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Little problem building kernel

I am running Slackware 13 and I want to downgrade the kernel. Downgrade why do that? because i want to be able to run the ATI drivers for my video card and they will not work on the 2.6.29 kernel. I decided to use the 2.6.27.43 kernel. I have built the kernel and set up lilo. At first I had a common and I needed to build an intrid.gz. I have done this now another problem surfaces.

This is the problem

Code:

initrd.gz Loading kernel modules for initrd.gz:

mount: mounting /dev/hda3 on /mnt failed: No such device or address



ERROR: No /sbin/init found on rootdev (or not mounted). Trouble ahead. You can try to fix it. Type 'exit' when things are done.



/bin/sh: can't access tty: job control turned off

I think that the driver for my hard disk controller is not loading. Or the driver for the hard disk itself I am not sure which. I need someone to point me in the right direction to see if my hypothesis is true or not.

This is my lilo.conf

Code:

# LILO configuration file

# generated by 'liloconfig'

#

# Start LILO global section

# Append any additional kernel parameters:

append=" vt.default_utf8=0"

boot = /dev/hda



compact

lba32



# Boot BMP Image.

# Bitmap in BMP format: 640x480x8

  bitmap = /boot/slack.bmp

# Menu colors (foreground, background, shadow, highlighted

# foreground, highlighted background, highlighted shadow):

  bmp-colors = 255,0,255,0,255,0

# Location of the option table: location x, location y, number of

# columns, lines per column (max 15), "spill" (this is how many

# entries must be in the first column before the next begins to

# be used.  We don't specify it here, as there's just one column.

  bmp-table = 60,6,1,16

# Timer location x, timer location y, foreground color,

# background color, shadow color.

  bmp-timer = 65,27,0,255



# Standard menu.

# Or, you can comment out the bitmap menu above and 

# use a boot message with the standard menu:

#message = /boot/boot_message.txt



# Wait until the timeout to boot (if commented out, boot the

# first entry immediately):

prompt

# Timeout before the first entry boots.

# This is given in tenths of a second, so 600 for every minute:

timeout = 1200

# Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table:

change-rules

  reset

# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256

#vga = 773

# Normal VGA console

# vga = normal

# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k

 vga=791

# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k

# vga=790

# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256

# vga=773

# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x64k

# vga=788

# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k

# vga=787

# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256

# vga=771

# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x64k

# vga=785

# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x32k

# vga=784

# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x256

# vga=769

# End LILO global section

# Linux bootable partition config begins

image = /boot/vmlinuz

  root = /dev/hda3

  label = SlackwareKDE

    read-only

image = /boot/vmlinuz

  root = /dev/hda3

  label = SlackwareCMD

  append = "init 3"

    read-only

image = /boot/vmlinuz-custom-2.6.27.43

  root = /dev/hda3

  initrd = /boot/initrd.gz

  label = SlackwareNew

    read-only

# Linux bootable partition config ends

# Windows bootable partition config begins

other = /dev/hda1

  label = Windows

  table = /dev/hda

# Windows bootable partition config ends

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,
Shawn

Catalyst 9.11 or 12 builds nicely on 2.6.29.6, so by your post we'll have to assume you have a graphics card that is no longer supported and you need to use catalyst 9.3?

Someone else tried this but I'm not sure if they reported any success. It might be such that you cannot go back that far, I don't know.

One solution is to use slackware 12.2 and then increase kernel to one that works for catalyst 9.3 if the stock doesn't (I can't remember).

But as you've already gone this far, give it a try.

Compile the kernel with what you need built in for booting. This way you don't need initrd.

If you boot slackware13 with the smp generic kernel that comes with slackware (assumes you have a functioning initrd otherwise try huge kernel), make note of ide or sata lines.

Then when configuring kernel build (make menuconfig or make gconfig or make xconfig) choose corresponding entries in ide and sata part. If using sata, I think you still need to enable scsi-disk under scsi part. Also be sure to build in file operating systems for your hd (ext2, ext3, ext4, jfs, xfs...etc). That way you shouldn't get kernel panic.

You might also consider the open source drivers which are supposed to be in good shape including with 3d acceleration for earlier gpus.

Post your results to help others because for people with ATI gpus prior to HD series (r100-r500 probably) this will be a recurring problem.

Slackware folks might want to offer an additional kernel in extra just for this problem if the open source drivers are not adequate.

You are correct I need the 9.3 drivers since it is a radeon xpress card. The open drivers I have installed are not enough to do what I need them to do. They work ok but they seem to crash a lot. I used the kernel config file from the generic slackware kernel when I built the new one and I would have though they had those in since this kernel works. I will take a look and see exactly what they did though.

I should have pointed out one more thing. After booting with functioning setup, issue lspci as root. Then note relevant entries such as pci bridge. If this is ati sb700, you'll want the atiixp. In the kernel config that is:
Device Drivers -> ATA/ATAPI... -> ATI IXP chipset
SCSI... scsi device support
SCSI scsi disk support
SCSI scsi generic support
Serial ATA SATA ACPI
Serial ATA SATA Port Multiplier
Serial ATA AHCI SATA
Serial ATA -> ATA SFF Support
Serial ATA -> ATA SFF Support ->AMD/NVIDIA PATA
Serial ATA -> ATA SFF Support ->ATI PATA
Serial ATA -> ATA SFF Support ->Generic PATA
Device Drivers -> Graphics support -> /dev/agpgart (M) (module)
Device Drivers -> Graphics support -> Direct Rendering N (NO)
Device Drivers -> Graphics support -> Support for frame buffers (Y) but make sure all FBs under it are unchecked or say N or NO.

File Systems -> Second Extended
File Systems -> EXT3
File Systems -> The Extended 4 (if you use this)
File Systems -> others you use (xfs, jfs, reiserfs)

This is obviously only partially useful for kernel config. The above worked for me, in those areas, but your hardware is likely different and you may need to adjust. This is also from my fairly recent config and 2.6.27.xx might not be exactly the same but this should give an idea.

Xpress? Is this the express 1200 or 1250 or X1200 or X1250?

Slackware comes with fairly recent mesa, drm, radeon, and radeonhd drivers which might work OK for these.

Backup your xorg.conf and try this

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"

        Identifier    "Simple Layout"

        Screen        "Screen 1"

EndSection



Section "Monitor"

        Identifier  "mon1"

EndSection



Section "Device"

        Identifier  "RadeonVid"

        Driver "radeonhd"

#        Option "HDMI" "all" #this for sound over hdmi

        Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"

        Option "DRI"  "on"  #xorg log says on per default maybe not needed

EndSection



Section "DRI"

  Mode 0666  #I don't remember where this came from and may not be needed.

EndSection



Section "Screen"

        Identifier "Screen 1"

        Device    "RadeonVid"

        Monitor    "mon1"

        DefaultDepth 24

        SubSection "Display"

          Depth 24

        EndSubSection

EndSection

If that works or not, change radeonhd to radeon and try again. Do these work with the existing slackware13.0 setup including 2.6.32.x kernel?

AuroraZero, you will also have to downgrade all of Xorg if you really want to stick with the catalyst drivers, and doing that is just asking for problems. If you must stick with catalyst, use an older distribution. Honestly, though, I would spend more time trying to get the radeon drivers working properly than I would on getting fglrx running.

Adam

Provide some more info.
fdisk -l
cat /etc/fstab

I think I may have to try to get the open drivers to work. I do not want to downgrade Xorg at all. I am sure someone will make either the catalyst drivers work or the open drivers will get better. It is a Xpress 200m. The laptop is a Hp ZV6000 and I love it except for this little problem.

Your 200m uses the r300_dri.so

The open source drivers are already pretty good.

Try what comes standard with slackware and try the xorg.conf file I posted above but change radeonhd to radeon. Your chipset is not likely to be supported by radeonhd.

If that doesn't work or you need better, look into compiling newer libdrm, mesa, xf86-video-ati. Maybe before doing that run through the logs (mesa and radeon) for r300 to see if improvements are likely. You could also try newer 2.6.33-rc3 kernel.

There was a bug in Mesa this past summer, that I believe made it into the 7.5 release, regarding integrated ATI GPUs. A newer Mesa is much more likely to perform better.

Adam

This configuration works okay

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"

        Identifier    "Simple Layout"

        Screen        "Screen 1"

EndSection



Section "Monitor"

        Identifier  "mon1"

EndSection



Section "Device"

        Identifier  "RadeonVid"

        Driver "radeonhd"

#        Option "HDMI" "all" #this for sound over hdmi

        Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"

        Option "DRI"  "on"  #xorg log says on per default maybe not needed

EndSection



Section "DRI"

  Mode 0666  #I don't remember where this came from and may not be needed.

EndSection



Section "Screen"

        Identifier "Screen 1"

        Device    "RadeonVid"

        Monitor    "mon1"

        DefaultDepth 24

        SubSection "Display"

          Depth 24

        EndSubSection

EndSection

But it acts like it is still trying to autodetect the card when KDE starts. I am running KDE 4.2.4 and here is my Xorg configuration.

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"

        Identifier    "X.org Configured"

        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0

        InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"

        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection



Section "Files"

        ModulePath  "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/local"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/OTF"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/misc"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/CID"

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

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

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi"

        FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic"

EndSection



Section "Module"

        Load  "extmod"

        Load  "dbe"

        Load  "glx"

        Load  "dri2"

        Load  "dri"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier  "Keyboard0"

        Driver      "kbd"

        Option      "XkbModel"  "hpzt11xx"

        Option      "XkbLayout"  "us"

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          330  210        # mm

        Identifier  "Monitor0"

        VendorName  "LPL"

        ModelName    "0"

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    "Dac6Bit"                    # [<bool>]

        #Option    "Dac8Bit"                    # [<bool>]

        #Option    "BusType"                    # [<str>]

        #Option    "CPPIOMode"                  # [<bool>]

        #Option    "CPusecTimeout"              # <i>

        #Option    "AGPMode"                    # <i>

        #Option    "AGPFastWrite"              # [<bool>]

        #Option    "AGPSize"                    # <i>

        #Option    "GARTSize"                  # <i>

        #Option    "RingSize"                  # <i>

        #Option    "BufferSize"                # <i>

        #Option    "EnableDepthMoves"          # [<bool>]

        #Option    "EnablePageFlip"            # [<bool>]

        #Option    "NoBackBuffer"              # [<bool>]

        #Option    "DMAForXv"                  # [<bool>]

        #Option    "FBTexPercent"              # <i>

        #Option    "DepthBits"                  # <i>

        #Option    "PCIAPERSize"                # <i>

        #Option    "AccelDFS"                  # [<bool>]

        #Option    "IgnoreEDID"                # [<bool>]

        #Option    "DisplayPriority"            # [<str>]

        #Option    "PanelSize"                  # [<str>]

        #Option    "ForceMinDotClock"          # <freq>

        #Option    "ColorTiling"                # [<bool>]

        #Option    "VideoKey"                  # <i>

        #Option    "RageTheatreCrystal"        # <i>

        #Option    "RageTheatreTunerPort"        # <i>

        #Option    "RageTheatreCompositePort"        # <i>

        #Option    "RageTheatreSVideoPort"        # <i>

        #Option    "TunerType"                  # <i>

        #Option    "RageTheatreMicrocPath"        # <str>

        #Option    "RageTheatreMicrocType"        # <str>

        #Option    "ScalerWidth"                # <i>

        #Option    "RenderAccel"                # [<bool>]

        #Option    "SubPixelOrder"              # [<str>]

        #Option    "ShowCache"                  # [<bool>]

        #Option    "DynamicClocks"              # [<bool>]

        #Option    "VGAAccess"                  # [<bool>]

        #Option    "ReverseDDC"                # [<bool>]

        #Option    "LVDSProbePLL"              # [<bool>]

        #Option    "AccelMethod"                # <str>

        #Option    "DRI"                        # [<bool>]

        #Option    "ConnectorTable"            # <str>

        #Option    "DefaultConnectorTable"        # [<bool>]

        #Option    "DefaultTMDSPLL"            # [<bool>]

        #Option    "TVDACLoadDetect"            # [<bool>]

        #Option    "ForceTVOut"                # [<bool>]

        #Option    "TVStandard"                # <str>

        #Option    "IgnoreLidStatus"            # [<bool>]

        #Option    "DefaultTVDACAdj"            # [<bool>]

        #Option    "Int10"                      # [<bool>]

        #Option    "EXAVSync"                  # [<bool>]

        #Option    "ATOMTVOut"                  # [<bool>]

        #Option    "R4xxATOM"                  # [<bool>]

        Identifier  "RadeonVid"

        Driver      "radeon"

        VendorName  "Unknown Vendor"

        BoardName  "Xpress 200m"

        BusID      "PCI:1:5:0"

EndSection



Section "Screen"

        Identifier "Screen0"

        Device    "Card0"

        Monitor    "Monitor0"

        DefaultDepth 24

        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

Any help with this will be greatly appreciated.

I believe you need to use the 'radeon' driver *not* 'radeonhd'. RadeonHD is for r500, r600, and r700 GPUs. The Xpress 200 does not fall into the category, as I understand it (though the Xpress 1200/1250/1270 do).

Adam

As I suggested earlier, in the shorter xorg.conf I gave you, change radeonhd to radeon. I suggested radeonhd prior to knowing what your card was.

But when reviewing your xorg.conf, you are using the radeon driver. You could remove everything with # in front for clarity. Also you can probably safely get rid of everything with depth less than 16 and maybe only keep 16 and 24. I only have 24 in my xorg.

Another thing you could try is renaming xorg.conf so you have a backup and starting X without any xorg. It's not supposed to be needed anymore. I still use it because I sometimes tell it to run radeonhd or fglrx.

adamk75 suggested compiling newer mesa as 7.5 he thought had a bug. You could compile this yourself but you could also move to slackware-current which probably already is up to 7.7 along with newer libdrm and xf86-video-ati.

You'll also have to tell us what problem your having with the open-source drivers. Look through dmesg, lspci (as root), lsmod.
Also do glxinfo and glxgears from CLI in X and maybe some message will be given.

Also look through /var/log/Xorg.0.log for errors and warnings.

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep EE
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep WW

I am using the radeon driver not the radeonHD. I am thinking it is trying to find the best possible rendering engine though.

What do you mean by "the best possible rendering engine". Please explain exactly what problems you are having when you use the 'radeon' driver.

Adam

Okay for instance when I play soltaire the cards tops will be cut off. Almost like the video card forgot to render it. Then when I slip a card over them they show up. I will try to get a screen shot and upload it for you. Also if I am playing for awhile the desktop effects engine will shut down causing my hard drive to spin and lock up.

I ran those two commands forum and here is the output.

Code:

zero@darkstar:~$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep EE

        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.

(II) Loading extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER

zero@darkstar:~$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep WW

        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.

(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/local" does not exist.

(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/CID" does not exist.

(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/local" does not exist.

(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/CID" does not exist.

(WW) AllowEmptyInput is on, devices using drivers 'kbd', 'mouse' or 'vmmouse' will be disabled.

(WW) Disabling Mouse0

(WW) Disabling Keyboard0

(WW) RADEON(0): LVDS Info:

(WW) RADEON(0): LCD DDC Info Table found!

(WW) RADEON(0): DRI init changed memory map, adjusting ...

(WW) RADEON(0):  MC_FB_LOCATION  was: 0x47ff4000 is: 0x47ff4000

(WW) RADEON(0):  MC_AGP_LOCATION was: 0xffffffc0 is: 0x49ff4800

I have not the slightest clue what the problem is. I have recently upgraded the kernel to 2.6.32.4. Still no success. Something still is not right though.

Did you get a chance to grab a screenshot?

Adam

Everytime I try to it locks up. I guess the best to describe it is to say half of the deck you are drawing from is there ans the other half just is not. I also sometimes get black cloches instead of graphics.

Unfortunately there's not much I can really suggest, then, other than to open up a bug report at http://bugs.freedesktop.org/ if the problem persists with the latest drivers.

Adam

Code:

(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/local" does not exist.

(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/CID" does not exist.

(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/local" does not exist.

(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/CID" does not exist.

The above are common but I don't know why you have two copies. That is odd. Do you still have font lines in your xorg.conf? This also suggests you need newer code than what is in 13.0.

Code:

(WW) AllowEmptyInput is on, devices using drivers 'kbd', 'mouse' or 'vmmouse' will be disabled.

(WW) Disabling Mouse0

(WW) Disabling Keyboard0

The above are common but I don't see them anymore, perhaps because I removed these from my xorg.conf or newer code.

Code:

(WW) RADEON(0): LVDS Info:

(WW) RADEON(0): LCD DDC Info Table found!

I've never seen the above before and can't comment further.

Code:

(WW) RADEON(0): DRI init changed memory map, adjusting ...

(WW) RADEON(0):  MC_FB_LOCATION  was: 0x47ff4000 is: 0x47ff4000

(WW) RADEON(0):  MC_AGP_LOCATION was: 0xffffffc0 is: 0x49ff4800

The above code, in general, is not uncommon but I don't see it anymore. I can't comment on the hexadecimal addresses anyway as these would be fairly specific to your hardware.

It is possible the coding is older then what I need. I have made a screen shot and uploaded it. Look at the deck of cards you draw from half of the card is missing.

I am now wondering if I should not reinstall xorg. What would be the easiest way to do so from the slackware 13 disk?

Another option is you can download and upgrade your packages for libdrm, mesa, and xf86-video-ati from slackware-current and see if that helps. These are a little more current than 13.0 but still quite a bit behind the gits

Download next three links (for 32bit).
libdrm
Mesa
xf86-video-ati

Then upgrade your packages (upgradepkg *txz).

Try that without any xorg.conf.

If that doesn't help you, you might need newer code. You can search here at linuxquestions for best solution of gaining slackbuild style script.

One of the more recent is here. I'm not sure if kms is working for r300 but you can also follow the directions but maybe not compile newer kernel. If you do follow instructions and have kms also configured in kernel and it doesn't work you can try to start by adding in your lilo or grub file radeon.modeset=0 to stop kms in kernel. A few lines from my grub (menu.lst) file are:

Code:

# Linux bootable partition config begins

  title Linux x86_64 2.6.33-rc3 on (/dev/sda3) modeset=1 kms

  root (hd0,2)

  kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.33-rc3 root=/dev/sda3 ro radeon.modeset=1

# Linux bootable partition config ends

# Linux bootable partition config begins

  title Linux x86_64 2.6.33-rc3 on (/dev/sda3) modeset=0 no-kms

  root (hd0,2)

  kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.33-rc3 root=/dev/sda3 ro radeon.modeset=0

# Linux bootable partition config ends

As you can see, this partition is using 64 bit. If you go this route you would have to alter the lines for your system/kernel/etc.