Request for help

zeddD1abl0 · 2008-07-27 11:39:16

Hey all,

I'm still a noob to all the ins and outs of Arch and I need some help overall. I currently have 2 problems, both of which are annoying but not detrimental.

System:

Opteron 170 (Socket 939)
ASUS A8R32-MVP Motherboard
4GB RAM
HDDs
ATI X1600PRO

Problem 1:

I have an ATI video card. When I last re-installed (I'm a compulsive re-installer) catalyst 8.6.1 installed beautifully and I didn't have many issues with it. WoW doesn't work well through Wine, but I'll survive. The problem arises now that I've updated to catalyst 8.7.1. fglrx.ko will not insert any more. It's complaining about

 Unknown symbol flush_tlb_page

This has happened before with a previous driver release (8.4.1), and the fix was a kernel patch. Do I have to apply this kernel patch and compile my own kernel? If so, what sort of improvements can I make to the kernel since I'm recompiling already? Also, I will not be changing to NVidia. Mainly a cash issue (the lack thereof).

Problem 2:

I think I may have stuffed up the daemon line in my rc.conf. My network is kinda sluggish and has issues. Pacman sometimes fails do it's package grab, the internet randomly stops working and I rarely get full speed on any download or torrent. Even torrents I know to be massively over-seeded (5000:1 S:L ratio + Vuze torrents, etc). I have attached my rc.conf and will post up other files you want to poke through, though I'm fairly sure the problem is in my rc.conf.

#
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
#

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# LOCALIZATION
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime"
# USEDIRECTISA: use direct I/O requests instead of /dev/rtc for hwclock
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
#
LOCALE="en_US.utf8"
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"
USEDIRECTISA="no"
TIMEZONE="Australia/Brisbane"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# HARDWARE
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# MOD_AUTOLOAD: Allow autoloading of modules at boot and when needed
# MOD_BLACKLIST: Prevent udev from loading these modules
# MODULES: Modules to load at boot-up. Prefix with a ! to blacklist.
#
# NOTE: Use of 'MOD_BLACKLIST' is deprecated. Please use ! in the MODULES array.
#
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
#MOD_BLACKLIST=() #deprecated
MODULES=(skge !pcspkr sky2 slhc snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm-oss snd-seq-oss snd-seq-device snd-seq-midi-event snd-seq snd-hwdep snd-page-alloc snd-pcm snd-rawmidi snd-timer snd snd-mpu401-uart snd-mpu401 snd-hda-intel soundcore fglrx)

# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# NETWORKING
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# HOSTNAME: Hostname of machine. Should also be put in /etc/hosts
#
HOSTNAME="*****************"

# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available interfaces.
#
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
#   - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
#   - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
# 
# DHCP:     Set your interface to "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
# Wireless: See network profiles below
#
eth1="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(!eth0 !eth1)

# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
#   - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
#
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
 
# Enable these network profiles at boot-up.  These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
#   - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
#   - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
#
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network.d
#
# This now requires the netcfg package
#
#NETWORKS=(main)

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# DAEMONS
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
#   - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
#   - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
#
DAEMONS=(@syslog-ng !network hal dhcdbd networkmanager @fam @gdm @dbus @cups @vboxdrv netfs @crond)

I'm also after a little information; Where can I learn about Arch Linux configuration and troubleshooting? Where can I learn about kernel configuring/tweaking/etc? Where can I start to help with the Pacman packages? I really only know the basics right now and I'd love to learn more.

Last edited by zeddD1abl0 (2008-07-27 11:39:52)

finferflu · 2008-07-27 12:32:55

Hi and welcome to Arch!

As for the first problem, I would suggest you to use the Open Source drivers (if they don't cause issues with your model) at least until somebody comes up with a better suggestion. Here is a wiki section dealing with ATi cards.

As for the second problem, just make sure that you have entered your hostname also in the /etc/hosts file, this way:

#<ip-address>   <hostname.domain.org>   <hostname>
127.0.0.1               localhost.localdomain   localhost your_hostname_here

I hope this helps a bit.

EDIT:
By the way, you can find loads of information in the wiki

sam · 2008-07-27 17:01:25

Your daemon line would look better like:

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng !network hal networkmanager @fam @cups @vboxdrv @netfs @crond)

Some rationals:
-By backgrounding syslog-ng, there is a chance it will load after hal, which isn't too good because hal problems won't be logged.
-Hal starts dbus, so you don't need dbus.
-Networkmanager starts dhcp by itself, and it is bad to have 2 dhcp processes going simultaneously (your slow network might stem from here)
-GDM isn't really as a daemon, you should uncomment the corresponing line in /etc/inittab instead
-I'm not sure what kind of comp this is, but you probably want to add alsa to the daemon list
-You can also background netfs, if you don't want to, put netfs before fam

Why do you have eth0 and eth1? Do you have 2 wired networks connected to your computer. If you have a wirless device you probably want to have eth0 and wlan0

With regard to WOW, you must use the proprietary drivers because only they have 3d rendering working. Radeonhd is the opensource alternative, but has little 3d rendering functionality. You may want to checkout the forum for this problem as I have given up the catalyst driver for the moment.

zeddD1abl0 · 2008-07-28 03:14:03

@finferflu: I do have my hostname in my hosts file. Thanks for (implicitly) reminding my to check the casing though. It was as it should be.

@sam: In the wiki it says I need dhcdbd to be there for networkmanager to work. I'm a little confused so I'll wait for your reply. I did fix up the other bits though, thanks. My motherboard has 2 ethernet ports on it. Only one is used but there are two of. WoW is just a small issue (I can't play it at 4fps) which I think catalyst 8.7 fixed. I just can't get catalyst 8.7 to load. No biggie. Apart from WoW/3D, mesa runs everything I need/want.

sam · 2008-07-28 03:47:51

Dhcdbd may have been required in explicitly in earlier versions, but its not needed in the latest versions. I don't have dhcdbd specified in my rc.conf, yet network manager works (and it feels like it works faster).

Are you getting 4fps with the catalyst driver or radeon driver or radeonhd driver, or (unlikely) vesa driver? You may want to dry cedega for emulation, I hear it works a little better or wine with winedoors.

zeddD1abl0 · 2008-07-28 06:30:55

sam wrote:

Dhcdbd may have been required in explicitly in earlier versions, but its not needed in the latest versions. I don't have dhcdbd specified in my rc.conf, yet network manager works (and it feels like it works faster).
Are you getting 4fps with the catalyst driver or radeon driver or radeonhd driver, or (unlikely) vesa driver? You may want to dry cedega for emulation, I hear it works a little better or wine with winedoors.

It's 4fps with catalyst. But that's only when catalyst is working. My biggest problem ATM is that the new catalyst drivers DON'T work. They're complaining about an unknown symbol flush_tlb_page, which last time required a kernel patch (http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php? … 66#p358166) that I don't know how to apply. But I'm not really all that worried about that, cause the vesa drivers are working well ATM, plays video and all. Just no 3D. As a side note, catalyst 8.4 used to run at about 50fps no matter where, so I think it might be a configuration thing more then a driver issue. I had cedega a while ago and I found it messy. Personal thing really.

I'll go ahead an remove the dhcdbd daemon. I suppose I should also look at updating the Wiki pages that need it considering I'm running across this stuff.

Jack B · 2008-07-28 10:55:04

I believe there will be a new kernel package out soon, with the ATI patch.

see http://www.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch … 07304.html

zeddD1abl0 · 2008-07-28 11:53:59

Jack B wrote:

I believe there will be a new kernel package out soon, with the ATI patch.
see http://www.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch … 07304.html

AHA. Thanks for that. Almost exactly what I was looking for.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-07-27 11:39:16

Request for help

#2 2008-07-27 12:32:55

Re: Request for help

#3 2008-07-27 17:01:25

Re: Request for help

#4 2008-07-28 03:14:03

Re: Request for help

#5 2008-07-28 03:47:51

Re: Request for help

#6 2008-07-28 06:30:55

Re: Request for help

#7 2008-07-28 10:55:04

Re: Request for help

#8 2008-07-28 11:53:59

Re: Request for help

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