Intrepid daily, X Server hangs on ATI Radeon 9200 SE RV280

[HugoHirsch]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg

The current daily build with 2.6.27-3-generic fails to load X - the screen remains black/empty. /etc/X11/xorg.conf is empty.

A running hardy xorg.conf is attached - hth.

lspci: on a running hardy says:
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8377 [KT400/KT600 AGP] Host Bridge (rev 80)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI Bridge
00:0a.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 0a)
00:0a.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Live! Game Port (rev 0a)
00:0d.0 Network controller: AVM Audiovisuelles MKTG & Computer System GmbH A1 ISDN [Fritz] (rev 02)
00:0e.0 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 43)
00:0e.1 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 43)
00:0e.2 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB 2.0 (rev 04)
00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 82)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge
00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 74)
00:13.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 02)
00:13.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 SE] (rev 01)
01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 SE] (Secondary) (rev 01)

processor : 0
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 6
model : 10
model name : AMD Athlon(TM) XP 2600+

If I start the live cd in "simple graphics mode" X starts after a while, but goes blank as soon as I touch my mouse.

System is a 2 hdd raid1, current hardy kernel is
Linux 2.6.24-19-generic #1 SMP Wed Aug 20 22:56:21 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

You shouldn't need to run vesa on it. If you comment out the "vesa" and Busid lines from xorg.conf, does it work in hardy then? It should use the ati driver automatically. If not, attach /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

Sorry for the misunderstanding:
hardy works fine (is running currently).

The thing is that intrepid does not work.
The intrepid xorg.conf is empty - no recognition of screen or display driver is happening.

I verified this with daily build 2008-09-18 (kernel 2.6.27-3) as described above.

In daily build 2008-09-23 (kernel 2.6.27-4) X11 does not work neither partly in safe graphics mode nor in normal mode.

Hardy is not the problem :-)

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

That's not what I asked. Your xorg.conf from hardy uses a different driver than intrepid does by default. I wanted to know how hardy works with the ati driver and if there is a regression from hardy..

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

Tried out ati only on hardy (commented out all vesa-lines in xorg.xonf): works fine.

Attached all requested logs from alpha6 in an archive.

[Rune K. Svendsen (runeks)]

I'm a little confused here. When the error appears in Intrepid, you aren't using the "vesa" driver are you?

Could you try doing the following? I want to see if this bug is a duplicate of the bug I've reported (Bug #272877). Basically, when the black/empty screen appears you try to get to a terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1, stopping GDM, then changing the driver to "vesa" in xorg.conf, and starting GDM again. Here's a more detailed description:

You can change the driver to "vesa" by getting to a console by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 (do this when the black/empty screen appears). Then shut down GDM by typing:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

Then you edit the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf with for example 'nano' by typing:

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

There should be a "Device"-section (if there isn't just copy the text from below into the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf) that looks like this (there might be more lines of text between "Section" and "EndSection", but mine just looks like this when using the Intrepid Alpha 6 Live CD):

Section "Device"
 Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

In this section add a line with the text "Driver "vesa"". Doing so with the example above would make it look like this:

Section "Device"
 Identifier "Configured Video Device"
 Driver "vesa"
EndSection

Save the file and exit nano.

Now start GDM again by typing:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

Any changes?

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

It's not an exact duplicate of #272877.

Changing the driver (with alpha6) to vesa or ati gives a correct picture for approx. 1 second - after that the screen turns black. If I use ati the screen disappears after moving the mouse.

I attached the log - first change was to vesa, after that to ati. Starting gdm always gives a [failed] although the picture is visible for an instant.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

If you do `chmod a-x /usr/bin/compiz`, will it start up without hanging?

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

This seems to have changed the situation slightly - starting with vesa gives a stable but flickering picture, while driver ati yields a picture for only a second before going black.

Attached you'll find the logs for Intrepid alpha6.

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

Same situation with current beta-iso. Ati does not work, vesa is flickering.

[Taco (tcwitte)]

Using the vesa driver seems to work now. I'm typing this from an up-to-date Intrepid on a system with an ATI Radeon 9200 SE.

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 SE] (rev 01)
01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 SE] (Secondary) (rev 01)

Using the ati driver fails for me too..

[Taco (tcwitte)]

Today's updates make my Radeon work, with the default (empty) xorg.conf. Nice!

Tested with xserver-xorg-video-ati version 1:6.9.0+git20081003.f9826a56-0ubuntu2 (intrepid). I suppose that's the package that counts here.

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

Tried to verify above comment -
intrepid daily 2008-10-17 still not functional.

X doesn't start in either in safe or normal mode. Logs attached.

Driver "vesa" works, while "ati" gives a picture for an instant before the screen disappears - same behaviour as 2008-09-25.

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

Same behaviour with current ubuntu 8.10 release live cd.

Does not work on above graphics card.

[Taco (tcwitte)]

All I can say is that it's very unreliable. Usually it doesn't work for me either, but at this moment it works... (For example my TV card doesn't work with the vesa driver but it works now so it's really using the ati driver.)

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

@Taco, sounds like you may have an unrelated issue.

@Hugo, looking at your logs (thanks for including all of them!) I notice it's picking out this resolution to use:

(II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-0 using initial mode 1400x1050

I'm wondering if the issue may be simply that this resolution is not working properly with your hardware. Perhaps the HW doesn't support it, or perhaps the xserver is associating an invalid modeline for it. Could you follow the 'Workaround' steps at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/Resolution and see if you can force it to start up on -ati with a lower resolution? If that works, then if that is a valid resolution for your hardware we should investigate why it didn't work; if it's not a valid resolution we should figure out why it's being selected.

[Taco (tcwitte)]

Hi Bryce,

> sounds like you may have an unrelated issue.

It's possible yes, I've seen it hang most of the times though. Is there something I can try to find out? I'm using the analog connection at this moment by the way although my LCD screen supports DVI as well so I can try both.

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

Hi Bryce,
thx 4 the rply.

Tried with 8.10-release live image:
a) xrandr --output DVI --mode 1280x1024 in .xprofile
b) a) + driver "ati" in /etc/X11/xorg.conf
=> picture was seen for an instant and disappeared afterwards
c) a) + driver "vesa" in /etc/X11/xorg.conf works fine

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 SE] (rev 01)

Technical data of card is http://ati.amd.com/products/radeon9200/radeon9200/specs.html
Screen is a 19 inch tft with maximum resolution 1280x1024.

HTH

[Robbie G (robbie-cartwood-nee-grimwood)]

Hi,

I have upgraded to intrepid and experienced blank screen at X startup. All was fine under hardy.

In retrospect I should have tried the live CD first - the same thing happens with the intrepid live CD i.e. screen goes blank at X startup. Hardy live CD is fine.

My card is: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 PRO] (rev 01)

I have added driver "ati" and driver "vesa" into xorg.conf but this makes no difference.

My monitor is a (very sweeet) 30" Dell widescreen. I've checked the Xorg.0.log as per earlier posting and the "initial mode" is 1600x1200 i.e. not a problem for this screen.

[Taco (tcwitte)]

Attached are two logs, one of a success (X starts normally) and one of a failure (X hangs). The diff is from failure to success (i.e. the success log is much longer).

Configuration and hardware are identical between the attempts. (Empty xorg.conf, LCD screen attached to analog output.) Tests were performed within 10 minutes of each other.

$ lspci | grep ATI
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 SE] (rev 01)
01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 SE] (Secondary) (rev 01)

$ uname -a
Linux cambyses 2.6.27-7-generic #1 SMP Tue Nov 4 19:33:20 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

Module versions are in the logs.

Is this useful or is other information required?

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

In contrast to Taco I only use my DVI-connection between screen and VGA card - rest should be the same.

[Taco (tcwitte)]

It seems to work with DVI here as well. I rebooted several times but it started successfully every time. Log attached.

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

This is funny - why are you posting in this bug if everything works for you??

Which version did you use? daily? release 8.10?

[Taco (tcwitte)]

Hi Hugo,

> This is funny - why are you posting in this bug if everything works for you??
> Which version did you use? daily? release 8.10?

First, it didn't work at all. Now it works half the time, so half the time it doesn't work. I'm using Intrepid, up-to-date to the day.

[Robbie G (robbie-cartwood-nee-grimwood)]

Some updates regarding my experience. I this case I am only using the live CD to aid replication of the problem.

1) My monitor has only DVI and I get a blank screen every time; I have tried several times with the live CD (and also my hardy to intrepid "upgraded" (X now screwed!) system) but never experience the occasional success like Taco.

2) If I use safe graphics mode I still get a blank screen.

I attach 2 failure logs for normal mode and one for safe graphics mode. I think the only difference in each failure for normal mode is 2 or 3 lines of memory addresses.

[Robbie G (robbie-cartwood-nee-grimwood)]

I also am using the production (>=30 Oct) release for both the failed hardy to intrepid upgrade and the live CD.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

@Taco and @Robbie, neither of you have the same issue that Hugo reported. I'm only going to focus on Hugo's problem in this bug report, so if you want your issues investigated you need to file new bugs.

@Hugo, thanks for testing those things out. However, please run xrandr in your .xprofile using a lower resolution like 1024x768. (We already suspect something's wrong with the 1280x1024 resolution for you, the goal is to see if it can be brought up on -ati on *any* resolution).

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

xrandr ... --mode 800x600 and 1024x768 work fine and give a stable picture on the screen.

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

In addition to
xrandr --output DVI-0 --mode 1024x768 / 800x600 I added Driver "ati" in xorg.conf.

Picture works fine and stays stable.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Excellent, thanks for testing that. Sounds like a borked modeline. This bug should probably go upstream now.

[Robbie G (robbie-cartwood-nee-grimwood)]

Bryce,

Thanks for your efforts. As suggested I've logged my issue as a separate bug. If anyone has my issue or needs to track it, it's logged as follows:

Title: Intrepid Upgrade+Live CD: Radeon RV280 9200 Blank Screen
Location: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/297119

Cheers, Rob

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi Hugo,

I've forwarded your bug upstream at https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18512. Please subscribe to that bug report by adding yourself to its CC field, in case upstream needs further information or wishes you to test something. Thanks ahead of time!

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

Done - thx 4 your help. Let's see how things go :-)

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Upstream's implemented a fix that reworks how resolution occurs.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

er, "how resolution detection occurs".

I've attached the patch, although I think I'm going to wait until we update the server to apply it.

[Steve Beattie (sbeattie)]

This bug was reported in the Intrepid development cycle; removing regression-potential and marking as regression-release.

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

Should be fixed in jaunty.

[Eric Bauer (bauer-nricko)]

Hello,
Excuse my english but i'm french
I had same problem with ati radeon 9200 pro
After test some help on forum, i'm in low graphic
The boot give me possibility to save a log, see on attachment
Some link disapear
I'm on Intrepid Ibex

Thank You

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

Pls file a new bug if this is a different problem! If you are in low graphics mode you have to edit xorg.conf to bring your system up (see above comments).

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

In current jaunty-alpha2 the display does not come up as well -
X starts and fails on DVI-0.

Unfortunately I'm not able to switch to text console - trying to reach a normal terminal shuts down the display. Thus I cannot provide logs or error messages.

In contrast to ubuntu 8.10 the system does not go "black/blank"., but shows the ubuntu dialog to reconfigure X. But the reconfigured X does not come up on the live-cd.

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

Same problem with current jaunty-alpha5. In contrast to alpha4 X comes up in low-graphics mode.

See attached Xorg-logs.

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

In jaunty-beta the problem seems to be fixed. X11 comes up with enhanced desktop effects (wobbly windows) and correct 1280-resolution.

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

When I tried to update the original 8.04.2 to 8.10 I still experienced a problem with X -
the resolution is detected fine, but the screen goes blank if you move the mouse or hit a button.
If I changed console to F1....F6 and returned to X after that I was able to see the screen for the instant of a second.
After that it goes blank again.
In contrast to the behaviour before the tft-display doesn't go into energy saving mode but stays blank.

Since I continued updating to 9.04 I'm up'n'running right now, but the proposed solution seems to only partly solve the problem.

[HugoHirsch (ubuntubugs-aiki-it)]

Due to hardware failures my original system is not alive anymore for verifying whether this bug still occurs - bug should be closed then.