Help guys! ATI problems again

[Leveecius]

Hey guys, I just got a laptop and put SuSE 10.2 on it. I got everything working on it just fine except my 3D support. It keeps telling me: The configuration is Frame buffer based and your system does not support changes in the resolution and/or color settings. However, I can change the resolution and the colors, but I can't seem to get or find out how to get my 3D to work on it. I believe I have a Radeon x1300 card. I have a Toshiba A215-S4697 Laptop if that helps any. Any support will help out wonders! Thanks in advance guys.

Also, I did the ./aticonfig --initial command in terminal and it gave me the basic setup, but it did not give me any options for 3d support when I just did ./aticonfig. Any suggestions?

[gogalthorp]

Did you install the ATI driver? Go to the ATI site find the Linux driver for your chip set and follow instructions. The only way to get 3D acceleration is to get the drivers for your card

[Cool01]

I think it might be a good idea to stop for a moment before you go further. I can tell you a few things:

1. Your Toshiba A215 series has an AMD "690" series chipset with an SB600 south bridge chip and X1200 IGP using shared memory.

2. I have been running OpenSuSE 10.2 64-bit on desk computer with the AMD 580 chipset which was the predecessor of the 690 series chipset in the Toshiba laptops, and an ATi X1600 Pro graphics card and 64-bit CPU.

3. I have briefly used OpenSuSE 10.3, 32-bit on an Intel laptop (which I still have available for use -- for a while).

4. I have just recently loaded OpenSuSE 11.0, 64-bit on a laptop with the ATi "480" series chipset (Xpress 200M).

Issue:

OpenSuSE 10.2 does not "officially" support chipset in your Toshiba A215 laptop. This is not necessarily a big problem. As I said, I have that OS in my desk computer which is using the AMD 580 chipset which is also not "officially" supported. This is possible because these chipsets are closely related. 10.2 supports the 480 series chipsets "officially". The main thing missing will be correct "sensor" settings. Then again, I expect that even the 11.0 sensor settings are probably incorrect. This is because complete documentation might not be released from the manufacturer (in this case Toshiba).

OpenSuSE 10.3 probably supports your Toshiba's chipset. If not, then at least it will be closer. It will definitely cover the SB600 chip, and most of the 690 "north bridge" chip is the same as the 580 which is officially supported. 10.3 has been around for about a year and is well debugged. There will be other advantages to 10.3, but even if there was nothing else, the fact that it has theoretically better support of your computer would be enough reason to prefer it over 10.2.

On the other hand, it is best NOT to try OpenSuSE 11.0 right now. There are a lot of surprisingly significant bugs in it. I am guessing that it will be reasonably safe in another month or two.

About 64-bit:

Yes, 32-bit is probably a bit more stable (though if you check the bug reports, there have not been many problems in 64-bit reported yet, that are not also in 32-bit), and there is little performance gain for 64-bit. I could explain that, but it would take a fairly long message.

Despite that, I am loading 64-bit OSes (Mainly Linux, but Vista fairly soon as well) on any computer that I can do so because in the long run, I expect most "desk" computers will be converting to 64-bit. In fact, I think the conversion is starting now. If you check the major writers (Anandtech and Tom's Hardware are a couple of examples), even they are starting to do their testing in 64-bit because they expect people to be using it. The reason is because RAM is so cheap now that most people will have 4GB or more, and only the 64-bit OSes make full use of 4GB or more RAM.

The point of loading 64-bit on a laptop now is mainly because I do not want to change again later, and I will want to have the same software on both my laptops and my desk computers, if possible.

[Cool01]

A couple more comments:

I also should have mentioned that OpenSuSE 10.2 is coming to the end of its support life. Support ends at the end of November 2008. That gives you about 5 more months. If you start with 10.3 now, you will have about a year of support left. In the old days, before all the Internet based virii and stuff, I would not have worried much about "end of support" because once everything worked, I would have been happy. But today, the systems are so big and change so fast that there are probably still security holes that may be around for years.

The other comment is about 64-bit: The only major problem I have with 10.2 in 64-bit is that I have not been able to use real "Flash" since one of the Firefox upgrades a while back. I use a substitute program that supports most of Flash, but not FLV videos, so I cannot use 64-bit to watch "You Tube" videos. On the other hand, most simple Flash animation pages that are used for advertising are working. I do not know if that problem was ever resolved. I expect that it might be resolved in 10.3 64-bit, but I have not checked. So if Flash is a big deal to you, then it would probably be better to stick to 32-bit for now.

[gogalthorp]

Flash will work if you run the 32 bit version of Firefox (or what ever browser). The problem is that proprietary Flash is not available in 64 bit. I have the same problem with Skype. The propritary companies are what is holding back 64 bit. This is also true in the Windows world. Getting 64bit drivers for Windows is a hit and miss proposition also.

About the only Companies that support 64 bit are the Video Co. ie ATI, NVIDIA, Intel, etc

[Leveecius]

Actually yes, I downloaded the proprietary driver from ATI's website. There is only 1 driver for all the Radeon cards. I've looked at all of them. So as for that, I have everything working except for the 3d support.

So as for my chipset as you say is not "officially" supported, is there any backdoor ways that you can see for it? I'm just trying to get my stuff working so I can play Xmoto again (love that game for some odd reason), but until this 3d accelorator is working, it runs hella slow and can't seem to want to play it when it's running that slow. I'm looking for any and every option to get my 3d support to work. Please help guys! Thanks in advance.

[gogalthorp]

Did you install it? You need to do more then download it.

[Leveecius]

Yes I installed it, and did the ./aticonfig --initial as well. That's how I got the resolution and colors able to be changed. But I am still getting my error message and no 3d support. I've installed it both ways and even did it the way the guide on ati's site told me to as well. So, yeah, that's why I'm lost. I did a config on it as well but there is no options for setting up any type of 3d support. I'm kinda lost right now as what to do, and right now ATI isn't helping any either on my problem.

[gogalthorp]

Well I use NVIDIA so I'm just guessing.

Have you run Yast-Hardware-Monitor and graphics?

There is checkboox for 3D make sure it is checked. Note if the system does not sense the 3D it may be grayed out.

Second Look at your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. Post the section pertaining to graphic cards back here. Section "Device"

[Cool01]

Yes I installed it, and did the ./aticonfig --initial as well. That's how I got the resolution and colors able to be changed. But I am still getting my error message and no 3d support. I've installed it both ways and even did it the way the guide on ati's site told me to as well. So, yeah, that's why I'm lost. I did a config on it as well but there is no options for setting up any type of 3d support. I'm kinda lost right now as what to do, and right now ATI isn't helping any either on my problem.

What version of the driver kit do you have?

Also, which way was the last way you installed it? Did you use the direct installation from the "run" package (shell script) or was the last attempt using "rpm"?

If you are using "rpm" then the proper command is:

"rpm -Uh --force fglrx*.rpm"

You can use "-ih", and you can add the optional "v" for verbose, but you have to use the "--force".

As far as the ATi proprietary drivers running under 10.2 are concerned, my experience is all on the 64-bit side and none of the drivers after "8.40-4" which was early in 2007, have worked sufficiently for me. The latest driver will run the "fgl_glxgears" test program if you type it into the console, but "Chromium" crashes it. I wasted most of a day trying it out and then try to get "8.40-4" to work again after.

It was my impression that the 32-bit versions of the drivers were working better than the 64-bit.

On the laptops:

The 32-bit Intel laptop has an older Radeon 9600 chip and the graphics work using the Xorg "Radeon" driver. It is working very nicely, and did not have any problem installing or setting up.

Here's a surprise: Under OpenSuSE 11.0 the ATi and nVidia drivers are maintained differently now with online repositories and automatic loading. You still have to run "sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx" but it is much simpler than the "run" packages. On the 64-bit laptop, I loaded the ATi driver and it is running very well. It is the only good thing I found on 11.0.