Two Xorg related problems

kukibl · 04-04-2009, 05:16 PM

I recently bought HP Pavilion dv7-1133cl notebook. Last week I installed Slackware 12.2 on it, but run into few problems - two of them concerning Xorg.

I have integrated Mobility Radeon 3200 HD graphic card.

Code:

#lspci | grep -i radeon
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS780M/RS780MN [Radeon HD 3200 Graphics]

I am using "radeonhd" driver, since "ati" and "radeon" drivers are freezing my system, so only "hard" power off is possible. I configured X with Xorg -configure command and merged differences from original xorg.conf.

Also, I am using custom compiled 2.6.28.9 kernel, but both problems are present on stock generic-smp and original xorg.conf.

Problem #1.

Problem is not present when X is not used (runlevel 3). Often - 4 of 10 times, during transition from X to console (when I switch using Ctrl+Alt+F key to console or during reboot/power off process), but rarely vice versa, display gets all fuzzy, messy (like bad TV signal reception). White horizontal lines appear, display gets blurry, almost totally unreadable. The only way to "fix" picture is to go back to X with Ctrl+Alt+F7 and then back to console mode. Any idea what is causing this?

My xorg.conf output:

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "X.org Configured"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
	RgbPath      "/usr/share/X11/rgb"
	ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
	FontPath     "usr/share/fonts/local/"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/OTF/"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Speedo/"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/CID/"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load  "glx"
	Load  "extmod"
#	Load  "xtrap"
#	Load  "record"
#	Load  "GLcore"
	Load  "dbe"
	Load  "dri"
	Load  "freetype"
	Load  "type1"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Keyboard0"
	Driver      "kbd"
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  381 238
	Identifier   "Monitor0"
	VendorName   "LPL"
	ModelName    "a104"
	Option	     "DPMS"
	HorizSync    29-70
	VertRefresh  43-60
        Modeline     "1440x900" 106.47 1440 1520 1672 1904 900 901 904 932
  	Modeline     "1440x900" 87.25 1440 1488 1520 1600 900 903 909 926 +HSync -Vsync
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     "DDCMode"            	# [<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>]
	Identifier  "Card0"
	Driver      "radeonhd"
	VendorName  "ATI Technologies Inc"
	BoardName   "Unknown Board"
	BusID       "PCI:1:5:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen0"
	Device     "Card0"
	Monitor    "Monitor0"
	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

#Section "DRI"
#	Mode	0660
#EndSection

Problem #2.

This problem is quite strange and unusual... First I thought that something is wrong with me, but after 5 days of experimenting and since it wasn't present in OpenSuSE 11.1 (which was previously installed) and in Vista, it is obviously something wrong with X configuration.

Now the problem... After using Slackware for 10-20 minutes, my eyes start to hurt, causing a short headache. The only way to prolong that is by reducing brightness, but still problem remains. Personally, I think that something is wrong with refresh rate (my xorg.conf contains HorizSync and VertRefresh values from OpenSuSE's xorg.conf), but I hope that you have better idea.

What is more interesting - problem was also present on my previous notebook with nVidia graphic card, but only when proprietary driver was used, so I had to satisfy with "nv".

Thank you very much for your help!

GrapefruiTgirl · 04-04-2009, 08:02 PM

While doing a bit of research about that Laptop, I thought I would give HP Customer Live Chat a try, for the entertainment value as well as to get the specs of that display.
Here's an excerpt:

Quote:

Agent : Welcome to HP Total Care For Notebooks.
Agent : How are you?
Sasha : Great, Agent, thank you for your time

Agent : You are welcome.
Agent : I request you to elaborate the issue.
Sasha : OK. I am helping a friend configure the display driver for this laptop, which runs a Linux operating system. I need to know what is the Horizontal Scan rate and Vertical refresh rate for the display.
Agent : May I have serial and product number of the notebook?
Agent : You can locate the serial and product number on the bottom panel of the notebook on the white sticker.
Sasha : Each should be a range, but I have not been able to locate it online, and I have not got the manual. Sorry, I do not have the machine in front of me. The video device is: "ATI Technologies Inc RS780M/RS780MN [Radeon HD 3200 Graphics]"
Sasha : I am helping via the internet, like you.
Sasha : Pavilion dv7-1133cl is the model.
Agent : Thank you for the information.
Agent : Let me know, what is the preinstalled operating system shipped with the notebook?
Sasha : you're welcome. If the connection seems slow, it is that I am on dialup.
Sasha : It came preinstalled with Vista I believe.
Agent : Have you installed linux operating system in the notebook?
Sasha : Not myself personally, but the owner has, yes.
Agent : I would like to inform you that HP does not recommend to downgrade the operating system which is preinstalled with the notebook. All the softwares and device drivers designed and tested only on preinstalled operating system.
Sasha : Thank you for that advice. However, installing Linux is not a 'downgrade'.
Agent : I understand your concern, Vista has been released after Linux.
Sasha : Correct. Linux has been around a lot longer than Vista.
Sasha : And I may add, is much more stable and reliable

Agent : Here are the details:
Agent : +/-60° horizontal, +40/-50° vertical
Sasha : excellent, thank you very much for the specifications!
Sasha : Have a wonderful evening, Agent.
Agent : Here is the service manual for the notebook:
Agent : http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01550113.pdf
Sasha : Even better! Thanks again.
Agent : Refer page number " 114 (122 of 181)"
Agent : You are welcome.
Agent : Is there anything else I may assist you with?
Sasha : OK, I will do for future reference. No, that is all. I appreciate your help.
Agent : My pleasure.

Heh heh.. Downgrade

Anyhow, it appears that the numbers the agent gave me are the 'viewing angle', not the specs I was looking for. But the Live Chat was very easy to use, and the agent was friendly.

Perhaps the OP could refer to the manual and locate the design specs for the Horizontal and Vertical rates, so we can make sure the correct values are in xorg.conf.

EDIT: In a follow up email from HP Support, I was provided with this link to ATI Catalyst driver:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...1&lang=English
..which I am not sure if you have tried, or are willing to try, or even if it would work.. I haven't dealt with ATI stuff much at all under Linux.

kukibl · 04-05-2009, 04:06 AM

Wow...

Thank You very much, GrapefruiTgirl!

I checked PDF from attached link and display specification on page 115 (123) is concerning my laptop's display. But I don't see anything useful there.

Since I am not demanding user when it comes to graphics and because of really bad experience with "fglrx" driver in the past, I decided to use "radeonhd" driver. Anyway, in order to try to resolve the issue, I tried installing fglrx, but run into module loading error. I will play a little more with it and Google, just to see if fglrx will make some difference...

UPDATE:

Finally managed to install fglrx, but no use - problem remains.

kukibl · 04-06-2009, 04:37 AM

I managed to figure it out why the problem was present on my previous laptop with nVidia graphic card and "nvidia" driver.

http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree8...ppendix-b.html

Important part is:

Code:

Option "UseEdidFreqs" "boolean"

    This option controls whether the NVIDIA X driver will use the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges given in a display device's EDID, if any. When UseEdidFreqs is set to True, EDID-provided range information will override the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges specified in the Monitor section. If a display device does not provide an EDID, or the EDID does not specify an hsync or vrefresh range, then the X server will default to the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges specified in the Monitor section of your X config file. These frequency ranges are used when validating modes for your display device.

    Default: True (EDID frequencies will be used)

Obviously, it was ignoring my Monitor section HorizSync and VertRefresh options and using "wrong" EDID ones.

I thought that maybe same problem is with radeonhd/fglrx driver. I found some forum posts where people were using these options with fglrx driver. I tried the same, but Xorg.0.log reports warning (WW) that option is ignored/not used for both - radeonhd and fglrx.

Maybe you guys know some options for radeonhd or fglrx that could relate to monitor (primarly I am thinking on headache/refresh rate problem)?

I've checked radeonhd wiki, this seems interesting, but I don't get it:

Code:

10.5. My monitor isn't detected

On R5xx hardware the description of the hot plug detection (HPD) pins in the AtomBIOS connector table is often broken. Please try using

Option "HPD" "swap"

in the "Device" section. If this helps, please test all outputs (as far as possible with your equipment), and report your findings to the mailing list. Reports should include your Xorg.0.log (the working version) and your results regarding testing.

If this doesn't help, please try:

Option "HPD" "off"

This disables HPD detection completely. In some cases the HPD pin of the GPU doesn't seem to be connected to the DVI connector although it is advertised in the BIOS.

NOTE: Option "HPD" should always only be a workaround until the quirks table in the driver has been updated. ALWAYS report if it is needed to get your monitor running.

If you are using a KVM switch for your analog monitor and this monitor isn't detected correctly please try without the KVM switch. Analog displays are detected thru 'load detection' ie detection of the terminating resistors on the monitor side. The VGA standard requires 75 Ohm resistors on the RGB lines. Some KVM switches seem to not meet these requirements.

10.6. My monitor section isn't used any longer

Right. This is standard with RandR. Now the monitor sections have to specified with

Option "monitor-<output_name>" "<monitor_name>"

in the "Device" section. You can get all output names of your card with xrandr -q. See also example below.

Behavior of monitor sections is different to standard modesetting in radeonhd. With standard modesetting a monitor section replaces the EDID detected monitor (thus typically reducing the maximum mode size to 1024x768), in RandR it doesn't. It's not exactly clear in which cases which parameters are overridden by the monitor section and how to override EDID detected parameters and modes in the RandR case.

Also, I ran into HP Pavilion dv5 on Arch wiki. What amazed me is this:

Code:

#	HorizSync    28.0 - 78.0 # Warning: This may fry very old Monitors
 	HorizSync    28.0 - 96.0 # Warning: This may fry old Monitors
 	VertRefresh  50.0 - 75.0 # Very conservative. May flicker.
 #	VertRefresh  50.0 - 62.0 # Extreme conservative. Will flicker. TFT default.

Are there any safe options for HorizSync and VertRefresh? These values seem quite big and I'm not in the mood for experimenting, since I am aware of consequences.

Thank you very much, any idea or suggestion is welcome in order to resolve this "headache" issue.

GrapefruiTgirl · 04-06-2009, 05:37 PM

I cannot provide much help if configuring the ATI drivers specifically, as I am not using any ATI cards in my machines. My roommates machine has the ATI card, and it works with pretty mundane settings, using the ati or radeon128 driver (not sure of exact name, but one of the included drivers anyhow)..

But I wanted to comment on your 3rd CODE paste above, about the warnings in that wiki:

Those warnings are included in pretty much every DEFAULT xorg.conf that came included with every Linux distro I have ever booted. While I have yet to 'fry' a monitor, it must be possible, particularly with LCD panels like in laptops, and very old CRT monitors.
If the monitor is simply not smart enough to realize that the frequencies being asked of it are out of its range, it may go ahead and try using them, causing undue stress on the electronics and the high-voltage systems in the monitor, possibly burning them out, and/or damaging the CRT itself..

That said, it's hard to give a perfectly safe range for every monitor on the planet, but if you keep the horizontal range between 35-80 and the vert range between 50-100, this IMHO would be very safe.
These days, if your monitor has any brains at all (ie it isn't 20+ years old) it will simply tell you on the screen that the frequency is out of range, and/or will either pick another range it likes, or not display a picture until you fix up the range you give it.

Generally speaking, LCD's operate very close to 60Hz on the vertical, and on a narrow range of 50-70 on the horizontal. CRT's operate generally between 35-85 horizontal, and 50-120 on the vertical.

I have a 6 year old KDS flatscreen CRT here, 17" display, and its specs are 30-86 horizontal, 50-160 vertical. The LCD in front of me is operating at 64.5 horizontal, 60.0 vertical.

It really varies by monitor.

To be COMPLETELY safe, consult the users guide for the monitor, or the manufacturers website, or the sticker on the back of the monitor, for the correct range to set. If you cannot find it in any of these places, contact the manufacturer. The owners/users guide is in my experience a reliable source of this info; look for the 'specifications' chapter.

kukibl · 04-12-2009, 03:26 AM

Finally managed to solve the problem with refresh rate. This is how my monitor section in xorg.conf looks now:

Code:

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Monitor0"
	VendorName   "LPL"
	ModelName    "a104"
	DisplaySize  381 238
	HorizSync    31.5 - 64.0
	VertRefresh  40.0 - 90.0
	Option	     "UseEdidFreqs" "1"
EndSection

Few live distros helped me out with this, so pain in the eyes and headache finally gone.

Also, I found out that my display is LG Philips LP171WP4, but couldn't find "real" horizontal and vertical refresh rates, even not on LG site (although there is detailed specification).

"Fuzzy screen" problem still needs to be solved...