[R350] screen corruption on 9800SE

[SlimJim]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-video-ati

There seems to be a problem with the Ubuntu ATI driver and my ATI Radeon 9800 SE card. When I boot Ubuntu 9.10 (installed on HDD) or Ubuntu 10.04 (beta 2 from CD) certain elements of the desktop contain artifacts (see screenshot "visual_effects_disabled.png"). If I enable in System > Appearance > Visual Effects the amount of artifacts increases dramatically and cover the desktop completely (see screenshot "visual_effects_enabled.png").

This is what lspci tells me:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc R350 AH [Radeon 9800]
01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon R350 [Radeon 9800] (Secondary)

I'm happy to assist further investigations!
---
Architecture: i386
CurrentDmesg:
 [ 131.762150] lp: driver loaded but no devices found
 [ 132.100802] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
 [ 165.420656] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
 [ 177.589132] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
DkmsStatus: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
GdmLog1: Error: command ['gksu', '-D', 'Apport', '--', 'cat', '/var/log/gdm/:0.log.1'] failed with exit code 1: cat: /var/log/gdm/:0.log.1: No such file or directory
GdmLog2: Error: command ['gksu', '-D', 'Apport', '--', 'cat', '/var/log/gdm/:0.log.2'] failed with exit code 1: cat: /var/log/gdm/:0.log.2: No such file or directory
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Beta i386 (20100406.1)
MachineType: To Be Filled By O.E.M. To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Package: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.192-2ubuntu2
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/hostname.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash -- maybe-ubiquity
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-19.28-generic 2.6.32.10+drm33.1
Tags: lucid lucid
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-19-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 08/03/2004
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1004.002
dmi.board.name: K8V-X
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.board.version: Rev 2.00
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1004.002:bd08/03/2004:svnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:rvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:rnK8V-X:rvrRev2.00:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.product.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: i686
 kernel: 2.6.32-19-generic

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

This is the second screenshot

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

ubuntu-bug would normally add a lot of information. Can you please run "apport-collect 565883"?

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
MachineType: To Be Filled By O.E.M. To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Package: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.99+git20090929.7968e1fb-0ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-20-generic root=UUID=16a9a5bd-09a5-4dc4-a86d-38c2b7145dcf ro
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_DK.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-20.58-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 xserver-xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu10
 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.6.0-1ubuntu4
 libdrm2 2.4.14-1ubuntu1
 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.9.0-1ubuntu2.1
 xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.99+git20090929.7968e1fb-0ubuntu1
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-20-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
XorgConf: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'
dmi.bios.date: 08/03/2004
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1004.002
dmi.board.name: K8V-X
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.board.version: Rev 2.00
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1004.002:bd08/03/2004:svnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:rvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:rnK8V-X:rvrRev2.00:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.product.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
fglrx: Not loaded
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 architecture: i686kernel: 2.6.31-20-generic

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

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[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Even without Visual Effects, the radeon driver uses acceleration on the card (EXA, composite etc), so some corruption can be seen. This acceleration is not used if fglrx is blocking, or if you are using the vesa driver ("failsafe").

With compiz it will use hw acceleration for the whole screen, that's why you see it all over.

Did you have any corruption with an older version using fglrx? If not, there is probably a bug in the ati radeon driver. If you did not see corruption in older releases with ati radeon, it could be because it did not use much hw acceleration features at the time.

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Can you try turning off RenderAccel, as suggested here: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/1004

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

Thanks for the explanation! I tried to disable RenderAccel but X seems to dislike it and only allows startup in Low Graphics mode. Well, finally I'll visit my local PC shop and purchase another graphic board. Those old AGP cards aren't expensive anymore.
Please sent me in a private message your paypal email so that I can pay you at least a beer! Thanks a lot for your help and your willingness to help me with this problem!

[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. You should test if changing this makes the issue go away.

For KMS configurations, agpmode is a kernel module parameter. Enter the grub interface during boot and append radeon.agpmode=X to the kernel boot line, where X = -1,1,2,4,8

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

For details about this with UMS (non-KMS), please see the "ATI AGP Mode Quirk" section at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Quirks

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Right, I was too obsessed by the pipe numbers to think about this classic issue. Slimjim, your card runs with 8x out of the box, so please try 4x (the only other option for these AGP v3 cards): radeon.agpmode=4

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

Hey Bryce and Tormod, thanks for the advice. I did so and included radeon.agpmode=4 as a boot parameter, but it has no effect. I even included it as a fixed boot parameter in /etc/default/grub as GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="radeon.agpmode=4"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="radeon.agpmode=4" but without success. I'll just buy me a new AGP card tomorrow. Thanks again so much for your help!

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

We still want to fix your old card :) Actually I found out now that the pipe number mismatch has to be fixed in the kernel as well as the Xorg driver. With the wrong number here, the corruption that you see is mighty possible.

This has now been fixed upstream, and the fixes are good candidates for a SRU in Ubuntu 10.04. So even if you buy I new card, it would be great if you could try test packages and verify that they fix your problems.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi SlimJim, if I read your comment correctly, you are not interested in pursuing this bug further? If that's the case could you set the bug report to Invalid?

If you're interested in continuing doing testing and troubleshooting, the next step is to send the bug report upstream, and they'll probably suggest additional things to test.

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

I have uploaded a test package for xserver-xorg-video-ati in https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/drivers-only
Please try it, although I am not sure if the kernel must be fixed as well for you to see a difference.

Reference to kernel patch: http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/dri-devel/2010-April/000214.html

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

Ok - no problem. I will postpone the purchase of the new card and keep on investigating together with you guys. I set up the PPA in my Ubuntu 9.10 to https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/drivers-only but apt-get does not retrieve the latest version. Maybe it takes some time until the repository is updated. I left the radeon.apgmode=4 in /etc/default/grub. In case I should remove it, please advice. Tomorrow I'll try again to install your patched version 1:6.13.99~git20100422.1ad41054-0ubuntu0tormod.

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

Guys, how do I tell apt-get to download the latest xserver-xorg-video-ati driver (1:6.13.99~git20100422.1ad41054-0ubuntu0tormod) ? Whatever I do (install, purge, update, upgrade) my Ubuntu 9.10 does not want to download the latest version. It only uses xserver-xorg-video-ati driver 1:6.12.99+git20091125.0061c4db-0ubuntu0tormod2

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

The newest version is only for lucid. I will have to update the karmic version if you want to test in karmic. Anyway, we can wait a few days for the new kernel release which hopefully will have my fix included.

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

Okay, just booted again the Ubuntu 10.04 beta 2 Live-CD. I fetched 1:6.13.99~git20100422.1ad41054-0ubuntu0tormod from the ppa archive, logged out and and again in. Unfortunately, there are no changes. The screen is still cluttered with exactly the sam artifact pattern.
Will the change in the kernel have additional effects?

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

The fix is now in Linus' kernel tree, and should be in today's snapshot here: http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/daily/2010-04-28-lucid/ You can install this kernel in your Karmic system to try out (unless you have a Lucid system). The updated -ati driver for Karmic in https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/drivers-only has been uploaded, but wait for the -tormod3 version to be built. The mesa packages from https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/radeon are for lucid and I don't know if they can be installed in a Karmic system. so try first without. But to fix the corruption in all situations, all three packages must be updated.

[Eugenio123 (diagosta-e)]

hi guys! i think that i have the same problems even with lucid linx now and before with Karmic.. desperation! :(

here there is my qyestion that i posted some days ago, please help me too

[Eugenio123 (diagosta-e)]

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/108926

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

I updated today my system to Lucid. After the update I performed the following actions:
1. installed the kernel you recommended (linux-image-2.6.34-999-generic_2.6.34-999.201004281008_i386.deb)
2. install the ati driver (1:6.13.99~git20100422.1ad41054-0ubuntu0tormod) (what do I have to do to install tormod3 version?)
3. install mesa package (7.9.0~git20100429+gallium+r300.f7cf8b46-0ubuntu0tormod)

Now, the artifacts are gone, but acceleration (System > Preferences > Appearance > Visual Effects > Normal) still doesn't work. I'm not sure if the current system is really using the ati driver. How can I verify if the system is really using the ati driver?

Thanks

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Sounds like you have got the right packages (the -tormod3 version was for Karmic). Can you please attach dmesg and glxinfo output and your Xorg.0.log? With that mesa package (+gallium), please try as I described in comment 53 to use classic drivers.

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

Somehow dri-classic doesn't exist anymore. Did I do anything wrong?
find attached the logs.

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

The kernel looks good (dmesg), but you must have got the mesa packages messed up. Please try reinstalling the normal ones, then try again. I am running Lucid with kernel 2.6.34-020634rc6-generic and mesa packages 7.9.0~git20100429+gallium+r300.f7cf8b46-0ubuntu0tormod (from radeon ppa) and ati/radeon 1:6.13.99~git20100422.1ad41054-0ubuntu0tormod (from drivers-only ppa) and both classic and gallium work fine.

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

Okay - I reinstalled the mesa package as instructed.
I also renamed the dri folders as requestes in #53

Compiz still does not work, however as mentioned the artifacts have disappeared.
Find attached the logs

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

It is strange, because the dmesg confirms that the radeon kernel module is loaded and KMS is initialized, but the Xorg log indicates that the module was not loaded in time. Can you please try booting with "text" as an extra boot parameter, then log in on the console and start X with "startx"?

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

I did so. Find attached the Xorg.0.log

Still can't enable compiz.

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

This is the syslog. In case you might find some useful informations in it.

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

It seems like you are now hit by another, unrelated bug. Can you please revert to the standard Lucid packages and see if everything is fine (except the original corruptions of course). Only then can we move on, step by step with our test packages.

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

Okay - I purged the ppa:xorg-edgers/radeon and ppa:xorg-edgers/drivers-only and reinstalled the standard drivers.
I'm using now again Kernel 2.6.32-22-generic. Can't see any artifacts but the 3D acceleration doesn't seem to work.
Find attached my logs.

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

So currently while having downgraded to the standard lucid packages I can't see any difference to our tests performed on the development kernel and your test packages. It's exactly the same behaviour - No more artifacts but also 3D acceleration (e.g. enabling compiz) doesn't work

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

Sorry - please disregard Comment #97. After rebooting I have now again the artifacts (probably as it should be)

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Good, start with only upgrading the kernel and see if 3D acceleration is still working.

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

Today I finally have given up. I went to the local PC store and got a new Graphic Card. It's already installed and everything works as expected. I hope we could at least verify the patch you have written successfully. If you don't mind I would close this bug report. Thank you again so much for your help! I still you like to buy you a beer!

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

OK, maybe at a later point you can try the old card again and verify everything works in a Ubuntu 10.10 alpha release. Anyway, thanks to your bug report this got fixed and I guess there are many Linux users on 9800 SE out there who will appreciate it.

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Marking as Fix Committed since the kernel fix is already in the Maverick kernel tree: http://kernel.ubuntu.com/git?p=ubuntu/ubuntu-maverick.git;a=commitdiff;h=94f7bf647315472c80b8368c849739038e5620a3

The upstream -ati fix is http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/driver/xf86-video-ati/commit/?id=1ad41054989f7c3edec373ccf09dceda6d7c94b4 which should trickle into Maverick.

The mesa fix is http://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/commit/?h=mesa_7_7_branch&id=45affda4bf056ac07a1db2c2d973ad51d9135ea7 also on 7.8 branch and trunk (to be 7.9).

[SlimJim (tobias-dh1tw)]

sure - I'll give it a try when 10.10 alpha is released. In case I forget it, please don't hesitate to send me a reminder. It's a
pleasure to work with such committed and professional developer like you!