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Problems with fglrx

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Hi,
I am new to linux, and I am having troubles with the fglrx driver.
Graphics card is ATI Radeon 8500 with 64 MB RAM. Card is working with the xorg driver, but that driver doesn't support TV-Out. So, I have to use ATI driver. I have installed "original" fglrx packages from debian site.
Distribution is Debian testing, Mother Board Abit BE-7 Raid, 512 MB RAM, kernel version is 2.6.18-3-686 (official build), TV standard is PAL-B and TV is connected via S-Video. If there is a need for other information please write.
I have tried many xorg.conf files, but without success. Below I will attach two files: xorg.conf file, and corresponding Xorg.log file. Attached xorg.conf file is the most simple one, but I get the same error mesages in Xorg.log file for all tested xorg.conf files. When X is started I get black screen (on the monitor and on TV). After that only Ctr+Alt+Del is working.
Please help.

--
pythagoras

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‹ Trying to find Xlib.h, Xutil.h, Xos.h Xatom.h and probably various other files of the XFree86-devel package video cards with two independant crt outs ›

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proprietary drivers in Debian

Submitted by pinniped on Sun, 2007-02-04 15:58.

I always use NVidia cards (even though that DirectX garbage from M$ never works with it) and I never use the Debian packages - they are always out of date. You should read the instructions on the ATI site, then look again at what the Debian packages did, and then try to fix it. You might even consider using the drivers from the ATI site rather than the ones in the archive.

You can also search the ATI forum to see if anyone had asked about the reasons for:

(EE) fglrx(0): PreInitDAL failed

»

Re: proprietary drivers in Debian

Submitted by pythagoras on Tue, 2007-02-06 14:58.

>You should read the instructions on the ATI site, then look
>again at what the Debian packages did...

Instructions on ATI site are so general that I cannot figure out what the installer is doing. I have noticed that debian packages are replacing some files which belongs to OenGL. Because, I am beginer, I don't know what to do. Please be more specific.

>You can also search the ATI forum

I don't know what do you mean by "ATI forum". There is forum on AMD site, but there are no informations about ATI products.

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Gentoo comments

Submitted by pinniped on Tue, 2007-02-06 16:39.

Have a look at the comments on the Gentoo site. They suggest that with some drivers the problem is having the kernel framebuffer compiled.

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_ATI_Drivers#PreInitDAL_failed

But what you might be experiencing is the EDID bug:
http://ati.cchtml.com/show_bug.cgi?id=509

The recommended solution is to download the latest ATI drivers - the ones in the Debian archives are several generations old already.

Also read the instructions very carefully:
https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/linux_8.28.8-inst.html

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Re: Gentoo comments

Submitted by pythagoras on Tue, 2007-02-06 19:36.

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_ATI_Drivers#PreInitDAL_failed
http://ati.cchtml.com/show_bug.cgi?id=509
On these web pages there is sentance:
"There is a known bug [2] which has been solved in the 8.32.5"
but the latest driver version wich supports Radeon 8500 is 8.28.8.
As a second solution, there is stated: compile the kernel with franme buffer disabled. Before a mounth, I have compiled the kernel with frame buffer disabled but that didn't solve the problem.

I have read the instructions at:
https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/linux_8.28.8-inst.html
and there is one note:
"Note: If a Linux 2.6.11 or newer kernel was built with CONFIG_AGP enabled, the kernel AGP frontend is required to load the fglrx kernel module. To identify whether your kernel was built with CONFIG_AGP enabled, look for CONFIG_AGP=y in the kernel config file, or if the 'agpgart' module loaded."

My kernel is compiled with CONFIG_AGP=m and agpgart module is loaded, but what is unclear to me is the part which states "AGP frontend is required to load the fglrx kernel module". What is "AGP frontend" and how to accomplish that frontend to load the kernel module?

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Re: Gentoo comments

Submitted by pythagoras on Sat, 2007-02-10 16:21.

>Have a look at the comments on the Gentoo site. They
>suggest that with some drivers the problem is having the
>kernel framebuffer compiled.

>http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_ATI_Drivers#PreInitDAL_failed

I have deinstalled fglrx-* packages downloaded from debian
site, after that I have compiled the kernel without the
frame buffer support. I have downloaded and installed the
ATI driver installer version 2.28.8 (last version
supporting Radeon 8500). I get the same error messages in
Xorg.log. One line in Xorg.log have caught my eye: "fglrx
module compiled for Xorg version 7.0", but xorg version
instaled on my computer is 7.1. I have searched
http://ati.cchtml.com for bugs containing
(EE) fglrx(0): PreInitDAL failed
but I cannot find useful informations. I don't know what
to do.

»

ATI

Submitted by pinniped on Sat, 2007-02-10 17:45.

That's unfortunate - since it is proprietary and no longer supported by ATI that's the end of it. You're stuck with the open version and just have to hope that someone will reverse-engineer it and get 3D working. That situation is not unusual - I have had that problem so many times in the past supporting products no longer supported by the manufacturer or in other cases the manufacturer has gone out of business. That is always the problem with secret source code and why we try to avoid it.

On the other hand, if the source is provided for the part you need to build for 7.0/7.1 and it already has code for 7.1 then that is a different story - you just need the correct X headers to rebuild.

»

Re. problem with fglrx

Submitted by Ashar on Mon, 2007-02-12 16:15.

I used to have the same problem with 2 different ATI cards on debian sarge & etch, until I was able to solve it recently. I don't really understand how, but it's working for me, here is how it goes. First you need to install the following packages, I use Synaptic for that, install libgcc1, linux-headers-"your arch", linux-image "your arch",linux-kbuild, linux-kernel-headers, linux-patch-debian-"your arch", linux-source-"your arch", linux-tree-"your arch", kernel-package, linux-kernel-headers,if these packages require other packages to satisfy dependencies, install them too. After that install fglrx-control, fglrx-driver, fglrx-kernel-source and fglrx-driver-dev, then go to /usr/src where you should find "fglrx.tar.bz2", extract it here then go to /usr/src/modules/fglrx. open the console and as root type sh make.sh and press return, after that copy the folder fglrx to /lib/modules/"your arch" and in the console type depmod -ae and press return then type modprobe fglrx then run in the console aticonfig and follow the instructions. To check if hardware acceleration is working try the euphoria GL screen saver, it should be running smoothely. Let me know how it works for you.

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