[SOLVED] Problem with IBM ThinkPad 2647-4EU Graphics - glitchy

JustMe · 2013-02-26 22:21:23

Hi all,

I have an IBM ThinkPad 2647-4EU, it works great, but when I start awesome the top half of the screen looks ok but the bottom half is all corrupted. Graphic card works in xp. Also the awesome bar at the top is cut in half same way...

According to:

lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: S3 Inc. 86C270-294 Savage/IX-MV (rev 13)

It is a Savage graphics card so I installed the driver:

sudo pacman -S xf86-video-savage

Without that driver, startx says no screens found...

Is there anything that I can update / downgrade or install to make this work???

Please post exactly what I need to type (I don't want anything lost in translation because I'm still pretty new to this)

Thanks!

Last edited by JustMe (2013-02-28 23:58:01)

root · 2013-02-27 05:46:25

Xorg dropped the XAA module since 1.13 onward if I am not mistaken and the savage card seems not to handle very well the new mode/module it is switched to automatically and thus this screen corruption appears, see this.

As far as I am concerned, as a T23 user myself, there are several options you may consider,

1) downgrade to the following packages due to dependencies,

xf86-input-evdev-2.7.3-1
xf86-video-savage-2.3.6-1
xorg-server-1.12.4-1
xorg-server-common-1.12.4-1

That should restore the behaviour to what you are used to (in my case that includes being able to play movies using f.e. VLC which demands hardware acceleration capacities to work correctly)

2) If you are using a xorg.conf file change the AccelMethod to EXA like this,

Option "AccelMethod" "EXA" # <str>

That will restore too the behaviour though you may be affected by a noticeable slow window rendering causing heavy CPU use by X.

3) Instead of using EXA (disabling/commenting that option) set the NoAccel option to True and enable the ShadowFB one,

Option "NoAccel" "True" # [<bool>]
Option "ShadowFB" "Enable" # [<bool>]

On my behalf I have noticed the same slow window rendering/high CPU use as with 2) but without the artifacts it had as a side effect (high with 16 bit, lower with 24 bit)

4) Drop the savage driver and use the Vesa one.

This one is similar to 3) but according to my tests the slow window rendering is gone and there are no artifacts either. If you are not as me using your laptop heavily for watching movies too this might be a good choice to get the old behaviour back and stay up to date with the Xorg packages.

On my behalf I have chosen to stick to option 1) for easy video file handling at the cost of not staying up to date with the dependent packages.

JustMe · 2013-02-27 20:07:48

Wow thanks for the amazing reply

I will attempt to do the first option, but how would I best downgrade a package?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Do … g_Packages Since this is a fresh install I can not install it from /var/cache/pacman/pkg

sorry, I have never even installed something from the AUR so this is pretty new to me...
Thanks for all your help!!

root · 2013-02-27 22:27:57

It is easier than you may think.

If the packages are not in the cache you can get them from the Arch Rollback Machine. As you state you are not used to installing things from the AUR (in case you refer to the ARM tools, too) you may even download them manually with the web browser.
Save them to a folder (f.e. create a dedicated one in your /home/youruser), access that folder (that will save you from having to tell pacman the file path for each of the packages if I am not mistaken), and downgrade the files as stated in the wiki/man pacman.

Further options are available in FAQ of the wiki entry you linked to.

Last edited by root (2013-02-27 22:28:44)

JustMe · 2013-02-28 17:41:29

It worked beautifully!

I downloaded downgrade, https://github.com/pbrisbin/downgrade changed the mode to be executable and ran it:

cd downloads
unzip name_of_the_download.zip

chmod +x downgrade xf86-input-evdev

./downgrade

I did what it told me, (I searched for the packages and then picked the number) and at the end told it to add it to my ignore update file in pacman.

I then started x

startx

and saw (in my case) Awesome load up for the first time without glitches :)

Thank you very much root.

suokunlong · 2013-05-09 03:16:05

root wrote:

As far as I am concerned, as a T23 user myself, there are several options you may consider,
1) downgrade to the following packages due to dependencies,
xf86-input-evdev-2.7.3-1
xf86-video-savage-2.3.6-1
xorg-server-1.12.4-1
xorg-server-common-1.12.4-1
......

I tried and this works perfect for me! Thanks!
So far all newer linux distrs with newer xf86-video-savage dont work on my IBM T22, my only choice is to use arch and downgrade...

Arch Linux

#1 2013-02-26 22:21:23

[SOLVED] Problem with IBM ThinkPad 2647-4EU Graphics - glitchy

#2 2013-02-27 05:46:25

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with IBM ThinkPad 2647-4EU Graphics - glitchy

#3 2013-02-27 20:07:48

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with IBM ThinkPad 2647-4EU Graphics - glitchy

#4 2013-02-27 22:27:57

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with IBM ThinkPad 2647-4EU Graphics - glitchy

#5 2013-02-28 17:41:29

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with IBM ThinkPad 2647-4EU Graphics - glitchy

#6 2013-05-09 03:16:05

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with IBM ThinkPad 2647-4EU Graphics - glitchy

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