700 XT; FireGL V5250.

        M68  : Mobility Radeon X1900.

        M71  : Mobility Radeon HD 2300.

        M72  : Mobility Radeon HD 2400; Radeon E2400.

        M74  : Mobility Radeon HD 2400 XT.

        M76  : Mobility Radeon HD 2600;

                (Gemini ATI) Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT.

        M82  : Mobility Radeon HD 3400.

        RS600 : Radeon Xpress 1200, Xpress 1250.

        RS690 : Radeon X1200, X1250, X1270.



(II) RADEONHD: version 1.2.1, built from non-git sources



(II) Primary Device is: PCI 01:05:0

(--) Assigning device section with no busID to primary device

(EE) No devices detected.



Fatal server error:

no screens found

Hmm, you didn't replace the entire contents of your xorg.conf, did you? I meant you only should add the Driver line to the Section "Device", while leaving the other Sections intact.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlucardZero (Post 3959535)

Hmm, you didn't replace the entire contents of your xorg.conf, did you? I meant you only should add the Driver line to the Section "Device", while leaving the other Sections intact.

No, no. Here is my current xorg.conf:

Code:

Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier      "Generic Keyboard"

        Driver          "kbd"

        Option          "XkbRules"      "xorg"

        Option          "XkbModel"      "pc105"

        Option          "XkbLayout"    "ee"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier      "Configured Mouse"

        Driver          "mouse"

EndSection



Section "Device"

        Identifier      "ATI 1002:9712"

#        Driver "fglrx"

#        Driver "radeonhd"

#        Driver "radeon"

#        Driver "ati"

EndSection



Section "Monitor"

        Identifier      "Configured Monitor"

EndSection



Section "Screen"

        Identifier      "Default Screen"

        Monitor        "Configured Monitor"

        DefaultDepth    24

EndSection

After reading this thread, I tried aticonfig:

Code:

rose:~# aticonfig --initial

Uninitialised file found, configuring.

Segmentation fault

I installed Ubuntu instead of Debian; this solved all problems automatically. Thumb up for Ubuntu!