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[Solved] Does anyone have dual screen on AMD R9 270X card?

Graphical Environments, Managers, Multimedia & Desktop questions.
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debianneedstuning
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Joined: 2012-12-03 02:44

[Solved] Does anyone have dual screen on AMD R9 270X card?

#1 Post by debianneedstuning »

[Solution] /etc/modprobe.d had a file related to the proprietary driver fglrx which had to be removed(or contents commented out).
Apparently, if the file exists in /etc/modprobe.d is it acted upon, even if the driver is not actually loaded.
Once that file was removed, the dual screens were "registered" by the open source driver and the boxen was no longer locked into vesa driver.
xrandr stopped having the gamma error and it was easy enough to use the "display' program to set up dual screens.

The origianl questions was;
The question is specifically for this card.
# inxi -G
Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Curacao XT [Radeon R9 270X]
Display Server: X.org 1.16.4 driver: vesa tty size: 105x39 Advanced Data: N/A for root
#

debian_version is 8.10 aka jesssie.
Web searching indicates that there might be a solution under V9 aka Stretch, but I want to be sure that I can drive it in dual screen under open source drivers and not revert to proprietary drivers like a previous card.

Long version and background; I'm getting back to a problem that has been on the back burner for over a year and trying to get dual monitors working again.
Previously i've achieve this on a early, different card(Hd7790), but it used the proprietary fglrx drivers, which were a bit bleeding edge and AMD wasn't too responsive on their forum.
Using xrandr just results in the gamma error, which indicates the drivers can not really acess the card.

# xrandr
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 1920 x 1080
default connected 1920x1080+0+0 0mm x 0mm
1920x1080 0.00*
1280x1024 0.00
1280x960 0.00
1024x768 0.00
800x600 0.00
640x480 0.00

It should list two screens and have labels for the sockets like DPI-0 & DPI-1. It was actuaslly DFP6 & DFP7 under fglrx driver.

I've read the wiki on AMD drivers, but only the vesa driver gives this default screen. None of ATI, Radeon or AMDGPU will load. Xorg just gives a No Sccreen message. Funnly, if there is no /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, then it loads the ati driver, but still gives the default window.

So i've only got one outstanding option to try, but before I enter that world of hurt with other stuff breaking, I wanted to make sure that it was worth the effort.
Last edited by debianneedstuning on 2018-05-14 01:22, edited 1 time in total.

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bw123
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Re: Does anyone have dual screen on AMD R9 270X card?

#2 Post by bw123 »

I don't have a jessie system booted up right now to check, but the man page for radeon or amdgpu will tell you what devices are supported on the version you have installed. You can also use lspci to find the vendor id and search for that in the modinfo output for whatever driver you want to check. lspci -k should list what drivers are available on the system for the device.

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# lspci -nv | grep VGA
00:02.0 0300: 8086:a011 (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
# modinfo i915 | grep A011
alias:          pci:v00008086d0000A011sv*sd*bc03sc*i*
Searching on the internet for the id string, is sometimes helpful also. If the card is newer than the kernel on jessie, then that would be a clue to why it isn't working the way you expect.
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debianneedstuning
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Re: Does anyone have dual screen on AMD R9 270X card?

#3 Post by debianneedstuning »

The card and the proprietary driver were released in 2013.
I've now upgraded to stretch and there is the same result.

modinfo says it just isn't supported by the i915 in either jessie or wheezy. Same module anyway.
Seems like I'll have to wat for a hack/update of the module

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Re: Does anyone have dual screen on AMD R9 270X card?

#4 Post by bw123 »

debianneedstuning wrote:The card and the proprietary driver were released in 2013.
I've now upgraded to stretch and there is the same result.

modinfo says it just isn't supported by the i915 in either jessie or wheezy. Same module anyway.
Seems like I'll have to wat for a hack/update of the module
You misunderstood, the i915 driver is for intel, I only used that as an example because it suits my hardware. Did you find the vendor id of the card? Did lspci -k list any drivers for it?
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Re: Does anyone have dual screen on AMD R9 270X card?

#5 Post by stevepusser »

Are you installing the non-free firmware that the open AMD driver still needs in order to run correctly?

And don't run inxi as root, as you can see from the output, some information is then blocked. It's generally bad practice to run anything as root unless it really requires it.
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debianneedstuning
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Re: Does anyone have dual screen on AMD R9 270X card?

#6 Post by debianneedstuning »

Thanks, both your posts helped lift the brain fog.

TL:DR I need to look closely at xorg.conf stuff. The system isn't doing the correct stuff auto-magically.

Steve;I used the proprietary stuff about three years ago for a year, but finally became fed up with the bleeding edge nature. and AMds non response to problems, so went back to basic OS drivers and sadly just moved the high graphics stuff to a MS Os system. i'm now have another go at getting abetter card working high quality graphics under Debian.

Long Version; we have a home SOHO and currently there are number of Debian boxen at various versions and I'm the tech support/CTO/3LA/etc.

I usually use screen one of the desktop for local boxen admin and run a root terminal and a user termianl for doing stuff. When I was running the inxi stuff, as you pointed out it doesn't give info to root, but when I ran inxi in the user terminal is went "huh?" as it was for somewhere logged into another boxen that is kept bare mnimal, so brain went inxi is a root only.

So I wasn't aware that the kernel was actually using the "radeon" driver, nor could see any think vga/screen related in the lsmod listing.. The Intel i915 didn't make sense, but there are "intel" drivers in the sound and other modules, so I gave it a try.

Also, web searching indicated that there were(had been?) some problems with utilising this card and a kernel custom reconfigure might be on the cards in the future. meanwhile i've got the disaster of the stretch upgrade to unravel.

End result; rtadeon knows about the card, but xorg.0.log says;
grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[ 19.003] (EE) dbus-core: error connecting to system bus: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.FileNotFound (Failed to connect to socket /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory)
[ 19.654] (EE) open /dev/dri/card0: No such file or directory
[ 19.654] (EE) open /dev/dri/card0: No such file or directory
[ 19.672] (EE) open /dev/fb0: No such file or directory
[ 19.672] (EE) open /dev/fb0: No such file or directory
[ 19.672] (EE) Screen 0 deleted because of no matching config section.
[ 19.672] (EE) Screen 0 deleted because of no matching config section.
[ 19.672] (EE) Screen 0 deleted because of no matching config section.
[ 20.021] (EE) AIGLX: reverting to software rendering

Thanks for your time.

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Re: Does anyone have dual screen on AMD R9 270X card?

#7 Post by stevepusser »

Are you installing the non-free firmware that the open AMD driver still needs in order to run correctly?
The free xorg drivers still require non-free firmware. In Jessie, the package for the stock 3.16 kernel is https://packages.debian.org/jessie/firm ... ux-nonfree

The package for newer kernels in Stretch or jessie-backports is called firmware-amd-graphics.

Do you get error messages in

Code: Select all

dmesg | grep firmware
?
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debianneedstuning
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Re: Does anyone have dual screen on AMD R9 270X card?

#8 Post by debianneedstuning »

The firmware has been installed for a while. Confirmed by an aptitude seach firmware and they all have i beside them.
and
# sudo dmesg| grep firmware
[ 126.987674] r8169 0000:02:00.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware rtl_nic/rtl8168f-1.fw

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p  alsa-firmware-loaders:i386 - ALSA software loaders for specific hardware
p  atmel-firmware - Firmware for Atmel at76c50x wireless networking chips.
v  bladerf-firmware - 
v  bladerf-firmware:i386 - 
p  bladerf-firmware-fx3 - nuand bladeRF firmware downloader (FX3)
p  bladerf-firmware-fx3:i386 - nuand bladeRF firmware downloader (FX3)
p  bluez-firmware - Firmware for Bluetooth devices
p  dahdi-firmware-nonfree - DAHDI non-free firmware
p  dns323-firmware-tools - build and manipulate firmware images for a range of NAS devices
p  expeyes-firmware-dev - hardware & software framework for developing science experiments
v  firmware-adi - 
i A firmware-amd-graphics - Binary firmware for AMD/ATI graphics chips
v  firmware-amd-graphics:i386 - 
p  firmware-atheros - Binary firmware for Atheros wireless cards
p  firmware-b43-installer - firmware installer for the b43 driver
p  firmware-b43legacy-installer - firmware installer for the b43legacy driver
p  firmware-bnx2 - Binary firmware for Broadcom NetXtremeII
v  firmware-bnx2:i386 - 
p  firmware-bnx2x - Binary firmware for Broadcom NetXtreme II 10Gb
p  firmware-brcm80211 - Binary firmware for Broadcom 802.11 wireless cards
p  firmware-cavium - Binary firmware for Cavium Ethernet adapters
p  firmware-crystalhd - Crystal HD Video Decoder (firmware)
p  firmware-intel-sound - Binary firmware for Intel sound DSPs
p  firmware-intelwimax - Binary firmware for Intel WiMAX Connection
p  firmware-ipw2x00 - Binary firmware for Intel Pro Wireless 2100, 2200 and 2915
v  firmware-ipw2x00:i386 - 
p  firmware-ivtv - Binary firmware for iTVC15-family MPEG codecs (ivtv and pvrusb2 drivers)
p  firmware-iwlwifi - Binary firmware for Intel Wireless cards
v  firmware-iwlwifi:i386 - 
p  firmware-libertas - Binary firmware for Marvell wireless cards
i  firmware-linux - Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel (meta-package)
i  firmware-linux-free - Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel
v  firmware-linux-free:i386 - 
i  firmware-linux-nonfree - Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel (meta-package)
i A firmware-misc-nonfree - Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel
p  firmware-myricom - Binary firmware for Myri-10G Ethernet adapters
p  firmware-netxen - Binary firmware for QLogic Intelligent Ethernet (3000 and 3100 Series)
p  firmware-qlogic - Binary firmware for QLogic HBAs
v  firmware-qlogic:i386 - 
v  firmware-ralink - 
v  firmware-ralink:i386 - 
i  firmware-realtek - Binary firmware for Realtek wired/wifi/BT adapters
p  firmware-samsung - Binary firmware for Samsung MFC video codecs
p  firmware-siano - Binary firmware for Siano MDTV receivers
p  firmware-ti-connectivity - Binary firmware for TI Connectivity wifi and BT/FM/GPS adapters
p  firmware-zd1211 - binary firmware for the zd1211rw wireless driver
p  grub-firmware-qemu - GRUB firmware image for QEMU
p  grub-firmware-qemu:i386 - GRUB firmware image for QEMU
p  hdmi2usb-fx2-firmware - FX2 firmware for hdmi2usb board development
p  isight-firmware-tools - tools for dealing with Apple iSight firmware
p  isight-firmware-tools:i386 - tools for dealing with Apple iSight firmware
v  libertas-firmware - 
p  midisport-firmware - Firmware loader for M-Audio's MidiSport devices
p  nxt-firmware - Improved firmware for LEGO Mindstorms NXT bricks
p  sigrok-firmware-fx2lafw - Firmware for Cypress FX2(LP) based logic analyzers
p  sigrok-firmware-fx2lafw:i386 - Firmware for Cypress FX2(LP) based logic analyzers
p  ubertooth-firmware - Firmware for Ubertooth
p  ubertooth-firmware-source - Source code for the Ubertooth firmware
v  zd1211-firmware - 

Frustrating

debianneedstuning
Posts: 214
Joined: 2012-12-03 02:44

Re: Does anyone have dual screen on AMD R9 270X card?

#9 Post by debianneedstuning »

I suspect, based on recent update, that fglrx is still being invoked and incoporated into the kernel.
I've removed the dkms package.
How do I trigger a kernel rebuild to ensure it is no lonker interferring?

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