drivers for ATI video card

SUSE Product Topics SLED Hardware
1

Just installed SLED 11 SP2 on a PC that I want to use to run a PDF
slideshow. The same hardware with Windows XP ran fine. Under SLED,
the transitions in the slide show are very choppy. I’m hoping that
maybe a driver update would solve the problem.

“lspci | grep VGA” gives me this info…
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV710 [Radeon
HD 4350]

I’m not sure how to check version.

The AMD site has a file for this graphics card. It is a run file.
amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13.1-legacy-linux-x86.x86_64.run

But the run file doesn’t want to run. I can’t find out how to install
it. Any suggestions? Or should I just go back to using Windows?

Ken

2

Hi
I run the script from the section" Building yourself the rpm" here;
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AMD_fglrx_legacy

Did you change the files permission to make it executable?

Once installed I rebooted to run level 3 and ran sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx to
ensure the xorg conf file is correct.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.4-desktop
up 19:59, 3 users, load average: 0.17, 0.17, 0.16
CPU AMD Athlon™ II P360@2.30GHz | GPU Mobility Radeon HD 4200

3

On Fri, 24 May 2013 20:10:03 GMT, malcolmlewis
malcolmlewis@no-mx.forums.suse.com wrote:
[color=blue]

Hi
I run the script from the section" Building yourself the rpm" here;
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AMD_fglrx_legacy

Did you change the files permission to make it executable?

Once installed I rebooted to run level 3 and ran sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx to
ensure the xorg conf file is correct.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.4-desktop
up 19:59, 3 users, load average: 0.17, 0.17, 0.16
CPU AMD Athlon™ II P360@2.30GHz | GPU Mobility Radeon HD 4200[/color]

Malcolm,

Thanks for the response. I had forgotten to make it executable, but
it didn’t want to install due to some missing dependencies. So I
tried the script you suggested offered by Sebastian. That script took
care of the dependencies and everything installed fine. But I found
that the AMD driver is no better than the default Radeon driver. They
both have choppy transitions. Disappointing. It would have been so
convenient to run Linux on this PC. Now I need to figure out another
option.

Regards,
Ken

4

[QUOTE=KeN Etter;13761]
Thanks for the response. I had forgotten to make it executable, but
it didn’t want to install due to some missing dependencies. So I
tried the script you suggested offered by Sebastian. That script took
care of the dependencies and everything installed fine. But I found
that the AMD driver is no better than the default Radeon driver. [/QUOTE]

That you state it’s no better and that you mention installing the driver but not configuring X to use it makes me wonder, did you configure X to actually use the AMD driver?

5

Hi
You should also be able to tweak via the ATI control center, assuming
it was configured via sax2?

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.4-desktop
up 0:58, 4 users, load average: 0.03, 0.38, 1.33
CPU AMD Athlon™ II P360@2.30GHz | GPU Mobility Radeon HD 4200

6

On Tue, 28 May 2013 15:14:03 GMT, mikewillis
mikewillis@no-mx.forums.suse.com wrote:
[color=blue]

KeN Etter;13761 Wrote:[color=green]

Thanks for the response. I had forgotten to make it executable, but
it didn’t want to install due to some missing dependencies. So I
tried the script you suggested offered by Sebastian. That script took
care of the dependencies and everything installed fine. But I found
that the AMD driver is no better than the default Radeon driver.[/color]

That you state it’s no better and that you mention installing the
driver but not configuring X to use it makes me wonder, did you
configure X to actually use the AMD driver?[/color]

Yes I did. Just figured that was assumed as part of installation. My
bad.

Ken

7

On Tue, 28 May 2013 15:26:18 GMT, malcolmlewis
malcolmlewis@no-mx.forums.suse.com wrote:
[color=blue]

Hi
You should also be able to tweak via the ATI control center, assuming
it was configured via sax2?[/color]

Enabling the TearFree option in the ATI Control Center helped a
little, but it still isn’t up to par with WinXP. And I can’t find any
other settings that help. But thanks for the assistance.

Ken

8

Hi
Hmmm, can you have a look through the /var/log/Xorg.log.0 and see if
there are any errors?

I have the following running without issues;

hwinfo --gfxcard
28: PCI 105.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA)
[Created at pci.323]
UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_1002_9712
Unique ID: ul7N.pIUcyR5_J19
Parent ID: vSkL.ame4uzTnP54
SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:05.0
SysFS BusID: 0000:01:05.0
Hardware Class: graphics card
Model: "ATI M880G [Mobility Radeon HD 4200]"
Vendor: pci 0x1002 "ATI Technologies Inc"
Device: pci 0x9712 "M880G [Mobility Radeon HD 4200]"
SubVendor: pci 0x1025 "Acer Incorporated [ALI]"
SubDevice: pci 0x0292
Driver: "fglrx_pci"
Driver Modules: "fglrx"
Memory Range: 0xd0000000-0xdfffffff (ro,non-prefetchable)
I/O Ports: 0x9000-0x9fff (rw)
Memory Range: 0xcfdf0000-0xcfdfffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
Memory Range: 0xcfe00000-0xcfefffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
IRQ: 18 (1095314 events)
I/O Ports: 0x3c0-0x3df (rw)
Module Alias: "pci:v00001002d00009712sv00001025sd00000292bc03sc00i00"
Driver Info #0:
Driver Status: radeon is not active
Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe radeon"
Driver Info #1:
Driver Status: fglrx is active
Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe fglrx"
Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
Attached to: #9 (PCI bridge)

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.4-desktop
up 1:30, 3 users, load average: 0.01, 0.04, 0.05
CPU AMD Athlon™ II P360@2.30GHz | GPU Mobility Radeon HD 4200

9

On Tue, 28 May 2013 18:20:07 GMT, malcolmlewis
malcolmlewis@no-mx.forums.suse.com wrote:
[color=blue]

Hi
Hmmm, can you have a look through the /var/log/Xorg.log.0 and see if
there are any errors?

I have the following running without issues;

hwinfo --gfxcard 28: PCI 105.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA) [Created at pci.323] UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_1002_9712 Unique ID: ul7N.pIUcyR5_J19 Parent ID: vSkL.ame4uzTnP54 SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:05.0 SysFS BusID: 0000:01:05.0 Hardware Class: graphics card Model: "ATI M880G [Mobility Radeon HD 4200]" Vendor: pci 0x1002 "ATI Technologies Inc" Device: pci 0x9712 "M880G [Mobility Radeon HD 4200]" SubVendor: pci 0x1025 "Acer Incorporated [ALI]" SubDevice: pci 0x0292 Driver: "fglrx_pci" Driver Modules: "fglrx" Memory Range: 0xd0000000-0xdfffffff (ro,non-prefetchable) I/O Ports: 0x9000-0x9fff (rw) Memory Range: 0xcfdf0000-0xcfdfffff (rw,non-prefetchable) Memory Range: 0xcfe00000-0xcfefffff (rw,non-prefetchable) IRQ: 18 (1095314 events) I/O Ports: 0x3c0-0x3df (rw) Module Alias: "pci:v00001002d00009712sv00001025sd00000292bc03sc00i00" Driver Info #0: Driver Status: radeon is not active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe radeon" Driver Info #1: Driver Status: fglrx is active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe fglrx" Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown Attached to: #9 (PCI bridge) [/color]

Couldn’t find any errors. Here is my hwinfo output…

pc259:/var/log # hwinfo --gfxcard
33: PCI 100.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA)
[Created at pci.323]
UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_1002_954f
Unique ID: VCu0.oCwB24_G3r1
Parent ID: vSkL.BVklFjEd7AA
SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0
SysFS BusID: 0000:01:00.0
Hardware Class: graphics card
Model: “ATI RV710 [Radeon HD 4350]”
Vendor: pci 0x1002 “ATI Technologies Inc”
Device: pci 0x954f “RV710 [Radeon HD 4350]”
SubVendor: pci 0x1043 “ASUSTeK Computer Inc.”
SubDevice: pci 0x02a8
Driver: “fglrx_pci”
Driver Modules: “fglrx”
Memory Range: 0xd0000000-0xdfffffff (ro,non-prefetchable)
Memory Range: 0xe0100000-0xe010ffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
I/O Ports: 0x2000-0x2fff (rw)
Memory Range: 0xe0120000-0xe013ffff (ro,non-prefetchable,disabled)
IRQ: 49 (812712 events)
I/O Ports: 0x3c0-0x3df (rw)
Module Alias:
“pci:v00001002d0000954Fsv00001043sd000002A8bc03sc00i00”
Driver Info #0:
Driver Status: radeon is not active
Driver Activation Cmd: “modprobe radeon”
Driver Info #1:
Driver Status: fglrx is active
Driver Activation Cmd: “modprobe fglrx”
Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
Attached to: #10 (PCI bridge)

Primary display adapter: #33

10

Hi
So if you re-run sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx at runlevel 3 are there any options
you can reconfigure here?

Your running KDE as the DE? What applications are you having issues
with or some examples of what your seeing so I can see if I can
duplicate (although I run GNOME DE).

Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.11-desktop
up 10:04, 3 users, load average: 0.37, 0.54, 0.35
CPU AMD Athlon™ II P360@2.30GHz | GPU Mobility Radeon HD 4200

11

On Wed, 29 May 2013 23:58:04 GMT, malcolmlewis
malcolmlewis@no-mx.forums.suse.com wrote:
[color=blue]

Hi
So if you re-run sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx at runlevel 3 are there any options
you can reconfigure here?

Your running KDE as the DE? What applications are you having issues
with or some examples of what your seeing so I can see if I can
duplicate (although I run GNOME DE).[/color]

Malcolm,

Well this is just frustrating. I had uninstalled the ATI drivers to
see if the on-board video was any better - it wasn’t. So I just tried
re-installing the ATI drivers so I could rerun sax2 and see if there
were any options. Unfortunately, now sax2 is hanging. It says:

SaX: initializing please wait…
SaX: your current configuration will not be read in

That is it. It does not want to go further than that.

I’m aware that KDE and GNOME exist, but I don’t know the difference
between them. I’m running whatever is the SLED default. All I wanted
to do was use this PC to run a continuous slide show in the lobby of
our office. All it has to do is sit there and run a PDF slide show at
1920 x 1080. WinXP can do this with the same hardware, but with WinXP
going out of support in April 2014, I thought I would find an
alternate solution. Maybe I just need to continue to run XP and not
worry about it. It is an isolated PC so it isn’t that big of a deal
if I continue to run XP on it.

So far, my searching hasn’t found any solutions to the sax2 hang other
than re-installing the drivers. I did that but it still hangs. If
you have suggestions to fix this, I will give it a shot. If not, I
will probably drop this project. I have too much to do to waste time
trying to make SLED work when XP will already do what I need without
any extra effort.

If you want to try the slideshow, I can send you a link to download it
if you provide an email address. The PDF is 76 MB.

Regardless of whether this gets resolved, I appreciate your help.

Thanks,
Ken

12

Hi
Well I would guess 11 SP3 should be out by then :wink: I would like to
investigate further so my email is malcolmlewis{at}opensuse{dot}org and
can try it out sincee we have similar hardware.

I wonder since you have an onboard card it’s making a difference, what
gfx card is the internal one?

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.11-desktop
up 1 day 0:06, 3 users, load average: 0.05, 0.03, 0.05
CPU AMD Athlon™ II P360@2.30GHz | GPU Mobility Radeon HD 4200

13

Hi
Also you might try disabling desktop effects, in the slab menu →
control center->desktop effects and see if that makes a difference.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.11-desktop
up 1 day 0:14, 3 users, load average: 0.01, 0.06, 0.05
CPU AMD Athlon™ II P360@2.30GHz | GPU Mobility Radeon HD 4200

14

On Thu, 30 May 2013 13:59:42 GMT, malcolmlewis
malcolmlewis@no-mx.forums.suse.com wrote:
[color=blue]

Hi
Well I would guess 11 SP3 should be out by then :wink: I would like to
investigate further so my email is malcolmlewis{at}opensuse{dot}org and
can try it out sincee we have similar hardware.[/color]

I just uploaded the file to our file transfer server…you should be
getting an email with a download link.
[color=blue]

I wonder since you have an onboard card it’s making a difference, what
gfx card is the internal one?[/color]

The motherboard has Intel Q965 Express Chipset.

Ken

15

On Thu, 30 May 2013 14:06:40 GMT, malcolmlewis
malcolmlewis@no-mx.forums.suse.com wrote:
[color=blue]

Hi
Also you might try disabling desktop effects, in the slab menu →
control center->desktop effects and see if that makes a difference.[/color]

First I need to get the graphics functioning again. Right now
runlevel 5 just gives me a screen full of vertical green lines.

Ken

16

Hi
Ouch!! can you try re-installing yast2-x11 and sax2;

zypper in -f yast2-x11 perl-XML-SAX sax2 sax2-gui sax2-ident sax2-libsax sax2-libsax-perl sax2-tools
mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup
sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx

So I tested with acroread and the transition from one to the next is
sort of jerky a definite pause with one fading out and the other fading
in, I’m assuming on XP there is no sort of pause?

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.11-desktop
up 1 day 4:11, 3 users, load average: 0.00, 0.01, 0.05
CPU AMD Athlon™ II P360@2.30GHz | GPU Mobility Radeon HD 4200

17

On Thu, 30 May 2013 18:11:59 GMT, malcolmlewis
malcolmlewis@no-mx.forums.suse.com wrote:
[color=blue]

[/QUOTE]
Hi
Ouch!! can you try re-installing yast2-x11 and sax2;

zypper in -f yast2-x11 perl-XML-SAX sax2 sax2-gui sax2-ident sax2-libsax sax2-libsax-perl sax2-tools mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx [/color]

I must have managed to screw this one up good. That didn’t fix it.
And I just realized too that changing to runlevel 3 does not have any
affect…still just vertical green lines.

All I did was run the makerpm-amd-13.1-legacy.sh script with the
uninstall option. Then rebooted the PC with the monitor attached to
the onboard graphics port. The onboard graphics card displayed ok,
but didn’t handle the slideshow transitions any better. So I reran
the script to reinstall the ATI driver and rebooted the PC with the
monitor attached to the ATI card. And that is when I got the green
lines. I assume I messed up some simple setting during the process,
but I’m not familiar enough with SLED to even know where to look. I’m
still getting comfortable with SLES on my servers.
[color=blue]

So I tested with acroread and the transition from one to the next is
sort of jerky a definite pause with one fading out and the other fading
in, I’m assuming on XP there is no sort of pause?[/color]

Yep… XP gives us a smooth transition from pic to pic - no pauses or
jerks - looks really good. SLED 11 pauses and jerks - not good.

Ken

18

Ok, on a whim I just swapped out the video card. I have a few
identical ones. Rebooted the PC and no more green lines. Maybe that
graphics card just happened to die while I was doing the testing. I
now have a visible desktop, but I still have the jerks and pauses
during the PDF slideshow. Disabling Desktop Effects doesn’t fix it.
Any other suggestions?

Ken

19

Hi
Check the BIOS settings for aperture size, that its set to the right
slot for the card rather than onboard.

Run sax2 again just to check the settings you can tweak for the card.

Disable unnecessary services via the runlevel editor in YaST.

You might try logging out and login to IceWM and run an xterm and
start the pdf via CLI.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.11-desktop
up 1 day 8:32, 3 users, load average: 0.07, 0.03, 0.05
CPU AMD Athlon™ II P360@2.30GHz | GPU Mobility Radeon HD 4200

20

On Thu, 30 May 2013 22:27:36 GMT, malcolmlewis
malcolmlewis@no-mx.forums.suse.com wrote:
[color=blue]

Hi
Check the BIOS settings for aperture size, that its set to the right
slot for the card rather than onboard.[/color]

Set correctly.
[color=blue]

Run sax2 again just to check the settings you can tweak for the card.[/color]

Done.
[color=blue]

Disable unnecessary services via the runlevel editor in YaST.[/color]

Done.
[color=blue]

You might try logging out and login to IceWM and run an xterm and
start the pdf via CLI.[/color]

Didn’t help.

Well I assume either the driver just isn’t optimized as well as it
could be or something with the way linux handles it. I suppose a more
powerful graphics card would solve the problem, but I don’t have the
option of spending money just to change the OS. I’ve learned a little
more about linux, but I really don’t have the time to keep working on
a solution for this one…when I can just continue with XP without
further work. Thanks for all your assistance Malcolm!

Regards,
Ken