Arch Linux

Teshadael

Member

Registered: 2008-04-06

Posts: 29

Getting OS ATI drivers working

Hello all,
Just recently built a new computer and I'm attempting to get X setup and having some problems.
I've followed the install guide and have gotten to installing Xorg.

My motherboard is an AMD 780v and has an HD 3100:

lspci |grep VGA
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon 3100 Graphics

I've installed the xf86-video-ati package.  I then configured X using:

Xorg -configure

This works, but it's only using the vesa driver.

I've also tried using hwd, but all it ever creates is a .vesa config as well.
How do I actually configure X to use the ati drivers?

Statix

Member

From: Hangzhou, China

Registered: 2008-02-16

Posts: 240

Re: Getting OS ATI drivers working

You'll want to edit your xorg.conf

nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Change:
Driver "vesa"
(under Section "Device")
to
Driver "ati"

If not ati, try radeon. I don't really remember which.

---

Madly in love with Arch64, Openbox, DotA, and of course... penguins!
Happy to help if you're not a Help Vampire. Use your wonderful resources like ArchWiki, Google, and our wonderful search page.

Teshadael

Member

Registered: 2008-04-06

Posts: 29

Re: Getting OS ATI drivers working

I noticed that when I ran Xorg -configure that is shows both ati and radeon as listed drivers.
I tried both ati and radeon in the xorg config and both return the same results:

X -config /root/xorg.conf.new
...
(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

I changed nothing dealing with any screen section, just changed "vesa" to "ati" and "radeon" under the "Device" section, so this message is confusing.

I've also attempted removing the vesa driver to see what would happen.
hwd still creates a .vesa config, but Xorg -configure:

List of video drivers:
   r128
   ati
   mach64
   radeon
No devices to configure.  Configuration failed.

So between hardware and driver, it seems like one is not detecting the other?

Inkaine

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2008-07-14

Posts: 88

Re: Getting OS ATI drivers working

My guess is - and it's only a guess - that neither support your chipset yet. Actually I'm really surprised because you're the first I read about someone actually having a 780V based mb. So I'd say your PCI ID for a HD3100 is not yet recognized by both open source drivers (would explain the "No devices to configure" line). To make sure I'd recommend you asking on the Phoronix AMD/ATI Open Source Forum. Did you try fglrx yet and is that working?

Edit: Oh, just seen you already posted at Phoronix. Fglrx should be working, at least the latest release notes indicate so.

Also I might add I have a 780G here, which oddly got the same PCI ID 01:05.0 as you, just claiming it to be HD3200. No clue what makes a difference for the driver though.

Last edited by Inkaine (2008-11-28 23:02:10)

Teshadael

Member

Registered: 2008-04-06

Posts: 29

Re: Getting OS ATI drivers working

Yeah, Inkaine, no response at Phoronix yet, but I do fear that perhaps it isn't supported yet.
Just out of curiosity, what are you using for your 3200?
I'll may give fglrx a try (though I'd rather stay OS).
For now, I've just been making do with the standard vesa.

Inkaine

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2008-07-14

Posts: 88

Re: Getting OS ATI drivers working

I'm on catalyst as I mainly got the chipset for my casual gaming. So no choice but the proprietary driver at the moment. I've been a fairly happy user for almost half a year now and will keep it until OS is at least on par in OpenGL performance. 2D performance increased greatly in the latest two releases. The OS developments look promising. If just there weren't two seperate efforts for a single product ...