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Display problems on Geode LX netbook

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billaj
Posts: 6
Joined: 2018-12-06 17:02

Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#1 Post by billaj »

Hi everyone,

I am trying to use Debian 9.5 on a netbook but run into display problems during boot.

I have a netbook with the following hardware :
AMD Geode LX800 CPU
AMD CS5536 chipset/graphics
8" display with 800x480 native resolution / 1024x600 interpolated / even 1024x768 interpolated and cropped IIRC

I installed a standard i386 Debian 9.5 with xfce, no problem during installation

No problem on GRUB 2, the display is fine
No problem during the first phase of the boot either
During boot, the screen changes resolution (still on the console) and then only a 0.5" wide stripe is visible on the left hand side, which displays what it should nonetheless. The rest of the screen is black. When reaching the graphical login screen, same thing : 0.5" stripe on the left (where it should be, confirmed by checking the corner's position with the mouse), the rest is a handful of grey/white/black stripes.

I tried forcing the resolution with the gfxmode/gfxpayload but that didn't work - if I get it, the problem is probably later anyway, when switching to KMS mode ?
I also tried to disable KMS with the "nomodeset" kernel option, that didn't change a thing. Ditto for "radeon.modeset=0" and "geode.modeset=0" (not that I am sure of the actual driver name since the display problems start before I get a chance to read it in the boot messages)

What I have/don't have :
Unfortunately no external screen
I have a USB/RS232 adapter that might be of some use to get a login from my other computer (if I can configure the adapter + getty almost in the bind)
Perhaps I could boot a live ISO of another distro and have a decent chance of it working (to get a shell and mount the HD/edit files)
I have a xorg.conf from a former NetBSD installation with the proper ModeLines (is xorg.conf still used ? Not for the console anyway I suppose ?)

What can I do next ?

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bw123
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Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#2 Post by bw123 »

Are there any settings in BIOS for video/shared memory, UMA or such?

Code: Select all

# dmesg | grep "Memory usable"
[    2.909408] [drm] Memory usable by graphics device = 2048M
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Head_on_a_Stick
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Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#3 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

billaj wrote:I have a netbook with the following hardware :
AMD Geode LX800 CPU
AMD CS5536 chipset/graphics
8" display with 800x480 native resolution / 1024x600 interpolated / even 1024x768 interpolated and cropped IIRC
Is the kernel driver loaded (`lspci -k`)?

Have you installed the non-free firmware?
deadbang

billaj
Posts: 6
Joined: 2018-12-06 17:02

Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#4 Post by billaj »

bw123 wrote:Are there any settings in BIOS for video/shared memory, UMA or such?

Code: Select all

# dmesg | grep "Memory usable"
[    2.909408] [drm] Memory usable by graphics device = 2048M
Nothing with "Memory usable"

Code: Select all

# dmesg | grep "Memory" :
[    0.00000] Memory: 467344K/499000K available (5736K kernel code, 644K rwdata, 1704K rodata, 720K init, 452K bss, 31656K reserved, 0K cms-reserved, 0K highmem)
No setting in the BIOS for shared video memory, but IIRC it should be 32M for the graphics.

Code: Select all

cat /proc/mem
MemTotal: 485100 kB
MemFree: 300016 kB
MemAvailable: 419808 kB
...
I'll try to find a better way to get more info out of this machine (serial terminal, SSH, cat >USB stick), for now it's cat >file, vi file, and erase characters at the beginning of the line one by one so I can read them in the first three columns...

billaj
Posts: 6
Joined: 2018-12-06 17:02

Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#5 Post by billaj »

Head_on_a_Stick wrote: Is the kernel driver loaded (`lspci -k`)?

Have you installed the non-free firmware?
lspci -k gives me these relevant lines :

Code: Select all

00:01.1 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Geode LX Video
Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Geode LX Video
I haven't installed the nonfree driver.

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Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#6 Post by bw123 »

https://packages.debian.org/stretch/xse ... ideo-geode

check the bug reports also, something about ddc pins and serial console
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Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#7 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

billaj wrote:lspci -k gives me these relevant lines :

Code: Select all

00:01.1 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Geode LX Video
Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Geode LX Video
So there is no "kernel driver in use" line, then?

Is this new hardware? You may need a newer kernel, see my guide in the HowTo section for details if this is the case.
I haven't installed the nonfree driver.
I think you need to install the non-free firmware but the ampgpu open-source driver should be preferred for supported hardware.

Remember: firmware != driver.
deadbang

billaj
Posts: 6
Joined: 2018-12-06 17:02

Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#8 Post by billaj »

Okay, I managed to make my life a bit easier.
I succeeded in logging in on my old serial terminal, which of course will make further testing way more manageable than scrolling on a 3-column display.
So here is the result of "dmesg" :

Code: Select all

[    0.000000] Linux version 4.9.0-7-686 (debian-kernel@lists.debian.org) (gcc version 6.3.0 20170516 (Debian 6.3.0-18+deb9u1) ) #1 SMP Debian 4.9.110-3+deb9u2 (2018-08-13)
[    0.000000] x86/fpu: Legacy x87 FPU detected.
[    0.000000] e820: BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x000000000009fbff] usable
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x000000000009fc00-0x000000000009ffff] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000000e0000-0x00000000000fffff] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000000100000-0x000000001e7affff] usable
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x000000001e7b0000-0x000000001e7bffbf] ACPI data
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x000000001e7bffc0-0x000000001e7bffff] ACPI NVS
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000080400000-0x0000000080440003] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000f0000000-0x00000000ffffffff] reserved
[    0.000000] Notice: NX (Execute Disable) protection missing in CPU!
[    0.000000] SMBIOS 2.3 present.
[    0.000000] DMI: Hercules EC-800  /TR2350, BIOS 4.00.01 Rev. 1.00.003  Built: 08/18/2005
[    0.000000] e820: update [mem 0x00000000-0x00000fff] usable ==> reserved
[    0.000000] e820: remove [mem 0x000a0000-0x000fffff] usable
[    0.000000] e820: last_pfn = 0x1e7b0 max_arch_pfn = 0x100000
[    0.000000] MTRR: Disabled
[    0.000000] x86/PAT: MTRRs disabled, skipping PAT initialization too.
[    0.000000] x86/PAT: Configuration [0-7]: WB  WT  UC- UC  WB  WT  UC- UC  
[    0.000000] initial memory mapped: [mem 0x00000000-0x07bfffff]
[    0.000000] Base memory trampoline at [c009b000] 9b000 size 16384
[    0.000000] BRK [0x07934000, 0x07934fff] PGTABLE
[    0.000000] RAMDISK: [mem 0x1ce80000-0x1df1cfff]
[    0.000000] ACPI: Early table checksum verification disabled
[    0.000000] ACPI: RSDP 0x00000000000E9010 000014 (v00 OID_00)
[    0.000000] ACPI: RSDT 0x000000001E7B2310 000030 (v01 AMD    RSDT_000 31303030 AMD  31303030)
[    0.000000] ACPI: FACP 0x000000001E7B2210 000084 (v01 AMD    FACP_000 31303030 AMD  31303030)
[    0.000000] ACPI BIOS Warning (bug): Invalid length for FADT/Pm2ControlBlock: 16, using default 8 (20160831/tbfadt-708)
[    0.000000] ACPI: DSDT 0x000000001E7B0000 002209 (v01 INSYDE CS553x   00001007 INTL 20030122)
[    0.000000] ACPI: FACS 0x000000001E7BFFC0 000040
[    0.000000] ACPI: BOOT 0x000000001E7B22A0 000028 (v01 AMD    BOOT_000 31303030 AMD  31303030)
[    0.000000] ACPI: DBGP 0x000000001E7B22D0 000034 (v01 AMD    DBGP_000 31303030 AMD  31303030)
[    0.000000] 0MB HIGHMEM available.
[    0.000000] 487MB LOWMEM available.
[    0.000000]   mapped low ram: 0 - 1e7b0000
[    0.000000]   low ram: 0 - 1e7b0000
[    0.000000] Zone ranges:
[    0.000000]   DMA      [mem 0x0000000000001000-0x0000000000ffffff]
[    0.000000]   Normal   [mem 0x0000000001000000-0x000000001e7affff]
[    0.000000]   HighMem  empty
[    0.000000] Movable zone start for each node
[    0.000000] Early memory node ranges
[    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000000000001000-0x000000000009efff]
[    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000000000100000-0x000000001e7affff]
[    0.000000] Initmem setup node 0 [mem 0x0000000000001000-0x000000001e7affff]
[    0.000000] On node 0 totalpages: 124750
[    0.000000] free_area_init_node: node 0, pgdat c77cc600, node_mem_map de366024
[    0.000000]   DMA zone: 36 pages used for memmap
[    0.000000]   DMA zone: 0 pages reserved
[    0.000000]   DMA zone: 3998 pages, LIFO batch:0
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 1062 pages used for memmap
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 120752 pages, LIFO batch:31
[    0.000000] Using APIC driver default
[    0.000000] ACPI: PM-Timer IO Port: 0x9c10
[    0.000000] No local APIC present or hardware disabled
[    0.000000] APIC: disable apic facility
[    0.000000] APIC: switched to apic NOOP
[    0.000000] smpboot: Allowing 1 CPUs, 0 hotplug CPUs
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0x00000000-0x00000fff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0x0009f000-0x0009ffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0x000a0000-0x000dffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0x000e0000-0x000fffff]
[    0.000000] e820: [mem 0x80440004-0xefffffff] available for PCI devices
[    0.000000] Booting paravirtualized kernel on bare hardware
[    0.000000] clocksource: refined-jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 7645519600211568 ns
[    0.000000] setup_percpu: NR_CPUS:32 nr_cpumask_bits:32 nr_cpu_ids:1 nr_node_ids:1
[    0.000000] percpu: Embedded 19 pages/cpu @de350000 s47948 r0 d29876 u77824
[    0.000000] pcpu-alloc: s47948 r0 d29876 u77824 alloc=19*4096
[    0.000000] pcpu-alloc: [0] 0 
[    0.000000] Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 123652
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.9.0-7-686 root=UUID=4f621513-e21f-4040-a537-264e310c3ad6 ro quiet
[    0.000000] PID hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[    0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
[    0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
[    0.000000] Initializing CPU#0
[    0.000000] Initializing HighMem for node 0 (00000000:00000000)
[    0.000000] Memory: 467600K/499000K available (5736K kernel code, 644K rwdata, 1704K rodata, 720K init, 452K bss, 31400K reserved, 0K cma-reserved, 0K highmem)
[    0.000000] virtual kernel memory layout:
                   fixmap  : 0xffd36000 - 0xfffff000   (2852 kB)
                   pkmap   : 0xff800000 - 0xffc00000   (4096 kB)
                   vmalloc : 0xdefb0000 - 0xff7fe000   ( 520 MB)
                   lowmem  : 0xc0000000 - 0xde7b0000   ( 487 MB)
                     .init : 0xc77e9000 - 0xc789d000   ( 720 kB)
                     .data : 0xc759a360 - 0xc77e72c0   (2355 kB)
                     .text : 0xc7000000 - 0xc759a360   (5736 kB)
[    0.000000] Checking if this processor honours the WP bit even in supervisor mode...Ok.
[    0.000000] Hierarchical RCU implementation.
[    0.000000] 	Build-time adjustment of leaf fanout to 32.
[    0.000000] 	RCU restricting CPUs from NR_CPUS=32 to nr_cpu_ids=1.
[    0.000000] RCU: Adjusting geometry for rcu_fanout_leaf=32, nr_cpu_ids=1
[    0.000000] NR_IRQS:2304 nr_irqs:32 16
[    0.000000] CPU 0 irqstacks, hard=dc82e000 soft=dc830000
[    0.000000] Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
[    0.000000] console [tty0] enabled
[    0.000000] tsc: Fast TSC calibration using PIT
[    0.000000] tsc: Detected 498.075 MHz processor
[    0.004032] Calibrating delay loop (skipped), value calculated using timer frequency.. 996.15 BogoMIPS (lpj=1992300)
[    0.004052] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
[    0.004225] ACPI: Core revision 20160831
[    0.023607] ACPI: 1 ACPI AML tables successfully acquired and loaded
[    0.023635] ACPI: setting ELCR to 0200 (from 0c20)
[    0.023885] Security Framework initialized
[    0.023895] Yama: disabled by default; enable with sysctl kernel.yama.*
[    0.023925] AppArmor: AppArmor disabled by boot time parameter
[    0.024090] Mount-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.024102] Mountpoint-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.025718] Last level iTLB entries: 4KB 0, 2MB 0, 4MB 0
[    0.025730] Last level dTLB entries: 4KB 0, 2MB 0, 4MB 0, 1GB 0
[    0.025743] Spectre V2 : Spectre mitigation: LFENCE not serializing, switching to generic retpoline
[    0.025827] Spectre V2 : Mitigation: Full generic retpoline
[    0.025834] Spectre V2 : Spectre v2 mitigation: Filling RSB on context switch
[    0.025840] Speculative Store Bypass: Vulnerable
[    0.044222] Freeing SMP alternatives memory: 24K
[    0.052123] ftrace: allocating 23755 entries in 47 pages
[    0.152393] smpboot: Max logical packages: 1
[    0.152405] smpboot: weird, boot CPU (#0) not listed by the BIOS
[    0.152410] smpboot: SMP motherboard not detected
[    0.152414] smpboot: SMP disabled
[    0.152421] smpboot: Local APIC not detected. Using dummy APIC emulation.
[    0.152428] Performance Events: no PMU driver, software events only.
[    0.159034] NMI watchdog: disabled (cpu0): hardware events not enabled
[    0.159043] NMI watchdog: Shutting down hard lockup detector on all cpus
[    0.159138] x86: Booted up 1 node, 1 CPUs
[    0.159149] smpboot: Total of 1 processors activated (996.15 BogoMIPS)
[    0.159916] devtmpfs: initialized
[    0.161837] PM: Registering ACPI NVS region [mem 0x1e7bffc0-0x1e7bffff] (64 bytes)
[    0.162312] clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 7645041785100000 ns
[    0.162333] futex hash table entries: 256 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
[    0.162474] pinctrl core: initialized pinctrl subsystem
[    0.163522] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[    0.165638] cpuidle: using governor ladder
[    0.165647] cpuidle: using governor menu
[    0.165813] Simple Boot Flag at 0x3f set to 0x1
[    0.165842] clocksource: pit: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 1601818034827 ns
[    0.166045] ACPI: bus type PCI registered
[    0.166055] acpiphp: ACPI Hot Plug PCI Controller Driver version: 0.5
[    0.171855] PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xff8b7, last bus=0
[    0.171862] PCI: Using configuration type 1 for base access
[    0.182010] HugeTLB registered 4 MB page size, pre-allocated 0 pages
[    0.183711] ACPI: Added _OSI(Module Device)
[    0.183721] ACPI: Added _OSI(Processor Device)
[    0.183729] ACPI: Added _OSI(3.0 _SCP Extensions)
[    0.183737] ACPI: Added _OSI(Processor Aggregator Device)
[    0.202334] ACPI: Interpreter enabled
[    0.202477] ACPI: (supports S0 S1 S3 S5)
[    0.202484] ACPI: Using PIC for interrupt routing
[    0.202615] PCI: Ignoring host bridge windows from ACPI; if necessary, use "pci=use_crs" and report a bug
[    0.507163] ACPI: Power Resource [PFA1] (off)
[    0.509993] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKA] (IRQs *11)
[    0.513036] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKB] (IRQs *5)
[    0.516058] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKC] (IRQs *7)
[    0.519050] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKD] (IRQs *10)
[    0.658322] ACPI: PCI Root Bridge [PCI0] (domain 0000 [bus 00-ff])
[    0.658357] acpi PNP0A03:00: _OSC: OS supports [ASPM ClockPM Segments MSI]
[    0.658392] acpi PNP0A03:00: _OSC failed (AE_NOT_FOUND); disabling ASPM
[    0.658415] acpi PNP0A03:00: fail to add MMCONFIG information, can't access extended PCI configuration space under this bridge.
[    0.658853] acpi PNP0A03:00: host bridge window [io  0x0cf8-0x0cff] (ignored)
[    0.658869] acpi PNP0A03:00: host bridge window [io  0x0000-0x0cf7 window] (ignored)
[    0.658884] acpi PNP0A03:00: host bridge window [io  0x0d00-0xac17 window] (ignored)
[    0.658899] acpi PNP0A03:00: host bridge window [io  0xac20-0xffff window] (ignored)
[    0.658915] acpi PNP0A03:00: host bridge window [mem 0x000a0000-0x000bffff window] (ignored)
[    0.658931] acpi PNP0A03:00: host bridge window [mem 0x000c8000-0x000dffff window] (ignored)
[    0.658947] acpi PNP0A03:00: host bridge window [mem 0x1e7c0000-0x403fffff window] (ignored)
[    0.658962] acpi PNP0A03:00: host bridge window [mem 0x40500000-0xefffffff window] (ignored)
[    0.658969] PCI: root bus 00: using default resources
[    0.659921] PCI host bridge to bus 0000:00
[    0.659939] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [io  0x0000-0xffff]
[    0.659955] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [mem 0x00000000-0xffffffff]
[    0.659972] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [bus 00-ff]
[    0.660138] pci 0000:00:01.0: [1022:2080] type 00 class 0x060000
[    0.660287] pci 0000:00:01.0: reg 0x10: [io  0xac1c-0xac1f]
[    0.660398] pci 0000:00:01.0: reg 0x14: [io  0x9e00-0x9e07]
[    0.661734] pci 0000:00:01.1: [1022:2081] type 00 class 0x030000
[    0.662034] pci 0000:00:01.1: reg 0x10: [mem 0x90000000-0x91ffffff]
[    0.662247] pci 0000:00:01.1: reg 0x14: [mem 0x8fffc000-0x8fffffff]
[    0.662459] pci 0000:00:01.1: reg 0x18: [mem 0x8fff8000-0x8fffbfff]
[    0.662672] pci 0000:00:01.1: reg 0x1c: [mem 0x8fff4000-0x8fff7fff]
[    0.662886] pci 0000:00:01.1: reg 0x20: [mem 0x8fff0000-0x8fff3fff]
[    0.664196] pci 0000:00:01.2: [1022:2082] type 00 class 0x101000
[    0.664454] pci 0000:00:01.2: reg 0x10: [mem 0xefe00000-0xefe03fff]
[    0.666303] pci 0000:00:0d.0: [10ec:8139] type 00 class 0x020000
[    0.666341] pci 0000:00:0d.0: reg 0x10: [io  0xdf00-0xdfff]
[    0.666367] pci 0000:00:0d.0: reg 0x14: [mem 0xefd00000-0xefd000ff]
[    0.666486] pci 0000:00:0d.0: supports D1 D2
[    0.666501] pci 0000:00:0d.0: PME# supported from D1 D2 D3hot D3cold
[    0.667181] pci 0000:00:0f.0: [1022:2090] type 00 class 0x060100
[    0.667497] pci 0000:00:0f.0: reg 0x10: [io  0x6000-0x6007]
[    0.667761] pci 0000:00:0f.0: reg 0x14: [io  0x6100-0x61ff]
[    0.668028] pci 0000:00:0f.0: reg 0x18: [io  0x6200-0x623f]
[    0.668291] pci 0000:00:0f.0: reg 0x1c: [io  0x0000-0x001f]
[    0.668559] pci 0000:00:0f.0: reg 0x20: [io  0x9d00-0x9d7f]
[    0.668840] pci 0000:00:0f.0: reg 0x24: [io  0x9c00-0x9c3f]
[    0.670003] pci 0000:00:0f.2: [1022:209a] type 00 class 0x010180
[    0.670975] pci 0000:00:0f.2: reg 0x20: [io  0xeff0-0xefff]
[    0.671412] pci 0000:00:0f.2: legacy IDE quirk: reg 0x10: [io  0x01f0-0x01f7]
[    0.671426] pci 0000:00:0f.2: legacy IDE quirk: reg 0x14: [io  0x03f6]
[    0.671441] pci 0000:00:0f.2: legacy IDE quirk: reg 0x18: [io  0x0170-0x0177]
[    0.671455] pci 0000:00:0f.2: legacy IDE quirk: reg 0x1c: [io  0x0376]
[    0.672335] pci 0000:00:0f.3: [1022:2093] type 00 class 0x040100
[    0.672609] pci 0000:00:0f.3: reg 0x10: [io  0xde80-0xdeff]
[    0.674511] pci 0000:00:0f.4: [1022:2094] type 00 class 0x0c0310
[    0.674897] pci 0000:00:0f.4: reg 0x10: [mem 0xeff00000-0xeff00fff]
[    0.676544] pci 0000:00:0f.4: PME# supported from D0 D3hot D3cold
[    0.676857] pci 0000:00:0f.4: System wakeup disabled by ACPI
[    0.677477] pci 0000:00:0f.5: [1022:2095] type 00 class 0x0c0320
[    0.677817] pci 0000:00:0f.5: reg 0x10: [mem 0xefc00000-0xefc00fff]
[    0.679425] pci 0000:00:0f.5: PME# supported from D0 D3hot D3cold
[    0.679735] pci 0000:00:0f.5: System wakeup disabled by ACPI
[    0.680309] pci_bus 0000:00: on NUMA node 0
[    0.685398] ACPI: Enabled 2 GPEs in block 00 to 1F
[    0.686147] vgaarb: setting as boot device: PCI:0000:00:01.1
[    0.686160] vgaarb: device added: PCI:0000:00:01.1,decodes=io+mem,owns=io+mem,locks=none
[    0.686175] vgaarb: loaded
[    0.686183] vgaarb: bridge control possible 0000:00:01.1
[    0.686834] PCI: Using ACPI for IRQ routing
[    0.686844] PCI: pci_cache_line_size set to 32 bytes
[    0.687298] e820: reserve RAM buffer [mem 0x0009fc00-0x0009ffff]
[    0.687310] e820: reserve RAM buffer [mem 0x1e7b0000-0x1fffffff]
[    0.688878] clocksource: Switched to clocksource pit
[    0.758158] VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.6.0
[    0.758272] VFS: Dquot-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.758860] pnp: PnP ACPI init
[    0.901352] pnp 00:00: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0b00 (active)
[    0.902054] system 00:01: [mem 0x00000000-0x0009ffff] could not be reserved
[    0.902075] system 00:01: [mem 0x000e0000-0x000fffff] could not be reserved
[    0.902093] system 00:01: [mem 0x00100000-0x1e7affff] could not be reserved
[    0.902112] system 00:01: [mem 0x40400000-0x4041ffff] has been reserved
[    0.902130] system 00:01: [mem 0xf0000000-0xffffffff] has been reserved
[    0.902153] system 00:01: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0c01 (active)
[    0.904206] system 00:02: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0c01 (active)
[    0.904564] pnp 00:03: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0303 PNP030b (active)
[    0.904900] pnp 00:04: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0f13 (active)
[    0.905497] pnp: PnP ACPI: found 5 devices
[    0.905509] PnPBIOS: Disabled
[    0.958493] clocksource: acpi_pm: mask: 0xffffff max_cycles: 0xffffff, max_idle_ns: 2085701024 ns
[    0.958561] clocksource: Switched to clocksource acpi_pm
[    0.958628] pci 0000:00:0f.0: BAR 3: assigned [io  0x1000-0x101f]
[    0.958724] pci_bus 0000:00: resource 4 [io  0x0000-0xffff]
[    0.958741] pci_bus 0000:00: resource 5 [mem 0x00000000-0xffffffff]
[    0.959200] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[    0.960417] TCP established hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
[    0.960510] TCP bind hash table entries: 4096 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
[    0.960618] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 4096 bind 4096)
[    0.960730] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[    0.960761] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[    0.960993] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[    0.961196] pci 0000:00:01.1: Video device with shadowed ROM at [mem 0x000c0000-0x000dffff]
[    0.965156] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKD] enabled at IRQ 10
[    0.965166] PCI: setting IRQ 10 as level-triggered
[    1.045453] PCI: CLS 32 bytes, default 32
[    1.045815] Unpacking initramfs...
[    1.084059] random: fast init done
[    4.260559] Freeing initrd memory: 17012K
[    4.277781] audit: initializing netlink subsys (disabled)
[    4.277874] audit: type=2000 audit(1544474754.274:1): initialized
[    4.279911] workingset: timestamp_bits=14 max_order=17 bucket_order=3
[    4.280092] zbud: loaded
[    4.286097] Block layer SCSI generic (bsg) driver version 0.4 loaded (major 250)
[    4.286293] io scheduler noop registered
[    4.286301] io scheduler deadline registered
[    4.286391] io scheduler cfq registered (default)
[    4.287145] pci_hotplug: PCI Hot Plug PCI Core version: 0.5
[    4.287210] pciehp: PCI Express Hot Plug Controller Driver version: 0.4
[    4.287444] tsc: Marking TSC unstable due to TSC halts in idle
[    4.288353] GHES: HEST is not enabled!
[    4.288383] unchecked MSR access error: RDMSR from 0x179 at rIP: 0xc704355a (native_read_msr+0xa/0x40)
[    4.288391]  00000000 c781b741 c787f034 dc8b3f84 c781b75b dc8b3f10 dc8b3f04 c7158d3b
[    4.288427]  dc8b3f84 1c80db12 1c80db12 00000000 c70004f5 00000006 de365b17 c77453c4
[    4.288460]  0000009e c77e951a c7074416 00000000 dc8e7600 00000001 c7762f70 00000003
[    4.288492] Call Trace:
[    4.288516]  [<c781b741>] ? ghes_init+0x176/0x176
[    4.288531]  [<c781b75b>] ? extlog_init+0x1a/0x30c
[    4.288550]  [<c7158d3b>] ? printk+0x1a/0x1c
[    4.288566]  [<c70004f5>] ? do_one_initcall+0x45/0x180
[    4.288587]  [<c77e951a>] ? set_debug_rodata+0xa/0xa
[    4.288610]  [<c7074416>] ? parse_args+0x2c6/0x580
[    4.288633]  [<c77e9c66>] ? kernel_init_freeable+0x139/0x1b2
[    4.288651]  [<c7590e50>] ? rest_init+0x70/0x70
[    4.288666]  [<c7590e60>] ? kernel_init+0x10/0x100
[    4.288684]  [<c7081151>] ? schedule_tail+0x11/0x50
[    4.288698]  [<c7590e50>] ? rest_init+0x70/0x70
[    4.288721]  [<c75974bc>] ? ret_from_fork+0x30/0x3c
[    4.289021] isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
[    4.644647] isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
[    4.645207] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 4 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
[    4.648648] Linux agpgart interface v0.103
[    4.650974] i8042: PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0303:KBC,PNP0f13:PS2M] at 0x60,0x64 irq 1,12
[    4.677661] i8042: Detected active multiplexing controller, rev 1.1
[    4.691576] serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
[    4.691611] serio: i8042 AUX0 port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
[    4.692004] serio: i8042 AUX1 port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
[    4.692435] serio: i8042 AUX2 port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
[    4.692810] serio: i8042 AUX3 port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
[    4.694192] mousedev: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
[    4.695957] rtc_cmos 00:00: RTC can wake from S4
[    4.696653] rtc_cmos 00:00: rtc core: registered rtc_cmos as rtc0
[    4.696719] rtc_cmos 00:00: alarms up to one year, y3k, 242 bytes nvram
[    4.696938] ledtrig-cpu: registered to indicate activity on CPUs
[    4.699064] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[    4.700554] mip6: Mobile IPv6
[    4.700567] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[    4.700583] mpls_gso: MPLS GSO support
[    4.700592] mce: Unable to init device /dev/mcelog (rc: -5)
[    4.700860] Using IPI No-Shortcut mode
[    4.702061] registered taskstats version 1
[    4.702124] zswap: loaded using pool lzo/zbud
[    4.702392] ima: No TPM chip found, activating TPM-bypass!
[    4.702405] ima: Allocated hash algorithm: sha256
[    4.703731] rtc_cmos 00:00: setting system clock to 2018-12-10 20:45:54 UTC (1544474754)
[    4.704204] PM: Hibernation image not present or could not be loaded.
[    4.705124] Freeing unused kernel memory: 720K
[    4.705531] Write protecting the kernel text: 5740k
[    4.705866] Write protecting the kernel read-only data: 1708k
[    4.734755] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input0
[    4.830599] random: systemd-udevd: uninitialized urandom read (16 bytes read)
[    4.831274] random: systemd-udevd: uninitialized urandom read (16 bytes read)
[    4.848731] random: udevadm: uninitialized urandom read (16 bytes read)
[    5.138744] 8139cp: 8139cp: 10/100 PCI Ethernet driver v1.3 (Mar 22, 2004)
[    5.138771] 8139cp 0000:00:0d.0: This (id 10ec:8139 rev 10) is not an 8139C+ compatible chip, use 8139too
[    5.193279] 8139too: 8139too Fast Ethernet driver 0.9.28
[    5.237266] SCSI subsystem initialized
[    5.271560] ACPI: bus type USB registered
[    5.271804] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[    5.271921] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[    5.277339] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[    5.280200] clocksource: tsc: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0xe5be220064, max_idle_ns: 881590444521 ns
[    5.282292] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
[    5.283733] ehci-pci: EHCI PCI platform driver
[    5.287588] ohci_hcd: USB 1.1 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver
[    5.347440] libata version 3.00 loaded.
[    5.751855] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKB] enabled at IRQ 5
[    5.751867] PCI: setting IRQ 5 as level-triggered
[    5.759098] 8139too 0000:00:0d.0 eth0: RealTek RTL8139 at 0xdefc2000, 00:1a:13:b1:a6:de, IRQ 5
[    5.771882] 8139too 0000:00:0d.0 enp0s13: renamed from eth0
[    5.786168] ehci-pci 0000:00:0f.5: EHCI Host Controller
[    5.786232] ehci-pci 0000:00:0f.5: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[    5.786561] ehci-pci 0000:00:0f.5: irq 10, io mem 0xefc00000
[    5.800094] ehci-pci 0000:00:0f.5: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
[    5.800478] usb usb1: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002
[    5.800495] usb usb1: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    5.800508] usb usb1: Product: EHCI Host Controller
[    5.800522] usb usb1: Manufacturer: Linux 4.9.0-7-686 ehci_hcd
[    5.800535] usb usb1: SerialNumber: 0000:00:0f.5
[    5.802997] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    5.803764] hub 1-0:1.0: 4 ports detected
[    5.805445] pata_amd 0000:00:0f.2: version 0.4.1
[    5.809762] ohci-pci: OHCI PCI platform driver
[    5.959291] scsi host0: pata_amd
[    5.964160] scsi host1: pata_amd
[    5.964762] ata1: PATA max UDMA/100 cmd 0x1f0 ctl 0x3f6 bmdma 0xeff0 irq 14
[    5.964774] ata2: PATA max UDMA/100 cmd 0x170 ctl 0x376 bmdma 0xeff8 irq 15
[    6.122884] ohci-pci 0000:00:0f.4: OHCI PCI host controller
[    6.122940] ohci-pci 0000:00:0f.4: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
[    6.123063] ohci-pci 0000:00:0f.4: irq 10, io mem 0xeff00000
[    6.123533] thermal LNXTHERM:00: registered as thermal_zone0
[    6.123543] ACPI: Thermal Zone [THZN] (27 C)
[    6.131063] ata1.00: ATA-7: SAMSUNG HS08XJC, GR100-01, max UDMA/100
[    6.131081] ata1.00: 156301488 sectors, multi 0: LBA 
[    6.134272] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/100
[    6.135218] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ATA      SAMSUNG HS08XJC  0-01 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[    6.140640] ata2: port disabled--ignoring
[    6.159187] psmouse serio3: hgpk: ID: 10 00 64
[    6.187107] usb usb2: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0001
[    6.187125] usb usb2: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    6.187139] usb usb2: Product: OHCI PCI host controller
[    6.187152] usb usb2: Manufacturer: Linux 4.9.0-7-686 ohci_hcd
[    6.187165] usb usb2: SerialNumber: 0000:00:0f.4
[    6.190336] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    6.190400] hub 2-0:1.0: 4 ports detected
[    6.238530] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 156301488 512-byte logical blocks: (80.0 GB/74.5 GiB)
[    6.238856] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[    6.238877] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[    6.239022] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[    6.797934]  sda: sda1 sda2 < sda5 >
[    6.803814] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[    6.868228] usb 2-1: new full-speed USB device number 2 using ohci-pci
[    6.996289] input: PS/2 Generic Mouse as /devices/platform/i8042/serio3/input/input8
[    7.092156] usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0403, idProduct=6001
[    7.092177] usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[    7.092190] usb 2-1: Product: USB FAST SERIAL ADAPTER
[    7.092203] usb 2-1: Manufacturer: FTDI
[    7.092216] usb 2-1: SerialNumber: FTBS3W3P
[    7.440161] usb 1-2: new high-speed USB device number 3 using ehci-pci
[    7.522356] PM: Starting manual resume from disk
[    7.522377] PM: Hibernation image partition 8:5 present
[    7.522384] PM: Looking for hibernation image.
[    7.523110] PM: Image not found (code -22)
[    7.523119] PM: Hibernation image not present or could not be loaded.
[    7.588643] usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=058f, idProduct=6254
[    7.588663] usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
[    7.592583] hub 1-2:1.0: USB hub found
[    7.592763] hub 1-2:1.0: 4 ports detected
[    7.729341] psmouse serio3: hgpk: ID: 10 00 64
[    7.885278] usb 1-2.3: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
[    8.160561] usb 1-2.3: New USB device found, idVendor=06f8, idProduct=3020
[    8.160581] usb 1-2.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[    8.160595] usb 1-2.3: Product: Hercules Webcam EC300
[    8.160608] usb 1-2.3: Manufacturer: Guillemot Corp.
[    8.198522] EXT4-fs (sda1): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
[    8.520645] input: PS/2 Generic Mouse as /devices/platform/i8042/serio3/input/input11
[    9.387836] random: crng init done
[    9.387851] random: 7 urandom warning(s) missed due to ratelimiting
[   10.398553] ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[   10.621341] systemd[1]: systemd 232 running in system mode. (+PAM +AUDIT +SELINUX +IMA +APPARMOR +SMACK +SYSVINIT +UTMP +LIBCRYPTSETUP +GCRYPT +GNUTLS +ACL +XZ +LZ4 +SECCOMP +BLKID +ELFUTILS +KMOD +IDN)
[   10.622153] systemd[1]: Detected architecture x86.
[   10.643544] systemd[1]: Set hostname to <capsule>.
[   12.717222] systemd[1]: Created slice System Slice.
[   12.722406] systemd[1]: Mounting Huge Pages File System...
[   12.736270] systemd[1]: Mounting POSIX Message Queue File System...
[   12.737106] systemd[1]: Started Forward Password Requests to Wall Directory Watch.
[   12.737713] systemd[1]: Listening on udev Control Socket.
[   12.738074] systemd[1]: Listening on fsck to fsckd communication Socket.
[   12.738288] systemd[1]: Reached target Remote File Systems.
[   13.408578] EXT4-fs (sda1): re-mounted. Opts: errors=remount-ro
[   14.229943] systemd-journald[159]: Received request to flush runtime journal from PID 1
[   14.385780] lp: driver loaded but no devices found
[   14.489472] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
[   19.110115] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKA] enabled at IRQ 11
[   19.110129] PCI: setting IRQ 11 as level-triggered
[   19.110915] lxfb 0000:00:01.1: 24576 KB of video memory at 0x90000000
[   19.174669] AMD Geode RNG detected
[   19.176378] input: Lid Switch as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/PNP0C0D:00/input/input12
[   19.388643] fbcon: Geode LX (fb0) is primary device
[   19.440482] Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 80x30
[   19.450495] fb0: Geode LX frame buffer device
[   19.620214] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
[   19.676112] ACPI Warning: SystemIO range 0x0000000000006100-0x00000000000061FF conflicts with OpRegion 0x0000000000006100-0x00000000000061FF (\_SB.GPIO) (20160831/utaddress-247)
[   19.676168] ACPI: If an ACPI driver is available for this device, you should use it instead of the native driver
[   19.676375] cs5535-mfd 0000:00:0f.0: MFD add devices failed: -16
[   19.676783] cs5535-mfd: probe of 0000:00:0f.0 failed with error -16
[   19.678454] ACPI : button: The lid device is not compliant to SW_LID.
[   19.678471] ACPI: Lid Switch [LID]
[   19.679103] ACPI: AC Adapter [AC] (on-line)
[   19.698828] input: Power Button as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXPWRBN:00/input/input13
[   19.698854] ACPI: Power Button [PWRF]
[   19.772247] Geode LX AES 0000:00:01.2: GEODE AES engine enabled.
[   20.043644] input: PC Speaker as /devices/platform/pcspkr/input/input14
[   21.058849] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[   21.058984] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[   21.059094] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for generic
[   21.131644] usbcore: registered new interface driver ftdi_sio
[   21.131779] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for FTDI USB Serial Device
[   21.184556] ftdi_sio 2-1:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
[   21.184854] usb 2-1: Detected FT232BM
[   21.196648] usb 2-1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[   21.500725] media: Linux media interface: v0.10
[   21.751451] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[   22.025404] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device Hercules Webcam EC300 (06f8:3020)
[   22.043879] uvcvideo 1-2.3:1.0: Entity type for entity Processing 2 was not initialized!
[   22.043908] uvcvideo 1-2.3:1.0: Entity type for entity Camera 1 was not initialized!
[   22.043928] uvcvideo 1-2.3:1.0: Entity type for entity Extension 4 was not initialized!
[   22.049000] input: Hercules Webcam EC300 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.5/usb1/1-2/1-2.3/1-2.3:1.0/input/input15
[   22.052473] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
[   22.052483] USB Video Class driver (1.1.1)
[   25.167909] ACPI: Battery Slot [BATT] (battery present)
[   25.275038] Adding 3931132k swap on /dev/sda5.  Priority:-1 extents:1 across:3931132k FS
[   37.806377] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): enp0s13: link is not ready
[   37.806956] 8139too 0000:00:0d.0 enp0s13: link down
[   37.820509] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): enp0s13: link is not ready
It seems to select the proper framebuffer driver, the 30x80 characters size is what it should be on the screen too
Nothing looks strange to me except maybe for the amount of video memory used, still pretty sure it should be more...I will try to find another (working) bootable system and compare the RAM allocated.

billaj
Posts: 6
Joined: 2018-12-06 17:02

Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#9 Post by billaj »

Also, the full lscpi -k , sorry the last one one lacking some important lines indeed :

Code: Select all

00:01.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] Host Bridge (rev 33)
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] Host Bridge
00:01.1 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Geode LX Video
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Geode LX Video
	Kernel driver in use: lxfb
	Kernel modules: lxfb
00:01.2 Entertainment encryption device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Geode LX AES Security Block
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Geode LX AES Security Block
	Kernel driver in use: Geode LX AES
	Kernel modules: geode_rng, geode_aes
00:0d.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8100/8101L/8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter (rev 10)
	Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8100/8101L/8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
	Kernel driver in use: 8139too
	Kernel modules: 8139cp, 8139too
00:0f.0 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] ISA (rev 03)
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] ISA
	Kernel modules: cs5535_mfd
00:0f.2 IDE interface: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] IDE (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] IDE
	Kernel driver in use: pata_amd
	Kernel modules: pata_amd, pata_cs5536, ata_generic
00:0f.3 Multimedia audio controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] Audio (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] Audio
	Kernel driver in use: snd_cs5535audio
	Kernel modules: snd_cs5535audio
00:0f.4 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] OHC (rev 02)
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] OHC
	Kernel driver in use: ohci-pci
	Kernel modules: ohci_pci
00:0f.5 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] EHC (rev 02)
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] EHC
	Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
	Kernel modules: ehci_pci

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stevepusser
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Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#10 Post by stevepusser »

For Pete's sake, just install the non-free firmware already!

https://packages.debian.org/stretch/fir ... d-graphics

https://wiki.debian.org/AtiHowTo

If it doesn't work, you can always remove it.
MX Linux packager and developer

billaj
Posts: 6
Joined: 2018-12-06 17:02

Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#11 Post by billaj »

Thanks for the pointer, will try this !

lewyssmith
Posts: 3
Joined: 2019-05-28 15:47

Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#12 Post by lewyssmith »

I have a Hercules eCafe EC-800-H20G/S with AMD Geode LX 800 (and, I think, graphics). It's Achilles' Heel is the extremely shallow display, cited 1024 x 600, or herein with lower proportional figures. Nothing in the BIOS helps. And exactly the same problem as described in the initial post: a display truncated to a few chars on the left.

Background: the machine had a very out-dated Mandriva, and after failing to install several recent Linux's, I managed somewhat blindly with Debian. The graphical installation (as for the others) was impossible graphically due to a bottom-truncated screen, but I managed with the text installer; pressing ENTER at each screen, but I now think a default equivalent was hidden at the bottom. I allowed non-free software.

The machine boots fine to the Grub2 graphical menu, and beyond. The normal choice ends up at the truncated graphical screen; the Failsafe option starts good console O/P, then falls to the useless truncated screen. One can do nothing - no console. From this thread, I have tried an external monitor which more or less works (the XFCE desktop chops some dialogues; and the display is 'squarer' than the monitor), so can now do things. From earlier comments:
How can I check that non-free firmware is installed?
and this looks the most relevant:
https://packages.debian.org/stretch/xse ... ideo-geode (I think https://packages.debian.org/stretch/fir ... d-graphics is too recent.)
Assuming I can connect it to Internet (yet to try), I will await advice about what to look for & check, and what to try. The crisp display alone warrants effort.

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Head_on_a_Stick
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Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#13 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

lewyssmith wrote:How can I check that non-free firmware is installed?

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apt policy firmware-amd-graphics
# dmesg | grep firmware
lewyssmith wrote:and this looks the most relevant:
https://packages.debian.org/stretch/xse ... ideo-geode
That's not firmware, it's a driver.
lewyssmith wrote:I think https://packages.debian.org/stretch/fir ... d-graphics is too recent.
Install it and find out.
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Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#14 Post by lewyssmith »

Thank you Head_on_a_Stick for your replies. I had looked at them sooner - no need to log in for that!
I have made troubles for myself by text re-installing Debian 9.2.1 with an Internet connection, so adding a lot more software; and I chose Mate desktop (it was LXDE before). The eCafe 'worked' as before, on a separate screen; and in order to try the possible remedies already noted earlier, I discover that the given Firefox crashes! I purged & re-installed it in vain. I tried to find another browser, blindly, because I do not know exact pkg names for apt-get; and Aptitude overflows the display, I can *not* re-size it, so is essentially unusable. I have LMDE which says it uses Debian repos, so hope to use that to find what other browser I might try, then install one on the eCafe to be able to use this thread info directly.
I found Epiphany, but no description to confirm it *is* the browser I hope.
- How can I tell what the current video driver is?
- After (hopefully) installing the new driver, how do I get that to be used instead?

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Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#15 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

lewyssmith wrote:Firefox crashes!
:o

Is that the firefox-esr package or the version direct from Mozilla?

If you run it from a terminal does it return any searchable error messages when it fails? Or check ~/.xsession-errors, which should record them.

Have you installed the non-free firmware yet? CPUs require non-free microcode as well.
lewyssmith wrote:Aptitude overflows the display, I can *not* re-size it, so is essentially unusable.
Pipe the output to a pager then:

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aptitude search browser | pager
lewyssmith wrote:I found Epiphany
Don't use that, it is webkit-based and so insecure in Debian stable.

Try lynx instead, that's a perfect fallback browser.
lewyssmith wrote:How can I tell what the current video driver is?
Check the X.org log to see which DDX driver is loaded and the lspci -k output for the kernel driver in use.
lewyssmith wrote: After (hopefully) installing the new driver, how do I get that to be used instead?
The correct drivers should be loaded automatically but you may need an X.org configuration file and/or kernel parameters to force them.
deadbang

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Re: Display problems on Geode LX netbook

#16 Post by lewyssmith »

Thank you for replying again, gives me hope. I am constrained by being new to Debian, and messing with package software has given me much work. But at last I have a working browser, so can communicate directly from the machine. Also, this e-Cafe machine is unergonomic (I now need a USB 3-button mouse for X copy/pasting; all that follows is typed).
As things stand:
# apt policy firmware-amd-graphics
Installed (none)
Candidate (none)
# dmesg | grep firmware
#
# lspci -k
00:01.1 VGA compatible controller : A..M..D.. [AMD] Geode LX Video
Subsystem: A..M..D.. [AMD] Geode LX Video
Kernel driver in use : lxfb
Kernel modules : lxfb
In /var/log/Xorg.0.log it loads module "glx" = /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensionsl/libglx.so
which exists, alone; then *fails* to load module "geode" which does not exist.

I have just managed to install 'firmware-amd-graphics' and
'xserver-xorg-video-geode' as referenced earlier (using apt install <pkg-name>).
Next to re-boot & see the result!
---------------------------------------
Re firefox, it was firefox-esr, and I had run it from the console. There were a few error msgs before it popped its error dialogue, but I am not persuing that here.

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