Arch Linux

alphaniner

Member

From: Ancapistan

Registered: 2010-07-12

Posts: 2,810

3.9.X+nouveau - VGA-connected monitor doesn't work

I have two monitors attached to a discrete "NVIDIA Corporation G86 [GeForce 8400 GS] (rev a1)" via DVI and VGA connectors. DVI seems to be the default output: the VGA never gets input until KMS kicks in during Arch boot. With 3.9.2 and 3.9.3, the VGA never gets input, period. I found some similar threads here and a bug on the kernel bugzilla, but unlike those cases, my /sys/class/drm/card0-VGA-1/status reads 'connected'.

With my normal user, starting X (startx) effectively locks up the system: it's briefly unresponsive, then the DVI monitor goes black, and finally the console reappears on DVI. There's no new prompt or cursor though, and no response to kbd (including A-F#, C-A-Del, REISUB). However, plugging in a thumb drive will result in the standard console spam and tapping the power button begins a [successfully] graceful shutdown.

Starting X with a new user works, presumably due to lacking setup to span across multiple monitors (honestly not sure where that setting is). But it takes longer than normal (~10 seconds) for X to come up and I have no mouse pointer despite the mouse being functional. The VGA monitor is seen and apparently being used ([XFCE] Settings -> Display etc.) but it's still blank. Logging out also takes ~10 seconds, and afterwards machine is unresponsive [to kb] as with normal user.

The VGA monitor is connected to a KVM while the other (DVI) is not. I tested with a direct connection to no effect. And nothing jumps out when comparing kernel log, journal, and Xorg.log from 3.9.3 to the same from 3.8.11. On one boot I saw

[    1.005796] nouveau E[  PTHERM][0000:01:00.0] unhandled intr 0x000001a1

But otherwise there's nothing to indicate a problem. I don't want to post the full copy of all the logs, so I'm in need of advice for something to flesh out an upstream bug report. For example, I notice nouveau module has a debug parameter, but it's charp type and I have no idea how to figure out supported values.

Last edited by alphaniner (2013-06-05 13:33:57)

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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

Alambre

Member

Registered: 2011-11-30

Posts: 11

Re: 3.9.X+nouveau - VGA-connected monitor doesn't work

//off
whit radeon module is the same(on ati hardware), not detect 2nd monitor,
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Current Operating System: Linux bootstrap 3.9.3-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun May 19 22:50:29 CEST 2013
(II) [KMS] drm report modesetting isn't supported. <-----> (II) [KMS] Kernel modesetting enabled.
test if you are used VESA
i compare logs whit meld

alphaniner

Member

From: Ancapistan

Registered: 2010-07-12

Posts: 2,810

Re: 3.9.X+nouveau - VGA-connected monitor doesn't work

I tried kernel-mainline (3.10rc2) from the AUR, and also tried different VGA monitors. No joy. ;(

@Alambre
Not entirely sure what you're getting at. Is that from X logs? I don't have anything about kms in any log. But I know nouveau can't work without it.

---

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