Issue with fglrx Kernel Module

brewlius_cesar · 2013-10-24 23:39:11

Greetings,

After about 6 months of using ARCH with no issues, I've come across an unexpected issue.

I am using a Radeon 5800 and KDE Plasma.

The issue started when I noticed that window animation was VERY choppy when moving windows around and minimizing/maximizing windows. I cannot be positive, but it appears that this issue happened after a recent system update. After playing with the settings in Catalyst config and rebooting several times, I gave up and went about doing my work. After some time, I came back to a project I had been tinkering with that uses AMD's implementation of OpenCL. Previously, my very small OpenCL program worked, at least up to a certain point, but now, without re-compiling or anything since the last time it worked, I get an error stating that there was failure to load the fglrx kernel module. I figured that this was too much coincidence for the two problems to be unrelated, SO, I began by doing an `lsmod | grep fglrx` which returned nothing, and then a `modprobe fglrx` which returned "modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'fglrx': Exec format error". The specific package I am using is catalyst 13.4-16 from the catalyst-stable repository.

Any suggestions here would be great as I am FAR from a master of the Linux Kernel. I'd be happy to use the open source drivers but I wanted OpenCL support, which none of the open source drivers seemed to have (at least not when I first set this rig up).

VanillaFunk · 2013-10-26 02:15:56

It's been a while since i had a radeon card. and im not up to date on weather or not OpenCL is supported in the opensource drivers... but general rule of thumb in my experiance was to avoid the proprietary drivers... perhaps a lil googling on your OpenCL support question would do some good. either way... i had so many issues with the fglrx drivers my only advice is to switch if you can

cfr · 2013-10-26 02:43:32

I'd second that - if you can use the open source drivers, I would do so.

If you cannot or do not want to, check your logs. Check pacman.log. Did you forget the build the module following a kernel update or did an automated build fail? Or if you're using compiled packages, does what's installed match your kernel version, version of X etc.? What's in X's log? Anything in the journal? Etc.

If you think an update caused the issue, you should obviously tell us what was updated!

Lekensteyn · 2013-10-27 21:02:46

Official Arch support for the Catalyst driver has been dropped a while ago. When your kernel gets upgraded (especially for major upgrades), you need to rebuild your kernel modules (fglrx included). So, try reinstalling the package from AUR.

As for OpenCL support in the opensource drivers, have a look at http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/GalliumCompute/. It is recommended to build Mesa and LLVM from git for the best results. You might still encounter correctness/performance issues in your OpenCL programs, but I found #radeon at Freenode.net very helpful with fixing them.

clfarron4 · 2013-10-27 22:10:06

@brewlius_cesar, what is the exact name of the catalyst package you installed?

I ask because the catalyst package only comes with kernel modules for the kernel version that Vi0L0 used to build them, and no tools to build fresh ones. This differs to the catalyst-hook/catalyst-generator packages which come with tools to build the fglrx module for kernel version different to the build ones (along with custom kernels).

brewlius_cesar · 2013-10-29 22:48:59

Thank you all for the support, I apologize for the delayed response, I've been in the process of moving for the past week.

@VanillaFunk and cfr
I'd be happy to use the open source drivers, I am not an AMD stockholder. I will look into the OpenCL support for the open source drivers.

@Lekensteyn and clfarron4
I understand that there is no official Arch support for the Catalyst driver, if this means that I am posting my question in the wrong forum please let me know. Barring that issue, some responses:
- I am not using a package from the AUR, I'm using the catalyst-stable repository as described in the Arch Wiki
- The catalst package version is 13.4-16, see below for more info
- My current kernel version is 3.11.6-1, according to the catalyst package I have installed the requirement is linux>=3.11.1 and linux<3.12

More info about the package:

$ pacman -Qi catalyst
Name           : catalyst
Version        : 13.4-16
Description    : AMD/ATI Catalyst drivers for linux. fglrx kernel module only. Radeons HD 2 3 4 xxx ARE NOT SUPPORTED
Architecture   : x86_64
URL            : http://www.amd.com
Licenses       : custom
Groups         : None
Provides       : None
Depends On     : linux>=3.11.1  linux<3.12  catalyst-utils
Optional Deps  : None
Required By    : None
Optional For   : None
Conflicts With : catalyst-test
Replaces       : None
Installed Size : 1899.00 KiB
Packager       : Vi0L0 <vi0l093@gmail.com>
Build Date     : Wed 18 Sep 2013 12:59:12 PM EDT
Install Date   : Thu 24 Oct 2013 04:13:17 PM EDT
Install Reason : Explicitly installed
Install Script : Yes
Validated By   : Signature

Lone_Wolf · 2013-10-30 10:40:15

to use OpenCL with the opensource driver, you can use lordheavy's mesa-git repo at http://pkgbuild.com/~lcarlier/mesa-git/ .

This thread https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=170468 has some details about setting up opencl with mesa-git repo.

Last edited by Lone_Wolf (2013-10-30 10:40:30)

brewlius_cesar · 2013-11-01 22:00:51

Thanks for the info Lone_Wolf, I will be sure to check it out if I have further problems with fglrx.

As for this issue, I'd hardly say it's solved, but upgrading to 13.11-6 gets rid of the window juttering problem and also brings OpenCL back online. Just to make sure that fixed it I rolled back to 13.4-16 afterward and the same issues returned.

I'd be happy to help somebody if they were really looking to solve this issue, but I am not experienced enough to do it myself, + the path of least resistance seems quite appealing right now.

Thanks to you all for your help!

Last edited by brewlius_cesar (2013-11-01 22:01:38)

mojtabazn · 2013-11-02 05:14:10

su u use 13.4 catalyst version? but your arch xorg version in now 1.14 that doesn't support by this driver

for 13.4 driver from ati site:
Description:
Automated installer and Display Drivers for Xorg/Xserver 6.9 and above (up to 1.13)

brewlius_cesar · 2013-11-02 13:53:05

Nope! I am using xorg-server 1.13.4-1

Arch Linux

#1 2013-10-24 23:39:11

Issue with fglrx Kernel Module

#2 2013-10-26 02:15:56

Re: Issue with fglrx Kernel Module

#3 2013-10-26 02:43:32

Re: Issue with fglrx Kernel Module

#4 2013-10-27 21:02:46

Re: Issue with fglrx Kernel Module

#5 2013-10-27 22:10:06

Re: Issue with fglrx Kernel Module

#6 2013-10-29 22:48:59

Re: Issue with fglrx Kernel Module

#7 2013-10-30 10:40:15

Re: Issue with fglrx Kernel Module

#8 2013-11-01 22:00:51

Re: Issue with fglrx Kernel Module

#9 2013-11-02 05:14:10

Re: Issue with fglrx Kernel Module

#10 2013-11-02 13:53:05

Re: Issue with fglrx Kernel Module

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