Problems setting up an old notebook: Graphics subsystem crashes

Greetings!

I’m attempting to set up openSuSE 13.1 on an old notebook (Fujitsu Siemens Amilo 1640) for a colleague. Everything works fine, except for the graphics subsystem which is crashing.

The log produced by X (clipped - otherwise the post would become too long):



...]

   101.022] (==) SIS(0): DPI set to (96, 96)
   101.022] (II) Loading sub module "fb"
   101.022] (II) LoadModule: "fb"
   101.022] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfb.so
   101.023] (II) Module fb: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
   101.023]    compiled for 1.14.3.901, module version = 1.0.0
   101.023]    ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
   101.023] (II) Loading sub module "exa"
   101.023] (II) LoadModule: "exa"
   101.023] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libexa.so
   101.024] (II) Module exa: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
   101.024]    compiled for 1.14.3.901, module version = 2.6.0
   101.024]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 14.1
   101.024] (II) UnloadModule: "modesetting"
   101.024] (II) Unloading modesetting
   101.024] (II) UnloadModule: "fbdev"
   101.024] (II) Unloading fbdev
   101.024] (II) UnloadSubModule: "fbdevhw"
   101.024] (II) Unloading fbdevhw   
   101.024] (II) UnloadModule: "vesa"
   101.024] (II) Unloading vesa
   101.024] (--) Depth 24 pixmap format is 32 bpp
   101.024] (II) Loading sub module "vbe"
   101.024] (II) LoadModule: "vbe"
   101.024] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libvbe.so
   101.025] (II) Module vbe: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
   101.025]    compiled for 1.14.3.901, module version = 1.1.0
   101.025]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 14.1
   101.025] (II) Loading sub module "int10"
   101.025] (II) LoadModule: "int10"
   101.025] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libint10.so
   101.025] (II) Module int10: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
   101.025]    compiled for 1.14.3.901, module version = 1.0.0
   101.025]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 14.1
   101.025] (II) SIS(0): initializing int10
   101.031] (II) SIS(0): Primary V_BIOS segment is: 0xc000
   101.034] (II) SIS(0): VESA BIOS detected  
   101.034] (II) SIS(0): VESA VBE Version 3.0
   101.034] (II) SIS(0): VESA VBE Total Mem: 32768 kB
   101.034] (II) SIS(0): VESA VBE OEM: SiS
   101.034] (II) SIS(0): VESA VBE OEM Software Rev: 1.0
   101.034] (II) SIS(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: Silicon Integrated Systems Corp.
   101.034] (II) SIS(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: 6330
   101.034] (II) SIS(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: 2.06J.A1
   101.058] (II) SIS(0): Setting standard mode 0x16
   101.608] (II) SIS(0): SiS76x/UMA: two video overlay(s) available in current
   101.631] (II) EXA(0): Offscreen pixmap area of 28868608 bytes
   101.631] (II) EXA(0): Driver registered support for the following operation
   101.631] (II)         Solid
   101.631] (II)         Copy
   101.631] (II)         UploadToScreen
   101.631] (II)         DownloadFromScreen
   101.632] (--) SIS(0): CPU frequency 1600.00Mhz
   101.633] (II) SIS(0): Benchmarking system RAM to video RAM memory transfer
   101.645] (--) SIS(0):       Checked libc memcpy()...        373.0 MiB/s
   101.655] (--) SIS(0):       Checked built-in-1 memcpy()...  381.0 MiB/s
   101.692] (--) SIS(0):       Checked built-in-2 memcpy()...  77.4 MiB/s 
   101.702] (--) SIS(0):       Checked MMX memcpy()...         393.5 MiB/s
   101.712] (--) SIS(0):       Checked 3DNow! memcpy()...      376.4 MiB/s
   101.721] (--) SIS(0):       Checked MMX2 memcpy()...        494.3 MiB/s
   101.722] (--) SIS(0): Using MMX2 method for aligned data transfers to video
   101.722] (--) SIS(0): Using MMX2 method for unaligned data transfers to vid
   101.722] (--) SIS(0): CPU frequency 1600.00Mhz
   101.723] (II) SIS(0): Benchmarking video RAM to system RAM memory transfer
   101.841] (--) SIS(0):       Checked libc memcpy()...        22.9 MiB/s
   101.957] (--) SIS(0):       Checked built-in-1 memcpy()...  22.9 MiB/s
   102.073] (--) SIS(0):       Checked built-in-2 memcpy()...  22.9 MiB/s
   102.189] (--) SIS(0):       Checked MMX memcpy()...         22.9 MiB/s
   102.305] (--) SIS(0):       Checked 3DNow! memcpy()...      22.9 MiB/s
   102.421] (--) SIS(0):       Checked MMX2 memcpy()...        22.9 MiB/s
   102.421] (--) SIS(0): Using MMX method for aligned data transfers from vide
   102.421] (--) SIS(0): Using MMX method for unaligned data transfers from vi
   102.421] (==) SIS(0): Backing store disabled
   102.421] (==) SIS(0): Silken mouse enabled
   102.422] (==) SIS(0): DPMS enabled
   102.422] (II) SIS(0): Using SiS300/315/330/340 series HW Xv
   102.422] (II) SIS(0): Default Xv adaptor is Video Overlay
   102.453] (II) SIS(0): Initialized SISCTRL extension version 0.1
   102.453] (II) SIS(0): Registered screen 0 with SISCTRL extension version 0.
   102.453] (==) RandR enabled
   102.466] (II) AIGLX: Screen 0 is not DRI2 capable 
   102.466] (II) AIGLX: Screen 0 is not DRI capable  
   102.489] (II) AIGLX: Loaded and initialized swrast
   102.489] (II) GLX: Initialized DRISWRAST GL provider for screen 0

...]

   103.170] (EE) 
   103.170] (EE) Backtrace:
   103.170] (EE) 0: /usr/bin/X (xorg_backtrace+0x49) [0x81df3e9]
   103.170] (EE) 1: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x19b174) [0x81e3174]
   103.171] (EE) 2: linux-gate.so.1 (__kernel_rt_sigreturn+0x0) [0xb77c640c]  
   103.171] (EE) 3: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/sis_drv.so (0xb6fda000+0x4e0
   103.171] (EE) 4: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/sis_drv.so (0xb6fda000+0x3a8
   103.171] (EE) 5: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/sis_drv.so (0xb6fda000+0x28c
   103.171] (EE) 6: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libexa.so (0xb6f77000+0x5506) [0xb6f
[   103.171] (EE) 7: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libexa.so (0xb6f77000+0x59e6) [0xb6f
[   103.171] (EE) 8: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libexa.so (0xb6f77000+0x5aaf) [0xb6f
[   103.171] (EE) 9: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libexa.so (0xb6f77000+0x63d2) [0xb6f
[   103.171] (EE) 10: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libexa.so (0xb6f77000+0x417f) [0xb6
[   103.171] (EE) 11: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libexa.so (0xb6f77000+0xa218) [0xb6
[   103.171] (EE) 12: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libexa.so (0xb6f77000+0xad58) [0xb6
[   103.171] (EE) 13: /usr/bin/X (miPaintWindow+0x208) [0x81bffa8]
   103.171] (EE) 14: /usr/bin/X (miWindowExposures+0x20c) [0x81c091c]
   103.171] (EE) 15: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x93104) [0x80db104]  
   103.171] (EE) 16: /usr/bin/X (miHandleValidateExposures+0x86) [0x81d71d6]
   103.171] (EE) 17: /usr/bin/X (MapWindow+0x175) [0x80ad915]  
   103.172] (EE) 18: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x31395) [0x8079395]
   103.172] (EE) 19: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x36ecd) [0x807eecd]
   103.172] (EE) 20: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x24f6a) [0x806cf6a]
   103.172] (EE) 21: /lib/libc.so.6 (__libc_start_main+0xf3) [0xb72d59d3]
   103.172] (EE) 22: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x25339) [0x806d339]
   103.172] (EE) 
   103.172] (EE) Segmentation fault at address 0x0
   103.172] (EE) 
Fatal server error:
   103.172] (EE) Caught signal 11 (Segmentation fault). Server aborting
   103.172] (EE)  
   103.172] (EE) 
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
         at http://wiki.x.org
 for help. 
   103.172] (EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for a
   103.172] (EE)
   103.186] (II) SIS(0): Restoring by setting old mode 0x03
   103.464] (EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.

Checking with YaST, the graphics chip has been identified as an SiS 660:


30: PCI(AGP) 100.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA)
  [Created at pci.319]  
  Unique ID: VCu0.Q90gu1YZhzF
  Parent ID: vSkL.NVv9AfhhZO6 
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0   
  SysFS BusID: 0000:01:00.0
  Hardware Class: graphics card
  Model: "Silicon Integrated SiS 660"
  Vendor: pci 0x1039 "Silicon Integrated Systems Corp."
  Device: pci 0x6330 "SiS 660"
  SubVendor: pci 0x1734 "Fujitsu Technology Solutions"
  SubDevice: pci 0x106c 
  Memory Range: 0xd0000000-0xd7ffffff (ro,non-prefetchable)
  Memory Range: 0xdfee0000-0xdfefffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  I/O Ports: 0xcc00-0xcc7f (rw)
  I/O Ports: 0x3c0-0x3df (rw)
  Module Alias: "pci:v00001039d00006330sv00001734sd0000106Cbc03sc00i00"
  Driver Info #0: 
    XFree86 v4 Server Module: sis
  Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
  Attached to: #12 (PCI bridge)

Does anyone have any experience with these?
The strange thing, though, is that the installation process used the GUI instead of ncurses, but for some reason booting into the installed system causes to misbehave. I currently have set the system to boot text-only and so far have disabled XDM. Another check showed that sis.ko isn’t loaded upon system start, and loading the module instantaneously caused the system to switch to fb. Would adding sis.ko to the initrd help?

Any help here would be greatly appreciated, because said colleague wants to give Linux a try once again (after a bad experience with the system 20 years ago) - however, I would have to get things going first.
Btw: I cannot get SaX3 to set up the screen, either: It aborts as well.

SiS

Basically sucks.
I’d forget it

suggest you try loading X from the following repos, this was the first version
that worked with internal graphics on old laptop, Toshiba SM60,

http://download.opensuse.org:80/repositories/X11:/XOrg/openSUSE_13.1/

if the gui then works, adjust with xrandr if necessary

hth