Changed graphics card - now no graphical enviroment

English Hardware
1

Hi,

My GPU died, nVidia Gf8600GT wich had the latest driver installed from nVidia repository. I took the card out and let the integrated AMD Radeon HD3000 do the job but now for some reason I have no graphical enviroment, no login window, its stuck.

I went into recovery mode and uninstalled the nvidia related drivers, no luck. I then went and installed these drivers using the one click install https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AMD_fglrx#1-click_install_64_bits, but still no luck. I can’t get my graphical enviroment back.

I read a ton of ATI related driver tutorials and versions and got so confused that I really don’t know what to do next.

Can you guys guide me ?

Here are the specs,

13.1 X64
AMD Athlon X2
ASUS M4A78-LT-M with integrated Radeon HD 3000 graphics

YAST > Software management shows fglrx64_xpic_SUSE131

2

Probably you have an /etc/X11/xorg.conf that tells X to load the nvidia driver.
Delete that, and the graphical system should come up.

If that doesn’t help, try to select “Failsafe”/“Recovery Mode” (under “Advanced Options”) in the boot menu.

And remove the fglrx driver, it doesn’t support your Radeon HD3000.
The open source radeon driver (included in openSUSE) should work fine though, including 3D support.

3

That’s exactly what I did, well sort of…

I renamed the 20-nvidia.conf in /etc/X11/xprg.conf.d firectory to 20-nvidia.conf.bak and rebooted. It rebooted itself three times while it was suposed to load the login screen and then bam, it loaded fine, even the resolution was ok. Now it it shows this when I enter Kinfo > Graphical > Open GL

Vmware driver ?

855×552 60.7 KB

4

lsmod gives this:

Module                  Size  Used by
fuse                   95850  3 
af_packet              39774  4 
bnep                   19704  2 
bluetooth             396742  5 bnep
rfkill                 26487  2 bluetooth
vboxpci                23227  0 
vboxnetadp             25670  0 
vboxnetflt             23517  0 
vboxdrv               351747  3 vboxpci,vboxnetadp,vboxnetflt
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     45213  1 
joydev                 17332  0 
usblp                  18746  0 
ppdev                  17671  0 
snd_hda_codec_via      27860  1 
snd_hda_intel          48171  7 
snd_hda_codec         205080  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_via,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              13602  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm               110211  4 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
radeon               1309188  2 
kvm_amd                64123  0 
kvm                   469295  1 kvm_amd
snd_seq                69752  0 
ttm                    92265  1 radeon
snd_timer              29423  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device         14497  1 snd_seq
snd                    87417  22 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_via,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
pcspkr                 12718  0 
serio_raw              13413  0 
k10temp                13126  0 
drm_kms_helper         52710  1 radeon
drm                   313440  4 radeon,ttm,drm_kms_helper
soundcore              15047  1 snd
snd_page_alloc         18710  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
edac_core              62342  0 
edac_mce_amd           22617  0 
sr_mod                 22411  0 
i2c_algo_bit           13413  1 radeon
cdrom                  46652  1 sr_mod
sp5100_tco             13979  0 
i2c_piix4              22106  0 
mperf                  12667  0 
r8169                  71677  0 
mii                    13934  1 r8169
shpchp                 32936  0 
parport_pc             37278  0 
parport                46360  2 ppdev,parport_pc
asus_atk0110           18657  0 
wmi                    19070  0 
button                 13952  0 
sg                     40629  0 
dm_mod                 92428  0 
autofs4                42770  2 
processor              44641  0 
thermal_sys            36646  1 processor
ohci_pci               13561  0 
scsi_dh_rdac           17447  0 
scsi_dh_hp_sw          12895  0 
scsi_dh_emc            17258  0 
scsi_dh_alua           17295  0 
scsi_dh                14882  4 scsi_dh_rdac,scsi_dh_hp_sw,scsi_dh_emc,scsi_dh_alua
ata_generic            12910  0 
pata_atiixp            13271  0

I see “radeon” loaded, I guess that’s how its supposed to be right ?

lspci | grep radeon

01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RS780L [Radeon 3000]

Is there a “settings” control panel or configuration file in wich I can fine tune the GPU, like HDMI audio output, performance level, etc ?

5

Ok.

Now it it shows this when I enter Kinfo > Graphical > Open GL

Vmware driver ?

No, that’s the llvmpipe 3D driver, i.e. software rendering.
But the radeon kernel module seems to be loaded.

Can you please post /var/log/Xorg.0.log? (via http://susepaste.org or similar)

Maybe you haven’t removed the nvidia driver completely?
It overrides libglx and libGL with its own incompatible versions, which would break radeon’s (and every other Mesa-based driver’s) 3D support.

6

Here is the Xorg.0.log

http://susepaste.org/79560940

7

Did a zypper se -d nvidia to search for packages installed that are related to nVidia and found some


zypper se -d nvidia
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

S | Name                          | Summary                                                      | Type      
--+-------------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+-----------
  | asusfan                       | Fan Control for Nvidia-Based ASUS Graphics Cards             | package   
  | conky                         | Lightweight System Monitor                                   | package   
  | conky                         | Lightweight System Monitor                                   | srcpackage
  | conky-feature-nvidia          | Pseudo Package for conky with nVidia Support                 | package   
i | libdrm_nouveau2               | Userspace interface for Kernel DRM services for NVIDIA chips | package   
i | libdrm_nouveau2-32bit         | Userspace interface for Kernel DRM services for NVIDIA chips | package   
  | libvdpau-devel                | VDPAU wrapper development files                              | package   
  | libvdpau-devel-32bit          | VDPAU wrapper development files                              | package   
i | libvdpau1                     | VDPAU wrapper library                                        | package   
  | libvdpau1-32bit               | VDPAU wrapper library                                        | package   
i | nvdock                        | Tray icon for launching NVIDIA Settings                      | package   
  | nvidia-texture-tools          | NVIDIA Texture Tools                                         | package   
i | openSUSE-2013-1013            | systemd: Two fixes                                           | patch     
  | vdpau-video                   | VDPAU DRI Driver Interface to NVidia                         | package   
  | vdpau-video                   | VDPAU DRI Driver Interface to NVidia                         | srcpackage
i | xf86-video-nv                 | NVIDIA video driver for the Xorg X server                    | package   
i | xorg-x11-driver-video-nouveau | Accelerated Open Source driver for nVidia cards              | package

Should I get rid of these too ?

8

No. Those ARE NOT related to the nvidia driver. Although you might want to uninstall nvdock, as you don’t have “nvidia-settings” any more, anyway.

But maybe you installed it via the .run installer once? That could have left some files.

Please post the Xorg.0.log, that should shed some light on the issue.

9

Here is the Xorg.0.log

http://susepaste.org/79560940

10

Well, it says this:

    36.114] (II) RADEON(0): GPU accel disabled or not working, using shadowfb for KMS

Some thoughts before I go to bed:

  • Do you have kernel-firmware installed? This contains firmware updates for certain AMD/ATI graphics chips and might be needed for Acceleration to work.

  • Try to set NO_KMS_IN_INITRD=“false” in /etc/sysconfig/kernel and recreate your initrd (“sudo /sbin/mkinitrd”), the nvidia driver packages did set this to true until not too long ago.

  • remove that video=xxx option from your kernel command line. With radeon cards, grub2 should correctly detect the monitor’s resolution

  • try booting with “plymouth.enable=0”, sometimes plymouth can cause problems I heard.

  • maybe there’s some other configuration in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d that might disable the acceleration?

11

I have some “kernel-firmware”

S | Name               | Summary                                                                | Type      
--+--------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------
i | kernel-firmware    | Linux kernel firmware files                                            | package   
  | kernel-firmware    | Linux kernel firmware files                                            | srcpackage
i | openSUSE-2013-1011 | kernel-firmware: already load AMD CPU microcode in the initial ramdisk | patch

NO_KMS_IN_INITRD was set to “yes” in /etc/sysconfig/kernel. I set it to “no”.

These are the files in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d. The “nvidia” one, I renamed it like I said in the posts above.

05-glamor.conf  10-libvnc.conf  20-nvidia.conf.bak  50-monitor.conf  50-synaptics.conf  50-wacom.conf
10-evdev.conf   11-evdev.conf   50-device.conf      50-screen.conf   50-vmmouse.conf    90-keytable.conf

I did a “cat” on “50-device.conf” and found it commented out

cat 50-device.conf
# Having multiple "Device" sections is known to be problematic. Make
# sure you don't have in use another one laying around e.g. in another
# xorg.conf.d file or even a generic xorg.conf file. More details can
# be found in https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=32430.
#
#Section "Device"
#  Identifier "Default Device"
#
#  #Driver "radeon"
#
#  ## Required magic for radeon/radeonhd drivers; output name
#  ## (here: "DVI-0") can be figured out via 'xrandr -q'
#  #Option "monitor-DVI-0" "Default Monitor"
#
#EndSection

In fact, most of them has commented out content.

  • remove that video=xxx option from your kernel command line. With radeon cards, grub2 should correctly detect the monitor’s resolution
  • try booting with “plymouth.enable=0”, sometimes plymouth can cause problems I heard.

Shame on me, but how do I change the kernel command line ?
Booting with “plymouth.enable=0”, do you mean hitting C at the grub2 screen and typing the command ?

12

OK, that’s good.

NO_KMS_IN_INITRD was set to “yes” in /etc/sysconfig/kernel. I set it to “no”.

I suspected that. But you have to run “sudo /sbin/mkinitrd” for that change to have effect.

These are the files in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d. The “nvidia” one, I renamed it like I said in the posts above.

Yes. You can remove that, as you don’t need it anymore.

05-glamor.conf  10-libvnc.conf  20-nvidia.conf.bak  50-monitor.conf  50-synaptics.conf  50-wacom.conf
10-evdev.conf   11-evdev.conf   50-device.conf      50-screen.conf   50-vmmouse.conf    90-keytable.conf

I did a “cat” on “50-device.conf” and found it commented out

cat 50-device.conf
# Having multiple "Device" sections is known to be problematic. Make
# sure you don't have in use another one laying around e.g. in another
# xorg.conf.d file or even a generic xorg.conf file. More details can
# be found in https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=32430.
#
#Section "Device"
#  Identifier "Default Device"
#
#  #Driver "radeon"
#
#  ## Required magic for radeon/radeonhd drivers; output name
#  ## (here: "DVI-0") can be figured out via 'xrandr -q'
#  #Option "monitor-DVI-0" "Default Monitor"
#
#EndSection

In fact, most of them has commented out content.

Those are the standard files, and yes, for 50-device.conf, 50-screen.conf, and 50-monitor.conf everything is commented out.
Normally Xorg does not need any configuration any more nowadays.

Shame on me, but how do I change the kernel command line ?
Booting with “plymouth.enable=0”, do you mean hitting C at the grub2 screen and typing the command ?

Nearly.
You have to hit ‘e’ at the grub2 screen and append that to the line starting with “linux”. Then press ‘F10’ to boot.
But try to recreate the initrd first (“sudo /sbin/mkinitrd”), to add the radeon driver and firmware to the initrd.
This might already help.

13

I did recreate the initrd, the output was this:

http://paste.opensuse.org/48172932

Did a reboot, and it booted fine. Now Kinfo shows this

866×592 68.8 KB

14

OK, so 3D acceleration is active now.
No need to disable plymouth then. :wink:

Or do you still have problems?

15

The only thing I see changed is the resolution of the grub screen, it is smaller than before.
I don’t think I have problems anymore, at least I did not find them yet :).

Will get back here after a test drive :).

Thanks !

16

What do you mean?
Is really the resolution smaller, or is the text smaller (i.e. the resolution is higher)?

In my experience, grub2’s resolution detection doesn’t work with nvidia cards, so it displays the menu in 640x480 (I think).
With my Radeon card it does work here, so the menu is shown in the monitor’s native resolution (1280x1024 here).

Anyway, you can manually set the resolution in YaST->System->Boot Loader->Boot Loader Options.
The default is “Autodetect by grub2”, but you can choose a specific resolution. You can even enter an arbitrary one, but there’s no guarantee that it really works then.

I don’t think I have problems anymore, at least I did not find them yet :).

Good. :slight_smile:

FYI, what happened is that the nvidia driver packages used to set “NO_KMS_IN_INITRD=yes” to prevent loading of the nouveau driver in the initrd (i.e. quite early in the boot), but they don’t undo that change on uninstallation.
The radeon driver of course needs KMS to work properly (like nouveau), and also the firmware, “NO_KMS_IN_INITRD=yes” prevents both (the radeon kernel module and the firmware) from being added to the initrd.

Theoretically it should still work with “NO_KMS_IN_INITRD=yes”, the radeon module would get loaded just a little later in the boot process.

But plymouth is normally loaded by the initrd already and initializes the graphics. It’s not possible to load the firmware to the graphics chip later on (at this point it is not available as it is not in the initrd because of “NO_KMS_IN_INITRD=yes”) then, so it doesn’t fully work.

I (and others) also had problems with nouveau after uninstalling nvidia because of that.
That’s why I filed the following bug report, now the nvidia driver packages DON’T set “NO_KMS_IN_INITRD=yes” any more, as it doesn’t seem to be necessary (on 13.1 at least) anyway:
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=864701

17

I will try and put a specific resolution and see if it works.

As a side-question, what is the “best” driver to use for an AMD A8 APU with integrated HD7560 ? I recentrly installed a fresh openSUSE 13.1 X64 on a system and it looks like no hardware acceleration is enbled.

18

Try to install the proprietary fglrx driver, this supports HD5000 and up:
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AMD_fglrx

That said, the latest version of open source “radeon” driver should work fine as well (the version in 13.1 is already 9 months old, it and the kernel got quite improved since then especially for newer cards). Apparently it is even more performant than the fglrx driver in certain cases.
But you would need to update the kernel (where a part of the radeon driver is located) and the whole Xorg/Mesa/radeon stack to the latest versions.

With the radeon driver, you need to have kernel-firmware installed though. It might be missing, which would cause hw acceleration to be disabled.

19

I tired the 1-click install of the fglrx but I ended up in the black screen with no X.

How do I update the kernel and the Xorg/Mesa/radeon stack ?

Should I create a new topic for this ?

20

You mean just a black screen? Or do you see the mouse pointer at least?
Or do you only get to text mode?

Can you please boot to recovery mode and post /var/log/Xorg.0.log?

How do I update the kernel and the Xorg/Mesa/radeon stack ?

To update X/Mesa you would add this repo and switch all all packages to that repo:
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/X11:/XOrg/openSUSE_13.1

It is important that you do a “Full Vendor change Update”:
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Vendor_change_update#Full_repository_Vendor_change

You can get the latest stable kernel from this repo:
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/
Either add that repo and install it, or download an RPM file and install it manually.
Please note, that you can have more than one version installed at the same time, so use the “Versions” tab in YaST to install the newer version.
The older one should then still be available in the boot menu (“Advanced Options”).

And again, please verify that you have kernel-firmware installed, if you haven’t done so.
There’s even a newer version in that Kernel:stable repo, you might want to install that as well. But it shouldn’t matter for your graphics card.

Should I create a new topic for this ?

Whatever you prefer. Personally I don’t mind, it is related by some degree.