VL 7.2 RC2 LIGHT - notebook ATI video failure issue [SOLVED]

[Doug Brunelle]

Hi guys,

For the past week or so, I've been installing various versions of Vector Linux on my (old- circa 2003) emachines M6809 notebook computer. This has a Mobile AMD Athlon 64 CPU, 1.25 GB RAM, and an integrated ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 GPU. 

When I run VL 7.2 RC2 STD (64) edition, the graphics display comes up with no problem.  But, under icewm on 7.2 RC2 LIGHT, it only boots into text mode, with some errors in the log files.  I'm wondering if I can get this ATI graphics working with icewm...?

Log files-- on bootup, it appears from the 'dmesg' log that the 'radeon' driver is being loaded (output from dmesg | grep radeon):

Code: [Select]

[   15.526915] [drm] radeon kernel modesetting enabled.
[   15.527151] fb: switching to radeondrmfb from simple
[   15.532987] radeon 0000:01:00.0: putting AGP V3 device into 8x mode
[   15.532993] radeon 0000:01:00.0: GTT: 256M 0xE0000000 - 0xEFFFFFFF
[   15.533018] radeon 0000:01:00.0: VRAM: 128M 0x00000000D8000000 - 0x00000000DFFFFFFF (64M used)
[   15.534736] [drm] radeon: 64M of VRAM memory ready
[   15.534741] [drm] radeon: 256M of GTT memory ready.
[   15.534843] [drm] radeon: power management initialized
[   15.534919] [drm] radeon: 1 quad pipes, 1 Z pipes initialized.
[   15.537505] radeon 0000:01:00.0: WB disabled
[   15.537511] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 0 use gpu addr 0x00000000e0000000 and cpu addr 0xffffc90000062000
[   15.537620] [drm] radeon: irq initialized.
[   16.038477] [drm] radeon: ring at 0x00000000E0001000
[   16.256709] fbcon: radeondrmfb (fb0) is primary device
[   16.539400] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fb0: radeondrmfb frame buffer device
[   16.542090] [drm] Initialized radeon 2.43.0 20080528 for 0000:01:00.0 on minor 0
Output from /var/log/gdm/:0.log:

Code: [Select]

X.Org X Server 1.18.1
Release Date: 2016-02-08
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Vectorlinux 7.2 VectorLinux Project
Current Operating System: Linux vector.linux.vnet 4.4.71 #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jun 7 14:17:48 CDT 2017 x86_64
Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.71 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/ba11fc7d-b630-474f-89ba-77366431a7b2 ro quiet splash vga=788
Build Date: 23 May 2016  12:01:31PM
 
Current version of pixman: 0.32.6
Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Tue Jun 13 19:53:00 2017
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
vesa: Ignoring device with a bound kernel driver
(EE)
Fatal server error:
(EE) no screens found(EE)
(EE)
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.
(EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
(EE)
(EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.
And output from /var/log/Xorg.0.log:

Code: [Select]

[    62.636]
X.Org X Server 1.18.1
Release Date: 2016-02-08
[    62.636] X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
[    62.636] Build Operating System: Vectorlinux 7.2 VectorLinux Project
[    62.636] Current Operating System: Linux vector.linux.vnet 4.4.71 #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jun 7 14:17:48 CDT 2017 x86_64
[    62.636] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.71 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/ba11fc7d-b630-474f-89ba-77366431a7b2 ro quiet splash vga=788
[    62.636] Build Date: 23 May 2016  12:01:31PM
[    62.636] 
[    62.636] Current version of pixman: 0.32.6
[    62.637] Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
[    62.637] Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[    62.637] (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Tue Jun 13 19:53:00 2017
[    62.638] (==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
[    62.638] (==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[    62.639] (==) ServerLayout "X.org Configured"
[    62.639] (**) |-->Screen "Screen0" (0)
[    62.639] (**) |   |-->Monitor "Monitor0"
[    62.640] (**) |   |-->Device "Card0"
[    62.640] (**) |-->Input Device "Mouse0"
[    62.640] (**) |-->Input Device "Keyboard0"
[    62.640] (==) Automatically adding devices
[    62.640] (==) Automatically enabling devices
[    62.640] (==) Automatically adding GPU devices
[    62.640] (==) Max clients allowed: 256, resource mask: 0x1fffff
[    62.640] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/local" does not exist.
[    62.640] Entry deleted from font path.
[    62.640] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/CID" does not exist.
[    62.640] Entry deleted from font path.
[    62.640] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/local" does not exist.
[    62.640] Entry deleted from font path.
[    62.641] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/CID" does not exist.
[    62.641] Entry deleted from font path.
[    62.641] (**) FontPath set to:
/usr/share/fonts/TTF,
/usr/share/fonts/OTF,
/usr/share/fonts/Type1,
/usr/share/fonts/misc,
/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/75dpi,
/usr/share/fonts/100dpi,
/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic,
/usr/share/fonts/TTF,
/usr/share/fonts/OTF,
/usr/share/fonts/Type1,
/usr/share/fonts/misc,
/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/75dpi,
/usr/share/fonts/100dpi,
/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic
[    62.641] (**) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib64/xorg/modules"
[    62.641] (WW) Hotplugging is on, devices using drivers 'kbd', 'mouse' or 'vmmouse' will be disabled.
[    62.641] (WW) Disabling Mouse0
[    62.641] (WW) Disabling Keyboard0
[    62.641] (II) Loader magic: 0x808d00
[    62.641] (II) Module ABI versions:
[    62.641] X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.4
[    62.641] X.Org Video Driver: 20.0
[    62.641] X.Org XInput driver : 22.1
[    62.641] X.Org Server Extension : 9.0
[    62.643] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card0)
[    62.649] (--) PCI:*(0:1:0:0) 1002:4e50:161f:2032 rev 0, Mem @ 0xd8000000/134217728, 0xd0100000/65536, I/O @ 0x00002000/256, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072
[    62.650] (II) Open ACPI successful (/var/run/acpid.socket)
[    62.650] (II) "glx" will be loaded. This was enabled by default and also specified in the config file.
[    62.650] (II) LoadModule: "glx"
[    62.651] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so
[    62.664] (II) Module glx: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[    62.664] compiled for 1.18.1, module version = 1.0.0
[    62.664] ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 9.0
[    62.664] (==) AIGLX enabled
[    62.664] (II) LoadModule: "vesa"
[    62.665] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so
[    62.665] (II) Module vesa: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[    62.665] compiled for 1.18.1, module version = 2.3.4
[    62.665] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[    62.665] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 20.0
[    62.665] (II) VESA: driver for VESA chipsets: vesa
[    62.665] (++) using VT number 7

[    62.727] vesa: Ignoring device with a bound kernel driver
[    62.727] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for vesa
[    62.727] (EE) Screen 0 deleted because of no matching config section.
[    62.727] (II) UnloadModule: "vesa"
[    62.727] (EE) Device(s) detected, but none match those in the config file.
[    62.727] (EE)
Fatal server error:
[    62.727] (EE) no screens found(EE)
[    62.728] (EE)
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.
[    62.728] (EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
[    62.728] (EE)
[    62.794] (EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.
I have tried running vxconf with the various options, but it always fails and exits the script before the card is properly set up.
Output of startx after running the vxconf option "VXCONF Auto probe to setup xorg.conf" :

Code: [Select]

hostname: Host name lookup failure
xauth:  file /root/.serverauth.6358 does not exist


X.Org X Server 1.18.1
Release Date: 2016-02-08
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Vectorlinux 7.2 VectorLinux Project
Current Operating System: Linux vector.linux.vnet 4.4.71 #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jun 7 14:17:48 CDT 2017 x86_64
Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.71 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/ba11fc7d-b630-474f-89ba-77366431a7b2 ro quiet splash vga=788
Build Date: 23 May 2016  12:01:31PM
 
Current version of pixman: 0.32.6
Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Tue Jun 13 20:48:40 2017
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
vesa: Ignoring device with a bound kernel driver
(EE)
Fatal server error:
(EE) no screens found(EE)
(EE)
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.
(EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
(EE)
(EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.
xinit: giving up
xinit: unable to connect to X server: Connection refused
xinit: server error
Is there any other information that I could include to help troubleshoot this issue?  I'd be glad to provide it. 
Thanks!
--db

[nightflier]

Doug, try installing "glamor-egl" and see if that makes a difference.

If slapt-get/gslapt doesn't do it, the packages are here:
64-bit: http://vlcore.vectorlinux.com/pkg/untested/veclinux-7.2/x86_64/glamor-egl-0.6.0-x86_64-1vl72.txz
32-bit: http://vlcore.vectorlinux.com/pkg/untested/veclinux-7.2/x86/glamor-egl-0.6.0-i586-1vl72.txz

[Doug Brunelle]

Nightflier, thanks for the info.  I installed the glamor-egl package yesterday, and up until just a little while ago, it didn't seem to do anything different, as far as the X system errors is concerned.. It's kinda funny, but today, I was just poking around using the command line to do various things- the integrated Broadcom B43 wireless card was not working, either, on this emachines notebook.  So I used wpa_supplicant to get it working, used lynx text-based browser to look around the Web, etc..  I say funny, because after hours of playing around and learning stuff on the command line, I ran vxconf again, just for grins.  Lo and behold, it actually got past the first part of the script, and brought me to the screen resolution section!

So I ran the rest of the vxconf setup and exited.  Running startx, the graphic display came up!  But as others have noted, a lot of the menu selections were missing, because I was logged in as root.  I rebooted the machine and logged in as a regular user.  Everything looks fine now.  I installed xombrero, which I'm using now for the VL forum. 

Apparently, it took a couple of reboots for the glamor-egl package to do its voodoo... thanks for the suggestion.  VL 7.2 RC2 LIGHT and icewm are running fine now on this emachines M6809. 

--db

[Doug Brunelle]

 

[nightflier]

Very nice! Persistence pays, good job working it out. 

[nightflier]

a lot of the menu selections were missing, because I was logged in as root.

Running the GUI as root is generally discouraged. We purposefully make root's interface somewhat unappealing.

But nothing is stopping you from clicking Start -> IceWM -> "Make Menu".   

[M0E-lnx]

Awesome!  Glad you worked it out.

As a suggestion, you may want to dump a copy of your /var/log/pkgtools somewhere.  It contains a log of what packages got installed.  This may help you in the future if you run into it. 

[Doug Brunelle]

Thank you all! Yes, I'll back up some directories to an external hard disk for reference.  Or maybe the whole installation- it's not huge. 3.7 GB at this point.  :-D  I'll try the Xarchiver- I noticed that in the Accessories menu.

Btw I'm really liking the little informational widgets in the system tray that are installed by default.  I can see what's going on with the system at a glance- nice!