I recently installed openSUSE 11.4 on an old desktop with an integrated ATI XPRESS 200 graphics card.
After the installation, I noticed the desktop flashes to a black screen(without the monitor going off) every 15-20 seconds and was slightly shifted to the right(can only see half of ‘show desktop’ button or scrollbars in a maximized window). Thinking this to be an issue with the monitor refresh rate, i generated a new modeline with
gtf 1024 768 65
The earlier setting with the shifting had 1024x768 60Hz hence I used 65Hz and tested the modeline with
The desktop then appeared correctly without the shifting but the display still flashes every 15 seconds or so.
I added the modeline to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-monitor.conf and the shifting has stopped, but the flashing does not go away.
I tried booting with -nomodeset but landed on the console login with some GDM errors.
I tried the propietary ATI driver installation but get this error about the version:
==================================================
ATI Technologies Linux Driver Installer/Packager
==================================================
which: no XFree86 in (/home/lx_str_blu/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games:/usr/lib/jvm/jre/bin)
Error: ./default_policy.sh does not support version
default:v2:i686:lib::none:2.6.37.1-1.2-desktop; make sure that the version is being
correctly set by --iscurrentdistro
Booting with the failsafe option alone seems to work without the shifting/flashing.
I pasted the contents of my /var/log/Xorg.0.log here
I am still learning here and would greatly appreaciate any help or suggestions in getting the integrated ATI card to work.
I recall from many posts of X200 users that it is difficult to configure. Have you tried to specify the radeonhd or vesa drivers in the 50-device.conf file?
Since I don’t have your card I can only provide speculative suggestions.
Note any xorg .conf will take precidence over any edit in the xorg.conf.d directory which will take precidence over any automatic X or kernel mode setting.
I noticed that driver radeon was commented in 50-device.conf. Uncommenting it and rebooting did not appear to make any difference.
On changing the driver to vesa, the display went out and displayed a diagnostic message(Signal out of range). I switched to the terminal, but that too appeared garbled and in a much lower resolution.
Here is my current 50-device.conf which works but with the screen flashing:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Default Device"
#Driver "radeon"
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
I have not attempted to create xorg.conf yet and I was hoping that changes to the files in xorg.conf.d\ would be sufficient. I hope this is the right way to do it. Without having xorg.conf, I assume it will take whatever is in xorg.conf.d\
Meanwhile it seems I failed to notice a message during booting. It was something about conflicting hw fb usage radeondrmfb vs VESA VGA. I got this message even when I booted with the above 50-device.conf
From boot.msg:
<3> 3.204881] fb: conflicting fb hw usage radeondrmfb vs VESA VGA - removing generic driver
When trying with the vesa driver, try with and without ‘nomodeset’ boot code. Also try with and without the vga=xxxxx boot code in grub.
Also try ‘radeonhd’ instead of ‘radeon’ or ‘vesa’ in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-device.conf file, with and without the nomodeset and vga=xxxx boot code combinations.
If you want temporary slow performance stability you can try ‘fbdev’ instead of vesa or radeonhd in the 50-device.conf file, or try the ‘x11failsafe’ boot code. But that is only for a temporary resort.
First, I tried with driver ‘vesa’ in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-device.conf
Here is a summary of the boot codes I tried
vga=0x317 - ‘out of range’ display / garbled terminals
vga=0x317 nomodeset - ‘out of range’ display
nomodeset**- ‘out of range’ display** no boot code - ‘out of range’ display
Then I tried the same boot codes with driver ‘radeonhd’
All resulted in GDM errors (display lasted 0.xxxxxx seconds error appears several times on terminal)
I am currently back to driver ‘radeon’ with boot code vga=0x317. I will try to generate xorg.conf to see if it that helps
My guess is those errors are because the vesa and radeonhd are not compatible with the custom edits you still have applied to the 50-monitor.conf. Try those without those 50-monitor.conf custom edits.
I removed the custom edit from 50-monitor.conf and then tried the same boot codes with vesa specified in 50-device.conf
Here is what happened:
vga=0x317 **display goes to 800x600**
vga=0x317 nomodeset **display goes to 800x600**
nomodeset **display goes to 800x600**
**no boot code entered, display goes to 800x600 0 Hz, flashing**
Had no luck specifying radeonhd in 50-device.conf(GDM errors)
One additional detail, the monitor with this desktop is an LG Flatron L1515S and all I could find on the web is that it does not support resolutions above 1024x768
Current 50-device.conf:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Default Device"
#Driver "radeon"
Driver "vesa"
## 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
Current 50-monitor.conf:
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Default Monitor"
## If your monitor doesn't support DDC you may override the
## defaults here
#HorizSync 28-85
#VertRefresh 50-100
## Add your mode lines here, use e.g the cvt tool
EndSection
Output of xrandr -q
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 800 x 600, maximum 800 x 600
default connected 800x600+0+0 0mm x 0mm
800x600 0.0*
640x480 0.0
So am I correct that :
(1) if you have just nominally boot with no edits, the desktop flashes to a black screen (without the monitor going off) every 15-20 seconds and was slightly shifted to the right, probably using the radeon driver
(2) adding the “newmode “1024x768_65.00” 69.75 1024 1080 1184 1344 768 771 775 800 -hsync +vsync” results in a centered screen, but still the flash
(3) not having success with radeonhd in 50-device.conf (GDM errors) suggests it does not support the ATI XPRESS 200 (which appears to be confirmed when I type ‘man radeonhd’ ).
(4) vesa driver will give 800x600, centered, with no flashing, ONLY if you either have vga=0x317 and/or nomodeset boot codes, but if you remove either of those, you obtain the flashing display with vesa.
What I don’t understand is what you get if you put ‘radeon’ in the 50-device.conf file, boot with ‘nomodeset’ boot code, AND do NOT apply the “newmode “1024x768_65.00” 69.75 1024 1080 1184 1344 768 771 775 800 -hsync +vsync” setting. I would be most curious to see the /var/log/Xorg.0.log (or Xorg.0.log.old) file associated with that. Note Xorg.0.log.old represents the last boot log file as opposed to the current boot log file.
Any such /var/log/Xorg.0.log file should be pasted on a pastebin site such as SUSE Paste , press create, and then post the website/url provided here. Don’t post the entire log text here as it would clutter the thread.
Now I note your Radeon Xpress 200 is a RS400/RS480 Radeon XPRESS 200(M)/1100 IGP and I see not support for that with the ‘radeonhd’ driver.
You could also try installing the application ‘sax3’ and run that and see if it can help you configure … The repository for openSUSE-12.1 for the latest sax3 is here:
I have an older laptop with an older ATI card, though probably not the same card as you have.
When I was running 11.3, the graphics worked fine. However, the fan was always blowing at a high speed (compared to running WInXP). So something was using more power.
When I upgraded to 11.4, the fan noise settled to about the same as with WinXP. However, the screen flashed regularly - probably the same sort of flashing you are seeing.
I am now running 12.1 on that system. The flashing is gone. Most things are hunky dory. But when I want to shutdown (from KDE), I right click and select “leave” from the menu. The the screen breaks up completely - it’s a total mess. However, the shutdown popup is okay so I can proceed to shut the system down.
Somebody suggested setting
XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1
in the environment. So I now do that in my “.login” (but use “.profile” if you are not a “csh” user). My understanding is that this will break desktop-effects. But since I have turned off desktop effects anyway, that didn’t bother me.
With that change, the graphics in 12.1 are now rock steady, no flashing, no breakup, no excessive power use.
I agree with you on the points above, but a clarification on point (4):
With vesa in 50-device.conf, it seems that it was having nomodeset in the boot code that stopped the flashing. But with no boot code at all or having just vga=0x317, there was occasional flashing even on the centered 800x600 display(roughly 2 minutes apart). Sorry, I had failed to notice this the first time.
I removed the custom edits from 50-monitor.conf and changed the driver to radeon in 50-device.conf. I rebooted and set the boot bode to just nomodeset.
There were the GDM errors(display lasted 1.NNNNNN seconds) and I ended up at the terminal login. I logged in through the terminal and copied the /var/log/Xorg.0.log. I have now pasted it on SUSE Paste here.
I installed sax3(for openSUSE 11.4 on this desktop), but cannot seem to get it to run. I am downloading openSUSE 12.1 and will try sax3 again once the download is complete.
thanks nrickert, I too, have an old HP laptop that is still running 11.3 and I too have the same issue, the fan is blowing non stop compared to the XP that is also running on it…
my video card is an Xpress 1150, and I’ve read that is a form of Xpress 200M with some shared memory, so…basically is the same sh*t … thanks for posting this…I guess I should upgrade to 12.1
from what I could read from top…Xorg or npviewer.bin is eating most of the CPU, after I upgrade I’ll post a follow up
for the op, I guess, after a lot of reading and researching, that usually ATI video card don’t go too well with linux due to lack of support, and especially the Xpress 200 (which is rather a poor card)
I’ve been dealing with it since I moved to OpenSUSE, and tried tons of options…and twiking…i guess I’m in luck for it not flickering or other non sense like that…
if I had the money for a new laptop, of a new pc for that matter I would change it …but for the moment… I’m stuck with it…
so…i guess you should try 12.1 or change the video card if you have the funds
nrickert,
I tried adding XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1 to .profile but still had the flashing. I do have the Desktop Effects turned off(Gnome 2.32.1)
harvested,
Yes, this card is rather hard to configure. I just hope to have this as a working desktop so that one can at least browse the web at a reasonable 1024x768 resolution.
I am downloading openSUSE 12.1 and will try that if nothing more can be found.
I read on a Debian forum that with laptops with Radeon Xpress 200M (R300) you may get some random colored stripes (especially after suspending display power). This is problably due to a bug into free driver. A solution may be to switch off, then switch on the backlight with radeontool (eponymic package). Unfortunately the radeontool is depreciated with openSUSE and I don’t know the replacement.
I note this from the Xorg.0.log file on your openSUSE-11.3 with the X200:
20.341] X.Org X Server 1.9.3 Release Date: 2010-12-13
20.341] X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
.......
20.341] Current Operating System: Linux linux-33b0 2.6.37.1-1.2-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT 2011-02-21 10:34:10 +0100 i686
20.341] Kernel command line: root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3500413AS_Z2A71G1Q-part6 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3500413AS_Z2A71G1Q-part5 splash=silent quiet nomodeset
.......
20.387] (II) [KMS] drm report modesetting isn't supported.
......
20.399] (--) RADEON(0): Chipset: "ATI Radeon XPRESS 200 5A61 (PCIE)" (ChipID = 0x5a61)
......
20.441] (II) RADEON(0): Found color CRT connected to TV DAC
20.441] (II) RADEON(0): Output: VGA-0, Detected Monitor Type: 1
......
20.456] (II) RADEON(0): Not using default mode "many x many" (vrefresh out of range)
......
20.872] (II) RADEON(0): Acceleration enabled
.......
20.872] (II) RADEON(0): No video input capabilities detected and no information is provided - disabling multimedia i2c
......
20.889] (II) RADEON(0): no multimedia table present, disabling Rage Theatre.
.......
** 21.090] (II) AIGLX: Screen 0 is not DRI2 capable**
21.091] **drmOpenDevice**: node name is /dev/dri/card0
21.091] drmOpenDevice: open result is 12, (OK)
21.091] drmOpenByBusid: Searching for BusID pci:0000:01:05.0
21.091] drmOpenDevice: node name is /dev/dri/card0
21.091] drmOpenDevice: open result is 12, (OK)
21.091] drmOpenByBusid: drmOpenMinor returns 12
21.091] drmOpenByBusid: Interface 1.4 failed, trying 1.1
21.091] drmOpenByBusid: drmGetBusid reports pci:0000:01:05.0
21.138]
Backtrace:
21.138] 0: /usr/bin/Xorg (xorg_backtrace+0x37) [0x80ee5f7]
21.138] 1: /usr/bin/Xorg (0x8048000+0x5cbea) [0x80a4bea]
21.138] 2: (vdso) (__kernel_rt_sigreturn+0x0) [0xffffe40c]
21.138] Segmentation fault at address (nil)
21.138]
Fatal server error:
21.138] Caught signal 11 (Segmentation fault). Server aborting
21.138]
21.138]
That looks like some sort of ‘dri2’ and ‘drm’ error to me. Does it look like that to you ?
I don’t know much about this, but lets say there is a drm error. Maybe you could try to disable it with the radeon driver ?
I note in the openSUSE-11.4 release notes, that states:
In the rare cases when loading the DRM module from initrd is a general problem and unrelated to KMS, it is even possible to disable loading of the DRM module in initrd completely. For this set the NO_KMS_IN_INITRD sysconfig variable to yes via YAST, which then recreates initrd afterwards. Reboot your machine.
… ie run “yast” (you can run yast in text mode with root permissions if X window not available) and navigate to yast > System > /etc/sysconfig Editor > System > Kernel > NO_KMS_IN_INITRD and change it to “yes”. This takes a minute or two to save once changed is submitted. After you exit YaST reboot and test.
Try that and reboot with and without the nomodeset boot code. Does that help?
If not, a speculative (wildly speculative I might add) in addition to that, when using the nomodeset set, try this → add the following section to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-device.conf
It appears this does have something to do with drm/dri2.
I changed Yast > System > /etc/sysconfig Editor > System > Kernel > NO_KMS_IN_INITRD to yes and rebooted with nomodeset. There was the flashing.
I then added the ‘Module’ to 50-device.conf like this:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Default Device"
Driver "radeon"
### Option "AccelMethod" "xaa"
## 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
Section "Module"
Disable "dri"
Disable "dri2"
EndSection
On rebooting with nomodeset, there were 2 or 3 flashes during login but no more(20 minutes+ without a flash after the login) and also the resolution is 1024x768.
Out of curiosity, I went on to add the ‘Option “AccelMethod” “xaa”’ line and again on rebooting with nomodeset, just 2 initial blinks and no more also on 1024x768.
I do get the old flashing when I boot without nomodeset.
I have now reverted to the above 50-device.conf(without the Option…) It seems all that remains is to add a Modeline to 50-monitor.conf to correct the shifted desktop.
Thanks very much oldcpu for your help! I now have a working desktop even with this difficult card.
If you can get this to work with the ‘radeon’ driver this is much better (than vesa) as it has superior performance. The bit about disabling dri2 I obtained from this bug report: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=678264 … but it was written on different hardware from yours, so it was a bit of a stretch (on my part) to think it might work on your PC’s hardware.
Congratulations on your determination in getting this far.
If you succeed fixing the offset with a modeline , with a workable display, then perhaps you could do me a favour to help complete the thread ? Please post the final functional content of your 50-device.conf and 50-monitor.conf ? Threads such as this are very educational to me and it would help me understand what you ended up with as the optimal configuration. Thanks !
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Default Monitor"
## If your monitor doesn't support DDC you may override the
## defaults here
#HorizSync 28-85
#VertRefresh 50-100
## Add your mode lines here, use e.g the cvt tool
Modeline "1024x768_65.00" 69.75 1024 1080 1184 1344 768 771 775 800 -hsync +vsync
EndSection
and 50-device.conf(with the custom edits)
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
Section "Module"
Disable "dri"
Disable "dri2"
EndSection
On booting with nomodeset, the above setup gives a working, centered 1024x768 display on this desktop with no intermittent flashing.
If its of any interest, /var/log/Xorg.0.log obtained with the above setup is pasted here.
Thank you. A most educational thread for me, and I am happy to see you succeed with this AMD/ATI Xpress 200 card. Its NOT an easy card to get working with GNU/Linux. Well done !
