Failure to boot unless using onboard graphics [SOLVED]

Jub · 2013-01-11 13:19:06

Now, this is a problem I'm sure most have never seen before. Googling around turned up nothing similar and I'm beginning to worry that I'm alone here. I'm on my work computer (Dell Dimension 4700) and dual boot XP and Arch. Whenever I want to switch over to Arch, I must go into the BIOS every time and set the primary graphics controller from 'Auto' to 'Onboard'. Forgetting this step results in a continuous rebooting cycle since Arch is first on the grub list. It loads the kernel and then the ramfs, then colorful lines shoot vertically down the screen just before it goes back to the "Press F2 for BIOS, press F10 for etc..." screen. Also, before I select an OS, I notice that the text at the bottom of the screen is horribly torn and unreadable when set to 'Auto', while it's crystal clear on 'Onboard'. Whenever I want to switch over to Winshit I have to change it back to 'Auto' in order to get my second monitor to work, but Windows will boot regardless. XrandR doesn't even detect an additional VGA slot despite having the proper drivers for the card. I'm sure you can imagine how frustrating this can be and any help would be much appreciated.

Relevant output from lspci -v:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82915G/GV/910GL Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 04) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: Dell Device 0181
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
	Memory at dff00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
	I/O ports at e898 [size=8]
	Memory at c0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Memory at dfec0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
	Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
	Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2
	Kernel driver in use: i915

03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: S3 Inc. 86c375 [ViRGE/DX] or 86c385 [ViRGE/GX] (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: S3 Inc. ViRGE/DX
	Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 11
	Memory at d8000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=64M]
	Expansion ROM at dfb00000 [disabled] [size=64K]

xrandr -q:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 1024, maximum 4096 x 4096
VGA1 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 338mm x 270mm
   1280x1024      60.0*+   75.0  
   1280x960       60.0  
   1280x800       74.9     59.8  
   1152x864       75.0  
   1280x768       74.9     59.9  
   1024x768       75.1     70.1     60.0  
   1024x576       60.0  
   832x624        74.6  
   800x600        72.2     75.0     60.3     56.2  
   848x480        60.0  
   640x480        72.8     75.0     66.7     60.0  
   720x400        70.1

My boss says to compile a new kernel, what do you guys think?

Last edited by Jub (2013-05-08 13:15:01)

Lone_Wolf · 2013-01-11 20:56:18

Your boss is probably right, there are S3 kernel modules but they don't seem to be included in arch stock kernel.

Alternatively you could ask for a new desktop, the S3 virge videocards haven't been used in pc/laptop for 5+ years.
maybe your dimension 4700 is due to be replaced soon ?

Jub · 2013-01-15 12:55:15

Lone_Wolf wrote:

Your boss is probably right, there are S3 kernel modules but they don't seem to be included in arch stock kernel.
Alternatively you could ask for a new desktop, the S3 virge videocards haven't been used in pc/laptop for 5+ years.
maybe your dimension 4700 is due to be replaced soon ?

AHAHAHAH
HAH!
I would kill for a replacement, we all deserve one, but that won't be happening anytime soon. :\

More googling tells me that others with my same setup don't have this problem, so I guess this is just me. I've tried applying plenty of different patches to linux-3.7.2/drivers/videos/s3fb.c and compiling and trying it out, but to no avail. Also, it takes ~20 minutes just to compile the damn thing. I'm done trying and having a single monitor isn't all that bad; I'll just stick with windows most of the time and switch to arch only when I need it.
Thanks for your response, though!

Jub · 2013-05-08 13:14:46

Finally switched to a new card, thus solving this problem.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-01-11 13:19:06

Failure to boot unless using onboard graphics [SOLVED]

#2 2013-01-11 20:56:18

Re: Failure to boot unless using onboard graphics [SOLVED]

#3 2013-01-15 12:55:15

Re: Failure to boot unless using onboard graphics [SOLVED]

#4 2013-05-08 13:14:46

Re: Failure to boot unless using onboard graphics [SOLVED]

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