Nvidia driver detects VRAM incorrectly

[Greg Michalec]

I have a GeForce 8400M GS with 128MB of video memory. (Windows sees it as 128, and my purchase order from dell lists it as 128). However, the NVIDIA X Server Settings applet detects it as having 256 MB. Also, in the Xorg.0.log file contains the line "Memory: 262144 kBytes".

Most things seem to function normally, except sometimes when I have many windows open, windows will refuse to redraw themselves until I close some windows and resize the window in question. I have a feeling this bug is related to the incorrect vram detection.

I'm assuming this is a bug in the proprietary driver, and nothing can be done about it, but I thought I'd try reporting it nonetheless.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: nvidia-glx-180 180.44-0ubuntu1
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersion: Linux version 2.6.28-11-generic (buildd@rothera) (gcc version 4.3.3 (Ubuntu 4.3.3-5ubuntu4) ) #41-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 8 04:38:53 UTC 2009
SourcePackage: nvidia-graphics-drivers-180
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-11-generic i686

[lspci]
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a00] (rev 0c)
     Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:01f1]
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8400M GS [10de:0427] (rev a1)
     Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:01f1]

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

I've posted a new version of the -nvidia driver to our xorg-edgers PPA,
would you mind testing it either on Jaunty or Karmic and see if it
resolves this bug?

Get nvidia-graphics-drivers-180 - 185.18.14 here:

  https://edge.launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa

[Greg Michalec (greg-primate)]

No Dice - x.org is still reporting 256 megs:
greg@lappy586:~$ dpkg -l | grep nvidia | grep "^i"
ii nvidia-180-kernel-source 185.18.14-0ubuntu1

ii nvidia-180-libvdpau 185.18.14-0ubuntu1

ii nvidia-180-modaliases 185.18.14-0ubuntu1

ii nvidia-glx-180 185.18.14-0ubuntu1

ii nvidia-settings 180.25-0ubuntu1
greg@lappy586:~$ grep Mem /var/log/Xorg.0.log
(--) PCI:*(0@1:0:0) nVidia Corporation GeForce 8400M GS rev 161, Mem @
0xfd000000/16777216, 0xf4000000/67108864, 0xfa000000/33554432, I/O @
0x0000ef00/128, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072
(--) NVIDIA(0): Memory: 262144 kBytes

Bryce Harrington wrote:
> I've posted a new version of the -nvidia driver to our xorg-edgers PPA,
> would you mind testing it either on Jaunty or Karmic and see if it
> resolves this bug?
>
> Get nvidia-graphics-drivers-180 - 185.18.14 here:
>
> https://edge.launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa
>
>
> ** Changed in: nvidia-graphics-drivers-180 (Ubuntu)
> Status: Confirmed => New
>
> ** Changed in: nvidia-graphics-drivers-180 (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>

[Greg Michalec (greg-primate)]

just an update -
I've installed karmic koala beta, and this problem still persists. However, I haven't had the redrawing issues yet.

greg@lappy586:~/Desktop/jaunty-backup$ dpkg -l | grep nvidia | grep 185
ii nvidia-185-kernel-source 185.18.36-0ubuntu3 NVIDIA binary kernel module source
ii nvidia-185-libvdpau 185.18.36-0ubuntu3 Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix
ii nvidia-185-modaliases 185.18.36-0ubuntu3 Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org driver
ii nvidia-glx-185 185.18.36-0ubuntu3 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver

from Xorg.0.log:
(II) NVIDIA(0): NVIDIA GPU GeForce 8400M GS (G86M) at PCI:1:0:0 (GPU-0)
(--) NVIDIA(0): Memory: 262144 kBytes

[Robert Hooker (sarvatt)]

I have a 256MB 8400M GS which reports 512MB in the same manner yours reports double. It looks like the nvidia drivers allocate some system memory for a cache and show it as the memory there. If you do a lspci -v it will show the actual memory on the card like this:

Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]

My Xorg.0.log says:

(--) Oct 04 19:02:07 NVIDIA(0): Memory: 524288 kBytes

[Greg Michalec (greg-primate)]

I'm not getting the same results - does this make sense to you?

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G86 [GeForce 8400M
GS] (rev a1)
         Subsystem: Dell Device 01f1
         Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
         Memory at fd000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
         Memory at f4000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
         Memory at fa000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32M]
         I/O ports at ef00 [size=128]
         [virtual] Expansion ROM at fea00000 [disabled] [size=128K]
         Capabilities: <access denied>
         Kernel driver in use: nvidia
         Kernel modules: nvidia, nvidiafb

Robert Hooker wrote:
> I have a 256MB 8400M GS which reports 512MB in the same manner yours
> reports double. It looks like the nvidia drivers allocate some system
> memory for a cache and show it as the memory there. If you do a lspci -v
> it will show the actual memory on the card like this:
>
> Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
>
> My Xorg.0.log says:
>
> (--) Oct 04 19:02:07 NVIDIA(0): Memory: 524288 kBytes
>

[Vish (vish)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue for you. Can you try with the latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.

[Vish (vish)]

If it remains an issue, could you also attach a new /var/log/Xorg.0.log?
Thanks in advance.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for nvidia-graphics-drivers-180 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]