Can't detect second monitor [ATI HD 3870, dual-head, sax2]

English Hardware
1

Here’s the problem:

I’ve successfully installed the latest catalyst drivers by making rpm for my version (not “1-click” yast install) and 3d and other stuff works fine. The problem is that I can’t detect the second monitor I have. The catalyst control center sees it, but sax2 does not. And so I have no options to configure a dual-head setup. It doesn’t matter what I do the second monitor always stays as clone. The configuration that appears in xorg.conf is incorrect as well (bad detection?) and the second monitor definition is missing.

Any ideas what could I do?

my config:

openSUSE v11.1 (up to date, kernel 2.6.27.23-0.1-pae)
Catalyst Control Center v2.7
- 2D Driver v8.62.4
- OpenGL v2.1.8673

thanks in advance :slight_smile:

xorg.conf overriden by catalyst:

# /.../
# SaX generated X11 config file
# Created on: 2009-06-30T23:20:55-0500.
#
# Version: 8.1
# Contact: Marcus Schaefer <sax@suse.de>, 2005
# Contact: SaX-User list <https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/sax-users>
#
# Automatically generated by [ISaX] (8.1)
# PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE!
#

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "Layout[all]"
	Screen      0  "amdcccle-Screen[1]-0" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Keyboard[0]" "CoreKeyboard"
	InputDevice    "Mouse[1]" "CorePointer"
	Option	    "Clone" "off"
	Option	    "Xinerama" "off"
EndSection

Section "Files"
	InputDevices   "/dev/gpmdata"
	InputDevices   "/dev/input/mice"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/local"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/URW"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Speedo"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/PEX"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/latin2/misc:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/latin2/75dpi:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/latin2/100dpi:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/latin2/Type1"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/latin7/75dpi:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/baekmuk:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/japanese:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/kwintv"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/uni:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/CID"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ucs/misc:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ucs/75dpi:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ucs/100dpi:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/hellas/misc:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/hellas/75dpi:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/hellas/100dpi:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/hellas/Type1"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc/sgi:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/xtest"
	FontPath     "/opt/kde3/share/fonts"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load  "dbe"
	Load  "freetype"
	Load  "extmod"
	Load  "glx"
	Load  "dri"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
	Option	    "AIGLX" "on"
	Option	    "AllowMouseOpenFail" "on"
	Option	    "IgnoreABI" "on"
	Option	    "ZapWarning" "on"
	Option	    "Xinerama" "off"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Keyboard[0]"
	Driver      "kbd"
	Option	    "Protocol" "Standard"
	Option	    "XkbLayout" "us"
	Option	    "XkbModel" "microsoftpro"
	Option	    "XkbRules" "xfree86"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Mouse[1]"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option	    "Buttons" "10"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
	Option	    "Name" "Microsoft Optical Mouse with Tilt Wheel"
	Option	    "Protocol" "explorerps/2"
	Option	    "Vendor" "Sysp"
	Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Modes"
	Identifier     "Modes[0]"
	ModeLine     "1280x1024" 108.0 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Monitor[0]"
	VendorName   "SAM"
	ModelName    "SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER"
	UseModes     "Modes[0]"
	DisplaySize  376	301
	HorizSync    30.0 - 81.0
	VertRefresh  43.0 - 75.0
	Option	    "CalcAlgorithm" "XServerPool"
	Option	    "DPMS"
	Option	    "PreferredMode" "1280x1024"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "amdcccle-Monitor[1]-0"
	Option	    "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
	Option	    "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
	Option	    "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "amdcccle-Monitor[1]-1"
	Option	    "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
	Option	    "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
	Option	    "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Device[0]"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	VendorName  "ATI"
	BoardName   "ATI Radeon HD3870"
	Option	    "SaXDualHead"
	Option	    "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps" "true"
	Option	    "Capabilities" "0x00000000"
	Option	    "SaXDualOrientation" "LeftOf"
	Option	    "SaXDualMode" "Xinerama"
	Option	    "ForceMonitors" "auto,crt1"
	Option	    "SaXDualHSync" "30-81"
	Option	    "SaXDualMonitorModel" "SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER"
	Option	    "SaXDualVSync" "50-75"
	Option	    "VRefresh2" "50-75"
	Option	    "Mode2" "1680x1050,1600x1024,1600x1000,1400x1050,1600x900,1280x1024,1440x900,1280x960,1366x768,1360x768,1280x800,1152x864,1280x768,1280x720,1024x768,1280x600,1024x600,800x600,768x576,640x480"
	Option	    "OpenGLOverlay" "off"
	Option	    "FSAAScale" "0"
	Option	    "FSAAEnable" "off"
	Option	    "VideoOverlay" "on"
	Option	    "SaXDualMonitorVendor" "SAM"
	Option	    "HSync2" "30-81"
	Option	    "DesktopSetup" "Horizontal"
	Option	    "SaXDualResolution" "1680x1050"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "amdcccle-Device[1]-0"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "amdcccle-Device[1]-1"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
	Screen      1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen[0]"
	Device     "Device[0]"
	Monitor    "Monitor[0]"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth     15
		Modes    "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1280x720" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth     16
		Modes    "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1280x720" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth     24
		Modes    "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1280x720" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth     8
		Modes    "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1280x720" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "amdcccle-Screen[1]-0"
	Device     "amdcccle-Device[1]-0"
	Monitor    "amdcccle-Monitor[1]-0"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "amdcccle-Screen[1]-1"
	Device     "amdcccle-Device[1]-1"
	Monitor    "amdcccle-Monitor[1]-1"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
	Group        "video"
	Mode         0660
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
	Option	    "Composite" "on"
EndSection

fglrxinfo:

display: :0.0  screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon HD 3870
OpenGL version string: 2.1.8673
2

Forget using sax2 with proprietary driver. Use ‘aticonfig’ utility instead.

Good Gentoo-based HOW TO. See proprietary driver section.

With the second display plugged in, see what ‘xrandr’ command reports. It should detect second display automatically.
I can’t offer any further specific advice, but you may need to google for more info. Good luck.

3

Thanks for advice. Though I couldn’t solve any of my problems using the gentoo docs (always respected the gentoo distro btw. Sometimes I just want to forget all this suse thing and just get back to it, and then I remember the days and even weeks of configs and compilation, and I say NO, even if it’s worse).

I’ve noticed some time ago that ati driver overrides sax2 config. I was able to achieve the same thing they do in that howto by setting the second screen as primary and then correcting the resolutions just using CCC. Still I need this **** xinerama, if not - there is no point in having 2 displays: any window opened on the first screen appears in the primary (2nd in my case) display area only.

I remember that some time ago I was able to do all this correctly and sax2 showed 2 monitors as well. That was with an older driver of course, and probably not with suse v11, but v10.X. Still it was the same hardware, and I doubt it all have changed so much with newer kernel and drivers.

Btw, any recomendation for the catalyst version? Right now I tried to use latest&gr…appiest (9.6), but I am fully aware of the “fine” job ATI was doing with the drivers releases for the last 2 years. Any proved and stable one? Actually the only reason I want it exactly with ati drivers is because of cedega/wine dx games emulation (EVE-Online for ex.). So maybe I’m wrong and there is a simplier and more stable solution to this?

Meanwhile I’ll try to reinstall it all from the scratch, this time with KDE…