I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

BeholdMyGlory · 2009-01-05 21:48:01

Okay. I'm quite sure that this has something to do with the new X, or Catalyst, and I hate them both.
In the middle of reinstalling Arch, there's the point where you want to confirm that X and the graphics drivers are installed correctly, and that xorg.conf is configured correctly. So, I run:
$ sudo X
and there's the little cute X on the screen, and it even responds to my mousepad(omg!). It didn't before.
So, I do Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, to get out of X. And then I try to launch X again. I do nothing at all, I don't edit any config files, nothing, and run:
$ sudo X
And. There's green squares all over the effing screen!

The thing is. That this is exactly what I reinstalled Arch for! Before, when I would log out, and then log in again, everything went crazy. No desktop effects or 3D games, they would say something about not being able to find the screen, or something like that. And when I tried to launch zsnes, everything crashed, and:

And after a while, it got so bad that just a few seconds after logging in to KDE for the FIRST time, the screen would go black with green squares, and the only salvation was The Magic SysRq Key.

And now that the effing squares are still there, I'm so frustrated that I want to throw my computer out the window.

I'm wondering, if it really is a problem with X or Catalyst/fglrx (or them combined), what can I do about it?
I guess I could build the old version of X from ABS. But I don't want to have to handle a million dependency problems because of packages needing the latest version (Has anyone tried building an older version of X? How did it go?)
I could also switch to the open source ATI drivers, but then it's byebye all of my games.

So, what comes to mind, is switching distribution. But I don't actually want to do this since I've grown quite fond of Arch.

So what I'm hoping, is that there's something in ny xorg.conf that explains this.

# Auto-generated by Archie mkxcfg
# Auto-generated by Archie mkxcfg

Section "ServerLayout"

# PS/2 Mouse not detected
# Serial Mouse not detected
    Identifier     "Xorg Configured"
    Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "USB Mouse" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"

# Additional fonts: Locale, Gimp, TTF...
#    FontPath     "/usr/share/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/75dpi"
#    FontPath     "/usr/share/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/100dpi"
# True type and type1 fonts are also handled via xftlib, see /etc/X11/XftConfig!
    ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/PEX"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ttf/western"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ttf/decoratives"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/openoffice"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-bitstream-vera"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/latex-ttf-fonts"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/defoma/CID"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/defoma/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load  "ddc"  # ddc probing of monitor
    Load  "dbe"
    Load  "dri"
    Load  "extmod"
    Load  "glx"
    Load  "bitmap" # bitmap-fonts
    Load  "type1"
    Load  "freetype"
    Load  "record"
    #   Load  "synaptics"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option        "AllowMouseOpenFail" "true"
    Option        "AutoAddDevices" "False"
    Option      "AIGLX" "True"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Keyboard0"
    Driver      "keyboard"
    Option        "CoreKeyboard"
    Option        "XkbRules" "xorg"
    Option        "XkbModel" "pc105"
    Option        "XkbLayout" "sv-latin1"
    Option        "XkbVariant" ""
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Serial Mouse"
    Driver      "mouse"
    Option        "Protocol" "Microsoft"
    Option        "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
    Option        "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
    Option        "Emulate3Timeout" "70"
    Option        "SendCoreEvents" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "PS/2 Mouse"
    Driver      "mouse"
    Option        "Protocol" "auto"
    Option        "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
    Option        "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option        "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
    Option        "Emulate3Timeout" "70"
    Option        "SendCoreEvents" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "USB Mouse"
    Driver      "mouse"
    Option        "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option        "SendCoreEvents" "true"
    Option        "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
    Option        "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
    Option        "Buttons" "5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 # Warning: This may fry old Monitors
 # Very conservative. May flicker.
#    VertRefresh  50.0 - 62.0 # Extreme conservative. Will flicker. TFT default.
    #  Default modes distilled from
    #      "VESA and Industry Standards and Guide for Computer Display Monitor
    #       Timing", version 1.0, revision 0.8, adopted September 17, 1998.
    #  $XFree86: xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/etc/vesamodes,v 1.4 1999/11/18 16:52:17 tsi Exp $
    # 640x350 @ 85Hz (VESA) hsync: 37.9kHz
    Identifier   "Monitor0"
    HorizSync    28.0 - 96.0
    VertRefresh  50.0 - 75.0
    ModeLine     "640x350" 31.5 640 672 736 832 350 382 385 445 +hsync -vsync
    ModeLine     "640x400" 31.5 640 672 736 832 400 401 404 445 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "720x400" 35.5 720 756 828 936 400 401 404 446 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "640x480" 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -hsync -vsync
    ModeLine     "640x480" 31.5 640 664 704 832 480 489 491 520 -hsync -vsync
    ModeLine     "640x480" 31.5 640 656 720 840 480 481 484 500 -hsync -vsync
    ModeLine     "640x480" 36.0 640 696 752 832 480 481 484 509 -hsync -vsync
    ModeLine     "800x600" 36.0 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "800x600" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "800x600" 50.0 800 856 976 1040 600 637 643 666 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "800x600" 49.5 800 816 896 1056 600 601 604 625 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "800x600" 56.3 800 832 896 1048 600 601 604 631 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1024x768" 44.9 1024 1032 1208 1264 768 768 776 817 +hsync +vsync interlace
    ModeLine     "1024x768" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync
    ModeLine     "1024x768" 75.0 1024 1048 1184 1328 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync
    ModeLine     "1024x768" 78.8 1024 1040 1136 1312 768 769 772 800 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1024x768" 94.5 1024 1072 1168 1376 768 769 772 808 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1152x864" 108.0 1152 1216 1344 1600 864 865 868 900 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1280x960" 108.0 1280 1376 1488 1800 960 961 964 1000 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1280x960" 148.5 1280 1344 1504 1728 960 961 964 1011 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1280x1024" 108.0 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1280x1024" 135.0 1280 1296 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1280x1024" 157.5 1280 1344 1504 1728 1024 1025 1028 1072 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1600x1200" 162.0 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1600x1200" 175.5 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1600x1200" 189.0 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1600x1200" 202.5 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1600x1200" 229.5 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1792x1344" 204.8 1792 1920 2120 2448 1344 1345 1348 1394 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1792x1344" 261.0 1792 1888 2104 2456 1344 1345 1348 1417 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1856x1392" 218.3 1856 1952 2176 2528 1392 1393 1396 1439 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1856x1392" 288.0 1856 1984 2208 2560 1392 1393 1396 1500 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1920x1440" 234.0 1920 2048 2256 2600 1440 1441 1444 1500 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1920x1440" 297.0 1920 2064 2288 2640 1440 1441 1444 1500 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1800x1440" 230.0 1800 1896 2088 2392 1440 1441 1444 1490 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1800x1440" 250.0 1800 1896 2088 2392 1440 1441 1444 1490 +hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "640x480" 43.2 640 680 744 848 480 481 484 509 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "768x576" 35.0 768 792 872 976 576 577 580 597 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "768x576" 42.9 768 800 880 992 576 577 580 601 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "768x576" 45.5 768 808 888 1008 576 577 580 602 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "768x576" 51.8 768 808 888 1008 576 577 580 605 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "768x576" 62.6 768 816 896 1024 576 577 580 611 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "800x600" 68.2 800 848 936 1072 600 601 604 636 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1024x768" 113.3 1024 1096 1208 1392 768 769 772 814 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1152x864" 81.6 1152 1216 1336 1520 864 865 868 895 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1152x864" 119.7 1152 1224 1352 1552 864 865 868 907 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1152x864" 143.5 1152 1232 1360 1568 864 865 868 915 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1280x960" 124.5 1280 1368 1504 1728 960 961 964 1001 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1280x960" 129.9 1280 1368 1504 1728 960 961 964 1002 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1280x960" 179.0 1280 1376 1520 1760 960 961 964 1017 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1280x1024" 191.0 1280 1376 1520 1760 1024 1025 1028 1085 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1400x1050" 122.6 1400 1488 1640 1880 1050 1051 1054 1087 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1400x1050" 149.3 1400 1496 1648 1896 1050 1051 1054 1094 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1400x1050" 155.8 1400 1496 1648 1896 1050 1051 1054 1096 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1400x1050" 179.3 1400 1504 1656 1912 1050 1051 1054 1103 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1400x1050" 214.4 1400 1512 1664 1928 1050 1051 1054 1112 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine     "1600x1200" 280.6 1600 1728 1904 2208 1200 1201 1204 1271 -hsync +vsync
    Option        "DPMS" "true"
#    HorizSync    28.0 - 78.0 # Warning: This may fry very old Monitors
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
    Option        "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
    Option        "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
    Option        "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Card0"
    Driver      "vesa"
    VendorName  "All"
    BoardName   "All"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
    Driver      "fglrx"
    BusID       "PCI:1:5:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device     "Card0"
    Monitor    "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth     16
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     1
        Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     4
        Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     8
        Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     15
        Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     16
        Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     24
        Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     32
        Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
    Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
    Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
    DefaultDepth     24
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
    Option      "Composite" "True"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
    Mode         0666
EndSection

Yes, I know it's cluttered, but half of the file isn't even loaded.

So. Anyone who finds this obvious mistake that I've obviously made, so I can laugh a little and say "hey, that was really obvious, why didn't I think of that?", and get on with my installation?

cdwillis · 2009-01-05 22:42:19

Try renaming xorg.conf and starting X without xorg.conf and see if you still get those green blocks. The newest version has hotplugging so I don't think you even need the input devices in the xorg.conf anymore.

Shaika-Dzari · 2009-01-05 23:34:47

Which ATI card do you have?
Why do you start X with sudo ?
Is Hal running? (Add it in your rc.conf).

@+

BeholdMyGlory · 2009-01-05 23:39:41

cdwillis wrote:

Try renaming xorg.conf and starting X without xorg.conf and see if you still get those green blocks. The newest version has hotplugging so I don't think you even need the input devices in the xorg.conf anymore.

I don't get the green squares, but X seems to default to the open source xf86-video-ati even though I have Catalyst installed. And xf86-video-ati doesn't seem to work at all for me(at least before) with desktop effects, and i veeeeeeeeery slow when it comes to 3D acceleration. But I could live without it as long as I can actually use my computer, waiting for the day when ATIs drivers stop sucking, or I get a new laptop.

Also, my mousepad doesn't work without xorg.conf. But there should be some sort of fix for that for X (or maybe it's HAL you need to configure, I'm not very good at those things).

Although, I like the idea of X without xorg.conf... Wouldn't that fit the KISS philosophy better?

BeholdMyGlory · 2009-01-05 23:45:47

Shaika-Dzari wrote:

Which ATI card do you have?

$ lspci
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS690M [Radeon X1200 Series]

Shaika-Dzari wrote:

Why do you start X with sudo ?

Oh. Right. Just did it automatically, since I first tried to configure X as root, and as normal user I just added sudo in front of all the commands I ran as root, without thinking about it.
Not that it actually changes anything.

Shaika-Dzari wrote:

Is Hal running? (Add it in your rc.conf).

Yup, it's already in there.

Last edited by BeholdMyGlory (2009-01-05 23:48:41)

cdwillis · 2009-01-06 01:10:26

Your xorg.conf has it listed that you're using the generic vesa driver, , try replacing it with catalyst driver:

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Card0"
    Driver      "vesa"
    VendorName  "All"
    BoardName   "All"
EndSection

Wintervenom · 2009-01-06 03:04:43

I have part of the same problem as the original poster. The X server will start up most of the time, and everything is all good, but whenever I restart the X server (or log out, which automatically restarts it when GDM is used), a kernel panic will occur, and the system will freeze up. Sometimes, when this occurs, I will get the same little green boxes on the screen. I am using Arch 64, and I have an AMD/ATi Radeon HD 3100 IGP, and am using the latest version of Catalyst. Here is my xorg.conf:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "X.org Configured"
    Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
    Option        "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
    Option        "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
    Option        "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
    Driver      "fglrx"
    BusID       "PCI:1:5:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
    Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
    Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
    DefaultDepth     24
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
    Mode 0666
EndSection

Last edited by Wintervenom (2009-01-06 03:07:36)

MoonSwan · 2009-01-06 06:18:30

For the touchpad, there was a thread very recently about enabling it properly with HAL active. Search for it perhaps, it was posted within the last 2 or 3 weeks, so it shouldn't be tough to find it if you limit the search to the last 4 weeks or so.

As for the X issues, I wish I could help you more than saying try disabling hotplugging and see what happens. Honestly, I can't get my X to work on my comp either. I tried a few weeks ago, got frustrated & said screw it until January when the new kernel is supposed to be out & I will have more inclination to try to get it to work.

signor_rossi · 2009-01-06 09:53:24

I ran into a similiar issue (those nasty blocks on the screen only) when I tried to upgrade to Xorg-1.5 while it was still in testing. Well, I thought, I will downgrade to the previous version and it will work again, but after I did that I still had those blocks. I tried to solve this and since I couldn't I got very frustrated and thought that it may be the time to try another distrubution. Tried Ubuntu, Fedora and Opensuse, but in the end I came back to Arch again, mostly because it is much snappier than any other distro on my laptop.
For X setup I did the following steps and I had no more blocks on the screen, maybe it will work for you too.
Backup your old xorg.conf
use 'hwd -xa' to create a new xorg.conf
install catalyst and load the module
use 'aticonfig --initial' to adapt the new xorg.conf to fglrx
use the ATI Control Center amdcccle and aticonfig to change our xorg settings from now on only (activate Xv, TV out, etc.). You may have to restart X after some configuration changes and fiddle a little with amdcccle before it will work, eventually.

SignorRossi.

gondil · 2009-01-06 10:47:09

Are you sure this isn't a case of failing hardware? I've seen a few broken graphic cards, only they still displayed things (with of course the additional blocks) so my guess could be wrong.
Maybe weird to say but... checking if 3DMark runs ok on Windows is how I would verify this. (To be sure you have the possible modifications to the graphics card driver from your notebooks manufacturer).

Super Jamie · 2009-01-06 14:23:10

Yeah, gondil's right, hardware is the first thing that came to my mind as well. I reckon your video card's borked dude.

Wintervenom · 2009-01-06 16:37:45

I am thinking it's Catalyst's fault. Both our cards can't be borked.
Maybe it will be fixed in Catalyst 8.13, which should be coming out in a couple of days.

Last edited by Wintervenom (2009-01-06 16:38:21)

BeholdMyGlory · 2009-01-06 20:54:57

signor_rossi wrote:

I ran into a similiar issue (those nasty blocks on the screen only) when I tried to upgrade to Xorg-1.5 while it was still in testing. Well, I thought, I will downgrade to the previous version and it will work again, but after I did that I still had those blocks. I tried to solve this and since I couldn't I got very frustrated and thought that it may be the time to try another distrubution. Tried Ubuntu, Fedora and Opensuse, but in the end I came back to Arch again, mostly because it is much snappier than any other distro on my laptop.
For X setup I did the following steps and I had no more blocks on the screen, maybe it will work for you too.
Backup your old xorg.conf
use 'hwd -xa' to create a new xorg.conf
install catalyst and load the module
use 'aticonfig --initial' to adapt the new xorg.conf to fglrx
use the ATI Control Center amdcccle and aticonfig to change our xorg settings from now on only (activate Xv, TV out, etc.). You may have to restart X after some configuration changes and fiddle a little with amdcccle before it will work, eventually.
SignorRossi.

I tried that now, but I still got the same blocks. I'm almost certain that it's all Catalysts fault, since xf86-video-ati works perfectly. guess I'll have to wait until the next version. Maybe ATI will have fixed their graphical bugs with Wine then too.

gondil · 2009-01-06 21:15:59

Wintervenom wrote:

I am thinking it's Catalyst's fault. Both our cards can't be borked.
Maybe it will be fixed in Catalyst 8.13, which should be coming out in a couple of days.

LOL @ 8.13

I hope it's just a software fault too.. but what if the driver permanently broke the cards? I have a strange feeling about this.. recently my laptop (with a radeon X700M on the latest catalyst) flickers up vertical cyan, magenta and yellow 1-pixel lines, and they permanently stay. (7 and counting, at random positions)

What if this is all caused by a wrong, hardcoded dot-clock or anything?

EDIT: The green blocks are obviously not caused by a wrong dot-clock, it was just an example of driver programming that can damage the hardware

EDIT 2: Until last year, it always surprised me that people could tell the exact year (and sometimes even the month!) of release by looking a random Ubuntu cd-rom.

Last edited by gondil (2009-01-06 21:30:57)

BeholdMyGlory · 2009-01-06 21:30:46

gondil wrote:

Wintervenom wrote:
I am thinking it's Catalyst's fault. Both our cards can't be borked.
Maybe it will be fixed in Catalyst 8.13, which should be coming out in a couple of days.
LOL @ 8.13
I hope it's just a software fault too.. but what if the driver permanently broke the cards? I have a strange feeling about this.. recently my laptop (with a radeon X700M on the latest catalyst) flickers up vertical cyan, magenta and yellow 1-pixel lines, and they permanently stay. (7 and counting, at random positions)
What if this is all caused by a wrong, hardcoded dot-clock or anything?
EDIT: The green blocks are obviously not caused by a wrong dot-clock, it was just an example of driver programming that can damage the hardware

I don't think so, as my cards works perfectly with the open source drivers.

gondil · 2009-01-06 21:43:33

BeholdMyGlory wrote:

gondil wrote:
Wintervenom wrote:
I am thinking it's Catalyst's fault. Both our cards can't be borked.
Maybe it will be fixed in Catalyst 8.13, which should be coming out in a couple of days.
LOL @ 8.13
I hope it's just a software fault too.. but what if the driver permanently broke the cards? I have a strange feeling about this.. recently my laptop (with a radeon X700M on the latest catalyst) flickers up vertical cyan, magenta and yellow 1-pixel lines, and they permanently stay. (7 and counting, at random positions)
What if this is all caused by a wrong, hardcoded dot-clock or anything?
EDIT: The green blocks are obviously not caused by a wrong dot-clock, it was just an example of driver programming that can damage the hardware
I don't think so, as my cards works perfectly with the open source drivers.

Ok, I thought of this because you said things were running quite slow using xf86-video-ati, it can be that some 3D-accelerating-function is not enabled, in a way that your card doesn't use the 'defect area' of the chip...

Did you try installing an older catalyst version yet?

BeholdMyGlory · 2009-01-07 14:45:50

gondil wrote:

BeholdMyGlory wrote:
gondil wrote:
LOL @ 8.13
I hope it's just a software fault too.. but what if the driver permanently broke the cards? I have a strange feeling about this.. recently my laptop (with a radeon X700M on the latest catalyst) flickers up vertical cyan, magenta and yellow 1-pixel lines, and they permanently stay. (7 and counting, at random positions)
What if this is all caused by a wrong, hardcoded dot-clock or anything?
EDIT: The green blocks are obviously not caused by a wrong dot-clock, it was just an example of driver programming that can damage the hardware
I don't think so, as my cards works perfectly with the open source drivers.
Ok, I thought of this because you said things were running quite slow using xf86-video-ati, it can be that some 3D-accelerating-function is not enabled, in a way that your card doesn't use the 'defect area' of the chip...
Did you try installing an older catalyst version yet?

Well, before I reinstalled, the open source driver had been pretty slow, but now I can actually play 3D games, even though there's a few graphical glitches. Don't know why it works now, but I'm happy as it is :P

No, I didn't. I don't want to revert to an older version, as Catalyst in general is quite buggy. I'll probably just find another bug in an older version that the open source driver handles better. I'll just wait for the next release and try then (will the next one be called 9.01 or 8.13?)

Last edited by BeholdMyGlory (2009-01-07 14:46:25)

userlander · 2009-01-07 15:52:59

Open source driver is faster for me (radeon 9600). I get ~2200 fps glxgears with the xf86 driver and only 1600-1700 with catalyst. Some video in catalyst is also really bad/pixelated, and mythtv looks like total crap, with the pixelation and also wrong aspect ratios.

I think catalyst drivers are pretty bad in comparison to open source, but everyone seems to be in love with the fglrx drivers for some reason, like ati is going to do better than the open source community. For me that hasn't been true, at least for the past year or so at least. A lot might depend on the actual hardware, too.

I would say stick with the open source drivers, and if you are having performance issues experiment with tweaking the options in xorg.conf (man radeon explains them). If things seem wrong, like there is no DRI or something, check the Xorg.0.log and grep WW and EE to see the warnings and errors.

Last edited by userlander (2009-01-07 15:57:00)

Wintervenom · 2009-01-07 17:43:43

I guess it depends on what card you have. On the X1300, you get about fourteen hundred frames a second, but with the open-source driver, you only get about five hundred. I haven't tried it with the HD 3100 yet.

userlander · 2009-01-07 18:30:51

Wintervenom wrote:

I guess it depends on what card you have. On the X1300, you get about fourteen hundred frames a second, but with the open-source driver, you only get about five hundred. I haven't tried it with the HD 3100 yet.

sounds like that much of a discrepancy would be a configuration problem, but maybe it is just the card.

Cerebral · 2009-01-07 18:37:56

glxgears isn't a benchmark.

userlander · 2009-01-07 18:56:28

Cerebral wrote:

glxgears isn't a benchmark.

So that means it provides no useful information whatsoever, on the same hardware? :?:

Kirurgs · 2009-01-07 21:06:15

Hi everyone, I had quite similar scenario with 2.6.28 and catalyst in Arch repos, I had some green crap on the screen too...

I'm quite surprised that noone really specified the kernel version, ATI Catalyst installation method and noone tried to look in the logs
First of all I suggest to look here for errors /var/log/Xorg.0.log. That's the place Nr. 1 where to look when X fails to start / behaves weirdly / shows green boxes (but never look there when red stripes are all over the screen )

I had the problem that DRM can't be opened with prebuilt packages and 2.6.28. So what I did - installed catalyst myself - downloaded from AMD and installed. As I build kernel myself, I added a little customization which links headers in the old places instead of new ones in 2.6.28, therefore I could build my catalyst easily... And the result was - it was working like a charm...
Btw, that was on Asus 4850 radeon, I have some 3300 IGP too, but I don't use it...

Hope this helps...

b9anders · 2009-01-07 22:36:53

userlander wrote:

Cerebral wrote:
glxgears isn't a benchmark.
So that means it provides no useful information whatsoever, on the same hardware? :?:

When I tested out new intel drivers, my glxgears performance was twice as good on exa acceleration compared to xaa, but compiz was much much better on xaa.

It might give an indication of how things are, but it's not a reliable one taken in isolation.

Last edited by b9anders (2009-01-07 22:37:40)

leeyee · 2009-01-09 07:19:07

Wintervenom wrote:

I have part of the same problem as the original poster. The X server will start up most of the time, and everything is all good, but whenever I restart the X server (or log out, which automatically restarts it when GDM is used), a kernel panic will occur, and the system will freeze up. Sometimes, when this occurs, I will get the same little green boxes on the screen. I am using Arch 64, and I have an AMD/ATi Radeon HD 3100 IGP, and am using the latest version of Catalyst.

I have quitely the same problem with you. X server starts up every time without problems, but I cannot restart X org logout, which turns out to be a black screen, and cannot receive any inputs.(I can only press power off button to stop this, Ugh!)

I have my system up-to-date, and using ATI Radeon 3470 card. The card works with xf86-video-ati without this problem, but cannot turn on 3D acceleration.(tested in cedega)

glxgears output with fglrx is about 1200FPS while xf86-video-ati only 400 or so. Here is my xorg.conf

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "X.org Configured"
    Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Trackpoint" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Touchpad"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load  "xtrap"
    Load  "dbe"
    Load  "dri"
    Load  "glx"
    Load  "extmod"
    Load  "freetype"
    Load  "synaptics"
    Load  "drm"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Touchpad"
    Driver      "synaptics"
    Option        "AlwaysCore"
    Option        "Device" "/dev/input/mouse1"
    Option        "Protocol" "auto-dev"
    Option        "SendCoreEvents" "true"
    Option        "LeftEdge" "1632"
    Option        "RightEdge" "5312"
    Option        "TopEdge" "1575"
    Option        "BottomEdge" "4281"
    Option        "FingerLow" "25"
    Option        "FingerHigh" "30"
    Option        "MaxTapTime" "180"
    Option        "MaxTapMove" "220"
    Option        "VertScrollDelta" "100"
    Option        "MinSpeed" "0.06"
    Option        "MaxSpeed" "0.12"
    Option        "AccelFactor" "0.0010"
    Option        "VertEdgeScroll" "on"
    Option        "HorizEdgeScroll" "on"
 #Option         HorizScrollDelta"    "0"                               
    Option        "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Trackpoint"
    Driver      "mouse"
    Option        "CorePointer"
    Option        "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option        "Protocol" "Auto"
    Option        "Emulate3Buttons"
    Option        "Emulate3Timeout" "50"
    Option        "EmulateWheel" "on"
    Option        "EmulateWheelTimeout" "200"
 # adjust third button paste timeout. 
    Option        "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
    Option        "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
    Option        "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Keyboard0"
    Driver      "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Mouse0"
    Driver      "mouse"
    Option        "Protocol" "auto"
    Option        "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option        "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"

    #DisplaySize      300   190    # mm
    Identifier   "Monitor0"
    VendorName   "LEN"
    ModelName    "4031"
    Option        "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
    Option        "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
    Option        "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
    Option        "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Card0"
    Driver      "radeon"
    VendorName  "ATI Technologies Inc"
    BoardName   "Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series"
    Option        "EnablePageFlip" "true"
    Option        "BackingStore" "true"
    Option        "XaaNoOffscreenPixmaps" "true"
    Option        "DRI" "true"
    Option        "AGPMode" "4"
    BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
    Driver      "fglrx"
    BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device     "Card0"
    Monitor    "Monitor0"
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     1
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     4
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     8
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     15
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     16
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
    Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
    Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
    DefaultDepth     24
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
    Mode         0666
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
    Option        "Composite" "enable"
EndSection

Arch Linux

#1 2009-01-05 21:48:01

I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#2 2009-01-05 22:42:19

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#3 2009-01-05 23:34:47

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#4 2009-01-05 23:39:41

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#5 2009-01-05 23:45:47

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#6 2009-01-06 01:10:26

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#7 2009-01-06 03:04:43

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#8 2009-01-06 06:18:30

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#9 2009-01-06 09:53:24

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#10 2009-01-06 10:47:09

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#11 2009-01-06 14:23:10

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#12 2009-01-06 16:37:45

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#13 2009-01-06 20:54:57

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#14 2009-01-06 21:15:59

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#15 2009-01-06 21:30:46

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#16 2009-01-06 21:43:33

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#17 2009-01-07 14:45:50

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#18 2009-01-07 15:52:59

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#19 2009-01-07 17:43:43

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#20 2009-01-07 18:30:51

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#21 2009-01-07 18:37:56

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#22 2009-01-07 18:56:28

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#23 2009-01-07 21:06:15

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#24 2009-01-07 22:36:53

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

#25 2009-01-09 07:19:07

Re: I am VERY annoyed. (X/catalyst problem)

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