[fglrx] Ati x1600Pro White screen on activating compiz

[joreldraw]

Hi. I have an Intel Q6600 whith an Ati Radeon X1600pro 256.

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc RV530 [Radeon X1600] [1002:71c2]

I installed Hardy Alpha 5 and all goes good.
Until I enabled desktop Fx i have got a white screen and i need to deactivate it.
If i try to enable fglrx -driver and I rebooted I got black screen.
After recovery booting Screen Ok, but privative driver disable.

How can solutionate my 3d aceleration?

[Thomas B Homburg (thomasbhomburg)]

I second this bug on ATI x1300 mobility laptop
Ubuntu Hardy kernel 2.6.24-10-generic

Any tips on where to look for error messages?

My 3d effects are enabled by default, how can I disable them?

[Tom Arnold (g0tt)]

Bump.

I have a Athlon X2 with x1300 and after enabling the fglrx driver with restricted driver manager the login ends with a white screen of death.

How do i disable 3D and have a working desktop again?

Oh .. Hardy Alpha 5 also.

[Pete Myers (petemyers)]

Hardy Alpha 6
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700

Using the open source drivers, everything is fine, but OpenGL games don't work well.
Using the fglrx from the repos result in white screen after login. I see the desktop background, then everything goes white (I still see the cursor over the top though)

Logging in is possible with Gnome Failsafe... but then OpenGL game crashes the system back to login screen.

Had to remove fglrx

[Pete Myers (petemyers)]

Maybe the same as the second part of this bug report:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/195055

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Please attach your Xorg.0.log (sometimes it includes some relevant error messages, but even if it doesn't, it reports a ton of useful information about your system.)

To troubleshoot lockups, it can be useful to attach to the frozen Xorg and get a backtrace. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingXorg for directions. Also, https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Debugging has a lot of general tips and tricks.

[adese (adese0)]

I have an ATI x1600 256mb and get the same White Screen (of death) when I enable Compiz such as Normal or Extra

Attatched is my xorg.0.log

[adese (adese0)]

May I also add that I did not have this issue under 7.10. Not complaining, just saying it became a broken feature.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Well, that's good info - suggests perhaps some change in -fglrx since Gutsy caused the problem. One thing to test would be to downgrade your -fglrx driver to the version shipped in Gutsy. If the bug is an fglrx bug, then it *should* go away. If it does, then it would be worthwhile to install each intermediary -fglrx between Gutsy's version and now, to see which fglrx was the first to fail. If it doesn't, it may be due to poor interaction with other software, or might be an issue in the kernel or x server.

One thing I suspect, that's different between Gutsy and Hardy, is the x server now automatically turns on some modules that it didn't back in version 1.3. Another debugging approach could be to experiment with turning off some of these modules one by one, to see if that makes the issue go away.

It would be helpful if everyone experiencing this problem would report their card's PCI ID (or just attach your /var/log/Xorg.0.log), in case we need to blacklist something.

[adese (adese0)]

I subsequently attempted to downgrade the xserver to gusty from the disc however this caused a number of issues dependencies and such. It is not an easy task by any means.

I had to reload 7.10 fresh for work reasons. I will try again in the near future.

In the mean time I was reminded of an old 7.10 fix, has anyone with this problem tried installing :

xserver-xgl

if memory serves me, it is not installed by default on Hardy 8.04. Under 7.10, installing 'xserver-xgl' was the way to fix a composite issue with Compiz for ATI Radeon cards.

Before installing xserver-xgl however I would make sure that you have the following at the end of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf (though don't hold me to it) :

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "1"
EndSection

[Willia Killerud (wk-9000)]

I have the same problem on a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo A1630. The card is Radeon Mobility 9700. The screen turns white as soon as I log in, forcing me to log out and disable the drivers in Safe Mode.

It all works well without the xorg-driver-fglrx package, but then I have to manage without a, for me, vital piece of hardware.

[Chris Hollenbeck (chris-hollenbeck)]

Confirm on my desktop with a Radeon 9600 XT on Hardy Beta (latest updates). Compiz worked fine in Gutsy, but that was with the open source ati driver, which I can no longer select when using desktop effects.

Xorg log, xorg.conf, and output of 'sudo lspci -v' attached. The config file has a few additional lines that I added for my Wacom tablet, but I don't believe they have any relevance to the fglrx problem.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

From the Xorg.0.log:

(II) Module fglrx: vendor="FireGL - ATI Technologies Inc."
 compiled for 7.1.0, module version = 8.47.3

(II) fglrx(0): driver needs X.org 7.1.x.y with x.y >= 0.0
(WW) fglrx(0): could not detect X server version (query_status=-3)
(EE) fglrx(0): atiddxDriScreenInit failed, GPS not been initialized.
(WW) fglrx(0): ***********************************************
(WW) fglrx(0): * DRI initialization failed! *
(WW) fglrx(0): * (maybe driver kernel module missing or bad) *
(WW) fglrx(0): * 2D acceleraton available (MMIO) *
(WW) fglrx(0): * no 3D acceleration available *
(WW) fglrx(0): ********************************************* *

It seems you're using an older version of fglrx. Please test against the latest version 8.03 in Hardy, which we believe works with Compiz properly.

[Morris Johns (morris-johns)]

I think the following should work to disable compiz to get back to normal desktop again:
1) ctrl-alt-F1 to get to bash prompt, and login
2) sudo pico /etc/X11/xorg.conf
3) Add the following:
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "disable"
EndSection
4) save file, quit pico, logout.
5) ctrl-alt-F7 to get back to white screen
6) ctrl-alt-backspace to force restart of x-windows

I didn't test the above because I fixed my white screen problem (see next comment)

[Morris Johns (morris-johns)]

I rebuilt my xorg.conf and got compiz working again with ATI Radeon X1650

Attached is the working xorg.conf (not tidied sorry, but works for me). Certainly don't overwrite your xorg.conf file - but if you look for the differences you might find out what the key is.

[Morris Johns (morris-johns)]

Attached is a copy of the non-working xorg.conf (gives white-screen when compiz started).

[adese (adese0)]

FIXED!

So I now have the final 8.04 running on my system. This fix should also work for the beta versions and maybe the alphas.

To get it working I simply installed :

linux-restricted-modules 2.6.24.16.18

which is not installed by default. you have to make sure you have the third party software repos enabled in your repository list for it to show up.

Then simply open "Hardware Drivers" Under System -> Administration

Enable the ATI driver, restart and you should be good to go!

I'm kicking myself how easy this was.

[sc00ter (gosdenj)]

I'm afraid I can't share your joy. Upon following your instructions, I get the black screen, no GDM Login, no CTRL+ALT+F1 etc. only way to get out is CTRL+ALT+SysReq+REISUB combo and restart in recovery mode.

This is within a Wubi environment, so I don't know whether this has anything to do with the lack of success?

[adese (adese0)]

I'm not familiar with the Wubi yet, however any kind of virtualized enviro is going to change the game when it comes to graphics features.

This fix is best to try once you have a complete ubuntu install on your system that you are booted into natively.

[joelholdsworth (joel-airwebreathe)]

I have this problem as well on my Radeon 9800 Pro, both with the radeon and fglrx drivers.

[joelholdsworth (joel-airwebreathe)]

- oh yeah, and I should add that compiz worked perfectly in Gutsy

[adese (adese0)]

joelholdsworth - did you try the FIX yet 3 comments up?

[joelholdsworth (joel-airwebreathe)]

Sadly no, it doesn't help. But you're fix simply enables the fglrx driver, right? and I've tried that already.

BTW: It should be ok for people to test their machines with wubi, because it doesn't virtualise anything. All it does is encapsulate the linux partition inside a windows file on the windows partition.

[adese (adese0)]

Okay so to clarify how I got my fix to work and some info on my system :

Ubuntu 8.04 Final DVD
20" iMac
2ghz Core Duo (32bit)
2gb RAM
256mb ATI x1600 Radeon

After a fresh install of Ubuntu from the 8.04 DVD, I enabled the 3rd Party repositories to my repository list. Ran apt-get update (Reload Lists). Opened Synaptic and searched for linux-restricted. Then I installed :

linux-restricted-modules (Version : 2.6.24.16.18)

and nothing else. This was not installed by default. After doing this, I opened the Hardware Drivers under System -> Administration

Enabled the ATI Driver

Restart and all set. It MAY fail on the first login (possibility) just login again and it should go the second time.

Like many of you, Compiz worked perfectly for me under 7.10. Enabling the restricted drivers also fixed my wireless issue (bcm43xx). Before this, my wireless was broken in 8.04 when it wasn't in 7.10.

SO why am I posting this again? Well I wanted to clarify that I am doing a clean install and am booting natively under GRUB with no Wubi or anything. I don't know how much this counts, however you know how things can be.

[sigve (sigve)]

Hi!

My compiz was working just fine with my hardy 8.04, ATI catalyst 8.5 drivers and my Mobility Radeon HD 2300 until I updated my system with the following packages today:

desktop-file-utils (0.15-1ubuntu3) to 0.15-1ubuntu4
gnome-about (1:2.22.2-0ubuntu1) to 1:2.22.2-0ubuntu2
gnome-desktop-data (1:2.22.2-0ubuntu1) to 1:2.22.2-0ubuntu2
gthumb (3:2.10.6-0ubuntu4) to 3:2.10.8-0ubuntu1
libgnome-desktop-2 (1:2.22.2-0ubuntu1) to 1:2.22.2-0ubuntu2

Then I got the same issue as described above: white screen when logging in. I then deactivated compiz and all was fine. Whenever I try to reactivate it I get the white screen.

I am pretty sure the problems occured after installing the updates mentioned above, but it might also be due to some updates I did yesterday. They seem a bit more related to the graphics card, but I don't use fgrlx - I use the proprietary driver from ATI and I have rebooted after having installed these without any white screen appearing:

gecko-mediaplayer (0.6.0-0ubuntu1) to 0.6.0-0ubuntu1.1
gtkhtml3.14 (3.18.1-0ubuntu1) to 3.18.2-0ubuntu1
gvfs (0.2.3-0ubuntu5) to 0.2.4-0ubuntu1
gvfs-backends (0.2.3-0ubuntu5) to 0.2.4-0ubuntu1
gvfs-fuse (0.2.3-0ubuntu5) to 0.2.4-0ubuntu1
libgtkhtml3.14-19 (3.18.1-0ubuntu1) to 3.18.2-0ubuntu1
libgvfscommon0 (0.2.3-0ubuntu5) to 0.2.4-0ubuntu1
linux-restricted-modules-common (2.6.24.12-17.36) to 2.6.24.13-18.41
seahorse (2.22.1-0ubuntu2) to 2.22.2-0ubuntu1
xorg-driver-fglrx (1:7.1.0-8-3+2.6.24.12-17.36) to 1:7.1.0-8-3+2.6.24.13-18.41
xorg-driver-fglrx-dev (1:7.1.0-8-3+2.6.24.12-17.36) to 1:7.1.0-8-3+2.6.24.13-18.41

[Ignacio Manzano (imanzano)]

Morris Johns was right, I fixed my ubuntu by writing his code at the end of /etc/X11/xorg.conf .

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "disable"
EndSection

I have found information about it too at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI

Thank you very much

[sigve (sigve)]

It worked out for me when I reinstalled the proprietary ATI-driver I downloaded from their site. Compiz now works flawlessly!

[Alberto Milone (albertomilone)]

You could try the latest version of the fglrx driver and see if it fixes the problem.

Can you enable the hardy-proposed and hardy-updates repositories, install EnvyNG so as to install the latest release of the driver?

If you can still reproduce the problem then you should report the problem to ATI:
http://ati.cchtml.com/

[Mario Limonciello (superm1)]

as indicated the latest version from the website works, and this is in intrepid.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

The xorg.conf at http://launchpadlibrarian.net/13834790/xorg.conf and attached to this bug is problematic for the following reason:
There cannot be Broken References:
{'Device': {'aticonfig-Device[0]': None}, 'InputDevice': {}, 'Screen': {}, 'Monitor': {}, 'ServerLayout': {}}