SDDM won't start, video driver doesn't work

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hello everyone, I’m trying Tumbleweed KDE today on this old PC and the login screen(? SDDM ?) won’t show up, I get dropped immediately to a tty1 login screen after seeing the loading screen (?) with three green dots appear.
It seems the VGA is a VIA Chrome 9 HC so I installed the Openchrome driver xf86-video-openchrome but it wouldn’t work, X would fail with

    29.659] (EE) Failed to load /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/op[enchrome_drv.so:](http://drv.so:) /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/op[enchrome_drv.so:](http://drv.so:) undefined symbol: shadowUpdatePacked
    29.659] (EE) Failed to load module "openchrome" (loader failed, 0)

so I made my own xorg.conf with the shadow module like this:


# Main
Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier  "XORG_OPENSUSE"

    Screen "XORG_SCREEN"
EndSection

# Fixes X crash
Section "Module"
    Load "shadow"
EndSection


# Needs 64MB video memory in BIOS, mine is set 128MB
#Section "Extensions"
    #Option "Composite" "Enable"
#EndSection


# GPU driver
Section "Device"
    Identifier "XORG_VIA"
    #Driver "vesa" #works but slow and glitchy
    Driver "openchrome"
    Option "AccelMethod" "exa"
    BusID "1:0:0"
EndSection

# XORG Screen
Section "Screen"
    Identifier "XORG_SCREEN"
    DefaultDepth 24

    Device "XORG_VIA"
    Monitor "1"

    SubSection "Display"
        Depth 24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

# Monitor
Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "1"
EndSection

but it still won’t work

journalctl -xb log: https://pastebin.com/pu3fwE3H

lspci:


00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 Host Bridge
00:00.1 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 Host Bridge
00:00.2 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 Host Bridge
00:00.3 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 Host Bridge
00:00.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 Host Bridge
00:00.5 PIC: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 I/O APIC Interrupt Controller
00:00.6 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 Security Device
00:00.7 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237/VX700 PCI Bridge
00:02.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 PCI to PCI Bridge Controller (rev 80)
00:03.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 PCI to PCI Bridge Controller (rev 80)
00:0f.0 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237/8251 Serial ATA Controller
00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 07)
00:10.0 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xx/62xx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev b0)
00:10.1 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xx/62xx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev b0)
00:10.2 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xx/62xx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev b0)
00:10.3 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xx/62xx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev b0)
00:10.4 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 90)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237S PCI to ISA Bridge
00:11.7 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237/8251 Ultra VLINK Controller
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102/VT6103 [Rhine-II] (rev 7c)
00:13.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237A Host Bridge
00:13.1 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237A PCI to PCI Bridge
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 [Chrome 9 HC] (rev 01)
80:01.0 Audio device: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237A/VT8251 HDA Controller (rev 10)

Xorg log:


    29.062] (--) Log file renamed from "/var/log/Xorg.pid-1165.log" to "/var/log/Xorg.0.log"
    29.176] 
X.Org X Server 1.20.1
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
    29.176] Build Operating System: openSUSE SUSE LINUX
    29.176] Current Operating System: Linux linux-fwzd 4.18.7-1-default #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Sep 9 10:26:20 UTC 2018 (952d850) x86_64
    29.176] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.18.7-1-default root=UUID=9fac1f71-cac9-4349-b6bf-1b98520709e2 splash=silent resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600AABS-62PRA0_WD-WCAP93232597-part5 quiet
    29.176] Build Date: 07 August 2018  12:00:00PM
    29.176]  
    29.176] Current version of pixman: 0.34.0
    29.176]     Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
    to make sure that you have the latest version.
    29.176] Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
    (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
    (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
    29.176] (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Mon Sep 17 00:11:38 2018
    29.225] (==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
    29.225] (==) Using config directory: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d"
    29.225] (==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
    29.238] (==) ServerLayout "XORG_OPENSUSE"
    29.238] (**) |-->Screen "XORG_SCREEN" (0)
    29.238] (**) |   |-->Monitor "1"
    29.239] (**) |   |-->Device "XORG_VIA"
    29.239] (==) Automatically adding devices
    29.239] (==) Automatically enabling devices
    29.239] (==) Automatically adding GPU devices
    29.239] (==) Max clients allowed: 256, resource mask: 0x1fffff
    29.461] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/misc/sgi" does not exist.
    29.461]     Entry deleted from font path.
    29.461] (==) FontPath set to:
    /usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled,
    /usr/share/fonts/Type1/,
    /usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled,
    /usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled,
    /usr/share/fonts/ghostscript/,
    /usr/share/fonts/cyrillic:unscaled,
    /usr/share/fonts/truetype/,
    built-ins
    29.461] (==) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib64/xorg/modules"
    29.461] (WW) Ignoring unrecognized extension "XFree86-DGA"
    29.461] (II) The server relies on udev to provide the list of input devices.
    If no devices become available, reconfigure udev or disable AutoAddDevices.
    29.461] (II) Loader magic: 0x557ea8ec8d00
    29.461] (II) Module ABI versions:
    29.461]     X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.4
    29.461]     X.Org Video Driver: 24.0
    29.461]     X.Org XInput driver : 24.1
    29.461]     X.Org Server Extension : 10.0
    29.462] (++) using VT number 7

    29.462] (II) systemd-logind: logind integration requires -keeptty and -keeptty was not provided, disabling logind integration
    29.467] (--) PCI:*(1@0:0:0) 1106:3371:1458:d000 rev 1, Mem @ 0xc8000000/134217728, 0xdd000000/16777216, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072
    29.467] (II) "glx" will be loaded by default.
    29.467] (II) LoadModule: "shadow"
    29.468] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/libshadow.so
    29.481] (II) Module shadow: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
    29.481]     compiled for 1.20.1, module version = 1.1.0
    29.481]     ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
    29.481] (II) LoadModule: "glx"
    29.481] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so
    29.657] (II) Module glx: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
    29.657]     compiled for 1.20.1, module version = 1.0.0
    29.657]     ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 10.0
    29.657] (II) LoadModule: "openchrome"
    29.657] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/openchrome_drv.so
    29.675] (II) Module openchrome: vendor="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Openchrome/"
    29.675]     compiled for 1.20.0, module version = 0.6.0
    29.675]     Module class: X.Org Video Driver
    29.675]     ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 24.0
    29.675] (II) OPENCHROME: Driver for VIA Chrome chipsets: CLE266,
    KM400 / KM400A / KN400 / P4M800, K8M800 / K8N800,
    PM800 / PN800 / PM880 / CN333 / CN400, P4M800 Pro / VN800 / CN700,
    CX700 / VX700, P4M890 / VN890 / CN800, K8M890 / K8N890,
    P4M900 / VN896 / CN896, VX800 / VX820, VX855 / VX875, VX900
    29.705] (!!) VIA Technologies does not support this driver in any way.
    29.705] (!!) For support, please refer to https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Openchrome/.
    29.705] (!!) (compiled with SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH: 1527076800)
    29.706] (II) CHROME(0): viaPreInit
    29.706] (II) CHROME(0): VIAGetRec
    29.706] (--) CHROME(0): Chipset: P4M900 / VN896 / CN896
    29.706] (--) CHROME(0): Chipset revision: 0
    29.861] (EE) CHROME(0): [drm] Failed to open DRM device for pci:0000:01:00.0: No such file or directory
    29.861] (II) Loading sub module "vgahw"
    29.861] (II) LoadModule: "vgahw"
    29.862] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/libvgahw.so
    29.874] (II) Module vgahw: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
    29.874]     compiled for 1.20.1, module version = 0.1.0
    29.874]     ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 24.0
    29.874] (--) CHROME(0): Probed amount of VideoRAM = 131072 kB
    29.874] (II) CHROME(0): Entered viaMapMMIO.
    29.874] (--) CHROME(0): Mapping MMIO at address 0xDD000000 with size 52 KB.
    29.874] (--) CHROME(0): Mapping 2D Host BitBLT space at address 0xDD200000 with size 2048 KB.
    29.874] (--) CHROME(0): Mapping the frame buffer at address 0xC8000000 with size 131072 KB.
    29.874] (EE) CHROME(0): Unable to map the frame buffer.
Error: Invalid argument (22)
    29.874] (II) CHROME(0): Exiting viaMapMMIO.
    29.874] (II) CHROME(0): VIAFreeRec
    29.874] (II) CHROME(0): VIAFreeScreen
    29.874] (II) CHROME(0): VIAFreeRec
    29.874] (II) UnloadModule: "openchrome"
    29.874] (II) UnloadSubModule: "vgahw"
    29.874] (II) Unloading vgahw
    29.874] (EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.
    29.874] (EE) 
Fatal server error:
    29.874] (EE) no screens found(EE) 
    29.874] (EE) 
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support 
     at http://wiki.x.org
 for help. 
    29.874] (EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
    29.874] (EE) 
    29.905] (EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.

Any idea how to fix this? Thanks in advance.

2

It’s such an old driver - I’m not sure that any active support exists any longer. The vesa driver might be your best option for this old VIA chipset.

3

I tried using vesa but it’s so slow and unresponsive it’s barely useable, there is also a weird problem where it will draw things in the wrong places, for instance the title bar of a window will randomly appear in other location on the screen and disappear a second latter flickering around.
Regarding active support I found this while searching for solutions, not sure if it’s helpful.

4

Ok.

Regarding active support I found this while searching for solutions, not sure if it’s helpful.

It might be. Perhaps you can contact Kevin and get some further advice/support…

5

I can see a symbiotic opportunity for you (and others with such graphics hardware) to help with testing and/or donating to the cause here :slight_smile: