Hello,
I run OpenSuse 11.2. I installed Catalyst 10.2 on a new installation only to lose my cursor on boot up (and the ‘task bar’ was not extended to the length of the screen)
I re-installed the o/s and installed Catalyst 10.3 but with the same result. I’ve spent hours trying to figure out the problem but to no avail.
Any suggestions?
My system is as follows:
Radeon HD 5870
M/B Asus P6X58D Premium
6 Gb RAM (1066)
i7 2.8gb
24 inch LCD monitor
Any help will be appreciated.
Many thanks,
Mark
I found an earlier forum posting with the same problem. The solution was to return to Catalyst 10.1 which I have done. However, the system now appears slower (including scrolling - which now takes forever).
Good grief.
Not too long ago, I started a practical theory guide where I hoped to collect useful information (both theory and practical) to address such problems: openSUSE Graphic Card Practical Theory Guide for Users - openSUSE Forums
… the intention is that thread would NOT be an iterative help guide but rather a reference area of some theory and some solutions. It IS in our FAQ how/to area. Did you look through there at all ?
Take a look at post #38, and also post#45 in that same thread. Hopefully there is some thing there that will help you wrt Catalyst 10.3.
Hello oldcpu,
Clearly I had not looked through the new-users forum. I have now reviewed your practical guide in detail. Essentially (details below), a solution was found and my machine is running faster than a cat with a string of fireworks tied to its tail. However, the problem is not completely solved.
DETAILS
Under the description of “fglrx” you point to ATI - openSUSE which led me to ATI drivers - openSUSE
Under ‘the hard way’ for openSUSE 11.2, I followed the instructions. I had never used zypper before, but opened a terminal, and, as SU, entered the zypper command. I then entered the download directory into which I downloaded the ATI driver and installed the driver.
I have also never used the ‘init 3’ command, but took a deep breath and ran it. Alas, I hit my first unexpected hurdle - it asked me to log in. Was I to log in as SU or as on my personal account? Logically, entered SU and password. It was rejected. After some thought, I tried ‘root’ and my password, and I was in.
I then ran the ‘ati-config --initial’ command. No such command was found. Again, after some thinking, I removed the dash in “ati-config” and re-ran the command. It worked. I chose the defaults and all seemed fine. (By the way, I went back into the webpage and corrected the typo)
I then entered ‘init 5’ only to find myself back at the log-in page and logged in in my personal capacity.
For the test, I opened up Firefox and ventured to various sites and was stunned that the scrolling was back to normal - no more jittering pages as I attempt to scroll down or up.
By contrast, I had initially installed the Catalyst driver using a terminal prompt. Clearly that was wrong.
CONTINUING PROBLEM?
Alas, the one downside is that my CPU speed dropped from 2.8GHz to 1,6GHz. So, clearly something remains wrong. I noted this before, but can’t say at this time whether this is the speed to be found on an initial installation of Suse. If I find out I’ll re-post.
I have yet to shut down the system and restart to see if the settings are saved.
So, oldcpu, thank you very much for the help. However, could I suggest that the theory guide be a bit more clear about distinguishing the Catalyst driver installation from the sax2 installation? I felt at times I was going down rabbit holes. But finally figured it out (ie to follow the en.opensuse.org/ATI_drivers link).
Oh, by the way, your article was very useful also because it taught me about the various drivers available for video cards. Thank you for the great effort.
Kind regards,
Mark
Canada
I think reading the practical theory guide was like being blasted with a firehose spraying water, when all you needed was a small drink. Reference the login guidance, I think maybe you either missed this section or thought it not relevant, when I believe it was relevant:
Run Level 3
Now typically, when reconfiguring a graphic card, it is best to do this NOT in X window, but rather in the full screen terminal run level 3. One boots to run level 3 by pressing “3” (no quotes) when the very first menu (the initial grub boot menu) appears. By pressing “3” one will see the “3” appear in the options line. Then boot normally. That brings one to a full screen text login. Login as a regular user. Then after logged in, type “su” (no quotes - enter root password) to switch users to the administrator/root.
… anyway you figured that out on your own with a slightly different approach. Glad it worked.
Again, this was covered in the practical theory guide with an example, with NO dash, which has:
If one has the proprietary ATI driver installed (via the rpm) and one wished to use the ATI software (instead of sax2) to configure the proprietary nvidia driver and create the xorg.conf file, one would type something like (with root permissions):
aticonfig --initial
… there are also other input values one can use to tune the application of “aticonfig” for creation of the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.
… but you sorted in the end, so WELL DONE !
Thanks for fixing that on the wiki.
Someone more qualified than I will need to give you more technical detail on this, but my understanding is this is likely to be a power saving enhancement. Your CPU is possibly dynamically scalling down, and only when the extra cycles are needed, will it scale up to the maximum cpu speed.
I suspect things are actually running better than before.
But let me say well done in sorting this. Clearly this was all very new to you, and you did well in reading various guides, and putting together your own approach to sorting it.
wrt the theory guide, yes I suspect there are better ways to present the information, but writing guides is not really my forte, although as a non-paid volunteer/enthusiast who wants to see this information (on graphic drivers) better understood, I did end up writing it. My intention of the practical theory guide was not to provide so much a STEP by STEP guide, but provide some general theory and practical tidbits that users should best be familiar with when tuning their graphic card. I’m definitely interested in specific suggestions as to how to improve it, but I’m afraid I’m also at a loss without such. I pretty much set it up the best way I could with my very limited interest in writing such guides, and hopefully others will understand better how to make things clearer.
I’m very glad to read you have had some success.
Hello oldcpu,
Just an update. I had cause to re-install opensuse 11.2 so took the opportunity to revisit the installation of the fglrx proprietary driver (catalyst 10.3). I believe I have understood better the thoughts in your guide. So I took the following steps:
Simple. Worked (although I have been afraid to reboot again lest it all unravels.)
I do appreciate working at command line level. So much faster. I wish I knew how to do everything (eg writing, doing email, tuning into the BBC or CBC) at level 3. Mice are for cats.
Anyway, this time 'round my approach was a bit more straightforward.
Thanks for a superb guide.
Mark
Canada