xrandr resolution problem with vesa driver

antismap · January 13, 2012, 1:51pm

Hello,

I just installed Opensuse 12.1 on an old laptop (amilo pro v3515).
I noticed that the normal vesa driver wasn’t chosen automaticaly, instead of that i got “software rasterizer”. In order to use the vesa driver, i created a new xorg.conf file following the instructions of this link : SDB:Configuring graphics cards - openSUSE (section 4.5).

Finaly, i managed to boot with the vesa driver enabled, but the resolution was a stretched 1280720 instead of the 1280800 my laptop uses.
I used xrandr to add a 1280*800 mode using following commands :

cvt 1280 800 60 (to get the modeline)

xrandr --newmode “1280x800_60.00” 83.50 1280 1352 1480 1680 800 803 809 831 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode default “1280x800_60.00”
xrandr --size “1280x800_60.00”

after what i got the error : “failed to change the screen configuration !”

I tried with other frequencies, thinking that 60hz was maybe too high, without success (same error)

After adding the mode, i can see that it has been added into the “displays” menu of systemsettings, but if i try to enable it (chosing the newly added 1280*800 configuration), i’m getting a “could not set the configuration for CRTC 262” error.

I know that this should work, because before i had xubuntu running fine at 1280*800 with the vesa driver.

Thanks in advance for your help for this weird issue !

jdmcdaniel3 · January 14, 2012, 12:43am

antismap:

Hello,

I just installed Opensuse 12.1 on an old laptop (amilo pro v3515).
I noticed that the normal vesa driver wasn’t chosen automaticaly, instead of that i got “software rasterizer”. In order to use the vesa driver, i created a new xorg.conf file following the instructions of this link : SDB:Configuring graphics cards - openSUSE (section 4.5).

Finaly, i managed to boot with the vesa driver enabled, but the resolution was a stretched 1280720 instead of the 1280800 my laptop uses.
I used xrandr to add a 1280*800 mode using following commands :

cvt 1280 800 60 (to get the modeline)

xrandr --newmode “1280x800_60.00” 83.50 1280 1352 1480 1680 800 803 809 831 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode default “1280x800_60.00”
xrandr --size “1280x800_60.00”

after what i got the error : “failed to change the screen configuration !”

I tried with other frequencies, thinking that 60hz was maybe too high, without success (same error)

After adding the mode, i can see that it has been added into the “displays” menu of systemsettings, but if i try to enable it (chosing the newly added 1280*800 configuration), i’m getting a “could not set the configuration for CRTC 262” error.

I know that this should work, because before i had xubuntu running fine at 1280*800 with the vesa driver.

Thanks in advance for your help for this weird issue !

I suggest you open a terminal session and give us the output from this:

xrandr -q

And

glxinfo | grep "OpenGL"

And I have a bash script that can give more video info here you can post:

H.I. Hardware Information - A Bash script to install and run inxi with default options! - Blogs - openSUSE Forums

Thank You,

antismap · January 14, 2012, 11:47am

Thanks for your answer.
The output of xrandr -q (before adding any mode)

xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 1280 x 720, maximum 1280 x 768
default connected 1280x720+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1280x720        0.0* 
   1024x768        0.0  
   800x600         0.0  
   720x576         0.0  
   720x540         0.0  
   720x480         0.0  
   640x480         0.0  
   1280x768        0.0

glxinfo :

OpenGL vendor string: Mesa Project
OpenGL renderer string: Software Rasterizer
OpenGL version string: 2.1 Mesa 7.11
OpenGL extensions:

And here’s the output of the H I script :


System:    Host: linux-2a8h.site Kernel: 3.1.0-1.2-default i686 (32 bit) 
           Desktop Gnome Distro: openSUSE 12.1 (i586) VERSION = 12.1 CODENAME = Asparagus
Machine:   System: FUJITSU SIEMENS (portable) product: AMILO PRO V3515 version: 20
           Mobo: FUJITSU SIEMENS model: AMILO PRO V3515 version: 0.1
           Bios: FUJITSU SIEMENS version: 1.0N-2309-8A20 date: 08/28/2009
CPU:       Single core Intel Celeron M CPU 450 (-UP-) cache: 1024 KB flags: (nx sse sse2 sse3) clocked at 1994.797 MHz 
Graphics:  Card: VIA CN896/VN896/P4M900 [Chrome 9 HC] 
           X.Org: 1.10.4 drivers: vesa (unloaded: fbdev,unichrome) Resolution: 1280x720@0.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Rasterizer GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 7.11
Audio:     Card: VIA VT8237A/VT8251 HDA Controller driver: snd_hda_intel Sound: ALSA ver: 1.0.24
Network:   Card-1: VIA VT6102 [Rhine-II] driver: via-rhine 
           IF: eth0 state: down speed: 10 Mbps duplex: half mac: 00:14:0b:30:07:f5
           Card-2: Atheros AR2413 802.11bg NIC driver: ath5k 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 00:c0:a8:e0:11:96
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 80.0GB (10.6% used) 1: /dev/sda ST980811AS 80.0GB 
Partition: ID: / size: 14G used: 7.9G (61%) fs: rootfs ID: / size: 14G used: 7.9G (61%) fs: ext4 
           ID: swap-1 size: 1.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
Sensors:   Error: You do not have the sensors app installed.
Info:      Processes: 117 Uptime: 0:07 Memory: 296.9/1759.2MB Client: Shell inxi: 1.7.24

oldcpu · January 14, 2012, 12:48pm

antismap:


Graphics:  Card: VIA CN896/VN896/P4M900 [Chrome 9 HC] 
           X.Org: 1.10.4 drivers: vesa (unloaded: fbdev,unichrome) Resolution: 1280x720@0.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Rasterizer GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 7.11

Glad to read you managed to get this working with vesa. I see the unichrome driver was unloaded for some reason, and presumeably did not work well. Still, as opposed to answering your question (where tuning resolutions is not my expertise) did you check out the openchrome driver in addition to the unichrome driver ? There is this post here which has some information: http://forums.opensuse.org/forums/english/get-technical-help-here/how-faq-forums/advanced-how-faq-read-only/438705-opensuse-graphic-card-practical-theory-guide-users.html#post2175088

oldcpu · January 14, 2012, 12:51pm

I should add that I think the rpm for the unichrome driver in openSUSE-12.1 is: xorg-x11-driver-video-unichrome-20110523-3.1.2.i586.rpm … and it may not be installed by default. Do you have that rpm installed ? And if so, does the unichrome driver work then ?

oldcpu · January 14, 2012, 12:54pm

To try the openchrome video driver you would need to search for it, from a site such as: software.opensuse.org: Search Results and put ‘openchrome’ in the search, and select ‘search options’ and select ‘Include users’ home projects’ . That should give you an idea as to where some packaged versions of the ‘openchrome’ driver are located. Unfortunately that search engine is ‘down’ right now, so you may be forced to try later.

oldcpu · January 14, 2012, 12:57pm

Don’t forget to check the contents of /var/log/Xorg.0.log file to get a better understanding as to why some settings may not work.

antismap · January 14, 2012, 3:16pm

Hello,

I already tried all of those drivers (openchrome, unichrome, chrome9) :

when i try with chrome9, i got the following error in the logs :

   393.609] (II) LoadModule: "via"
   393.609] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/via_drv.so
   393.610] (EE) Failed to load /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/via_drv.so: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/via_drv.so: undefined symbol: xf86errno
   393.610] (EE) LoadModule: Module via does not have a viaModuleData data object.
   393.610] (II) UnloadModule: "via"
   393.610] (II) Unloading via

when i try with openchrome (only mode that actually starts x with the correct resolution), I don’t get any error, and there are many files in the logs starting with CHROME(0) like this


  1136.200] (II) CHROME(0): CrtcVDisplay: 0x320
  1136.200] (II) CHROME(0): CrtcVBlankStart: 0x320
  1136.200] (II) CHROME(0): CrtcVSyncStart: 0x321
  1136.200] (II) CHROME(0): CrtcVSyncEnd: 0x324
  1136.200] (II) CHROME(0): CrtcVBlankEnd: 0x330
  1136.200] (II) CHROME(0): CrtcVTotal: 0x330
  1136.201] (II) CHROME(0): ViaModeSecondCRTC
  1136.201] (II) CHROME(0): ViaPanelScale: 1280,800 -> 1280

Here the output of HI with openchrome :

Graphics:  Card: VIA CN896/VN896/P4M900 [Chrome 9 HC] 
           X.Org: 1.10.4 drivers: openchrome (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,unichrome) Resolution: 1280x800@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Rasterizer GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 7.11

So openchrome actually works, but the GLX renderer stays software. Is there a way to fix this ? I think that going to vesa was maybe a mistake considering that openchrome is supposed to work better. It’s annoying because without real GLX rendering i can’t watch movies correctly and all feels kinda slow.

I’m also mentioning that unichrome fails similarly as the chrome9 driver.

jdmcdaniel3 · January 14, 2012, 3:37pm

When I serach on your video chipset, I find that it is supposed to work with the kernel module called viafb and that you need to make sure the value CONFIG_FB_VIA=M when your kernel is compiled. This info was on the following page:

Linux Kernel Driver DataBase: CONFIG_FB_VIA: VIA UniChrome (Pro) and Chrome9 display support

I have a script for looking at loaded kernel modules that you can find here: S.K.I.M. - SuSE Kernel Installed Modules - A lsmod replacement- Creates Alphabetized Module Listing - Blogs - openSUSE Forums

It is possible to compile your own kernel and using the make menuconfig search for **CONFIG_FB_VIA and change to M, **which means make a module as opposed to n for no, don’t make a loadable module. This can be done with bash script called sakc you can find here:

S.A.K.C. - SUSE Automated Kernel Compiler - Version 2.50 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums

So, you could use skim to see if viafb is there or not and if not, you could could compile kernel 3.2.1, the most recent stable kernel, making sure that CONFIG_FB_VIA=M so that this kernel module will be built. We would have to assume that in openSUSE **CONFIG_FB_VIA=n **and that is why it is not there, but I just have not use this video chipset before and since it is old, normally newer kernels are not the answer, but it is hard to say what the default is in openSUSE for this one item.

Thank You,

antismap · January 14, 2012, 3:56pm

I used your skim script and i saw that the required module is indeed not there :

usbhid 51576 0 -
via 49345 0 -
via_rhine 31509 0 -
video 19101 0 -

I have to say that I’m not very comfortable with the idea of recompiling the kernel (I never did it ). But thanks anyway, i will use this option as last resort.

jdmcdaniel3 · January 14, 2012, 4:31pm

Of course, do only what is in your comfort zone, but the sakc script is written to do no harm. While it adds in a new kernel, it does not remove your old one. If for any reason, the new one does not work, you can always pick your old one. As for changing kernel options, sakc gives the option to modify your kernel module load options, but its a lot to look at the very first time, but since you always have your old one to fall back on and the fact that you can keep compiling a kernel source file you have downloaded, trying to find what works, it only wastes time at worst. So, I would consider just how important it is to get this right on your old PC and good luck.

Thank You,

saverios · March 19, 2012, 12:34pm

I also have the same issue with antismap. An old laptop with the Chrome 9 graphics card. I tried all the drivers I found online and ran into all the problems presented here. Has anyone actually managed to get OpenSUSE to work with accelerated graphics on this card and, if so, how? Any advice would be really appreciated! I am weary of compiling a new kernel, as this machine is kind of critical for me for the next 6 months, but I will try it as soon as I have a backup choice.

martin_helm · March 19, 2012, 1:13pm

Am 19.03.2012 12:36, schrieb saverios:
>
> I also have the same issue with antismap. An old laptop with the Chrome
> 9 graphics card.
What did you try already? I updated yesterday an old Amilo La1703 to
12.1 with Chrome 9 and used the openchrome driver (no xorg.conf or other
adaptions needed) just installed the openchrome driver (0.2.904) from here
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/X11:/Drivers:/Video/openSUSE_12.1
and rebooted. The driver exists also for 11.4.

–
PC: oS 11.4 x86_64 | Intel Core i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.6.0 |
GeForce GT 420
Eee PC 1201n: oS 12.1 x86_64 | Intel Atom 330@1.60GHz | 3GB | KDE 4.8.1
| nVidia ION
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10 |
xf86-video-geode

saverios · March 19, 2012, 1:23pm

Can you tell me if it has any 2D / 3D acceleration? I know the openchrome driver will boot for this chipset but most of its acceleration functions don’t work for the Chrome 9 chipsets.

martin_helm · March 19, 2012, 2:10pm

Am 19.03.2012 13:26, schrieb saverios:
> Can you tell me if it has any 2D / 3D acceleration? I know the
> openchrome driver will boot for this chipset but most of its
> acceleration functions don’t work for the Chrome 9 chipsets.
>
2D acceleration for videos works with xv (kaffeine and mplayer) but the
largest video I tried in fullscreen was only PAL DVD (no frame drops and
smooth) not some high resolution videos.
3D acceleration is not active (opengl is via software rasterizer as
indicated in the posts above), some of the KDE desktop effects work with
a reasonable performance though (transparent windows, preview box for
applications in the task bar), some (like cover switcher) are simply not
available.
I also tried the 0.2.905 driver (compiled from source from
openchrome.org but with the spec file for the 0.2.904 rpm only adapted
for the version of course) which did not make a difference for me.

–
PC: oS 11.4 x86_64 | Intel Core i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.6.0 |
GeForce GT 420
Eee PC 1201n: oS 12.1 x86_64 | Intel Atom 330@1.60GHz | 3GB | KDE 4.8.1
| nVidia ION
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10 |
xf86-video-geode

saverios · March 21, 2012, 8:53am

> Can you tell me if it has any 2D / 3D acceleration? I know the
> openchrome driver will boot for this chipset but most of its
> acceleration functions don’t work for the Chrome 9 chipsets.
>
2D acceleration for videos works with xv (kaffeine and mplayer) but the
largest video I tried in fullscreen was only PAL DVD (no frame drops and
smooth) not some high resolution videos.
3D acceleration is not active (opengl is via software rasterizer as
indicated in the posts above), some of the KDE desktop effects work with
a reasonable performance though (transparent windows, preview box for
applications in the task bar), some (like cover switcher) are simply not
available.
I also tried the 0.2.905 driver (compiled from source from
openchrome.org but with the spec file for the 0.2.904 rpm only adapted
for the version of course) which did not make a difference for me.

That’s more or less the behavior I am getting with the fbdev driver the system is using by default. I wonder if anyone has gone through the kernel compilation process with the module flag enabled, as jdmcdaniel3 described. It would be reassuring to know that someone actually got it to work with acceleration this way (or any other way, for that matter!)

martin_helm · March 21, 2012, 11:44am

Am 21.03.2012 08:56, schrieb saverios:
>
> That’s more or less the behavior I am getting with the fbdev driver the
> system is using by default.
Similar behavior but with a much better performance, esp. for watching
videos and desktop effects, so it is a significant difference.

–
PC: oS 11.4 x86_64 | Intel Core i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.6.0 |
GeForce GT 420
Eee PC 1201n: oS 12.1 x86_64 | Intel Atom 330@1.60GHz | 3GB | KDE 4.8.1
| nVidia ION
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10 |
xf86-video-geode

saverios · March 24, 2012, 11:45am

OK, so I installed the openchrome driver. However, now font rendering is incosistent, to say the least. With the fbdev driver, all fonts looked consistently beautiful and precise. Now I get different font heights for different lines and the characters don’t look nearly as good as they did with the fbdev driver. I tried switching to the Deja Vu font, subpixel rendering,using freetype libs from other repos etc but no dice. Any idea how to fix this? I’d hate to go back to the fbdev driver just because of bad font rendering!

martin_helm · March 24, 2012, 12:55pm

Am 24.03.2012 11:46, schrieb saverios:
>
> OK, so I installed the openchrome driver. However, now font rendering is
> incosistent, to say the least. With the fbdev driver, all fonts looked
> consistently beautiful and precise. Now I get different font heights for
> different lines and the characters don’t look nearly as good as they did
> with the fbdev driver. I tried switching to the Deja Vu font, subpixel
> rendering,using freetype libs from other repos etc but no dice. Any idea
> how to fix this? I’d hate to go back to the fbdev driver just because of
> bad font rendering!
>
>
I have not seen that problem, it just worked. Could you post a
screenshot to susepaste.org to get a better impression what it looks
like? Maybe it is easy and someone has an idea what to do.

–
PC: oS 11.4 x86_64 | Intel Core i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.6.0 |
GeForce GT 420
Eee PC 1201n: oS 12.1 x86_64 | Intel Atom 330@1.60GHz | 3GB | KDE 4.8.1
| nVidia ION
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10 |
xf86-video-geode

saverios · March 24, 2012, 1:26pm

Never mind, the default screen resolution was wrong so all fonts got rendered incorrectly. I changed my default settings to what the monitor actually supports and the font problem went away. I actually deleted the post but your answer was too quick for me! Thanks anyway!