Issue installing ATI Drivers

English Hardware
#1

I have been reading all I find about this but I seem to be missing something.

I get an error when I try to open catalyst;


"No ATI graphics driver is installed, or the ATI driver is not functioning properly.
Please install the ATI driver appropriate for you ATI hardware, or configure using aticonfig."

I am using the KDE desktop

I have done the following;
Downloaded catalyst 10.9
added the ati repositories
installed ati-fglrxG02-kmp-desktop
installed x11-vidio-fglrxG02
installed the catalyst control center

the output from lsmod;


linux-z60a:/home/redrider # lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
ip6t_LOG                5898  6 
xt_tcpudp               2859  2 
xt_pkttype              1288  3 
ipt_LOG                 6067  6 
xt_limit                2559  12 
vmsync                  4288  0 
vmblock                13824  1 
snd_pcm_oss            53701  0 
snd_mixer_oss          19415  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq                68137  0 
edd                    10208  0 
af_packet              23229  0 
ip6t_REJECT             4828  3 
nf_conntrack_ipv6      21550  4 
ip6table_raw            1627  1 
xt_NOTRACK              1192  4 
ipt_REJECT              2672  3 
xt_state                1618  8 
iptable_raw             1686  1 
iptable_filter          1946  1 
ip6table_mangle         2036  0 
nf_conntrack_netbios_ns     1854  0 
nf_conntrack_ipv4      10411  4 
nf_conntrack           89671  5 nf_conntrack_ipv6,xt_NOTRACK,xt_state,nf_conntrack_netbios_ns,nf_conntrack_ipv4
nf_defrag_ipv4          1673  1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
ip_tables              21698  2 iptable_raw,iptable_filter
ip6table_filter         1887  1 
ip6_tables             23320  4 ip6t_LOG,ip6table_raw,ip6table_mangle,ip6table_filter
cpufreq_conservative    12628  0 
x_tables               26644  16 ip6t_LOG,xt_tcpudp,xt_pkttype,ipt_LOG,xt_limit,ip6t_REJECT,ip6table_raw,xt_NOTRACK,ipt_REJECT,xt_state,iptable_raw,iptable_filter,ip6table_mangle,ip_tables,ip6table_filter,ip6_tables                                                                                                        
cpufreq_userspace       3264  0                                                                              
cpufreq_powersave       1258  0                                                                              
powernow_k8            20075  1                                                                              
mperf                   1523  1 powernow_k8                                                                  
fuse                   75897  7                                                                              
loop                   18524  0                                                                              
dm_mod                 86873  0                                                                              
snd_hda_codec_atihdmi     3375  1                                                                            
firewire_ohci          26938  0                                                                              
firewire_core          60890  1 firewire_ohci                                                                
crc_itu_t               1747  1 firewire_core                                                                
snd_hda_codec_via      66727  1                                                                              
snd_usb_audio         108885  1                                                                              
edac_core              50480  0                                                                              
ohci1394               33702  0                                                                              
snd_usb_lib            23035  1 snd_usb_audio                                                                
usb_storage            52947  2                                                                              
snd_rawmidi            26945  1 snd_usb_lib                                                                  
pcspkr                  2222  0                                                                              
snd_seq_device          7834  2 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi                                                          
k10temp                 3703  0                                                                              
sr_mod                 16684  0 
cdrom                  43440  1 sr_mod
edac_mce_amd            9651  0 
sg                     33348  0 
ieee1394              104868  1 ohci1394
joydev                 11942  0 
asus_atk0110           18383  0 
snd_hda_intel          28621  3 
i2c_piix4              13142  0 
r8169                  44332  0 
snd_hda_codec         113249  3 snd_hda_codec_atihdmi,snd_hda_codec_via,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               8100  2 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm               105589  4 snd_pcm_oss,snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
serio_raw               5318  0 
snd_timer              26828  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
button                  6989  0 
xhci_hcd               98853  0 
wmi                     8750  0 
snd                    84444  21 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq,snd_hda_codec_via,snd_usb_audio,snd_usb_lib,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               9003  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          9569  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
ext4                  401916  2 
jbd2                  100410  1 ext4
crc16                   1715  1 ext4
sd_mod                 41436  10 
ata_generic             3739  0 
pata_atiixp             4765  0 
pata_jmicron            2907  0 
ahci                   42680  5 
libata                211449  4 ata_generic,pata_atiixp,pata_jmicron,ahci
scsi_mod              191748  5 usb_storage,sr_mod,sg,sd_mod,libata
fan                     4559  0 
thermal                20625  0 
processor              45747  6 powernow_k8
thermal_sys            18230  3 fan,thermal,processor
linux-z60a:/home/redrider #

I realize my radeon 6870 card may not be supported but I don’t know how to determine that.

#2

I always install ‘the hardway’ (which is not hard) and I know nothing about the repository install method, so someone else will need to help you here wrt the install method you have chosen.

Still, did you try to follow the recommendation that you posted? ie did you try aticonfig ?

I note this Phoronix forum thread aabout the HD 6870: ATI HD6870 driver and GPU! can’t get it to work - Phoronix Forums

There are many suggestions in that thread. For example, as opposed to trying ‘aticonfig’, one refers to an archlinux thread for an older Catalyst version: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fglrx#Radeon_HD_6870_and_fglrx_10.10

Note for the archlinux thread, as opposed to creating an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, you could instead edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-device.conf file adding the lines:

 Identifier "ATI radeon 6870"
 Driver "fglrx"

… anyway, there are lots of things to try. You likely will need to precisely delineate what you attempted and what you did not, in attempting to get this new graphic card functioning when asking for further detailed help.

Here is some theory wrt graphic cards on openSUSE: openSUSE Graphic Card Practical Theory Guide for Users

I post that in the hope that you understand a bit about the structure wrt graphic card configuration (ie auto vs xorg.conf.d directory vs xorg.conf file).

#3

Thank you for taking the time to reply - I will try all you suggest.

#4

The code you suggested, output the following:


redrider@linux-z60a:~> su
Password: 
linux-z60a:/home/redrider # aticonfig
aticonfig: No supported adapters detected
linux-z60a:/home/redrider # Identifier "ATI radeon 6870"
If 'Identifier' is not a typo you can use command-not-found to lookup the package that contains it, like this:
    cnf Identifier
linux-z60a:/home/redrider #  Driver "fglrx
>

All processing stopped with the Driver "fglrx command - will continue to study this at the sites you recommended.

#5

Ok, try the archlinux suggestion.

First, ensure ‘mc’ (midnight commander) is installed. It is an text mode editor that can be run in a full screen text mode (by typing: mc ) and hence is useful for doing easy edits in text mode.

Then edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-device.conf file as follows:


Section "Device"
  **#**Identifier "Default Device"

** Identifier "ATI radeon 6870"
 Driver "fglrx"
**
  #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

Reboot and test. If that does not work, simply undo the changes (you can use the ‘mc’ editor if you end up in a text mode).

Its possible the rpm install method won’t work with that graphic card ( ? ) and you may need to install the driver ‘the hardway’ (I don’t know).

#6

Note you need also to run ‘aticonfig’ when one is running the PC in run level 3 . Were you in run level 3 when you attempted that ?

#7

Being the puzzled pinguin that I am, of couse not - even worse, I do not even know how to do that - yet

#8

You have a choice here. From the grub boot menu, type ‘3’ then press [Enter] to boot up in runlevel 3, or from the graphical desktop environment (runlevel 5), open a console and become root with the ‘su -’ command (and enter root password when prompted). Then type ‘init 3’, to drop back to runlevel 3 (without X-server running).

#9

Have you found/read that post too: Upgrading ATI driver with atiupgrade ?
You just boot in runlevel 3 as advised by the others and type the text (highlighted in blue in this article) in the console. The script will installed all required packages (kernel sources and compiler), create a rpm package, install it (and compile the kernel module then), check if a fglrx section is missing and run aticonfig --initial to add one if needed. It works in most cases.

The driver from the ati repo is often outdated. You should installed the latest driver using the atiupgrade script or following the ‘hardway’ method (which does the same) as suggested by old cpu. Using the script is a bit “less hard”, the hardest part being probably to download or copy/paste the code to file and make this file executable.

#10

This ArchLinux suggestion is misleading, as the identifier string is an arbitrary name (doesn’t help to identify the gfx card). You can write anything you like there, provided it matches the “device” entry of the screen section. So the config below (that I just applied on my computer) is perfectly legal:

Section "Device"
  Identifier	"Betty Boop"
  BoardName	"Mobility Radeon HD 2400 XT"
  VendorName	"ATI Technologies Inc"
  BusID		"PCI:1:0:0"
  Driver	"fglrx"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
  Identifier	"Screen uhura"
  Device	"Betty Boop"
  Monitor	"IMac20"
  DefaultDepth	24
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth	24
    Modes	"1680x1050"		
  EndSubsection
EndSection

I don’t think that aticonfig evaluates the identifier string. If it does, that would be stupid. The most important line is

Section "Device"
  Identifier	"Betty Boop"
  BoardName	"Mobility Radeon HD 2400 XT"
  VendorName	"ATI Technologies Inc"
  BusID		"PCI:1:0:0"
  Driver	"fglrx"
EndSection

That’s what aticonfig is looking for. You can check if this line is missing an needed with the following command (That’s what atiupgrade does before deciding if it should run aticonfig --initial or not):

# /usr/bin/aticonfig --initial=check 
Check: Found fglrx section.

IMHO it doesn’t matter - as for today - if you put this entry in /etc/X11/xorg.conf or /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-device.conf. I would assume that /etc/X11/xorg.conf still has precedence.