Via Chrome9 graphics, FC8, via driver trouble

[StefanJ]

Just installed FC8 on a new machine. The MSI motherboard has Via Chrome9 graphics with the K8M890 chipset.

(I'm familiar with working with Nvidia cards, but this is the first time I've dealth with this low-end chipset.)

As usual, the default driver chosen on install was the "VESA" driver, which has miserable resolution choices.

I saw that there was a Via driver on the Display config menu. Seemed like a logical choice.

Oye! On restarting the X session, I ran into the familiar no screens found error.

Here is my xorg.conf:

# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "single head configuration"
        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Keyboard0"
        Driver      "kbd"
        Option      "XkbModel" "pc105"
        Option      "XkbLayout" "us+inet"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Videocard0"
        Driver      "via"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Videocard0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
        EndSubSection
EndSection

[StefanJ]

And the beginning and end of the xorg log:

X Window System Version 1.3.0
Release Date: 19 April 2007
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 1.3
Build Operating System: Fedora 8 Red Hat, Inc.
Current Operating System: Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.25.4-10.fc8 #1 SMP Thu May 22 23:34:09 EDT 2008 i686
Build Date: 11 June 2008
Build ID: xorg-x11-server 1.3.0.0-46.fc8
        Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
        to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
        (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Fri Jun 20 22:09:39 2008
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(==) ServerLayout "single head configuration"
(**) |-->Screen "Screen0" (0)
(**) |   |-->Monitor "<default monitor>"
(**) |   |-->Device "Videocard0"
(WW) No monitor specified for screen "Screen0".
        Using a default monitor configuration.
(**) |-->Input Device "Keyboard0"
(==) |-->Input Device "<default pointer>"
(WW) The core pointer device wasn't specified explicitly in the layout.
        Using the default mouse configuration.
(WW) No FontPath specified.  Using compiled-in default.
(==) FontPath set to:
        catalogue:/etc/X11/fontpath.d,
        built-ins
(==) RgbPath set to "/usr/share/X11/rgb"
(==) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
(II) Open ACPI successful (/var/run/acpid.socket)
(II) Loader magic: 0x820c0a0
(II) Module ABI versions:
        X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.3
        X.Org Video Driver: 1.2
        X.Org XInput driver : 0.7
        X.Org Server Extension : 0.3
        X.Org Font Renderer : 0.5
(II) Loader running on linux
(II) LoadModule: "pcidata"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//libpcidata.so
(II) Module pcidata: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.3.0, module version = 1.0.0
        ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 1.2
(++) using VT number 7

(II) PCI: PCI scan (all values are in hex)
((SNIP)
        [23] -1 0       0x0000ff00 - 0x0000ff07 (0x8) IX[B]
(II) LoadModule: "extmod"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions//libextmod.so
(II) Module extmod: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.3.0, module version = 1.0.0
        Module class: X.Org Server Extension
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3
(II) Loading extension SHAPE
(II) Loading extension MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD
(II) Loading extension BIG-REQUESTS
(II) Loading extension SYNC
(II) Loading extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
(II) Loading extension XC-MISC
(II) Loading extension XFree86-VidModeExtension
(II) Loading extension XFree86-Misc
(II) Loading extension XFree86-DGA
(II) Loading extension DPMS
(II) Loading extension TOG-CUP
(II) Loading extension Extended-Visual-Information
(II) Loading extension XVideo
(II) Loading extension XVideo-MotionCompensation
(II) Loading extension X-Resource
(II) LoadModule: "dbe"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions//libdbe.so
(II) Module dbe: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.3.0, module version = 1.0.0
        Module class: X.Org Server Extension
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3
(II) Loading extension DOUBLE-BUFFER
(II) LoadModule: "glx"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions//libglx.so
(II) Module glx: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.3.0, module version = 1.0.0
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3
(==) AIGLX enabled
(II) Loading extension GLX
(II) LoadModule: "freetype"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/fonts//libfreetype.so
(II) Module freetype: vendor="X.Org Foundation & the After X-TT Project"
        compiled for 1.3.0, module version = 2.1.0
        Module class: X.Org Font Renderer
        ABI class: X.Org Font Renderer, version 0.5
(II) Loading font FreeType
(II) LoadModule: "type1"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/fonts//libtype1.so
(II) Module type1: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.3.0, module version = 1.0.2
        Module class: X.Org Font Renderer
        ABI class: X.Org Font Renderer, version 0.5
(II) Loading font Type1
(II) LoadModule: "record"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions//librecord.so
(II) Module record: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.3.0, module version = 1.13.0
        Module class: X.Org Server Extension
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3
(II) Loading extension RECORD
(II) LoadModule: "dri"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions//libdri.so
(II) Module dri: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.3.0, module version = 1.0.0
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3
(II) Loading extension XFree86-DRI
(II) LoadModule: "via"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//via_drv.so
(II) Module via: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.3.0, module version = 0.2.1
        Module class: X.Org Video Driver
        ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 1.2
(II) LoadModule: "kbd"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input//kbd_drv.so
(II) Module kbd: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.3.0, module version = 1.2.2
        Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
        ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 0.7
(II) LoadModule: "mouse"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input//mouse_drv.so
(II) Module mouse: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.3.0, module version = 1.2.3
        Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
        ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 0.7
(II) VIA: driver for VIA chipsets: CLE266, KM400/KN400, K8M800,
        PM800/PM880/CN400
(II) Primary Device is: PCI 01:00:0
(--) Assigning device section with no busID to primary device
(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

What does the "no devices detected" imply? The KDE "Display" configurator GUI seemed to have no trouble identifying what video hardware my box had.

Anything else I can look for that might help?

[Hlingler]

Oye! indeed. VIA is one of those off-brands (at least as far as video in Linux goes) that seem to be near-impossible to get going good. But IIRC, that chipset is supported by both 2D and 3D drivers.

How much video RAM (if any) does that thing have? Or better yet, just attach a copy of /var/log/Xorg.0.log to next post. Trying to run too high of a screen resolution is a typical cause of GUI failure due to lack of VRAM.

2D driver package xorg-x11-drv-via is being phased out in favor of newer fork: xorg-x11-drv-openchrome. You may want to install xorg-x11-drv-openchrome and try it - xorg.conf 'Driver "openchrome" '. Driver xorg-x11-drv-via is not even available for F9 (and in fact won't even compile). If you do so, attach Xorg.0.log from that driver instead.

Other options to get this working adequately are also available....

V

P.S. Oh, BTW, to answer your question: that message probably indicates that the 3D driver kernel module failed to load. But it could be a couple other things too. All have the same end result: video driver failure.

[Hlingler]

Yeah, I see it now: you're running the new 2.6.25* series kernel with older versions of the drivers that haven't been updated to work with the newer kernels and/or X11/Xorg. If you want this to work, either:
> Install xorg-x11-drv-openchrome, and see if it's any better; don't hold breath.
> If you feel lucky, see: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/forum/...d.php?t=191671
and try the updated drivers.

V

[StefanJ]

Ah. Driver lag. Thanks for spotting that.

The graphics dohickery is on the motherboard and uses some of the system memory. I just increased this from 128 mb to 256 mb. (I also noticed that the BIOS thought that a non-existent card in the PCI-E slot was the primary graphics card and changed that too.)

But . . . same result.

I read about the openchrome drivers in other threads, but it sounded awfully involved. But those were older threads. I'll check out the updated drivers.

Well . . . I did manage to achieve my major goal by other means. I specified my exact monitor model and X let me up the resolution past 1068 x 768.

Thanks again!

[Hlingler]

Hello:

Shared system RAM with video seems to be a "feature" of that brand. Increasing the amount reserved for video as you did should be OK. The driver(s) and Xorg most likely ignored any BIOS confusion about the actual hardware, but changing that in BIOS certainly can't hurt either.

Installing the openchrome driver and using it should be as simple as:
yum install xorg-x11-drv-openchrome

then change the line in xorg.conf to:
Driver "openchrome"

and re-start X-server. Done. But again, I would expect: no change.

Glad you got the screen resolution figured out. Whether or not DRI/3D acceleration is actually enabled and working is another matter. Simple check:
glxinfo|grep render

Result will be either: "Yes" or "No". If yes: enjoy! If no: your call - either live without it if you don't need/want it, or spend time to (try to) fix.

Regards,
V

[StefanJ]

Thanks, Hilingler. The older threads addressing openchrome discussed having to compile it. The package you pointed out had the driver ready to serve.

Now I have a zillion resolution choices to work with!

Marking as Solved.

P.S. Yes, openchrome seems to support acceleration with my hardware:

[stefan@localhost ~]$ glxinfo|grep render
direct rendering: Yes
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI UniChrome 20060710 x86/MMX+/3DNow!+/SSE2
0000: f0000001 00000300 f0000006 00000001
0010: f000000b 00000000 f000000c 00258280
0020: f000000d 00258280 f000000e 80200020
0030: f0000002 00000000 f0000003 00000000
0040: f0000004 00000000 f0000000 f0002001
0050: f000000b 00000000 f210f110 00010000
0060: cccccccc cccccccc cccccccc cccccccc
0070: cccccccc cccccccc cccccccc cccccccc
******************************************
fire_buffer: DRM_VIA_PCICMD returned -22