Help with 3D for ATI X800XT

[BMWDriver]

Hi,

Well, 3D worked okay in Ubuntu 9.04, but Karmic 9.10 (beta) seems to not want to start Compiz except for the first installation run, or play Alien Arena 7.0.1. in anything other than 1024x768 with poor performance, though my native screen size is 1650x1080 and this graphic's card can do much better.

The console command compiz returns "Xgl not found" and then some, and then a system freeze. So I can't copy-paste the whole thing.

I've upgraded to Mesa 7.6.1 stable PPA to no effect, positive or negative. Video rendering is quite good on Youtube. I also get excellent performance from the 3D screensavers. Glxgears sees the r420 spew out 3600 fps.

So I'm a bit mystified as to what's going on, though understandably I'm still on a beta 'buntu.

Hardware:
All-in-Wonder X800XT 256MB
AMD Athlon 2600XP @1.9GHz
1.5 GB DDR @ 333 MHz
Asus A7N8X mobo

 dmesg | grep drm
[    1.832326] [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810
[    1.877816] [drm] radeon default to kernel modesetting DISABLED.
[    1.881920] [drm] Initialized radeon 1.31.0 20080528 for 0000:02:00.0 on minor 0
[   37.896603] [drm] Setting GART location based on new memory map
[   37.896610] [drm] Can't use AGP base @0xd0000000, won't fit
[   37.896616] [drm] Loading R400 Microcode
[   37.896661] [drm] Num pipes: 4
[   37.896669] [drm] writeback test succeeded in 1 usecs

lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
ecb                     2516  1 
binfmt_misc             8444  1 
sha256_generic         11572  0 
aes_i586                8116  453 
aes_generic            27476  1 aes_i586
cbc                     3508  451 
snd_wavefront          37876  0 
snd_cs4236             29556  0 
snd_wss_lib            25876  2 snd_wavefront,snd_cs4236
snd_opl3_lib           10612  2 snd_wavefront,snd_cs4236
snd_intel8x0           30128  2 
snd_hwdep               7416  2 snd_wavefront,snd_opl3_lib
snd_ac97_codec        101304  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_mpu401              7016  0 
ac97_bus                1524  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_mpu401_uart         7092  3 snd_wavefront,snd_cs4236,snd_mpu401
snd_pcm_oss            38112  0 
snd_seq_dummy           2680  0 
snd_mixer_oss          16564  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                75096  5 snd_cs4236,snd_wss_lib,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_oss            28736  0 
snd_seq_midi            6560  0 
snd_rawmidi            22240  3 snd_wavefront,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event      7092  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
lp                      9604  0 
iptable_filter          3092  0 
ppdev                   6712  0 
snd_seq                50896  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
ip_tables              11652  1 iptable_filter
snd_timer              22040  4 snd_wss_lib,snd_opl3_lib,snd_pcm,snd_seq
joydev                 10304  0 
snd_seq_device          6944  6 snd_opl3_lib,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
x_tables               17176  1 ip_tables
snd                    60740  21 snd_wavefront,snd_cs4236,snd_wss_lib,snd_opl3_lib,snd_intel8x0,snd_hwdep,snd_ac97_codec,snd_mpu401,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
ns558                   5524  0 
parport_pc             31812  1 
snd_page_alloc          9244  3 snd_wss_lib,snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
shpchp                 32712  0 
gameport               11996  2 ns558
wacom                  22396  0 
psmouse                56460  0 
parport                35976  3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
soundcore               7968  1 snd
dm_crypt               12728  1 
i2c_nforce2             6872  0 
serio_raw               5432  0 
usbhid                 38144  0 
radeon                636576  2 
ttm                    37120  1 radeon
via_rhine              22076  0 
drm                   160512  4 radeon,ttm
mii                     5204  1 via_rhine
i2c_algo_bit            5752  1 radeon
forcedeth              53280  0 
nvidia_agp              6224  1 
floppy                 55300  0 
agpgart                35440  3 ttm,drm,nvidia_agp

[TheWind]

Alright I see something that sticks ot like a sore thumb in lsmod

lsmod pulled up nvidia_agp
Do You have an Nvidia card in the system at all?
If you don't have an Nvidia card, you need to blacklist that.
echo "blacklist nvidia_agp" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nvagp.conf
^ easy command otherwise by GUI (if your one of those people) make a file with the convention of blacklist-*.conf ,* is a wildcard and can be any phrase.
Then in this file write the line : blacklist nvidia_agp
Save the file in the /etc/modprobe.d/ directory.
You'll need root permissions so sudo or gksudo mousepad/leafpad/gedit what ever your text editor is. ex : gksudo mousepad


Also if you want a newer mesa and ati driver, Ubuntu karmic is still using git from about 3 and a half weeks ago. This probably wont change, but u can get the latest git from X.org edgers ppa.

https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa

In Karmic : Go To Software Sources -> Under the Other Software Tab -> Click Add ->
Add this APT-Line :
ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
Reload Synaptic the package manager and mark all upgrades then apply them.


Hopefully this helps.

[bridgman]

Compiz looking for XGL sounds like a red flag. There's a Compiz option to use indirect rendering; that might be what you need.

Sorry for the vague answer but I'm going from memory here and don't have time to research...

[BMWDriver]

lsmod pulled up nvidia_agp
Do You have an Nvidia card in the system at all?

The Asus board has an Nvidia chipset, so the AGP port is driven by the Nvidia nForce2 chip. If I blacklist it, methinks the card won't work period, but I could be wrong. There's no onboard video either on the mobo.

Thanks for the replies. I'll look into your suggestion bridgman, don't worry about the details, I'll find 'em.