LinuxQuestions.org - X won't work with any video driver

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X won't work with any video driver

I just installed Gentoo and am now trying to get X working. The problem seems to be the video driver, and I suspect also my kernel compile options. I have an Intel 82845G/GL integrated graphics card, which ideally runs on X's i810 driver. But when I try this I get the error
(EE) I810(0): unknown type(0xffffffff)=0xff
and no other errors. I also tried using the VESA driver, which gives a similar error:
(EE) VESA(0): unknown type(0xffffffff)=0xff
And when I tried the VGA driver, X gives no errors, but a blank screen. With all three drivers, I tried enabling and disabling DRI and tried various combinations of kernel options for VGA, VESA, Intel i810/i830/i915, and DRI under Graphics support and Character devices. I'm not sure which options are necessary, and unfortunately it seems that having some options enabled under Graphics support hides options under Character devices.

I also gave it an unsuccessful shot with the Xorg -configure, xorgconfig, and xorgcfg auto-configuration programs.

Google-searching this problem, I found that one nice way to get a starting point is to boot with a Knoppix LiveCD and then copy its auto-generated xorg.conf file. I tried this: Knoppix managed 640x480 16bpp display with VESA and I copied Knoppix's xorg.conf over to my Gentoo root. But when I switched back to Gentoo, I have the same problem as before with Knoppix's xorg.conf.

How can I get X working? :(

Some other things I am wondering about...
1. To use an X11 driver for a piece of hardware, does the kernel need to support that hardware? Or conversely, does using an X11 driver require that the kernel does not support that hardware to avoid conflict? Or third, does an X11 driver work independently of the kernel?
2. I see kernel options related to my graphics card both under Graphics support and Character devices. What is a Character device vs. Graphics device? Should I enable options under both at the same time?
3. What exactly does the kernel option "Support Frame Buffer Devices" mean? I have it enabled. Should I disable it?
4. Maybe the problem is with my X11 installation. How do I tell Portage to reinstall all Xorg X11-related packages?

Thanks for your help.

These links might help. Note that the short name of your chipset is 845G...

http://intellinuxgraphics.org/documentation.html
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Intel_945G

You will want:

Code:

Device Drivers  --->

    Character devices  --->

        <*> /dev/agpgart ( AGP Support )

        <*>  Intel 440LX/BX/GX, I8xx and E7x05 chipset support

        <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 4.1.0 and higher DRI support)

        <*>  Intel 830M, 845G, 852GM, 855GM, 865G

Thanks for the links, they are informative. As you suggested, I enabled

Code:

Device Drivers  --->

    Character devices  --->

        <*> /dev/agpgart ( AGP Support )

        <*>  Intel 440LX/BX/GX, I8xx and E7x05 chipset support

        <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 4.1.0 and higher DRI support)

        <*>  Intel 830M, 845G, 852GM, 855GM, 865G

and I specified the i810 driver in xorg.conf. However, I am getting the same error as before:
(EE) I810(0): unknown type(0xffffffff)=0xff
(EE) I810(0): VBE initialization failed
Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.
No luck with the VESA driver either. Also, I tried this all with the kernel option for frame buffer support turned off instead of on.

I tried genkernel to compile another kernel (using the options above). Oddly, X now works the VGA driver (though only at 320x200-8bpp), whereas it would just make a blank screen before. :scratch: I don't understand why this would be different - maybe it has to do with the video mode in which I boot? With my previous kernel, Gentoo would boot in what looks like a high-res text mode and with the Tux logo in the upper-left corner. With genkernel, my computer boots up in 80x25 textmode (and no logo). What is going on?

Maybe the problem is with my X11 installation. How do I tell Portage to wipe out and reinstall all Xorg X11-related packages?

Quote:

Maybe the problem is with my X11 installation. How do I tell Portage to wipe out and reinstall all Xorg X11-related packages?

I have found reinstalling everything rarely fixes the problem, but if you really want you can just re-emerge it:

# emerge -p xorg-x11

Console video mode has nothing to do with X...they are unrelated.

Quote:

With genkernel, my computer boots up in 80x25 textmode (and no logo). What is going on?

Perhaps you didn't add a 'video' or 'vga' option to the kernel.

Edit: I suggest you post you xorg.conf, perhaps someone who had experience with this chipset can help you better than me...

After more messing with kernel options, my (non-genkernel) kernel can now run X with the VGA driver. I still can't use the VESA or i810 drivers.

Here is my xorg.conf file (adapted from the xorg.conf generated by a Knoppix LiveCD)...

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"

        Identifier    "XFree86 Configured"

        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0

        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

      InputDevice    "USB Mouse" "CorePointer"

EndSection



Section "ServerFlags"

        Option "AllowMouseOpenFail"  "true"

EndSection



Section "Files"

        RgbPath      "/usr/share/X11/rgb"

        ModulePath  "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc:unscaled"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi:unscaled"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi:unscaled"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Speedo"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/PEX"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"

        FontPath    "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/truetype"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/latex-ttf-fonts"

EndSection



Section "Module"

        Load  "dbe" # Double Buffering Extension, very important.

        Load  "dri" # This shouldn't be available choice if user has selected driver vga, vesa or nv.

        Load  "glx" # GLX Extension.

        Load  "freetype" # Freetype fonts.

        Load  "type1"  # Type 1 fonts

        Load  "record" # Developer extension, usually not needed

        SubSection      "extmod"

                Option          "omit xfree86-dga"

        EndSubSection

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier  "Keyboard0"

        Driver      "kbd"

        Option      "CoreKeyboard"

        Option "XkbRules" "xorg"

        Option "XkbModel" "pc105"

        Option "XkbLayout" "us"



EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier  "Serial Mouse"

        Driver      "mouse"

        Option      "Protocol" "Microsoft"

        Option      "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"

        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "true"

        Option      "Emulate3Timeout" "70"

        Option            "SendCoreEvents"  "true"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier  "PS/2 Mouse"

        Driver      "mouse"

        Option      "Protocol" "auto"

        Option      "ZAxisMapping"          "4 5"

        Option      "Device" "/dev/psaux"

        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "true"

        Option      "Emulate3Timeout" "70"

        Option        "SendCoreEvents"  "true"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier      "USB Mouse"

        Driver          "mouse"

        Option          "Device"                "/dev/input/mice"

        Option                "SendCoreEvents"        "true"

        Option          "Protocol"              "IMPS/2"

        Option          "ZAxisMapping"          "4 5"

        Option          "Buttons"              "5"

EndSection



Section "Monitor"

        Identifier        "Monitor0"

        Option        "DPMS"        "true"

        VendorName        "PTS"

        ModelName        "PTS076d"

        HorizSync        30 - 80

        VertRefresh 60 - 75

EndSection



# Configuration for my Intel 845GM card... this is what doesn't work

Section "Device"

        Identifier  "Card0"

        Driver      "i810"

        VendorName  "Intel"

EndSection



Section "Screen"

        Identifier "Screen0"

        Device    "Card0"

        Monitor    "Monitor0"

        DefaultColorDepth 24

        SubSection "Display"

                Depth    8

                Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Depth    16

                Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Depth    24

                Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Depth    32

                Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        EndSubSection

EndSection



Section "DRI"

        Mode 0666

EndSection

If I change the i810 driver to VGA, then I can use X at 320x200-8bpp, but nothing else I have tried works.

Any suggestions?