[RV410] Screen gets unreadable

[spam2trash]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-video-ati

I'm the supplier of bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/551678
I've tried the hints by "Bryce Harrington wrote on 2010-04-02: ", fully removed every -fglrx / nvidia relevant and reinstalled -ati from scratch. But problems keep the same:

Hardware: Acer Aspire E500 EB7S, video card ATI Radeon X700 SE (dual head, left screen 1280x1024 via DVI, right screen 1024x768 via VGA)

After an dist-upgrade to lucid screen output gets weird and unreadable. Keyboard and mouse are available and seem to work properly, the cursor is painted correctly. After entering user id and password, I get logged in, however, the gnome desktop is also weird and unreadable (xfce is the same). It is possible to launch applications by clicking on the icon location or by ALT+F2. However they are exhibiting the same problem.

With CTRL+ALT+F1 I get a workable text terminal login.

Please see the screenshot.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: xserver-xorg-video-radeon 1:6.12.192-2ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-18.27-generic 2.6.32.10+drm33.1
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-18-generic i686
Architecture: i386
CheckboxSubmission: 6192b41f1a593a6ab8268844ab7b06b1
CheckboxSystem: 13c6d06e5a20fde991903264fe6f2baa
CurrentDmesg:
 [ 339.760094] __ratelimit: 9 callbacks suppressed
 [ 339.760100] gvfsd-metadata[2547]: segfault at 8 ip 0804d35a sp bf914540 error 4 in gvfsd-metadata[8048000+c000]
 [ 1148.159194] PPP BSD Compression module registered
 [ 1148.171659] PPP Deflate Compression module registered
Date: Fri Apr 9 13:45:02 2010
DkmsStatus:

GdmLog2:

MachineType: ACER Aspire E500
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-2.6.32-18-generic root=UUID=8178d4a2-4cd3-4f19-9912-cf71c5280310 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-video-ati
dmi.bios.date: 09/07/2005
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: R01-D4
dmi.board.name: ERC410M���������������
dmi.board.vendor: ACER
dmi.board.version: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset tag number:at least 22 digits
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: ACER
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrR01-D4:bd09/07/2005:svnACER:pnAspireE500:pvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:rvnACER:rnERC410M:rvrTobefilledbyO.E.M.:cvnACER:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: Aspire E500
dmi.product.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: ACER
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: i686
 kernel: 2.6.32-18-generic

[lspci]
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Xpress 200 Host Bridge [1002:5a33] (rev 01)
 Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0085]
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc RV410 [Radeon X700] [1002:5e4f]
 Subsystem: PC Partner Limited Device [174b:0670]

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

[This defect report looks appropriate to send upstream]

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Based on the description of the symptoms, it sort of sounds like this might be caused by an incorrect AGPMode setting, which is relevant when DRI is enabled. Is your system AGP? I notice the ati-agp kernel module appears to be loaded which makes me wonder if it's the case. You should test if changing this makes the issue go away. In your /etc/X11/xorg.conf set AGPMode to various values like this:

 Section "Device"
    ...
    Option "AGPMode" "2"
 EndSection

Possible values include 1, 2, 4, 8. You can see what it's currently set to by looking in /var/log/Xorg.0.log. It's worthwhile to test all four values even once you find one that works. If this takes care of it for you, we may be able to establish a quirk to set it for your hardware combo, if you can provide the following data:

   * AGPMode value(s) that work
   * Make/Model of laptop or motherboard
   * Output of lspci -vvnn
   * Is the system all factory hardware, or have any parts been replaced?
   * Is there an AGP Mode in the system BIOS?
     - If so, is it set to the factory default?

For more details on this, please see the "ATI AGP Mode Quirk" section at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Quirks

Also, you might need to disable KMS in order to do the above quirking (I'm not certain). For guidance on how to do this, please see http://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/KernelModeSetting .

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

spam2trash - I've forwarded this bug upstream to http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=27707 - please subscribe yourself to this bug, in case they need further information or wish you to test something. Thanks ahead of time!

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Sorry, ignore my last comment, I mis-posted.

We'll send your bug report up after you've tested the AGPMode stuff.

Btw, a minimalistic xorg.conf to do this would be:

Section "Device"
 Identifier "Configured Video Device"
        Option "AGPMode" "2"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 Monitor "Configured Monitor"
 Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

[spam2trash (spam2trash)]

At first: Thank you very much for the detailed hints!

The system is all factory hardware, no parts have been replaced (it is still sealed).
Stickers say: Hardware: Acer Aspire E500 EB7S, video card ATI Radeon X700 SE. No hints for AGP or not...

At first I've tried all possible values with your provided xorg.conf, include 1, 2, 4, 8 with a fresh reboot after each. Unfortunately the problems keep still the same. It also keeps the same when setting in BIOS all to default values (as far as I can remember, I never changed any BIOS settings).

Next I've tried to remove ati-agp module from kernel with "modprobe -r ati-agp". Then a "lsmod" to check if the module is removed and again I've tried all possible values, include 1, 2, 4, 8, with a "service gdm restart" after each change (because after rebooting the ati-agp module is still there). And again, unfortunately the problems keep still the same.

Next I've tried to disable "KMS" as described at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/KernelModeSetting , but again it doesn't work. I've tried to "modprobe -r" all relevant modules (radeon, agpgart, ati_agp, drm_kms_helper) and add them to "blacklist-<kernel-module-name>.conf" files in /etc/modprobe.d/ and next "update-initramfs `uname -r`-u". But still "KMS" is enabled after reboot and all ATI modules are loaded.

I figured out that this behaviour seems to depend on automatic xorg configuration when no xorg.conf file is provided or when I use the part:

<Section "Device"
 Identifier "Configured Video Device"
        Option "AGPMode" "<x>"
EndSection>

Only when I created a failsave xorg.conv with "VESA" defined, "KMS" is disabled and "blacklist-<kernel-module-name>.conf" files in /etc/modprobe.d/ were regarded.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Thanks for doing such thorough testing! Shame it didn't reveal a simple AGPMode setting issue, but I think the bug report's ready for the next step to go upstream.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Aha, found out more info... For kms, agpmode is a kernel module parameter. try booting with radeon.agpmode=X where X = -1,1,2,4,8

1-8 are the agp modes,
-1 uses the onboard gpu gart (PCI, PCIE, etc.)

[spam2trash (spam2trash)]

I've tried the following:
First I removed /etc/X11/xorg.conf (my failsave)
In file "/etc/default/grub" I appended the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash radeon.agpmode=X" where X = -1,1,2,4,8. Then a update-grub and a fresh reboot after each X change.
After all no change in behaviour, problems keep still the same.

[spam2trash (spam2trash)]

After a month of idle time, are there some news? This problem is still existing for me...

[frufo (hwahl)]

Had similar problems with the RV410 AGP card. Passing the parameter via grub command line did not work but for me this worked:

echo "options radeon agpmode=1" >> /etc/modprobe.d/radeon.conf
update-initramfs -u

the last one is necessary to get the option into the initramfs-image. Of cource you can try agpmode=1,2,3.... here as well.

[Tomek Bury (tomek-bury)]

I've tried both approaches, radeon.conf and kernel parameter but no luck. I did notice change in the amount of stretch though. In my case agpmode=4 was "only" twice as wide as it should be. I've got ATI Technologies Inc R520GL [FireGL V7200].

I've briefly checked Ubuntu 11.10 but the driver crashed when I tried to switch the monitors from mirror mode to side-by-side setting.

[Tomek Bury (tomek-bury)]

Here's simple tcl script that shows the problem.

$ wish test.tcl

I get very stretched window, including the decorations. I'll attatch the screenshot as well.

[Mörgæs (moergaes)]

Closed due to age.
If the problem appears in 13.04 please open a new report.