[Jaunty] X won't start on Voodoo 3 (rev 01) after upgrade to jaunty

[Brian Quinlan]

I recently upgraded a Gateway system with a Voodoo 3 (rev 01) from 8.10 to 9.04. Synaptic tells me that I now have version 1:1.4.0-2 of xserver-xorg-video-tdfx.

It started to boot okay, but failed when it tried to start X Windows. The only thing out of the ordinary that I noticed in the log files was the following from /var/log/gdm/:0.log.4 (full file shown):

X.Org X Server 1.6.0
Release Date: 2009-2-25
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.24-23-server i686 Ubuntu
Current Operating System: Linux kant 2.6.22-15-generic #1 SMP Wed Aug 20 18:39:13 UTC 2008 i686
Build Date: 09 April 2009 02:10:02AM
xorg-server 2:1.6.0-0ubuntu14 (<email address hidden>)
 Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
 to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
 (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
 (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Sun May 3 02:45:03 2009
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(EE) TDFX(0): DRIUnlock called when not locked.
/usr/X11R6/bin/X: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//tdfx_drv.so: undefined symbol: xf86getsecs

I didn't remember to save the Xorg.0.log file that corresponds to this incident, but as I say, there was nothing that looked out of the ordinary in it. I assume the root cause is the missing symbol in tdfx_drv.so.

Some other info:

brian@kant:~$ lspci | grep VGA
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 3 (rev 01)

brian@kant:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 6
model : 2
model name : AMD Athlon(tm) Processor
stepping : 1
cpu MHz : 648.734
cache size : 512 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr syscall mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow up
bogomips : 1297.46
clflush size : 32
power management:

I have 2 workarounds for this. Both had to be done using a rescue cd (http://www.sysresccd.org is my choice), so the paths mentioned below will have to be modified to take account of where the rescue cd mounts the partitions containing /usr & /etc.

(1) Use the vesa driver.

 - In /etc/X11/xorg.conf, replace:

Section "Device"
 Identifier "3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 3"
 Driver "tdfx"
 BusID "PCI:1:5:0"
EndSection

with:

Section "Device"
 Identifier "3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 3"
 Driver "vesa"
 BusID "PCI:1:5:0"
EndSection

- On my system, this caused problems with gdmgreeter, so I also had to update /etc/gdm/gdm.conf to change Greeter from:

Greeter=/usr/lib/gdm/gdmgreeter

to:

Greeter=/usr/lib/gdm/gdmlogin

- Remove the rescue cd and reboot into Ubuntu.

Graphics performances is noticeably slower, but still okay.

(2) Use a debian version of the driver binary (faster performance, but probably more dangerous, though it's been working for me for the past couple of hours) - based on the procedure describe here (in French): http://forum.ubuntu-fr.org/viewtopic.php?pid=781965

- Download ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/x/xserver-xorg-video-tdfx/xserver-xorg-video-tdfx_1.4.1-1_i386.deb to a temporary directory. I'd have preferred to use 1.4.0-2, but it's not there. 1.4.0-1 didn't work (ABI version was 2; xserver requires 5).

- Extract the package using this command:

dpkg --extract xserver-xorg-video-tdfx_1.4.1-1_i386.deb .

- Locate tdfx_drv.so in the extracted directory structure and copy it to /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers as tdfx_drv.so.debian_1.4.1-1

- In /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers run the following 2 commands:

mv tdfx_drv.so tdfx_drv.so.ubuntu_1.4.0-2
ln -s tdfx_drv.so.debian_1.4.1-1 tdfx_drv.so

- Remove the rescue cd and reboot into Ubuntu.

[Brian Quinlan (brian-quinlan)]

I temporarily switched back to the driver that comes with Jaunty to reproduce the problem. Resultant Xorg.0.log file is attached.

[Prostar (tsmith-z28)]

Just adding a "me too". I chose to download the debian version and overwrite the bad one. I'm hoping there'll be an update soon which will then overwrite that with the proper one.

$ :~/usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers$ lspci |grep -i vga
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo Banshee (rev 03)

$ :~/usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 8
model name : Pentium III (Coppermine)
stepping : 3
cpu MHz : 736.445
cache size : 256 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse up
bogomips : 1472.89
clflush size : 32
power management:

[Adrian Bridgett (adrian-bridgett)]

me too. BTW, dont' test using "X" as I did - the screen remains blank (at least from rescue mode), use gdm!

[Kari Aliranta (kpaliran)]

I can confirm, too. The driver from Debian seems to work as a workaround (no problems after two days of using the computer, watching the Youtube, using media players with xv output etc.).

By the way: did you get the bulletproof X- warning about Ubuntu being in low graphics mode, and an offer to troubleshoot X? I didn't: the gdm just tried to start, then showed a black screen, and the computer restarted after a few minutes. No warnings, no offers.

[Estro (benkial)]

I also confirm the workaround fix (2). Thousands thanks, Brian :-)
I have waited for 4 months to upgrade to 9.04 just to avoid any "early" bumps like this one. I installed Windows XP on the exact same machine, and there was no problem at all. Well, I will have to say that until problems like this get fixed in the first few weeks of the release, Ubuntu will still be something for the tech savvy users...

[mumblefuzz (martjh)]

Many thanks Brian. Worked for me too.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi brian-quinlan,

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 is this still an issue for you? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? (ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/)

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

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.