Dual Displays on 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770s not working [SOLVED]

TutterT_Tutter · 2024-12-03 14:35:37

Hi all,

I am relatively new to Arch, but I've been using linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and Kali) for going on 3 years now (I am a 4th year CS Student)

I am using a mid 2010 Mac Pro, I had 3 of them lying around, so I took a GPU and all the ram and hdds out of one of them, to make frankenstein's monster mac pro.
The issue I'm having, is that I want to use 2 monitors, with each hooked up via DVI-I to each GPU (I don't have Mini-DP cables) (Monitor 0 hooked up to GPU0 and Monitor 1 hooked up to GPU1)

When I boot up and log in, only the first monitor shows a display, the other displays a black screen and a frozen _ cursor.
I tried section 13.4 from https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ATI , but map:1 just makes it so that the boot messages show up on monitor 0 (the one that works), whereas map:0 makes it show up on monitor 1 before it freezes.

I should mention that I am using GNOME, not sure if that could be a part of it.

I tried instead using a GTX 1060 6gb, but I couldn't get it to display anything.

Could anyone point me in the right direction, I'm sure somewhere else someone has posted some sort of solution, but I couldn't find it.

Last edited by TutterT_Tutter (2024-12-10 14:27:13)

cryptearth · 2024-12-03 15:13:36

this could be a limitation of the platform
sanity check: do both gpus show up on a lspci?
as for the nvid card: if it's a stock gpu it could be it's vbios isn't compatible with the mac platform
also as it's way newer it could also be it requires a regular uefi platform which I doubt a 2010 mac does provide
even if the gpus vbios is likely signed by microsofts key instead of apples and hence apple likely doesn't include microsofts key it maybe just fails to verify
if both gpus show up linux should be able to use them both at the same time for display output
but that's all just guessing - I don't know how mac platform worked back then

TutterT_Tutter · 2024-12-03 15:43:16

cryptearth they both show up
$ lspci | grep VGA
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Juniper XT [Radeon HD 5770]
05:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Juniper XT [Radeon HD 5770]

As for the nvidia GPU, I'm not sure how to tell if it is working, as it turns off after being on for about 30 seconds.
I found this blog post https://blog.greggant.com/posts/2018/03 … -2012.html which mentions that they don't get enough power...
My card only has 1 6-pin power slot, so I'm not sure if it is getting enough power or not..

pvtvega · 2024-12-03 16:03:09

Let's focus on just the AMD cards for now. Can you post your Xorg config?

TutterT_Tutter · 2024-12-03 16:21:27

Ok, this is gonna be embarrassing, because I had help from GPT for this one as I couldn't find a solution, but this is what it spit out

sudo cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-radeon.conf
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "MultiGPU"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
Screen 1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "GPU0"
Driver "radeon"
BusID "PCI:3:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "GPU1"
Driver "radeon"
BusID "PCI:5:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "GPU0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "GPU1"
EndSection

I have no clue what I'm doing with this lmao
xrandr -q only gives one screen, doesn't pick up a second screen

pvtvega · 2024-12-03 17:38:46

Couple things here. That file (/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-radeon.conf) contains information that tells the X server (the software that is responsible for displaying your windows and connecting your GPUs to your monitors) how to set itself up. You've defined two "Device" sections, one called "GPU0" and the other called "GPU1" and told each GPU to use the "radeon" driver. It also specifies a "BusID" which is the physical location on your motherboard that the GPU is connected to. Then the "Screen" sections similarly define which GPU should be outputting to which monitor. That's just for your own understanding.

But what's not typical is that all this is in the /etc/x11/xorg.conf.d directory. A "top level" config like this, I believe, should be located in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. You can try just moving your entire config file that you posted above to the correct location (and renaming it correctly), restarting X, and seeing if that helps. I don't use X myself though so I'm not 100% sure if that will matter or not.

If that doesn't help, another thing to note is that your config doesn't define any monitors. A "Screen" is actually the binding of a monitor and GPU, but since no monitors are specified it might be the reason that only one of them is being picked up. Generally the X server should identify monitors more or less automatically, but in your case where it clearly isn't, it doesn't hurt to try the following.

First, run

cat /sys/class/drm/*/status

which should output something like

connected
connected
disconnected
disconnected

to indicate if the video outputs on your GPUs are physically connected to something. If you see that both monitors are connected, this means the kernel can see them and the issue likely resides in X. Then adjust your config file to add dedicated "Monitor" sections:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Monitor1"
    Option "PreferredMode" "1920x1080"
    Option "Position" "0 0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Monitor2"
    Option "PreferredMode" "1920x1080"
    Option "Position" "1920 0"
EndSection

Obviously change the resolutions to whatever is appropriate for your displays. Then, in your "Screen" sections of the config add the monitors. This will explicitly tell X that "Screen X consists of GPU Y outputting frames to Monitor Z". Something like this:

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device "GPU0"
    Monitor "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth 24
    SubSection "Display"
        Modes "1920x1080"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen1"
    Device "GPU1"
    Monitor "Monitor2"
    DefaultDepth 24
    SubSection "Display"
        Modes "1920x1080"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

And remember when you update the config to restart the display manager with:

sudo systemctl restart display-manager

Again I am not an expert and just doing my best to help based on my understanding, it's quite possible someone could pop in here with a different solution. But I would at least start by trying to make sure you have a normal Xorg config with your monitors explicitly defined.

Last edited by pvtvega (2024-12-03 17:40:09)

seth · 2024-12-03 18:01:03

I should mention that I am using GNOME, not sure if that could be a part of it.

Since gnome defaults to wayland, are we sure this is an X11 session at all?

loginctl session-status

TutterT_Tutter · 2024-12-03 18:16:52

cat /sys/class/drm/*/status
returned

disconnected
disconnected
connected
disconnected
disconnected
connected

as for the xorg.conf file, I did exactly as you wrote, as that is what the settings I would have would be.
I did that, and now the other monitor doesn't have the frozen cursor, it's just a blank screen.

xrandr -q still only returns 1 monitor as well.

pvtvega · 2024-12-03 20:16:26

Seth makes a good point above - are you using Wayland or X11? I had assumed X11 because of the older drivers, and when I used GNOME in the past it had defaulted to X11 in the distro I was using.

TutterT_Tutter · 2024-12-03 22:27:40

pvtvega wrote:

Seth makes a good point above - are you using Wayland or X11? I had assumed X11 because of the older drivers, and when I used GNOME in the past it had defaulted to X11 in the distro I was using.

Hahahahaha

That was definitely it, but I think something else is wrong now...

So now the 2nd monitor is black, but I can move the mouse over to it. But I cannot bring any apps into it.

This is my xorg.conf now

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "MultiGPU"
    Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
    Screen 1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "GPU0"
    Driver "radeon"
    BusID "PCI:3:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "GPU1"
    Driver "radeon"
    BusID "PCI:5:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Monitor1"
    Option "PreferredMode" "1920x1080"
    Option "Position" "0 0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Monitor2"
    Option "PreferredMode" "1920x1080"
    Option "Position" "1920 0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device "GPU0"
    Monitor "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth 24
    SubSection "Display"
        Modes "1920x1080"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen1"
    Device "GPU1"
    Monitor "Monitor2"
    DefaultDepth 24
    SubSection "Display"
        Modes "1920x1080"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Last edited by TutterT_Tutter (2024-12-05 13:24:01)

seth · 2024-12-03 22:31:00

Please use [code][/code] tags, not "quote" tags. Edit your post in this regard.
With this kind of setup you'd need (but don't want) xinerama - remove the entire config, restart X11, post an updated xorg log and the output of

xrandr --listproviders
xrandr -q

TutterT_Tutter · 2024-12-05 14:38:57

seth wrote:

Please use [code][/code] tags, not "quote" tags. Edit your post in this regard.
With this kind of setup you'd need (but don't want) xinerama - remove the entire config, restart X11, post an updated xorg log and the output of
xrandr --listproviders
xrandr -q

That literally fixed it, once it reloaded, both monitors worked! Thank you guys so much!!!
Now I just need to figure out why this is running like trash.

seth · 2024-12-05 14:48:15

Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

Now I just need to figure out why this is running like trash.

Please open a new thread for that and post your Xorg log there, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg#General

Arch Linux

#1 2024-12-03 14:35:37

Dual Displays on 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770s not working [SOLVED]

#2 2024-12-03 15:13:36

Re: Dual Displays on 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770s not working [SOLVED]

#3 2024-12-03 15:43:16

Re: Dual Displays on 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770s not working [SOLVED]

#4 2024-12-03 16:03:09

Re: Dual Displays on 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770s not working [SOLVED]

#5 2024-12-03 16:21:27

Re: Dual Displays on 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770s not working [SOLVED]

#6 2024-12-03 17:38:46

Re: Dual Displays on 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770s not working [SOLVED]

#7 2024-12-03 18:01:03

Re: Dual Displays on 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770s not working [SOLVED]

#8 2024-12-03 18:16:52

Re: Dual Displays on 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770s not working [SOLVED]

#9 2024-12-03 20:16:26

Re: Dual Displays on 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770s not working [SOLVED]

#10 2024-12-03 22:27:40

Re: Dual Displays on 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770s not working [SOLVED]

#11 2024-12-03 22:31:00

Re: Dual Displays on 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770s not working [SOLVED]

#12 2024-12-05 14:38:57

Re: Dual Displays on 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770s not working [SOLVED]

#13 2024-12-05 14:48:15

Re: Dual Displays on 2 ATI Radeon HD 5770s not working [SOLVED]

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