Same problem with new catalyst 8.9

[veysey]

Thanks for the reply! Your confidence got my hopes up.

Alas. Didn't work; tried toggling all the Textured options even. Rebooted, etc.

Did get a new error. When I try the aticonfig line you suggest, I get a xcb_io.c assertion error and it aborts. I'm pretty sure that's not good.

Your problem is in your xorg.conf file, I also had the problem and solved this way: put the following line or modify it if your already have it (you have to do this from a terminal as root)
Under Device Section
Option "TexturedXRender" "False"

then run aticonfig --tls=on to commit the changes to PCS. Then start X, I can asure you that it solved the same crash with me.

[veysey]

Another odd data point

So ... if I start X using xinit, it starts.

Although it can't run, say, ... xclock w/o crashing, I can actually play movies. mplayer can play using the -xv (textured video) or -gl vo drivers.

So the driver can't draw a window border?

Confusing ...

[smlbstcbr]

Thanks for the reply! Your confidence got my hopes up.

Alas. Didn't work; tried toggling all the Textured options even. Rebooted, etc.

Did get a new error. When I try the aticonfig line you suggest, I get a xcb_io.c assertion error and it aborts. I'm pretty sure that's not good.

Umm, that's strange. If aticonfig cannot commit changes to PCS, try to edit the file yourself (I believe it is in /etc/amdpcs or something like that). However, the crash with xcb is weird. Try to check that there aren't broken links with revdep-rebuild. I had the exact same problem: X started over and over again, then I discovered that TexturedXRender was still experimental. I turned it off, commited to amdpcs and got it working after two weeks of unsuccessful trying.

[asun]

Your problem is in your xorg.conf file, I also had the problem and solved this way: put the following line or modify it if your already have it (you have to do this from a terminal as root)
Under Device Section
Option "TexturedXRender" "False"

then run aticonfig --tls=on to commit the changes to PCS. Then start X, I can asure you that it solved the same crash with me.

This works for me. Thanks a lot.

As a side note, the aticonfig command doesn't work initially for me right after I installed the new fglrx. I have to reboot into runlevel 3, run the aticonfig command and everything runs fine afterwards.

[smlbstcbr]

This works for me. Thanks a lot.

As a side note, the aticonfig command doesn't work initially for me right after I installed the new fglrx. I have to reboot into runlevel 3, run the aticonfig command and everything runs fine afterwards.

You are welcome. Glad to hear that somebody had the same trouble and my solution worked as well.