Standard 9600 fix??

[lhcpr]

Hi there,

 

Firstly, just letting you know that i am an EXTREME newbie to linux. Have installed Mandrake 9.2 on system with Radeon 9600XT graphics card. After booting to linux, the screen does a flashing thing (familiar??), then command asks for local host login. I've put password in and typed 'startx'. Following this an error msg ('no screens detected) is displayed and will not start the linux desktop.

 

Now, after reading many a forum, it seems that i'm not alone. Despite the fact that numerous people are experiencing problems with the 9600 series cards, one thing is quite clear; this problem has never been adquately addressed, nor is there a "standard" fix.

 

So, what to do??? Anyone got any ideas??? Also, many people have repoted that the latest linux ATI driver's do not correct this problem adequately.????

 

Keeping in mind that I'm a newb any, any help would be great (preferably spelt out so a 5yr old could understand :-)

 

Cheers, Graham Buchanan

[Pzatch]

What have you tried to do to get this card working?

[Lfsve82]

They way that you get it to work is that you have to set the graphics driver as the Radeon (fbdev) and then you have to set the resolution to only 800x600. Then test it. It should work. I have the 9600 Pro, that is how I got it to work. I still haven't been able to load the ATI drivers from the ATI site yet though so that I can get a higher resolution

[lhcpr]

Hi again,

 

Sorry it's been a while since I've followed up my original post. Been flat out.

 

Anyway, so far I have been able to get linux to boot by changing the Radeon driver to the fbdev option and lowering my screen resolution to 800x600. This way I can get 2d, but no 3d acceleration. I've tried increasing the resolution and this is not liked either.

 

My next port of call will be to install ATI's 9600 linux drivers (downloaded as an rpm package) and see if this helps me out. But, as Lfsve82 and other users have found out, this does not correct the problem. I will give it a try and see what happens for me. I have downloaded this file in WinXP and burnt it to a CD. I take it that I will be able to install the rpm package by mounting the CD then running the ATI rpm package file?? Is this correct???? I thought this would be the simplist option since I'm not very confident or knowlegable on the linux front yet.

 

Any ideas, thoughts or corrections guys??? It seems that there are many people out there having problems with their 9600's so I'm sure someone has the answer.

 

Cheers,

 

Graham Buchanan

[lhcpr]

Ok, here's when I'm up to.

 

I've downloaded the ATI driver, which is in an rpm package, onto a WinXP system then burnt the file to CD. I copied this file to /root/tmp (have SU permissions; file is named atidriver.rpm) using the Konqueror interface in X, then tried to run the rpm package from the command terminal. As per ATI documentation, I ran the command (whilst in the /root/tmp directory):

 

rpm -i --force <atidriver.rpm>.rpm and get the msg "No packages available" or something along those lines.

 

Also tried:

 

rpm -Uhv --force <atidriver.rpm>.rpm and rpm -i --force <atidriver>.rpm

 

Anyway, went back into Konqueror interface and was able to run the rpm package by double clicking on it. I then got a msg about "dependencies" or something like that (cancelled unpacking rpm). This issue is mentioned in the ATI documentation, and apparently the use of the --force overcomes this problem. But, as mentioned earlier, I cant get this command to run??

 

I guess the moral to the story is that I need to run the rpm package with the --force switch as indicated by ATI, but must be doing something wrong. Since the rpm can be unpacked by double clicking the icon in Konqueror interface, I guess this means that there is no problem with the package itself. Its all me and my fuzzy brain.

 

Could you offer a dumbass any help guys??? :)

 

Cheers,

 

Graham Buchanan

[stealthkk]

Does this workaround apply to the radeon 9700 pro as well?

[Pzatch]

try installing it from the commandline. You have far more control that way.

[lhcpr]

Alrighty then,

 

have worked out what the problem was and ran the rpm package from the command line. I've install the driver ok (as far as I'm aware), but no 3D available (ran flgrxinfo and shows no use of the agp module). Also, when I ran flgrxconfig I selected enable the AGPGART module (not sure if this is right tho???; all the other settings r ok I think).

 

As far as the 9700 is concerned, I guess its in the same boat as the 9600 unless there is better hardware support for it built in (drivers r same from ATI's site).

 

Anyone been able to get 3D with a 9600 card or anyone know how to do it???

 

Cheers,

 

Graham Buchanan

[The_Maestro]

i tried what u said and i think it works.

 

-i downloaded the drivers from ati

-forced the RPM install

-then it worte some info at the end it wrote "enter fglrxconfig...."

well i entered it and follwoed the intracutions

and now i am able to use larger resolutions and see some 3d apps

i think its because some thing called Messa that i installed when i install MDK

 

Try to install it

i think it helped me

 

by the way i have a Tyan Radeon 9600 pro

[FD583]

Hi,

 

I have a Radeon 9600 Pro and I have got it working, with DRI (aka 3D rendering) activated (good test for knowing that: try playing Chromium! Won't be playable without 3D rendering).

 

As others have said, you have to download the latest ATI driver (I use version 3.7.0), intall it as root and force option. Check insall's output: it should say that if you want 3D you have to go to /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod and run "./make.sh" then go to /lib/modules/fglrx and run ./make_install.sh. Do it !

 

You will run into trouble running ./make.sh if you have no kernel sources installed: install them in this case (they are to be found in Developer/Developer/Other categoy in rpmdrake, launchable from Config/package menu of kde, package is named kernel-source-2.4.22-??mdk). You have to install the sources exactly corresponding to the kernel you are currently using, otherwise the driver you will build will not be working. If you can not find your kernel source, install kernel source of a later version, and recompile and install your new kernel! (I will not give you all the detail for compiling kernel here, it would be too long.)

 

You may also run into trouble if the make.sh script is unable to correctly detect your source version (message "kernel includes at somePath do not match current kernel."). In such a case, edit the make.sh file. Locate following lines:

 

______________________________________________________________

 

if [ `echo $OsRelease | grep smp -c` -ne 0 ];

then

if [ "$OsRelease" = "${kernel_release}smp" ];

then

hit=1

fi

fi

fi

 

if [ $hit -eq 0 ]

then

echo "Error:" | tee -a

$logfile

echo "kernel includes at $linuxincludes do not match current kernel." | tee -a

$logfile

echo "they are versioned as \"$kernel_release\"" | tee -a

$logfile

 

_______________________________________________

 

And insert "hit = 1" as shown below:

 

_______________________________________________

 

fi

fi

 

# Bidouille fred

hit=1

# Fin bidouille fred

 

if [ $hit -eq 0 ]

then

echo "Error:"

 

_______________________________________________

 

Again, be sure you really have the good sources for your kernel, otherwise your driver will not work.

 

 

If you manage to success in preceding steps, you now just have to set up your XFree 86 config (fglrxconfig should do that, if my rememberings are right) then log on a regular user and launch x (not under root please!).

Edited August 28, 2004 by FD583