fglrx multiseat crash

[noobish]

Curious, because I cannot get the second X session to fire up. When I try with 1 card, fglrx segfaults. When I try with two cards, the second X session is unable to read the second card's VBIOS (which I suspect is a problem with the motherboard not advertising it).

Are you using two cards? And would you be willing to PM me to discuss your config files?

[jamey0824]

CMorrow, have you had to change anything to your xorg or kdm config if/when you upgraded to kubuntu 10.04?

I am having trouble getting past the splash screen when I try two seats with 1 fglrx card.

Uh, I haven't checked my email for a month, but I can report that i have got multiseat working with kdm, and lucid. No nothing different from earlier versions. One thing I've noticed though, at one point I had switch the order of the seats, like in kdm where you have staticserver=:0,:1 switch that to :1, :0 This syntax is not correct but you should know what i mean.

[noobish]

CMorrow, have you had to change anything to your xorg or kdm config if/when you upgraded to kubuntu 10.04?

I am having trouble getting past the splash screen when I try two seats with 1 fglrx card.

[jamey0824]

POWERplay is not supported on your hardware

aticonfig --lsp
Error: POWERplay is not supported on your hardware.

I've tried that with using just one card, in default setup
I wonder if power play isn't working with the latest drivers for any setup?
I did two independent tests using radeon 3450 and Radeon HD 4670. Both no luck

As a side note: I got my multi seat up and running. thanks cmorrow for the help. Still have some issues to sort out like most of the time when i hit down key computer beeps like crazy.

[CMorrow]

I never could get either the radeon or radeonHD drivers to work very well, but I never tried very hard either. As I was looking for good 3D performance, 98% of my testing on ATI hardware involved the proprietary fglrx driver.

[jamey0824]

Multiple radeon adapters

Man thanks so much for the info. I have a follow up question. I know you having issues with dpms on you ati cards. Other than that can you tell me which drivers you had success with (ati, RadeonHD, frglx). I know you said previously that frglx worked minus the dpms. Did you try the other drivers (ati, RadeonHD)? I'll let you guys know my results on the dpms, if i can get that far.

[CMorrow]

I did indeed get multiseat working under Jaunty x64. In fact, it works great! I replaced my ATI cards with nVidia cards (Qty 3. 9800 GTX+) and now DPMS works. I was able to get Multiseat working with at least 2 seats using ATI hardware but never could get DPMS working.

In fact, my wife, daughter, and myself ended up playing a 3 vs 3 multiplayer match of Demigod under Wine 1.1.20 on the same physical box (which ran rather well).

My first initial response about your xorg.conf is that you need one ServerLayout section for each seperate X server you are trying to run. With 3 people on my machine, that means 3 server layout sections (seat0, seat1, and seat2 as I have defined them).

Then, you need to remember to launch each of those X sessions using your login manager.

I'm using Kubuntu which uses KDM instead of GDM, so you'll have to do things slightly differently, but I made the following changes in my /etc/kde4/kdm/kdmrc:

# List of permanent displays. Displays with a hostname are foreign. A display
# class may be specified separated by an underscore.
# Default is ":0"
#StaticServers=:0
StaticServers=:0,:1,:2
# List of on-demand displays. See StaticServers for syntax.
# Default is ""
#ReserveServers=:1,:2,:3
ReserveServers=:3

.....<snip>.....
[X-:0-Core]
ClientLogFile=.xsession-errors
ServerArgsLocal=-nolisten tcp -layout seat0 -sharevts -novtswitch

[X-:1-Core]
ClientLogFile=.xsession-errors
ServerArgsLocal=-nolisten tcp -layout seat1 -sharevts -novtswitch

[X-:2-Core]
ClientLogFile=.xsession-errors
ServerArgsLocal=-nolisten tcp -layout seat2 -sharevts -novtswitch

Note that in each X server definition of my kdmrc, I specify a "-layout seat#" which corresponds with my ServerLayout section of xorg.conf. This is how xorg knows what hardware and settings to use in each session.

My xorg.conf

# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)                   
#                                                                               

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier     "2343bwx"
        Option         "dpms"   
EndSection                      

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier     "216bw"
        Option         "dpms" 
EndSection                    

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier     "viewsonic"
        Option         "dpms"     
EndSection                        

Section "Screen"
        Identifier     "screen0"
        Device         "9800gtxplus-0"
        Monitor        "2343bwx"      
        DefaultDepth    24            
        SubSection "Display"          
                Depth       24        
        EndSubSection                 
EndSection                            

Section "Screen"
        Identifier     "screen1"
        Device         "9800gtxplus-1"
        Monitor        "216bw"        
        DefaultDepth    24            
        SubSection "Display"          
                Depth       24        
        EndSubSection                 
EndSection                            

Section "Screen"
        Identifier     "screen2"
        Device         "9800gtxplus-2"
        Monitor        "viewsonic"    
        DefaultDepth    24            
        SubSection "Display"          
                Depth       24        
        EndSubSection                 
EndSection                            

Section "Module"
        Load           "dbe"   # Double buffer extension
        Load           "glx"                            
        Load           "type1"                          
        Load           "speedo"                         
        Load           "freetype"                       
        SubSection "extmod"                             
                Option         "omit xfree86-dga"   # don't initialize the DGA extension                                                                        
        EndSubSection                                                           
EndSection                                                                      

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier     "keyboard0"
        Driver         "evdev"    
        Option         "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/pci-0000:05:02.2-usb-0:4.4:1.0-event-kbd"                                                                   
        Option         "XkbModel" "evdev"                                       
        Option         "XkbLayout" "us"                                         
EndSection                                                                      

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier     "keyboard1"
        Driver         "evdev"    
        Option         "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/pci-0000:05:02.2-usb-0:3.2:1.0-event-kbd"                                                                   
        Option         "XkbModel" "evdev"                                       
        Option         "XkbLayout" "us"                                         
EndSection                                                                      

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier     "keyboard2"
        Driver         "evdev"    
        Option         "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/pci-0000:05:02.2-usb-0:2.1.1:1.0-event-kbd"                                                                 
        Option         "XkbModel" "evdev"                                       
        Option         "XkbLayout" "us"                                         
EndSection                                                                      

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier     "mouse0"
        Driver         "evdev" 
        Option         "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/pci-0000:05:02.2-usb-0:4.3:1.0-event-joystick"                                                              
EndSection                                                                      

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier     "mouse1"
        Driver         "evdev" 
        Option         "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/pci-0000:05:02.2-usb-0:3.3:1.0-event-mouse"                                                                 
EndSection                                                                      

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier     "mouse2"
        Driver         "evdev" 
        Option         "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/pci-0000:05:02.2-usb-0:2.4:1.0-event-mouse"                                                                 
EndSection                                                                      

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "seat0"
        Screen         "screen0" 0 0
        InputDevice    "mouse0" "CorePointer"
        InputDevice    "keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
        Option         "DisableModInDev" "true"
        Option         "AutoAddDevices" "off"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "seat1"
        Screen         "screen1" 0 0
        InputDevice    "mouse1" "CorePointer"
        InputDevice    "keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
        Option         "DisableModInDev" "true"
        Option         "AutoAddDevices" "off"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "seat2"
        Screen         "screen2" 0 0
        InputDevice    "mouse2" "CorePointer"
        InputDevice    "keyboard2" "CoreKeyboard"
        Option         "DisableModInDev" "true"
        Option         "AutoAddDevices" "off"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier     "9800gtxplus-0"
        Driver         "nvidia"
        BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier     "9800gtxplus-1"
        Driver         "nvidia"
        BusID          "PCI:3:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier     "9800gtxplus-2"
        Driver         "nvidia"
        BusID          "PCI:4:0:0"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
        Option         "AllowMouseOpenFail" "true"
        Option         "Xinerama" "0"
        Option  "DontZap"       "True"
        # Disable ctrl alt backspace
        # Option        "DontZap"
        # Xorg will otherwise not start if it can't find a mouse to use.
        # Disable xinerama
EndSection

[jamey0824]

Can't even get that far

I've been trying to get multiseat working too, so I am trying to do it in some sort of logical steps. To bad I can't get past step 1

I am just trying to get two video cards to work.
System
Asus Ma79T Delux
2 3450 vga cards , with 2 exactly same monitors
ubuntu x64

Tried with fgrlx(default on ubuntu and new 9.4, radeonhd, and ati drivers

The problem is I can never get a display from both cards working at the same time. Cmorrow or anyone can you confirm if you actually got two separate vga cards working under jaunty.

When i use fgrlx drivers at same time get stuck at bootup. Also note that when looking Catylst control center it never recognizance 2nd card, it sees it as unknown. When I use radeonhd drivers I am able to log in but nothing on second monitor

this is my xorg.conf

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "aticonfig Layout"
	Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
	Screen         "aticonfig-Screen[1]-0" RightOf "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
	Option	    "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
	Option	    "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
	Option	    "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[1]-0"
	Option	    "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
	Option	    "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
	Option	    "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	BusID       "PCI:5:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[1]-0"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	BusID       "PCI:4:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
	Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
	Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[1]-0"
	Device     "aticonfig-Device[1]-0"
	Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[1]-0"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

[c1981]

That's too bad - I think you're right about the driver support - the switch should've made a difference if it was indeed a driver issue.
I didn't expect a bios update to make much of a difference, as I pretty much flash the bios to latest edition on all boards I come into contact with.

As far as it being a distribution specific issue - opensuse and centos have the same problem..
I could try building a Linux From Scratch install to see if that makes a difference?

It's a shame the x2 and alike cards can't be used as seperate adapters; But, Matrox adapters can. Although they do not offer any real performance besides office work, 4 quad-head matrox card can allow 'our' motherboards to drive the number of users up to 16. But Matrox cards are rather pricy in terms of performance per euro (or dollar).
That's why I use same generation yet different series Nvidia cards for the moment; the media center seats don't require all that much 3D power - just HD video power; so I use 1 -2 high power cards for gaming purposes and 2 low to medium power cards for the media centers.

[CMorrow]

P.S. CMorrow - did switching back to older adapters change anything?

Unfortunately not. I swapped out my 4850 for my 3850 (oldest recent ATI card I have) and booted up. DPMS still doesn't work. PowerPlay also reports that it isn't supported on that hardware, so I'm becoming more suspicious that it isn't due to "drivers not supporting the latest hardware."

I took some of MTippett's advice and updated my bios from 1.05 to 1.07, and also commented out most of my xorg.conf just so I could see if for some reason it was tripping over the config. I still can't get DPMS to work.

There is another thread on these forums started yesterday that I responded to where another user running Ubuntu 9.04 is having the same problems. I'm wondering if this is a distribution specific problem, or perhaps just an issue with the Catalyst 9.4 drivers on Xorg 1.6.

From a Motherboard standpoint, switching to nVidia adapters would be easier if the cards in the same performance range of the 4850s weren't all double-height double-power cards. When you're trying to hook up 2-4 cards in your case for 2-4 users, that's a lot of case real-estate.

On a related note, it's too bad you can't use the 48x0 X2 cards as 2 seperate display adapters.

For anyone running across this thread who may not know what a MultiSeat configuration is, check out WikiPedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiseat