525 frugal install - no Save file - radeon driver [Solved]

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davids45
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525 frugal install - no Save file - radeon driver [Solved]

#1 Post by davids45 »

G'day,
I've been having a possibly similar problem to Flash with my new desktop set-up and most recent Puppies based on Lupu-525 which I think all use PSD525?

Trying out all the new Pups, I use the Universal Installer for a Frugal install which copies the necessary files to a new subdirectory.

But when I click on the "re-boot" or "re-start" button, expecting to be offered the Save-to-file option, I get a black screen immediately and "no video signal", but the computer itself still runs.

After about a minute, the computer re-boots and the new Frugal will start up (I add a menu.lst entry during the install) but has no Save file.

The computer has a radeon HD5450 graphics card and an ASUS Intel motherboard with a 1600x900 LED monitor. The display is excellent with all these Pups.

These same Pups will install in Frugal form with no problem on my older desk-top (older motherboard, nVidia graphics, 1280x1024 LCD monitor) so this is partly a hardware problem with my new desktop.

And I can create an empty Save file in the new Frugal sub-directory to work-around this shut-down problem.

Boot parameters like radeon.modeswitch=1 have been suggested but I don't know I have a Frugal Save-file problem until it's too late.

But I hope that if this is partly a shut-down software problem, it could be fixed so others may not have to go through this long and complicated Frugal install.

Thanks for any help,

David S.

(edited title to better explain particular and maybe unique problem)
Last edited by davids45 on Thu 07 Jul 2011, 06:54, edited 2 times in total.

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rcrsn51
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#2 Post by rcrsn51 »

Instead of "reboot", use "exit to prompt". Then type the "reboot" command.

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bigpup
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#3 Post by bigpup »

Try this:

In the boot menu.lst
Add the acpi=off to the end of the kernel line in the Puppy 525 entry.
Example:
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro acpi=off
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

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davids45
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#4 Post by davids45 »

G'day,
Thanks for the two suggestions.

Unfortunately neither worked (trying my LiveCD of Midnightsun002 on this desktop)

booting with 'acpi=off' had no effect.

opening a terminal (MNS002's two versions tried) and typing 'reboot' gave a black screen and a continuously running computer.

I tried to use the xorgwizard from the starting-up Personalise Settings dialog box - to see if I could change the resolution or to a different graphics driver. I could change the resolution using the same driver (reported as vesa or radeon). Hitting the xorgwizard button froze the computer but without switching to the black screen.

I booted next with 'pfix=ram,nox' and then tried 'reboot' from the presented text prompt, and there it was, the "Save-to-File" screen! And I was able to create a new Save file into the new directory created during the earlier failures with the Universal Installer.

So I'm thinking my problem is the vesa/radeon driver which once loaded and running, does not /cannot drop back to text mode. Hence I cannot make a Save file when installing a new Frugal, nor can the xorgwizard be used. I also find that Full installs as well as Frugal installs (both run very well once installed) do not give any text messages during shut-down like I'm used to with older Pups.

Speaking of older Pups, I cannot get the correct graphics resolution for this graphics card with my 1600x900 LED monitor with older non-lupu Pups nor does their radeon driver work if I attempt to use the xorgwizard - I end up with vesa which doesn't have a 1600x900 setting. For Pups4 and earlier I can only use 1280x1024 which gives a distorted image, but I do get the desired Save-File choice when Universally installing.

So, while I'm playing around with this unique-to-my-desktop problem, can I ask if is there any way to get Pups4 and those with similar older kernels to give me 1600x900 rather than the default 1280x1024?

While I don't know how to do it (yet?), would compiling a radeon driver on this computer for this card be a possibility?

Thanks to anyone who can make sense of all this and would like to suggest something else for me to try.

David S

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bigpup
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#5 Post by bigpup »

First know the pain of ATI graphics with Linux. ATI does not provide drivers for older versions of Linux and newer video cards. Support is spotty.
Vesa driver just works but is limited.

For Lucid Puppy 5.2.5
Click on Quickpet on the desktop
Go to drivers tab
Select click here to test your graphics card
Install the driver recommended
Be sure to follow all directions given closely.

If you are instructed to run xorgwizard
Always select choose to change driver. Do not use probe.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

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davids45
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#6 Post by davids45 »

G'day bigpup,

Thanks for your quick reply.

Based your un-encouraging words of, no doubt, your personal ATI-experience/wisdom, I'm sorely tempted to have a go using my semi-new nVidia graphics card from my middle-aged desktop in place of my new ATI card in the new desktop.

Does this sound like something worth trying on a cold winter's day?

David S.

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Karl Godt
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#7 Post by Karl Godt »

Please post the output of

Code: Select all

elspci -l
and

Code: Select all

lsmod | grep -E 'drm|fb|agp|vga|i2c|radeon'

Code: Select all

modprobe -l | grep radeon
kernel/drivers/video/aty/radeonfb.ko
kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/radeon/radeon.ko

Loading some framebuffer drivers gave me a xorg.conf with two cards :
the usual 'nv' driver and the 'radeonhd' driver .

It also may be backlight related

Code: Select all

find /sys -iname "*backlight*"
/sys/class/backlight

If you have files in there , one of them may contain a value for the brightness .
They range from 0|1 to 8 in most cases . The higher , the brighter .

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bigpup
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#8 Post by bigpup »

davids45 wrote:G'day bigpup,

Thanks for your quick reply.

Based your un-encouraging words of, no doubt, your personal ATI-experience/wisdom, I'm sorely tempted to have a go using my semi-new nVidia graphics card from my middle-aged desktop in place of my new ATI card in the new desktop.

Does this sound like something worth trying on a cold winter's day?

David S.
Try what I told you with Quickpet.
There is a good chance the ATI driver there will work with your card.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

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davids45
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#9 Post by davids45 »

G'day Karl,

Outputs from console running Lupu-525 Full (typed by hand - sorry for any typos):

"Please post the output of
Code:
elspci -l"

04:01.0 048000 1131:7133 <saa7134>
02:00.0 020000 1969:1063 <atl1c>
01:00.1 040300 1002:AA68 <HDA Intel>
01:00.0 030000 1002:68F9 <>
00:1f.2 01018F 8086:27C0 <ati_piix>
00:1f.1 01018A 8086:27DF <ati_piix>
00:1f.0 060100 8086:27B8 <>
00:1e.0 060401 8086:244e <>
00:1d.7 0C0320 8086:27CC <ehci_hcd>
00:1d.3 0C0300 8086:27CB <uhci_hcd>
00:1d.2 0C0300 8086:27CA <uhci_hcd>
00:1d.1 0C0300 8086:27C9 <uhci_hcd>
00:1d.0 0C0300 8086:27C8 <uhci_hcd>
00:1c.1 060400 8086:27D2 <pcieport>
00:1c.0 060400 8086:27D0 <pcieport>
00:1b.0 040300 8086:27D8 <HDA Intel>
00:01.0 060400 8086:2E31 <pciport>
00:00.0 060000 8086:2E30 <>

"Code:
lsmod | grep -E 'drm|fb|agp|vga|i2c|radeon' "

fbcon 27736 0
tileblit 1509 1 fbcon
font 6916 1 fbcon
bitblit 3514 1 fbcon
i2c_core 11497 9 tda1004x,saa7134_dvb,tda827x,tda8290,tuner,saa7134,v412_common,videodev,tveeprom
intel_agp 19189 0
agpgart 18904 1 intel_agp


"Code:
modprobe -l | grep radeon"

kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/radeon/radeon.ko


"It also may be backlight related
Code:
find /sys -iname "*backlight*" "

sys/class/backlight

Let me know if I've missed anything that you would like to see or re-do.

Thank you,

David S.

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davids45
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#10 Post by davids45 »

G'day bigpup,

Just been trying your suggestion to use Quickpet and the test-the-driver button.
This suggested I use the ATI-fglrx driver - down-loaded this but it did not work in my full Lupu-525 - also downloaded the Xorg-High pet just in case but it did not make any difference.

Hitting the xorgwizard from the full Lupu-525 immediately killed the display (but kept the computer running). So I have had to re-boot and use the xorgwizard during boot-up to restore my Lupu-525 by choosing the (original?) radeon driver from the boot list.

Still thinking very seriously of switching to my nVidia card in this desktop just to see how it goes - I doubt it could be worse with installing Frugals than the ATI-radeon card.

David S.

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bigpup
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#11 Post by bigpup »

Just been trying your suggestion to use Quickpet and the test-the-driver button.
This suggested I use the ATI-fglrx driver - down-loaded this but it did not work in my full Lupu-525
How did you download and install this driver?
Specific details.
You are our eyes.

When you run click here to test your graphics card.
What did it say the card was?
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

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davids45
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Location: Chatswood, NSW

#12 Post by davids45 »

G'day bigpup,

I let Quickpet do the download and install of the ATI_fglrx-10.10 Catalyst driver. I saved a copy as well.

The Graphics test says my card is a Cedar PRO (Radeon HD5450).

The Graphics test dialog box now says the "ATI is installed but the driver is not working". I've tried the ATI Help which says to use the xorgwizard but this did not make the new ATI driver work, so I've reverted to the original Lupu-525 radeon which is fine for Lupu-based Pups (once installed) as long as I don't try to run the xorgwizard, and I don't get the shut-down messages as previously.

The radeon driver isn't available in the boot-up xorgwizard options for earlier Pups like 4.3.1 or Wary. So I end up with 1280x1024 vesa on my 1600x900 monitor for these.

Thanks for your perseverence,

David S.

PS: just now, after a black screen/no DVI signal but running computer when I tried to "exit to prompt" from within Lupu-525, I typed "xwin" to the black screen (i.e. no response on the monitor) but after a few seconds, my Lupu-525 display re-appeared and the monitor's LED indicator changed colour.

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Karl Godt
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#13 Post by Karl Godt »

NOTE : Please read the bottom with the backlight part first !

###Drives :
00:1f.2 01018F 8086:27C0 <ati_piix>
00:1f.1 01018A 8086:27DF <ati_piix>

This should be the inbuilt driver for the HD.
Mine is called
00:1f.1 010180 8086:244B <ata_piix>
###USB:
00:1d.7 0C0320 8086:27CC <ehci_hcd>
00:1d.3 0C0300 8086:27CB <uhci_hcd>
00:1d.2 0C0300 8086:27CA <uhci_hcd>
00:1d.1 0C0300 8086:27C9 <uhci_hcd>
00:1d.0 0C0300 8086:27C8 <uhci_hcd>

These are the 2 usb drivers and 4/5 ports .
Mine are
00:1f.4 0C0300 8086:2444 <uhci_hcd>
00:1f.2 0C0300 8086:2442 <uhci_hcd>

###Misc:
01:00.0 030000 1002:68F9 <>
These are ports on the MB which have no drivers registered.
I have 3 of these .
###Sound ? :
01:00.1 040300 1002:AA68 <HDA Intel>
00:1b.0 040300 8086:27D8 <HDA Intel>

I guess is for the sound card (s) .
The command "lsmod | grep snd" would show if the module 'snd-hda-intel' got loaded .
Mine is
00:1f.5 040100 8086:2445 <Intel ICH>
and the driver is 'snd-intel8x0' .
###Network :
02:00.0 020000 1969:1063 <atl1c>
The command "modinfo atl1c" is saying
description: Atheros 1000M Ethernet Network Driver
###PCI :
00:1c.1 060400 8086:27D2 <pcieport>
00:1c.0 060400 8086:27D0 <pcieport>
00:01.0 060400 8086:2E31 <pciport>

For now I can not say anything about these two ,
I believe they show up differently than the driver name .
It seems they are located in "/lib/modules/2.6.33.2/kernel/drivers/pci" .
"lsmod | grep pci" would probably show them .

_______________________________________

Now on to the more interesting parts :

###TV :
04:01.0 048000 1131:7133 <saa7134>
tda1004x,saa7134_dvb,tda827x,tda8290,tuner,saa7134,v412_common,videodev,tveeprom

"modinfo saa7134" reveals
description: v4l2 driver module for saa7130/34 based TV cards
and a dozen of parameters of which
parm: video_nr:video device number (array of int)
seems most interesting
and a lot of debug params like
parm: video_debug:enable debug messages [video] (int)
Though I have no dvb card ,
"modprobe --first-time -v saa7134"
worked for me and shows interesting information :
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.34-KRG-i486-compiled-AcerLaptop-rev5/kernel/drivers/media/video/v4l1-compat.ko
insmod /lib/modules//drivers/media/video/videodev.ko
insmod /lib/modules//kernel/drivers/media/video/v4l2-common.ko
insmod /lib/modules//drivers/media/video/tveeprom.ko
insmod /lib/modules//drivers/media/IR/ir-core.ko
insmod /lib/modules//kernel/drivers/media/IR/ir-common.ko
insmod /lib/modules//kernel/drivers/media/video/videobuf-core.ko
insmod /lib/modules//kernel/drivers/media/video/videobuf-dma-sg.ko
install /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install saa7134 && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet --use-blacklist saa7134-alsa ; : ; }
insmod /lib/modules//kernel/drivers/media/video/saa7134/saa7134.ko
insmod /lib/modules//kernel/drivers/media/video/saa7134/saa7134-alsa.ko index=-2 index=-2
One of the things I would try is to blacklist these drivers
using the "bootmanager" in "Menu>System" ,
though I doubt somehow this is related .

###Misc video :
i2c_core 11497 9
intel_agp 19189 0
agpgart 18904 1 intel_agp


You seem to have an intel chip that corresponds with the video HW .

i801-smbus.ko in my case registers as
00:1f.3 0C0500 8086:2443 <i801_smbus>
and seems to pull in i2c-core .

In /lib/modules/2.6.33.2/kernel/drivers/i2c/busses
are several i2c drivers for ali,nvidia,intel,sis but none for ATI .

Technical : On my kernel I compiled ,
I had i2c-core built into the kernel , not as module , but all other i2c as modules :
agpgart 18904 1 intel_agp
In my case
00:00.0 060000 0003:0604 <agpgart-intel>
registers .

But it is one of the few kernels I compiled , that register it .
The module gets loaded nearly everywhere but mostly not registered .

Most entries in /tmp/bootkernel.log look like these :
<6>Linux agpgart interface v0.103
<6>agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: Intel 845G Chipset
<3>agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: device not available (can't reserve [mem 0xe0000000-0xe3ffffff pref])
<3>agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: can't enable PCI device

I still have to find out about this .

Most graphic drivers are located in
/lib/modules/2.6.31.14/kernel/drivers/video
/lib/modules/2.6.31.14/kernel/drivers/gpu

Because the SKIPLIST in /etc/rc.d/MODULESCONFIG
contains all the framebuffer drivers I had thought ,
that they normally would be included in Puppy and
because of the attempt to trim Puppy beneath 128MB they fell out ,
but nope , they are not included in Puppy by default .

The only frambuffer drivers are fbcon and its' depends in
/lib/modules/2.6.30.5/kernel/drivers/video/console

The /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit loads fbcon by default :
#100703 load fbcon module: needed by some xorg drivers when exit to console (ex: nouveau).
modprobe fbcon #100703 needed by some xorg drivers when exit to console (ex: nouveau).
Trying the different fbcon params ,
which seem not to be compiled into Puppy-fbcon by default ,
I also got messages similar to you : "Out The Range" .
I think it had been the
'options fbcon map=01'
entry I made in /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf|puppy.conf
to map fbcon to use only every second display .

Since Puppy opens 3 tty by default in /etc/inittab ,
I got me a unuseable screen on tty2 and tty4 ,
and Xorg crashed on tty4 ,
which is the first free tty xinit starting Xorg chooses by default .

I dont't know if fbcon is necessary if no other radeonfb drivers are loaded .

In my case with nvidiafb compiled as module ,
fbcon has to be loaded after nvidiafb is loaded , otherwise no framebuffer console .

TIP : If you want to compile your own kernel , don't choose 'debug' for most of the drivers , especially for nvidiafb .
The output would look like
nvidiafb_setcolreg START
nvidiafb_setcolreg END
nvidiafb_setcolreg START
nvidiafb_setcolreg END

with 500 lines in /var/log/messages
and they also appear on the screen , switching tty .

It is still possible to enter commands ,
but all output you had gets overwritten by the debug messages .

Somehow I would recommend that you [re-]compile the kernel for you hardware , see
http://www.puppylinux.com/development/compilekernel.htm
or try one of the newer derivates by "pemasu" and "jemimah" in the derivates section .
pemasu I think has built Puppies with the 2.6.35.7 and 2.6.38.4 kernel and jemimah with the 2.6.34 and 2.6.35 kernel :
Fluppy 013 A Fork of Puppeee with more drivers
IcePuppy-014 for newer and Ice Puppy-015 for older computers Lucid Puppy woof based Unofficial 2.6.38.4 kernel release

For the backlight :

There are some drivers in
/lib/modules/2.6.31.14/kernel/drivers/platform/lib/modules/2.6.31.14/kernel/drivers/video/backlight
you may check .

This is from /linux-2.6.33.7/Documentation/laptops/sony-laptop.txt :
Backlight control:
------------------
If your laptop model supports it, you will find sysfs files in the
/sys/class/backlight/sony/
directory. You will be able to query and set the current screen
brightness:
brightness get/set screen brightness (an integer
between 0 and 7)
actual_brightness reading from this file will query the HW
to get real brightness value
max_brightness the maximum brightness value
The backlight drivers might create a file "backlight" in there .
I would check the value in there by

Code: Select all

find /sys/class/backlight -iname "*bright*"
cat /sys/class/backlight/*/brightness
It may be set to '0' by default to reduce the power consumption and therefore a black screen .

Sorry not to be more helpful than :
1.: Check the brightness value .
2.: Try blacklisting the TV driver(s) .
3.: Try commenting 'modbrobe fbcon' like '#modprobe fbcon'
in the '/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit' file .
4.: DL Some kernel source form www.kernel.org
just for reading the /Documentation files .
5.: Compile the kernel .
6.: Try other Puppies .

I hope this all is readable , even if not understanable at first read .
Karl Reimer Godt

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Karl Godt
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#14 Post by Karl Godt »

:oops:
I forgot to mention , that you have got the "radeon.ko" included , but it seems not to be loaded .

With "puppy pfix=ram,nox" I would

Code: Select all

 modprobe radeon
and then startx , to see if this changes something .

And after re-reading the posts , I have discovered , that you already tried pemasus Midnightsun002 .

And for Asus I found that there are

/lib/modules/2.6.33.2/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/asus_acpi.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.33.2/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/asus-laptop.ko

The asus-laptop.txt of the kernel documentation says :
Backlight
---------
You can control lcd backlight power and brightness with
/sys/class/backlight/asus-laptop/. Brightness Values are between 0 and 15.
"grep -i HD5450" in kernel source did not show anything , and the comments in
/linux-2.6.35.7/drivers/gpu/drm/radeon
are sparse ,
and seemingly no documentation available in the documentation .
The only info about your card is :
#define RADEON_FAMILY_H
/*
* Radeon chip families
*/
enum radeon_family {
CHIP_R100,
CHIP_RV100,
CHIP_RS100,
CHIP_RV200,
CHIP_RS200,
CHIP_R200,
CHIP_RV250,
CHIP_RS300,
CHIP_RV280,
CHIP_R300,
CHIP_R350,
CHIP_RV350,
CHIP_RV380,
CHIP_R420,
CHIP_R423,
CHIP_RV410,
CHIP_RS400,
CHIP_RS480,
CHIP_RS600,
CHIP_RS690,
CHIP_RS740,
CHIP_RV515,
CHIP_R520,
CHIP_RV530,
CHIP_RV560,
CHIP_RV570,
CHIP_R580,
CHIP_R600,
CHIP_RV610,
CHIP_RV630,
CHIP_RV670,
CHIP_RV620,
CHIP_RV635,
CHIP_RS780,
CHIP_RS880,
CHIP_RV770,
CHIP_RV730,
CHIP_RV710,
CHIP_RV740,
CHIP_LAST,
};
and from radeon_drv.c
int radeon_gart_size = 512; /* default gart size */
/* */
MODULE_PARM_DESC(modeset, "Disable/Enable modesetting");
module_param_named(modeset, radeon_modeset, int, 0400);
MODULE_PARM_DESC(r4xx_atom, "Enable ATOMBIOS modesetting for R4xx");
module_param_named(r4xx_atom, radeon_r4xx_atom, int, 0444);
MODULE_PARM_DESC(agpmode, "AGP Mode (-1 == PCI)");
module_param_named(agpmode, radeon_agpmode, int, 0444);
also with no furter explanations for now.
The last ones are exactly the info "modinfo radeon" shows .
And modinfo radeon also shows a lot of "firmware" files in "/lib/firmware/radeon" ,
which match "enum radeon_family" .... ?

How the main driver works with the firmware I don't know ,
and I haven't worked with ndiswrapper yet .

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bigpup
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#15 Post by bigpup »

davids45 wrote:G'day bigpup,

I let Quickpet do the download and install of the ATI_fglrx-10.10 Catalyst driver. I saved a copy as well.

The Graphics test says my card is a Cedar PRO (Radeon HD5450).

The Graphics test dialog box now says the "ATI is installed but the driver is not working". I've tried the ATI Help which says to use the xorgwizard but this did not make the new ATI driver work, so I've reverted to the original Lupu-525 radeon which is fine for Lupu-based Pups (once installed) as long as I don't try to run the xorgwizard, and I don't get the shut-down messages as previously.
You did get the ATI driver installed and where using it.
The message in the test is wrong.
The Graphics test dialog box now says the "ATI is installed but the driver is not working"
The graphics card test says this because the ATI drivers have there own set of control files and do not use the normal xorg files to operate. This message can be ignored.
The ATI driver uses a control program written by ATI.
The settings are controlled by running the ATI Catalyst Control Center
menu->system->system status and config->ATI Catalyst Control Center
When using this driver do all adjustments with this program only.
Do not use xorgwizard.

to check if ATI driver is being used:

If you can run ATI Catalyst Control Center you are using the driver.

menu->system->system status and config->hardinfo Hardware information
Select display
Scroll down to openGL info
If it has ATI info you are using the ATI driver.

In a console
type glxgears
Should see set of turning gears
This tells you the 3D is working.

Remember, I told you ATI support in Linux was a little spotty.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

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davids45
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Joined: Sun 26 Nov 2006, 23:33
Location: Chatswood, NSW

#16 Post by davids45 »

G'day bigpup & Karl Godt,

Thank you for your continued interest in my ATI graphic card problem.

I'll check and report on Karl's extensive suggestions a bit later as I will try a few more Pups as suggested (I have a lot). I have looked in /sys/classes/backlight and it's empty (using Lupu-525 at the moment). I'll also compare turning off the backlight on my laptop to see if the symptoms are the same as these on my desktop. I may even try a different monitor to see what happens.

bigpup,
ATI Catalyst Control Center is present on my Lupu-525 menu options and when clicked, I get a box with the title message "Initialisation error" saying the ATI Graphics driver is not loaded or the "driver is not functioning properly".
glxgears gave a segmentation error in this Full lupu-525, but I have had gears running in another new Pup - one of tazoc's Lighthouses if I'm remembering correctly - I'll check which and report back. I'll confirm or not that even with the gears running, I lose the monitor if I try to run xorgwizard or drop to the command prompt from within the Pup.

ATI/radeon seems not just spotty, I'm thinking patchy :) .

David S.

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bigpup
Posts: 13886
Joined: Sun 11 Oct 2009, 18:15
Location: S.C. USA

#17 Post by bigpup »

davids45 wrote:G'day bigpup & Karl Godt,

Thank you for your continued interest in my ATI graphic card problem.
bigpup,
ATI Catalyst Control Center is present on my Lupu-525 menu options and when clicked, I get a box with the title message "Initialisation error" saying the ATI Graphics driver is not loaded or the "driver is not functioning properly".
glxgears gave a segmentation error in this Full lupu-525, but I have had gears running in another new Pup - one of tazoc's Lighthouses if I'm remembering correctly - I'll check which and report back. I'll confirm or not that even with the gears running, I lose the monitor if I try to run xorgwizard or drop to the command prompt from within the Pup.

ATI/radeon seems not just spotty, I'm thinking patchy :) .

David S.
You are not using the ATI driver now. You are using the Radeon driver.
The ATI Control Center will not work with the Radeon driver.
What I am telling you is to reinstall the ATI Catalyst driver with Quickpet and you will be using the ATI driver.
My previous post tells you how it will work.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

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davids45
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Joined: Sun 26 Nov 2006, 23:33
Location: Chatswood, NSW

#18 Post by davids45 »

G'day bigpup,

Thank you for your persistence with me and my problem - I now have the ATI Catalyst Centre and the gears working by re-installing the ATI-fglrx Pet and re-booting.

In Lupu-525, I can drop to the commmand prompt from the Shutdown menu and see the text and then get back to full graphics with 'xwin'.

But if I try 'xorgwizard' at the prompt or from the wizard menu, I lose the ATI driver and revert to the radeon driver. And it's after that that I get the previously reported "Initialisation error" dialog box trying to run the ATI Catalyst Centre, and the loss of graphics when trying to get to the command prompt or Save-file option. Fixed each time so far by again installing the ATI-fglrx pet and re-booting.

I now appreciate your warning about not using the xorgwizard, not at all, not before or not after the ATI installation.

So, with a new Pup, running from a Live-CD and wanting a Frugal install, can I somehow install the ATI-fglrx pet to get the create-a-Save-file option on first shut-down, given I need to re-boot to activate the ATI-fglrx driver? I've a couple of the latest Pups isos (midnightsun003 and rexbang-4) to try and see how they go.

David S.

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playdayz
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#19 Post by playdayz »

So, with a new Pup, running from a Live-CD and wanting a Frugal install, can I somehow install the ATI-fglrx pet to get the create-a-Save-file option on first shut-down, given I need to re-boot to activate the ATI-fglrx driver?
I see. Did you try the Xorg_High driver--that only needs a restart of the X-server. But am I right that even a restart of X gives the black screen?

With the Xorg_High driver, btw, you do not need to reboot, but only to restart the X-server.

You have a new radeon card. I have a bad feeling that neither might support it--what we need is the latest ATI Catalyst driver.

It might help if you could somehow create an xorg.conf, but that is what xorgwizard does. Anyway, if you could then you could change the driver from radeon to radeonhd--which *might* help.

Are you booting from CD or a grub menu.lst. If from a CD, try to enter

Code: Select all

puppy radeon.modeset=1
or in the menu.lst add radeon.modeset=1 to the boot options. This will probably be worse than ever ;-) but who knows?

Try radeon.modeset=0 also.

One of us will try to compile the latest ATI Catalyst--if I forget please pm me. Thanks.

I gather that xorgwizard does not run at all--if it does, then choose Choose and enter the radeonhd driver.

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bigpup
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#20 Post by bigpup »

I have an ATI card similar to yours.
The pain of ATI graphics cards in Lunux

For black screen at shutdown:
Boot with the option puppy pfix=nox
This will get you to a prompt
Type xorgwizrd
Choose Vesa driver
Choose a resolution that just works
This will give you basic graphics that will work.

You need the ATI Catalyst Driver installed to get this graphics card to work proper. Radeon driver will not do it.
The below info will get you there.

All of this is about Lucid Puppy 5.2.5.

Please read and understand.

Before installing the ATI Catalyst Driver you can use Xorgwizard. It works fine with other drivers.

After installing the ATI Catalyst Driver you can not use Xorgwizard. The ATI driver will not work with xorgwizard!!
You have to use ATI Catalyst Control Center to change settings.

You have seen what will happen.

For frugal installs:
Do the frugal install
After rebooting and running the frugal install the first time.
Reboot to be asked to make save file for frugal install.
After reboot into frugal install the second time you will be using a save file specific to the frugal install.
That is when you can install the ATI Catalyst driver and reboot the frugal install.
Now the frugal install will be using the ATI Driver.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

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