Slackware10.2+ATI-Radeon9600: hard to work !...agpgart ? fglrx ? what are they for ?

mcapelati · 01-19-2006, 09:04 AM

Hi all,

My last post (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...399007&page=3), was doing very confusing.

So, let me make direct questions:

1) What is "agpgart" ? What is used for ?

2) What is "fglrx" ? What is used for ?

3) Which module do I have to load in order to have 3D acceleration ? In what order ?

4) Where do I find documentation about these things ?

I have an ASUS-A7N8X-E / Athlon-XP_2600 / ATI-Radeon_9600, and it´s a time consuming in order to let 3D working on Slackware 10.2 / kernel 2.6.14.3

I have download the last ATI drivers (ati-driver-installer-8.21.7-i386.run) and run it.

It creates some modules on /lib/modules/2.6.14.3/kernel/drivers/char/drm:
fglrx.ko
fglrx_agp.ko

But, the LOG shows me a lot of warnings and error...
# tail -n 15 /usr/share/fglrx/fglrx-install.log

Quote:

MODPOST
*** Warning: "verify_area" [/lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/firegl_agpgart/fglrx_agp.ko] undefined!
CC /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/firegl_agpgart/fglrx_agp.mod.o
LD [M] /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/firegl_agpgart/fglrx_agp.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.14.3'
AGPGART build succeeded with return value 0
finished compiling for fglrx_agp
duplicating results into driver repository...
done.
==============================
- creating symlink
- recreating module dependency list
- trying a sample load of the kernel modules
failed.
[Error] Kernel Module : Failed to install compiled kernel module - please consult readme.

When I try to load modules, there is an error:
# modprobe fglrx

Quote:

FATAL: Error inserting fglrx (/lib/modules/2.6.14.3/kernel/drivers/char/drm/fglrx.ko): Operation not permitted

# modprobe fglrx_agp

Quote:

FATAL: Error inserting fglrx_agp (/lib/modules/2.6.14.3/kernel/drivers/char/drm/fglrx_agp.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)

# dmesg | tail -n 13

Quote:

[fglrx] Maximum main memory to use for locked dma buffers: 803 MBytes.
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:00.0[A] -> Link [LNK4] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
[fglrx:firegl_stub_register] *ERROR* Unable to the open some already present DRM kernel module!
Linux agpgart interface v0.101 (c) Dave Jones
[fglrx] Maximum main memory to use for locked dma buffers: 803 MBytes.
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:00.0[A] -> Link [LNK4] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
[fglrx:firegl_stub_register] *ERROR* Unable to the open some already present DRM kernel module!
fglrx_agp: Unknown symbol verify_area
Linux agpgart interface v0.101 (c) Dave Jones
[fglrx] Maximum main memory to use for locked dma buffers: 803 MBytes.
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:00.0[A] -> Link [LNK4] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
[fglrx:firegl_stub_register] *ERROR* Unable to the open some already present DRM kernel module!
fglrx_agp: Unknown symbol verify_area

Please, help me !

b0uncer · 01-19-2006, 09:12 AM

Can't answer to all of your questions, but the fglrx part..fglrx = ATI's "official" driver for ATI 3d cards for Linux. I've heard it is crappy in most of the cases, and very difficult to get work in some systems.. (tried myself a few times too)..

There are "unofficial" ATI drivers that come with Linux distributions / X, like "radeon", but they most likely do not offer 3d support (at least alone) and that's why you need fglrx for (though it's not necessarily the answer, as I found out myself - installed it, still no 3d).

ATI cards simply suck as they don't have proper Linux drivers

nVidia's cards do tend to work..

raska · 01-19-2006, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b0uncer

ATI cards simply suck as they don't have proper Linux drivers

nVidia's cards do tend to work..

yup, it's just too damn difficult to make them, ATi cards, work. Get a nVidia card please

At the office I've an ATi Radeon 7000/VE, not such a new item anyway. I use the VESA driver on X, it works better than the radeon one (not joking, it doubles the frames of glxgears), albeit, it gives me no direct rendering. Not for running videogames, not such luck.

some info from lspci -v:

Quote:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV100 QY [Radeon 7000/VE] (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Hightech Information System Ltd.: Unknown device 5159
Flags: bus master, stepping, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
I/O ports at c800 [size=256]
Memory at ff8f0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Expansion ROM at ff8c0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [58] AGP version 2.0
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

freimann · 01-19-2006, 10:05 AM

Hi !

I had similar problems with my ATI Radeon 9600 ....

kernels 2.6.14 and higher no longer implement verify_area function

search in google for file "verify_area.tar.gz" and compile/install it ... this is a replacement module for the missing functions ..

correct order:
0. modprobe verify_area
1. modprobe agpgart
2. modprobe intel-agp (or via-agp or sis-agp - depending on your motherboard chipset ...)

3. fglrx (started by X)

check "dmesg" for any error messages ...

btw - check this helpful guide - hxxp://slackwiki.org/ATI_Drivers

cathectic · 01-19-2006, 12:13 PM

1) What is "agpgart" ? What is used for ?

http://utah-glx.sourceforge.net/gart/README

It appears to be for transferring at high speeds with AGP and is bundled with the kernel. Either use it, or use fglrx's own built in AGP GART driver, but do not try to use both at the same time.

2) What is "fglrx" ? What is used for ?

fglrx is ATi's proprietary X driver/ module for the Radeon 9200 series and above. It provides full 2D and 3D acceleration for supported cards.

3) Which module do I have to load in order to have 3D acceleration ? In what order ?

In most cases, you should only need fglrx. You do not need to load any modules manually, a correctly configured /etc/X11/xorg.conf will deal with this for you.

4) Where do I find documentation about these things ?

As given by freimann, http://slackwiki.org/ATI_Drivers

Also, http://wiki.cchtml.com

5) Unlabelled question regarding verify_area error.

Edit /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/firegl_public.c

Replace:

Code:

return verify_area(type, addr, size);

with:

Code:

return access_ok(type, addr, size) ? 0 : -EFAULT;

Then rebuild the fglrx module (as root, go to /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod and run 'sh make.sh', then go to /lib/modules/fglrx and run 'sh make_install.sh')

lestoil · 01-19-2006, 06:17 PM

check out this article http://marcin.fastlanehw.com/slackware.html which shows you radeon card configured on SW with 2.6.14x kernel config and sample /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. This may help you better. Good luck.

mcapelati · 01-20-2006, 11:03 PM

Hi Guys,

I´m still having some difficulties !

My last tries are on manual installing.

I got the last version on ATI site, file "fglrx_6_8_0-8.21.7-1.i386.tgz".

I did all that old instructions:

Quote:

installpkg fglrx_6_8_0-8.21.7-1.i386.tgz
cd /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/
sh make.sh

Last command shows a LOT of warnings, but it build modules anyway

Quote:

cd ..
sh make_install.sh

Shows following messages

Quote:

- creating symlink
- recreating module dependency list
- trying a sample load of the kernel modules
FATAL: Error inserting fglrx (/lib/modules/2.6.14.3/kernel/drivers/char/drm/fglrx.ko): Operation not permitted
failed.

But, as I said, modules was built anyway:

Quote:

# ls -la /lib/modules/2.6.14.3/kernel/drivers/char/drm/

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 546976 2006-01-21 02:38 fglrx.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 62305 2006-01-21 02:38 fglrx_agp.ko

All right, when I try to load any of these modules: error !

Quote:

# modprobe fglrx

FATAL: Error inserting fglrx (/lib/modules/2.6.14.3/kernel/drivers/char/drm/fglrx.ko): Operation not permitted

And, taking a look on dmesg, the error is:

Quote:

[fglrx] Maximum main memory to use for locked dma buffers: 803 MBytes.
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:00.0[A] -> Link [LNK4] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
[fglrx:firegl_stub_register] *ERROR* Unable to the open some already present DRM kernel module!

On my system, agpgart module is always loaded (by /etc/rc.d/rc.modules).

But, even if unload it (rmmod agpgart) and try to load fglrx (modprobe fglrx), the same error occurs, and agpgart is loaded again.

If I try:

Quote:

# modprobe fglrx_agp

FATAL: Error inserting fglrx_agp (/lib/modules/2.6.14.3/kernel/drivers/char/drm/fglrx_agp.ko): No such device

and, after a lsmod, it shows me that module "verify_area" was load (thats because I have installed it)

Too much weird, don´t you think ?

Well, I´m looking for a new NVidia card... but while I couldn´t buy it, I´m still trying to fix this shit (Radeon)

Any more help would be appreciated !

Plz, take a look on error messages (

), maybe it gave you some clues.

Thanks for you all.

mcapelati · 01-23-2006, 12:04 PM

Hiiii... is there anybody there that could give me a little help ? Pleeeaaaase

hosler · 01-23-2006, 10:57 PM

I really hate to say this, but I had my radeon cards working on Ubuntu. They still sucked. Things always messed up.

Jskill007 · 02-05-2006, 09:46 AM

I have this same problem. Still haven't found a solution.

BrianW · 02-05-2006, 01:36 PM

As for the operation not permitted, are you rebooting after you install the drivers or rmmod the old video drivers before you try to load the new fglrx driver?