trouble getting radeon to work

[sickie]

After installing the driver (either directly or through .debs) you need to set xorg.conf to use fglrx instead of radeon/ati. You can achieve this with issuing aticonfig --initial

[covarde_anonimo]

OK, I tried to install the proprietary ATI driver (fglrx). But no luck so far either.

First I tried the download version from the amd.com website (Catalyst version 9.9, which is the most current one at the time of this posting). I had a hard time with it:

I tried the "automatic install" option, followed by "aticonfig --initial" which works but badly so: it gives a running X server, but many programs (glxgears and maybe everything that tries to use OpenGL) don't run at all and just dump error messages.

(SNIP)

So what can I do?

debinst, I've been pulling my hair with this catalyst BS since I bought my current acer notebook some 3 months ago. I ended up using kubuntu jaunty just to get the damn 3D working. this monday I decided to go back to debian ( I can't stay away from it for too long...), so here's my tale:

- Installed a bare-bones system (base system + laptop on tasksel) from a lenny CD
- edited /etc/apt/sources.conf and replaced "lenny" with "unstable"
- upgraded everything, installed kernel-image 2.6.30 plus KDE and xorg from aptitude
- tried to install fglrx 9.9 packages from aptitude, and...

KERNEL PANIC!!!

everytime i tried to bring up xorg with fglrx driver loaded on the kernel and xorg.conf as edited by "aticonfig --initial" it'd lock with a black screen, forcing me to use the SysRq magic key to reboot. even using ATI's own installer resulted in the same thing.

I did it all over again yesterday night, and found that there's some weird thing going on between catalyst 9.9 and debian's kernel-image 2.6.30. i found it was all ATI's fault when i finally had the idea of purging everything I had installed from aptitude (didn't try the ATI installer this time) and ran ATI's _9.8_ driver instead.

after i installed catalyst 9.8 from ATI's installer, everything started to work wonderfully.

my hardware is an athlon 64X2 with a radeon HD3200 (mobile chipset). give it a try and post the results.

[alpha-dog]

I'm useing the liquorix 2.6.30 kernel and radeon 3870 card. I used the sgfxi script to install the 9-9 ati driver and it worked. I now have 3D, the cube, wobble, ect. I don't know if its neccesary but the command I used after ctrl-alt-f1 was sgfxi -f -1! . This didn't use debs.

[debinst]

After installing the driver (either directly or through .debs) you need to set xorg.conf to use fglrx instead of radeon/ati. You can achieve this with issuing aticonfig --initial

Thanks, but I already know that. It's what the installation notes say, and it is what I already did before starting to post here.

Actually, I now even have a xorg.conf with device sections both for fglrx and for vesa, and it actually works if I temporarily deinstall the fglrx driver (the next time X starts, it automatically selects the vesa driver). So my xorg.conf is perfectly configured for the day (which may never come) when the fglrx driver finally works with my onboard graphics chipset and gives me OpenGL.

[debinst]

OK, I tried to install the proprietary ATI driver (fglrx). But no luck so far either.

First I tried the download version from the amd.com website (Catalyst version 9.9, which is the most current one at the time of this posting). I had a hard time with it:

I tried the "automatic install" option, followed by "aticonfig --initial" which works but badly so: it gives a running X server, but many programs (glxgears and maybe everything that tries to use OpenGL) don't run at all and just dump error messages.

(SNIP)

So what can I do?

debinst, I've been pulling my hair with this catalyst BS since I bought my current acer notebook some 3 months ago. I ended up using kubuntu jaunty just to get the damn 3D working. this monday I decided to go back to debian ( I can't stay away from it for too long...), so here's my tale:

- Installed a bare-bones system (base system + laptop on tasksel) from a lenny CD
- edited /etc/apt/sources.conf and replaced "lenny" with "unstable"
- upgraded everything, installed kernel-image 2.6.30 plus KDE and xorg from aptitude
- tried to install fglrx 9.9 packages from aptitude, and...

KERNEL PANIC!!!

everytime i tried to bring up xorg with fglrx driver loaded on the kernel and xorg.conf as edited by "aticonfig --initial" it'd lock with a black screen, forcing me to use the SysRq magic key to reboot. even using ATI's own installer resulted in the same thing.

I did it all over again yesterday night, and found that there's some weird thing going on between catalyst 9.9 and debian's kernel-image 2.6.30. i found it was all ATI's fault when i finally had the idea of purging everything I had installed from aptitude (didn't try the ATI installer this time) and ran ATI's _9.8_ driver instead.

Hi covarde_anonimo, thanks for sharing your story. I already expected that similar problems would affect others too.

my hardware is an athlon 64X2 with a radeon HD3200 (mobile chipset). give it a try and post the results.

I would really love to try earlier Catalyst versions but unfortunately my HD4200 chipset is only supported as of 9.9. So I can't even copy your method of achieving success.

Not until I go out and by me some older ATI hardware, older than what I have and hence probably better supported. Which I am now plannig to do.

[debinst]

As I mentioned before, I am now planning of getting a separate video card in the hope that that will work.

I would really love to try earlier Catalyst versions but unfortunately my HD4200 chipset is only supported as of 9.9. So I can't even copy your method of achieving success.

Not until I go out and by me some older ATI hardware, older than what I have and hence probably better supported. Which I am now plannig to do.

I am looking at several Radeon 4350 and Radeon 3450 video cards. These are the oldest Radeons that I can find currently in stores. Does anyone have one of those, and managed to get it to work under Linux? Your feedback would be much appreciated.

I don't find the 4350 and the 3450 in Debians driver database, so they too are still too new. I would buy older Radeons if I could, but as I said nothing older is being offered any more.

[BioTube]

r600(HD 2-3xxx) and r700(HD 4xxx) chips work, but only with development versions. See http://wiki.x.org/wiki/radeonBuildHowTo if you want to give it a go.

[debinst]

r600(HD 2-3xxx) and r700(HD 4xxx) chips work, but only with development versions. See http://wiki.x.org/wiki/radeonBuildHowTo if you want to give it a go.

"Development version"? Am I supposed to pull new and experimental source code from git and try to assemble it myself? No way! It would never work and be stable!

So you're saying that r600 and r700 chips in fact don't really work either with a free driver?

Note that I don't care at this point if I get accelerated 3D, I just care if something like glxgears runs at all, at *any* speed whatsoever. Slow is fine, I just want it to run. I can't imagine that for 1 year old mainstream cheap graphics cards (the 3450 and 4350 were released in 2008) nobody would have bothered writing a free driver yet, at least for 2D.

[BioTube]

"Development version"? Am I supposed to pull new and experimental source code from git and try to assemble it myself? No way! It would never work and be stable!

First, the word you're looking for is "compile". Second, it works just fine for me and none of the quirks affect stability.So you're saying that r600 and r700 chips in fact don't really work either with a free driver? [/quote]No, I'm saying there is no OpenGL acceleration with released versions of the driver. No modern card has a design incompatible with the vesa driver anyway.

Note that I don't care at this point if I get accelerated 3D, I just care if something like glxgears runs at all, at *any* speed whatsoever. Slow is fine, I just want it to run. I can't imagine that for 1 year old mainstream cheap graphics cards (the 3450 and 4350 were released in 2008) nobody would have bothered writing a free driver yet, at least for 2D.

You can use the software rasterizer if you don't want to try unreleased code, but 2D has been supported by the acceleration infrastructure since spring at least.

[debinst]

Note that I don't care at this point if I get accelerated 3D, I just care if something like glxgears runs at all, at *any* speed whatsoever. Slow is fine, I just want it to run. I can't imagine that for 1 year old mainstream cheap graphics cards (the 3450 and 4350 were released in 2008) nobody would have bothered writing a free driver yet, at least for 2D.

You can use the software rasterizer if you don't want to try unreleased code, but 2D has been supported by the acceleration infrastructure since spring at least.

Ah, great. So you're saying I can put a 3450 or 4350 in and it will work with (and in particular be recognized by) the open source driver, for 2D? Great. I wish 2D was also supported for my onboard chipset (HD4200) so I didn't have to go out and buy an extra graphics card, but so be it. Hopefully it will work with the extra card!

[bugsbunny]

This thread may be of interest. Configuring Radeon Driver on Karmic with ATI HD4200 - Ubuntu Forums

You may want to upgrade your kernel as well (backports has at least 2.6.30)

[debinst]

This thread may be of interest. Configuring Radeon Driver on Karmic with ATI HD4200 - Ubuntu Forums

Thanks for the info, I'll give it a try.

You may want to upgrade your kernel as well (backports has at least 2.6.30)

Sorry for sounding stupid, but how exactly do I do that in lenny? I tried compiling one but not much luck. How do I install from backports?

[bugsbunny]

instructions [Debian Backports]

Code: Select all

# aptitude -t lenny-backports install <package>

where package will be one of:

linux-image-2.6.30-bpo.2-486
linux-image-2.6.30-bpo.2-686-bigmem
linux-image-2.6.30-bpo.2-686
linux-image-2.6.30-bpo.2-amd64

with one of the last 2 being the most likely (depending on 32 or 64 bit). You'll probably also want the corresponding header files (just replace "image" with "headers" in the package name)

Compilation really isn't that hard, although the first time may be intimidating. But once you get it the first time the times after that are cake. What problems did you run into? And how did you try to go about it?

[debinst]

Thanks for the backports Info!

Compilation really isn't that hard, although the first time may be intimidating. But once you get it the first time the times after that are cake. What problems did you run into? And how did you try to go about it?

I had lots of problems configuring the kernel:

Problem: I don't understand half of the cryptic device names that I get to choose whether to compile them in, and I don't know the names of all the many chips I have somewhere in my computer, so most stuff in the config menu is such that I don't know if I need it.

Problem: The config menu wastes my time with irrelevant stuff. Like: "Do you want to compile ... as a module? (very long explanation follows) This will save you half a KB of RAM." But I don't care about a few MB more or less.

Problem: It takes a long time. Not the compilation (I can just walk away during that and do something else) but the whole process of downloading (the package manager only has an old version), configuring, finding the web page with the compilation instructions and command lines (everyone does it differently). I am sure it's easy for you, but for me it takes a lof of effort to get it done successfully.

[debinst]

You may want to upgrade your kernel as well (backports has at least 2.6.30)

It looks to me that if I do that I no longer have my old kernel (2.6.26). Is that correct? That makes me worry; some of the lenny software might expect the old kernel to be there.

[BioTube]

It shouldn't be removed unless you explicitly ask for it.