Red Hat and Radeons


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Thread: Red Hat and Radeons

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    Ayrshire
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    3

    Unhappy Red Hat and Radeons

    I am a complete linux newbie here so be patient.

    I have recently installed Red Hat 8.0 (2.4.18 I think) with xFree86 4.2. I have tried to get my Radeon 9000Pro 64Mb to work with varying results (I had a quick search through this forum and haven't found owt to help) this is what happens....

    Installing Red Hat - Anaconda autodetects the Radeon 9000 Pro.
    Manage to run 1280x1024x24bit fine except the screen is a bit off-centre and the extreme right is off the screen. This works fine if a switch to DVI input on the monitor. Display drivers report as vesa. When trying to do anything 3d the display goes all mad (diagonal stripes and so on)

    Downloaded the xfree86 4.2 driver from ATI and run (according to ATI's instructions) and run the fxglrconfig (or whatever its called). xfree comes back up and the driver now reports as unknown. Still no option for hardware 3d acceleration. 3d stuff still doesn't work. Also when I look at the display config it will not let me set it at anything higher than 640x480x8bit even though it is still running at 1280x1024x24bit.

    When I next boot the system, xfree86 fails with a garbled error message and after some random keypressing it seems to manage to come back up - but the display drivers have gone back to defaults.

    I've got a couple of options...

    1. The linux kernel or xfree86 isn't compatible with the video card.
    2. The driver isn't compatible with the same
    3. The driver isn't compatible as it is not a true ATI card (its a sapphire)
    4. I'm a complete idiot and have done something dumb.

    I reckon its probably 4.

    It's really annoying me as I've spent ages trying to get linux up and running and was dead happy that I'd finally got me modem working and now this. :-(

    In case it helps my system is...

    Dell Dimension 8100
    Pentium 4 1.4Ghz
    256Mb RDRAM
    INtel 845 motherboard (I think)
    Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9000Pro 64Mb DDR
    Dell 17" FPD
    Red Hat Linux 8 (2.4.18)
    xFree86 4.2

    Cheers for any help you can give me. I'll continue searching this forum and the web....

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    SF Bay Area, CA
    Posts
    14,936
    Rerun the fglxrconfig (or whatever it is) program, and then post or attach your /etc/X11/XF86Config (or XF86Config-4, if it exists) file.

    The "not being able to check HW acceleration box" is very likely not a problem; that GUI program just probably doesn't know what to do.

    Also post the output of lsmod, both before you run X the first time (when it works), and right after you reboot (before you try to startx from the command line).

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Ayrshire
    Posts
    3

    Lsmod

    I haven't been back home since last post but I'll do it when I get home.

    lsmod - my system always boots straight into x (login prompt appears for about 2 seconds) How do I get it to go to command line by default so I can run this?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    SF Bay Area, CA
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    Edit /etc/inittab. On the line that says "initdefault" somewhere, change the 5 to a 3. The effect of this is sort of documented in that file.

    Next time you boot, you will be greeted with a text-mode login screen. Log in like normal and do a startx to get X running.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    London
    Posts
    199

    be careful

    be carefull the ati drivers are not compatible with all the kernels.....read the read me file.........Not only that but the 8.1 redhat has the problems that you say...so you may have to wait untill the xfree4.3....... , which I wait also, since I have the same problem..
    My hardware is
    Dell laptop 8200 inspiron
    256 DDR Ram
    ATI 9000 radeon mobility

    GENTOO ROCKS

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Nashville, TN
    Posts
    108

    Re: Red Hat and Radeons

    Originally posted by mupwangle
    I am a complete linux newbie here so be patient.
    [... edited ...]
    Cheers for any help you can give me. I'll continue searching this forum and the web....
    Redhat has a major commitment to the ATI cards. Their X development group uses ATI cards for their own work. However, ATI's market is most Windows and not linux, so they are much slower in getting linux driver support available for all their cards right away. You have chosen a card that is (or was) on the leading/bleeding edge for linux. You may find yourself waiting for 8.1 or 8.2 for native support for your card. This is especially true for the 3D rendering you want. (Gamer are we??)

    Having said that (I use the 7500 myself), the drivers ATI does supply are very senstive to the kernel version, and you may have stepped beyond their support. You seem to be a cutting edge kind of guy!

    I realize this isn't much help. You need to post the output from here:

    /etc/X11/XF86Config

    That will help.

    BTW, no need to apologize for being a newbie. Everyone is at one time or another. I still am...and proud of it!

    Cheers--
    Charles
    Remember the heroes of UAL Flight 93

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Ayrshire
    Posts
    3
    Okeydoke.

    Can't give you the lsmod thingy as I haven't the first scoobie how to output the file to a text file in command-line linux. Oh well.

    Reran the config program - and as expected it totally killed xfree86. I've attached the XF86Config-4 file if it helps. Back into X after it reset to defaults.
    Attached Files Attached Files

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    SF Bay Area, CA
    Posts
    14,936
    lsmod >file.txt

    Can you attach /var/log/XFree86.0.log after trying to startx with this config file setup?

    Also, try an lspci >lspci.txt and attach the lspci.txt file.

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