Odd graphical glitches and freezes

[Tracer Bullet]

I'm very new to Linux and Mandriva, so bear with me please. :)

 

I have a Radeon X300 PCI Express video card in my system, and have installed Mandriva 2006. I know from experience that if I try to use the "fglrx" driver under Vendors-Radeon, X Window can't boot, so to get around this problem I'm using the generic "Radeon" driver found under "Xorg"- however, I have been getting strange graphical glitches and occasional freezes which require a reboot.

 

I downloaded and installed the ATI driver, but that doesn't seem to have fixed anything, and I've read through some of the Radeon threads around here, but none of them have had this problem- they're all mostly opengl and 3D rendering issues. I'm not worried about getting that working (yet), I just want a stable system!

 

Here is a screenshot so you can see what I'm talking about. The yellow areas are the glitches.

[tyme]

did you update xorg via the software updater in Mandriva Control Center?

 

I believe there was a plan to provide an update to fix some of these issues after the final xorg 6.9.0 was release, atleast, according to this thread.

[Tracer Bullet]

Okay, I updated xorg, but the glitches haven't gone away. Interestingly enough, on a hunch I switched my screen resolution from 1280x1024 to 1024x768 and the glitches are gone. However, I'd really like to run it at the former. How can I fix this?

Edited February 20, 2006 by Tracer Bullet

[tyme]

could you post your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file so I can take a look at it?

[Tracer Bullet]

Here you go:

 

# File generated by XFdrake.

 

# **********************************************************************

# Refer to the XF86Config man page for details about the format of

# this file.

# **********************************************************************

 

Section "Files"

# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)

# By default, Mandrake 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of

# the X server to render fonts.

FontPath "unix/:-1"

EndSection

 

Section "ServerFlags"

#DontZap # disable <Crtl><Alt><BS> (server abort)

AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does not work

#DontZoom # disable <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)

EndSection

 

Section "Module"

Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension

Load "v4l" # Video for Linux

Load "extmod"

Load "type1"

Load "freetype"

Load "glx" # 3D layer

EndSection

 

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "Keyboard1"

Driver "keyboard"

Option "XkbModel" "pc105"

Option "XkbLayout" "us"

Option "XkbOptions" "compose:rwin"

EndSection

 

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "Mouse1"

Driver "mouse"

Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"

Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"

Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7"

EndSection

 

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "monitor1"

VendorName "Plug'n Play"

ModelName "DELL E193FP"

HorizSync 31-83

VertRefresh 56-76

 

# Monitor preferred modeline (60.0 Hz vsync, 64.0 kHz hsync, ratio 5/4)

ModeLine "1280x1024" 108 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync

 

# TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.

# 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync

ModeLine "768x576" 50.00 768 832 846 1000 576 590 595 630

 

# 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync

ModeLine "768x576" 63.07 768 800 960 1024 576 578 590 616

EndSection

 

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "monitor2"

VendorName "Dell"

ModelName "Dell E193FP"

HorizSync 31.0-83.0

VertRefresh 56.0-76.0

 

# Monitor preferred modeline (60.0 Hz vsync, 64.0 kHz hsync, ratio 5/4)

ModeLine "1280x1024" 108 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync

 

# TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.

# 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync

ModeLine "768x576" 50.00 768 832 846 1000 576 590 595 630

 

# 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync

ModeLine "768x576" 63.07 768 800 960 1024 576 578 590 616

EndSection

 

Section "Device"

Identifier "device1"

Driver "radeon"

Screen 0

Option "DPMS"

EndSection

 

Section "Device"

Identifier "device2"

VendorName "ATI"

BoardName "ATI Radeon (fglrx)"

Driver "ati"

Screen 0

BusID "PCI:1:0:1"

Option "DPMS"

EndSection

 

Section "Screen"

Identifier "screen1"

Device "device1"

Monitor "monitor1"

DefaultColorDepth 16

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 8

Virtual 1024 768

EndSubsection

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 15

Virtual 1024 768

EndSubsection

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 16

Virtual 1024 768

EndSubsection

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 24

Virtual 1024 768

EndSubsection

EndSection

 

Section "Screen"

Identifier "screen2"

Device "device2"

Monitor "monitor2"

DefaultColorDepth 16

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 8

Virtual 1024 768

EndSubsection

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 15

Virtual 1024 768

EndSubsection

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 16

Virtual 1024 768

EndSubsection

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 24

Virtual 1024 768

EndSubsection

EndSection

 

Section "ServerLayout"

Identifier "layout1"

InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"

InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"

Screen "screen1"

Screen "screen2" RightOf "screen1"

#Option "Xinerama"

EndSection

[tyme]

I would suggest changing your screen1 section to this:

Section "Screen"

Identifier "screen1"

Device "device1"

Monitor "monitor1"

DefaultColorDepth 24

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 8

Virtual 1024 768

EndSubsection

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 15

Virtual 1024 768

EndSubsection

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 16

Virtual 1024 768

EndSubsection

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 24

Virtual 1280x1024

EndSubsection

EndSection

changes are bolded. one question: do you have two screens? I.E. a monitor and a tv, or another monitor?

[Tracer Bullet]

No, I have one monitor. Thanks for this, I will try it. However, when I try to save the modified xorg.conf file, it won't let me. If I go into the console, type "su" and then do /etc/X11/xorg.conf, it says "permission denied". Shouldn't I be able to modify this file as root?

[tyme]

well, you would have to edit the file with an editor (vi, nano, kedit) as root. as root, yes, you should have the ability to edit it.

[Tracer Bullet]

I made those changes you suggested, and the glitches are blue now... and my desktop background is solid blue. Is there anything else I should change?