Arch Linux

witor.eel

Member

Registered: 2011-10-05

Posts: 4

How to disable one of my two ATI graphic cards on my Arch?

Hello.

I have two graphic cards ATI Radeon on my laptop, one is a Radeon 4200 and other is Radeon 6370, and I want to remove one of them. I looked for disable the module, but is it the same module that load both cards. I'm using the driver xf86-video-ati and is 'radeon' the module that works. I'm not intersting play games, I only want a system to work. With both cards actived, the cooler is always on, warming so much the computer. And, when is working in the battery, I can't lower the power below 30 Watts.

Here is the part of my lspci -k command about the cards:

01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M880G [Mobility Radeon HD 4200]
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 1445
    Kernel driver in use: radeon
    Kernel modules: radeon
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Robson CE [AMD Radeon HD 6300 Series]
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 1445
    Kernel driver in use: radeon
    Kernel modules: radeon

Is there any way to me disable the Radeon 6300?

Thanks.

lagagnon

Member

From: an Island in the Pacific...

Registered: 2009-12-10

Posts: 1,087

Website

Re: How to disable one of my two ATI graphic cards on my Arch?

Can you not do that in your BIOS setup?

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Philosophy is looking for a black cat in a dark room. Metaphysics is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there. Religion is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there and shouting "I found it!". Science is looking for a black cat in a dark room with a flashlight.

witor.eel

Member

Registered: 2011-10-05

Posts: 4

Re: How to disable one of my two ATI graphic cards on my Arch?

I can't. I can't do anything in my bios. Laptop Bios...

I thought in configure a fake xorg.conf for the radeon 6370 card for broke when startup. Will be desactive de card and lower the power?

gorky

Member

From: Kraków, Poland

Registered: 2010-07-05

Posts: 96

Re: How to disable one of my two ATI graphic cards on my Arch?

Have you tried enabling powersaving mode?

echo low > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_profile
echo low > /sys/class/drm/card1/device/power_profile

witor.eel

Member

Registered: 2011-10-05

Posts: 4

Re: How to disable one of my two ATI graphic cards on my Arch?

Yes, I tried. But without sucess. And when I tried, something wird happens: I executed the command with sudo, and I had no permission to write the configuration. Even in the console tty1, with gdm stoped I hadn't permission.

I will try install a new version of catalyst version, that I find in a unofficial respository of pacman in the Arch Wiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ATI_Catalyst

gorky

Member

From: Kraków, Poland

Registered: 2010-07-05

Posts: 96

Re: How to disable one of my two ATI graphic cards on my Arch?

Oh, you are using the closed drivers?

alphaniner

Member

From: Ancapistan

Registered: 2010-07-12

Posts: 2,810

Re: How to disable one of my two ATI graphic cards on my Arch?

Yes, I tried. But without sucess. And when I tried, something wird happens: I executed the command with sudo, and I had no permission to write the configuration. Even in the console tty1, with gdm stoped I hadn't permission.

Sudo only applies to the command, not the redirection.  You would need to use

echo low | sudo tee /sys/class/drm/cardX/device/power_profile >/dev/null

Last edited by alphaniner (2011-10-06 14:17:24)

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But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.
-Lysander Spooner

witor.eel

Member

Registered: 2011-10-05

Posts: 4

Re: How to disable one of my two ATI graphic cards on my Arch?

I solved my problem at this time. I installed the property driver Catalyst, and now my cooler is working fine.

Thanks for all the help.

How I put the topic as Solved?

Last edited by witor.eel (2011-10-07 02:06:48)