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#1 2012-02-01 04:58:33

apefish
Member
From: Vancouver
Registered: 2010-07-13
Posts: 47

/dev/fb0 missing, not switching to framebuffer

I'm running on an Asus eee 1101HA with gma500 (poulsbo) graphics. Until now, I was using the X fbdev driver, and everything was working fine. The last upgrade did something, and now X complains that it can't find /dev/fb0, and then crashes. I got it to use the vesa driver, but it's not native resolution, and it's super slow.

I can't find any references to issues like this, so I'm asking what's up. Here's what X says when it blows up:

[   418.649] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev"
[   418.649] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so
[   418.650] (II) Module fbdev: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[   418.650]    compiled for 1.10.99.902, module version = 0.4.2
[   418.650]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0
[   418.650] (II) FBDEV: driver for framebuffer: fbdev
[   418.650] (--) using VT number 1

[   418.653] (II) Loading sub module "fbdevhw"
[   418.653] (II) LoadModule: "fbdevhw"
[   418.654] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so
[   418.654] (II) Module fbdevhw: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[   418.654]    compiled for 1.11.4, module version = 0.0.2
[   418.654]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0
[   418.654] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so
[   418.654] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so
[   418.655] (EE) open /dev/fb0: No such file or directory
[   418.655] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for fbdev
[   418.655] (II) UnloadModule: "fbdev"
[   418.655] (II) Unloading fbdev
[   418.655] (II) UnloadModule: "fbdevhw"
[   418.655] (II) Unloading fbdevhw
[   418.655] (EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.
[   418.655]
Fatal server error:
[   418.655] no screens found
[   418.655]
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
     at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.
[   418.655] Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
[   418.655]
[   418.658] Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.

I checked to make sure the kernel modules are loaded psb_gfx is loaded, so shouldn't /dev/fb0 be there? What happened to my framebuffer?

Or maybe fb0 doesn't need to be there, and I just need some config help?

If anyone can help me figure this out, that would be great.

Last edited by apefish (2012-02-04 05:31:07)

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#2 2012-02-01 06:00:17

Jristz
Member
From: America/Santiago
Registered: 2011-06-11
Posts: 1,022

Re: /dev/fb0 missing, not switching to framebuffer

sudo touch /dev/fb0
you try create?

inmy older box (P4) this fix the same problem


Well, I suppose that this is somekind of signature, no?

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#3 2012-02-01 06:33:30

apefish
Member
From: Vancouver
Registered: 2010-07-13
Posts: 47

Re: /dev/fb0 missing, not switching to framebuffer

Jristz wrote:

sudo touch /dev/fb0
you try create?

inmy older box (P4) this fix the same problem

Nope. Complains about inappropriate ioctl for device.

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#4 2012-02-01 19:16:05

apefish
Member
From: Vancouver
Registered: 2010-07-13
Posts: 47

Re: /dev/fb0 missing, not switching to framebuffer

A little update.

I just realized that it's not switching to native resolution at boot like it used to. It used to switch when udev started, now it doesn't. Maybe this is a udev problem? Maybe a KMS thing? Does anyone know more about this stuff?

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#5 2012-02-04 05:38:46

apefish
Member
From: Vancouver
Registered: 2010-07-13
Posts: 47

Re: /dev/fb0 missing, not switching to framebuffer

I've been doing some detective stuff and getting the problem clear. Linux used to switch to framebuffer mode at boot when udev loaded the video driver (psb_gfx), it still loads the driver, but is not using it anymore.

I dug around in /dev/, /sys/, and /proc/, there is no framebuffer to be heard of, so it seems like the driver is not working?

I thought maybe some new thing in 3.2 might have broken it, so I downgraded to linux-lts (3.0). Didn't help. So the problem seems to somehow be independent of the kernel. The only userspace things that I know of that could affect this are udev and maybe kmod?

I'm thinking an update in udev or the new kmod thing broke it, but I don't know anything about them to test.

Can someone help me figure out what to do about this?

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#6 2012-02-22 10:33:45

otherbob
Member
Registered: 2012-02-22
Posts: 12

Re: /dev/fb0 missing, not switching to framebuffer

I have the exact same issue, I first downloaded the core image and installed it, got full screen resolution and Xorg with fbdev and psb-gfx running out of the box.
Then after updating /dev/fb0 dissappeared and so X only worked with the vesa driver.

I figured it might be the updating, so I redid everything with a netinstall, but the result is the same(didn't do this at first because I only have a flaky wireless connection).

Apologies for not actually contributing : P

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#7 2012-02-22 19:15:44

otherbob
Member
Registered: 2012-02-22
Posts: 12

Re: /dev/fb0 missing, not switching to framebuffer

Ok I´ve fixed it by compiling linux 3.2rc4 from source(making sure the gma500 drivers are enabled).
Also, I had to update grub legacy to grub 2.

I've used roughly this guide for the compilation:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ke … raditional

I got the kernel from torvald's github because kernel.org didn't get above 2kbps.

I hope this helps someone.


Greetings!

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#8 2012-02-28 14:25:56

stinkupuss
Member
Registered: 2012-02-28
Posts: 1

Re: /dev/fb0 missing, not switching to framebuffer

@ otherbob

"making sure the gma500 drivers are enabled" - can you help me understand how this is done? At this point, I have only downloaded the kernel source.

Also, should I use ABS or the traditional build method? I have never tried to do a kernel build before.

thanks,
stink

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