My Fedora is slow - possibly caused by ATI driver

[SpectrumDT]

Hello.

I have a problem: My Fedora runs slowly. Any activity that is even remotely graphics-heavy (such as scrolling up and down in a web browser) lags massively. I suspect this is caused by my video card driver.

I am running Fedora 13 and KDE 4.5.3 on a 64-bit machine. My video card is an ATI Radeon HD5750. I am using the Catalyst 10.9 "hotfix", because I am unable to install the regular driver, as I described in this thread.

Can anyone help me diagnose and fix this problem?

Thanks in advance.

[Seve]

If you haven't already done so, start by looking through your /var/log/Xorg.0.log

See if there are any errors / warnings or other things that may look out of sorts.

[SpectrumDT]

Thank you for the reply.

I have done some experimenting, but to no avail. As of right now I am running kernel 2.6.34.7-56.fc13.x86_64.debug and the Catalyst 10.9 hotfix. My /var/log/Xlog.0.log contains the following errors and warnings:

[spectrum@localhost ~]$ grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[    23.587] (II) Loading extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
[    23.891] (EE) fglrx(0): ACPI: DRM connection failed
[    24.056] (EE) fglrx(0): ACPI: DRM connection failed
[    24.243] (EE) fglrx(0): atiddxDriScreenInit failed, GPS not been initialized. 
[    24.322] (EE) fglrx(0): XMM failed to open CMMQS connection.
[    24.322] (EE) fglrx(0): XMM failed to initialize
[    25.138] (EE) Microsoft Natural® Ergonomic Keyboard 4000: failed to initialize for relative axes.
[spectrum@localhost ~]$ grep WW /var/log/Xorg.0.log
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[    23.810] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for fglrx
[    23.846] (WW) fglrx: No matching Device section for instance (BusID PCI:0@1:0:1) found
[    24.056] (WW) fglrx(0): board is an unknown third party board, chipset is supported
[    24.056] (WW) fglrx(0): Hasn't establisted DRM connection
[    24.056] (WW) fglrx(0): No DRM connection for driver fglrx.
[    24.243] (WW) fglrx(0): ***********************************************************
[    24.243] (WW) fglrx(0): * DRI initialization failed                               *
[    24.243] (WW) fglrx(0): * kernel module (fglrx.ko) may be missing or incompatible *
[    24.243] (WW) fglrx(0): * 2D and 3D acceleration disabled                         *
[    24.243] (WW) fglrx(0): ***********************************************************
[    24.319] (WW) fglrx(0): Textured Video not supported without DRI enabled.
[    24.322] (WW) fglrx(0): No XV video playback available
[    24.322] (WW) fglrx(0): Option "VideoOverlay" is not used
[    25.162] (WW) Logitech USB Receiver: ignoring absolute axes.
[spectrum@localhost ~]$

Can anyone help me further?

Thanks in advance.

PS: One symptom of my problem is that I cannot run YouTube videos in full screen. Trying to do so crashes the Flash plugin.

[Fenrin]

It looks like it didn't build the kernel module. Can you check the file /usr/share/ati/fglrx-install.log?
If there is a line "build succeeded with return value 0" near the end of the file, then the kernel modules were build succesfully and the problem should be somewhere else.

Otherwise you can check if the kernel-devel and kernel-headers packages have the same version as your kernel. Do this for example with:

su
yum info kernel-devel kernel-headers

If it doesn't match the version of the "uname -r" command, then deinstall Catalyst 10.9 Hotfix:

su
/usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh

Then reboot and install it again. You can also use the Catalyst 10.11 driver.

[SpectrumDT]

It looks like it didn't build the kernel module. Can you check the file /usr/share/ati/fglrx-install.log?
If there is a line "build succeeded with return value 0" near the end of the file, then the kernel modules were build succesfully and the problem should be somewhere else.

Otherwise you can check if the kernel-devel and kernel-headers packages have the same version as your kernel. Do this for example with:

su
yum info kernel-devel kernel-headers

If it doesn't match the version of the "uname -r" command, then deinstall Catalyst 10.9 Hotfix:

su
/usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh

Then reboot and install it again. You can also use the Catalyst 10.11 driver.

Thanks for the reply. Alas, I have made the problem worse.

I checked my "/usr/share/ati/fglrx-install.log". It showed some errors, suggesting that the module was not built correctly.

I tried to uninstall using "/usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh". Now, after a reboot, my Fedora will not launch KDE at all. It reaches the screen with a progress bar at the bottom and "Fedora 13" in the lower right corner. The progress bar fills and becomes all white, then the system stalls forever.

Please help. Thanks.

[Fenrin]

ok. Edit the boot entry in the grub menu and add "3" to the kernel line. (press two times e, select the second line and add 3 to this line).

Then it should at least boot into the console. Login as user. Download the catalyst 10.11 driver:

wget https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/ati-driver-installer-10-11-x86.x86_64.run

Install kernel-devel and kernel-headers:

su
yum install kernel-devel kernel-headers

If any packages from this guide are still installed, then deinstall it:

yum remove yum install kmod-catalyst xorg-x11-drv-catalyst xorg-x11-drv-catalyst-libs

Install the Catalyst 10.11 driver.

sh ./ati-driver-installer-10-11-x86.x86_64.run

Check the log file:

nano /usr/share/ati/fglrx-install.log

Then reboot. I hope it works then. If not, then deinstall Catalyst again and reinstall mesa-libGL to use the free drivers; so that you can boot into KDE again.

[SpectrumDT]

Thanks. I followed your recommendations and got KDE working again.

I am back to where I started: My Fedora is still slow and I cannot run YouTube in full screen.

Now my "fglrx-install.log" looks like this:

[spectrum@localhost ~]$ more /usr/share/ati/fglrx-install.log 
[Message] Kernel Module : Trying to install a precompiled kernel module.
[Message] Kernel Module : Precompiled kernel module version mismatched.
[Message] Kernel Module : Found kernel module build environment, generating kernel module now.
AMD kernel module generator version 2.1
doing Makefile based build for kernel 2.6.x and higher
rm -rf *.c *.h *.o *.ko *.GCC* .??* *.symvers
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.34.7-61.fc13.x86_64/build SUBDIRS=/lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.34.7-61.fc13.x86_64'
  CC [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/firegl_public.o
  CC [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/kcl_acpi.o
  CC [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/kcl_agp.o
  CC [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/kcl_debug.o
  CC [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/kcl_ioctl.o
  CC [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/kcl_io.o
  CC [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/kcl_pci.o
  CC [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/kcl_str.o
  CC [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/kcl_wait.o
  LD [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/fglrx.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST 1 modules
  CC      /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/fglrx.mod.o
  LD [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/fglrx.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.34.7-61.fc13.x86_64'
build succeeded with return value 0
duplicating results into driver repository...
done.
You must change your working directory to /lib/modules/fglrx
and then call ./make_install.sh in order to install the built module.
- recreating module dependency list
- trying a sample load of the kernel modules
done.
[Reboot] Kernel Module : dracut
[spectrum@localhost ~]$

My "Xorg.0.log" has the following errors and warnings in it.

[spectrum@localhost ~]$ grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[    26.283] (II) Loading extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
[    26.814] (EE) fglrx(0): ACPI: DRM connection failed
[    27.042] (EE) fglrx(0): ACPI: DRM connection failed
[    27.179] (EE) fglrx(0): atiddxDriScreenInit failed, GPS not been initialized. 
[    27.368] (EE) fglrx(0): XMM failed to open CMMQS connection.
[    27.369] (EE) fglrx(0): XMM failed to initialize
[    28.865] (EE) Microsoft Natural® Ergonomic Keyboard 4000: failed to initialize for relative axes.
[spectrum@localhost ~]$ 
[spectrum@localhost ~]$ 
[spectrum@localhost ~]$ 
[spectrum@localhost ~]$ 
[spectrum@localhost ~]$ grep WW /var/log/Xorg.0.log
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[    26.644] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for fglrx
[    26.714] (WW) fglrx: No matching Device section for instance (BusID PCI:0@1:0:1) found
[    27.042] (WW) fglrx(0): board is an unknown third party board, chipset is supported
[    27.042] (WW) fglrx(0): Hasn't establisted DRM connection
[    27.042] (WW) fglrx(0): No DRM connection for driver fglrx.
[    27.179] (WW) fglrx(0): ***********************************************************
[    27.179] (WW) fglrx(0): * DRI initialization failed                               *
[    27.179] (WW) fglrx(0): * kernel module (fglrx.ko) may be missing or incompatible *
[    27.179] (WW) fglrx(0): * 2D and 3D acceleration disabled                         *
[    27.179] (WW) fglrx(0): ***********************************************************
[    27.249] (WW) fglrx(0): Textured Video not supported without DRI enabled.
[    27.369] (WW) fglrx(0): No XV video playback available
[    27.369] (WW) fglrx(0): Option "VendorName" is not used
[    27.369] (WW) fglrx(0): Option "ModelName" is not used
[    28.885] (WW) Logitech USB Receiver: ignoring absolute axes.
[spectrum@localhost ~]$

Is there anything more I can do?

[Fenrin]

The fglrx-install.log file looks like it build the kernel modules successfully.

...
No matching Device section for instance (BusID PCI:0@1:0:1) found
...

I had such a error too, when I switched from my dedicated Radeon card to the onboard graphic card.
Maybe your card is either not supported or not correctly configured in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. I think it is rather unlikely that it will solve the issue but you could delete the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and then reconfigure it with "aticonfig --initial".

A alternative would be that you use the Radeon driver. I guess you would have basic 3D acceleration with the open drivers from the rawhide repo. But if you want to play games then it's not a good solution.

You could watch YouTube videos without flash if you download them on your PC. I use the Firefox addon "1-Click YouTube Video Downloader".

Maybe anyone else can help you to find a better solution.

[SpectrumDT]

The fglrx-install.log file looks like it build the kernel modules successfully.

...
No matching Device section for instance (BusID PCI:0@1:0:1) found
...

I had such a error too, when I switched from my dedicated Radeon card to the onboard graphic card.
Maybe your card is either not supported or not correctly configured in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. I think it is rather unlikely that it will solve the issue but you could delete the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and then reconfigure it with "aticonfig --initial".

As far as I can tell from AMD's driver finder, my card should be supported. Is there any other way I can check this?

I tried your aticonfig trick. That made no difference.

A alternative would be that you use the Radeon driver. I guess you would have basic 3D acceleration with the open drivers from the rawhide repo. But if you want to play games then it's not a good solution.

How would I do that? (I do not need to play games in Linux.)

[Fenrin]

...
How would I do that? (I do not need to play games in Linux.)

I just tested it on my own system, because I wondered how the rawhide radeon driver would work and I don't necessarily need the Catalyst driver either.

Basic 3D acceleration works for me with a Radeon 3200 card; I guess Evergreen cards like yours should be supported to.

1. Download fedora-release-rawhide-15-0.3.noarch.rpm e.g. from http://ftp.sh.cvut.cz/MIRRORS/fedora...4/os/Packages/ or any other Fedora mirror
2. install this package: rpm -ivh --nodeps fedora-release-rawhide-15-0.3.noarch.rpm
3. deinstall Catalyst: /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh
4. yum update --enablerepo=rawhide --nogpgcheck kernel libdrm mesa-* xorg* cairo pixman
5. remove the fedora-release-rawhide package: yum remove fedora-release-rawhide
   

If you have generic-release-rawhide-13-3 installed, then you should deinstall it before point 2.

[SpectrumDT]

Thank you for the help. I got rid of the ATI driver and am running with the rawhide driver. This eliminates the slowness problem, and fullscreen YouTube works again.

I now have a new problem: I have a TV that I want to use as a secondary computer monitor (connected via HDMI). My driver does not like this. In fact, KDE will not start up at all if I even have the TV connected. I get past the "Fedora 13" loading screen and then the screen turns black with a little bit of flicker. I have to disconnect the TV to get my monitor to behave.

I remember had this problem before I installed the ATI driver. That was in fact what prompted me to get the ATI driver. (The ATI driver did indeed fix this problem, but introduced the slowness.)

Can anyone help me with this?