AMD Catalyst 8.6 Linux Driver

[mirak63]

what device do you use in the mixer ?
do you use analogic ?

[Chris Clearwater]

I use "HDA Intel (Alsa mixer)".

[Chris Clearwater]

More specific description of my problem:

When I start X using fglrx 8.6 (8.501?), the screen draws for 0-2 seconds before hard locking up my system. Sometimes, it is enough to draw just the mouse cursor, sometimes the login box of gdm gets the outline drawn, but most of the time it crashes with just a black screen. This is on a fresh install of Hardy + aptitude full-upgrade. The X log can be found here: http://files.caspring.org/misc/Xorg.0.log

My hardware:
Motherboard: Asus P5Q Pro
CPU: Intel E8400
RAM: G.Skill 2GB DDR-1000 x 4 (8GB)
GPU: Saphire HD4850
Hard Drives: Western Digital WD640AAKS x2 in RAID-1
LAN: US Robotics 8139too-based
Power Supply: Antec TruePower Trio 550W

Nothing is overclocked and BIOS settings are default.
The HD4850 works running under Windows.

[mtippett]

The X log can be found here: http://files.caspring.org/misc/Xorg.0.log

Can you run atigetsysteminfo.sh after a crash (but before starting X) and pastebin the result? There may be a record in your system log file.

Regards,

Matthew

[chibacityblues]

My hardware is basically the same sas Chris Clearwater's:

Motherboard: Asus P5Q Pro (BIOS rev. 0703)
CPU: Intel E8400
RAM: G.Skill 2GB DDR-1000 x 2
GPU: Saphire HD4850
TV-card: Hauppauge Nova-T PCI
HD: Samsung T166 500GB
PSU: Enermax Pro82+ 425W

I'm running Arch Linux 2008.06 and running (two-headed) X isn't a problem for me. However, I get system crashes and/or hardlocks a few seconds after starting Kaffeine and tuning to a channel (DVB-T). Is there a way to avoid this? My xorg.conf looks like this: xorg.conf

Mplayer works fine and without tearing.


@Chris Clearwater: I think I had the same problem, that you encounter. I could solve with some help from the Phoronix IRC-channel (Thanx!). Maybe this works for you too:

1. Update your mainboards BIOS to 0703 if you've still got version 0506.
2. Copy fix_mtrr.sh to /etc/init.d and chmod it to 755
3. run sudo update-rc.d fix_mtrr.sh defaults

BIOS update AND MTRR-fix works for me. Of course you can try this solution before adding it to the startup-scripts: boot ubuntu in rescue mode, and urn the script before starting gdm.

[Chris Clearwater]

Thanks for the suggestion. But running that script basically makes my system almost completely non-responsive.

Edit: I tried taking out all but 1 2GB stick of memory from my machine and it is now working! I think I'll need to figure out the correct MTRR settings for my machine to use all 8GB.

[oyvind]

Random X server crashes whenever an app opens XV

I'm having stability issues with XVideo and this latest 8.6-release. Mostly it works fine, but a little too often the X-server crashes when some video application opens an XV-window. Also, suspend still doesn't work for me... Other than these annoyances, the driver works OK.

Ubuntu Hardy 32bit, no compiz, ATI X1400 mobile, Lenovo Z61m Thinkpad, no special fglrx-tunings in xorg.conf, other than enabling textured video.

[Wise Ferret]

Current problems with 8-6 driver

On hardy 32-bit, mobility radeon x1600:

1. Xv doesn't work, crashes the apps trying to use it or the whole X server (compiz off). I have to use to software rendering.
2. When compiz is on, using opengl apps works without flickering (hooray!), but after a few minutes the screen splits and garbles and I lose control over mouse and keyboard.
3. When compiz is off, using opengl apps works fine for a longer period, then crash-freezes the app.

So, unfortunately, this driver seems to suffer from serious stability problems.

[Kano]

Maybe do memtest86+ for a night.

[oyvind]

On hardy 32-bit, mobility radeon x1600:

1. Xv doesn't work, crashes the apps trying to use it or the whole X server (compiz off). I have to use to software rendering.
2. When compiz is on, using opengl apps works without flickering (hooray!), but after a few minutes the screen splits and garbles and I lose control over mouse and keyboard.
3. When compiz is off, using opengl apps works fine for a longer period, then crash-freezes the app.

So, unfortunately, this driver seems to suffer from serious stability problems.

Agreed. The stability-decrease is really disappointing and it's getting really old. I cannot trust XVideo in 8.6, because it so often just crashes my entire X server. The same for OpenGL-stuff, it's a coin toss if it that doesn't cause garbage and crash when running in a composited environment (which I only do for testing, because of unsatisfying 2D-performance). Gnome-screensaver is a real fglrx-freezer, if I leave it running with some OpenGL-screensaver for a while (CPU soft lockup errors in kernel log). Dammit AMD, get your QA together, PLEASE, these regressions SUCK.