Radeon drivers fail to open X

DerJonne · 2011-09-16 11:24:53

Hey everyone!

Im new to Arch Linux so bare with me.
I've been fighting for the last two days to get X up and running with native resolution but without any luck.
I can open X with GNOME only with Vesa drivers in Fallback/Failsafe mode with the 1024x768 resolution.
Ive installed the xf86-video-ati driver and read ATI, ATI CATALYST and Xorg documentation through twice.

If I try to run X -configure it gives me an error:

"No DRICreatePCIBusID symbol, no kernel modesetting
Number of created screens does not match number of detected devices"

System Specs:
Lenovo IdeaPad Y560
Mobility Radeon HD5730 w/ intel switchable graphics

lspci:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 18)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Madison [Mobility Radeon HD 5000 Series]

Please someone help me get past this hump so I can finally enjoy Arch!

Thank you!

DerJonne · 2011-09-16 11:30:44

Oh one more thing!

I get the failsafe Gnome ONLY if I boot with "nomodeset" kernel parameter.
With KMS when I try to run X with Gnome my screen opens but it has a ~100px blackbar at the bottom which I cant hover over with the cursor.

silvernode · 2011-09-20 19:53:18

Any luck yet? Figured I'd ask since it's been a few days.

admiralspark · 2011-09-23 02:02:40

Hello,
I also own a Y560, albeit without the switchable graphics. The open-source ATI driver should autodetect the 5730 right away and set it to 1366x768 resolution without special configuration. There is obviously something off here. So! an inter-friend of mine also has your model, and we brainstormed a few things:
First: Go into the bios, and make sure that it's not set to use the intel card on bootup. His was set to the intel card when he first installed Ubuntu, and so he had basically the same issues as you're having--it tried to load radeon and couldn't detect a proper ati card, so X either wouldn't start or he'd get it to work with vesa. Which brings me to point 2--
Second: I hate to be that guy, but on the 5730's you will get MUCH better graphical performance from the proprietary Catalyst driver, not the radeon Open-Source one. Specifically, you'll get:
--3D.
--Accelerated 2D without tearing in video playback
--no overheating issues due to horrible clock control on the OS driver.
Don't get me wrong, I like the speed and small size of the OS driver, but AMD just has the information advantage for coding their driver.

You will hear the proprietary driver referred to as both fglrx and Catalyst, though technically Catalyst is the official name now. The Archwiki Catalyst page is extremely useful.

So, finally:
If you'd like to use Gnome 3, AFAIK, you are pretty much out of luck if you have an ATi card. Gnome 3 has graphical issues still with the proprietary driver, and the lack of 3D/accelerated 2D in the radeon driver makes it impossible to load anything but the fallback desktop. Note, this should be fixed within the next couple months, but don't count on AMD pulling through last moment.
Can you try loading twm with your setup as it is now? Just to narrow down where the issue is. And don't load with the intel driver in the BIOS--the default linux kernel does not have the switchable graphics support enabled. That is something I'm experimenting with, but since I don't have the chipset and very few Y560 owners use arch, it's hard.

Feel free to PM me if you want instructions for anything. When you do get it running, you'll love Arch on these laptops. ESPECIALLY if you compile kernels like I do

admiralspark · 2011-09-26 19:26:44

DerJonne, any success yet?

DerJonne · 2011-09-27 07:07:31

Thanks guys for the concern!

Actually the default kernel 3.0 that came with Arch (at least in my case) DID have switchable graphics support "vga_switcheroo".

My solution was to simply disable the ATI card on bootup and switch to the intel one.
This gives me a lot longer batterylife plus I dont need the Graphic Acceleration provided by the ATI card as the Intel one is more than capable to run full resolution even under heavy Composition Managers (and the OS drivers are really good )

Where I ended up with the ATI proprietery drivers was that it loaded up the ATI modules, then found an Intel card but couldnt load the drivers for that and insisted I should install them.
When I did install them it bitched that they dont stack up with the ATI ones
So I got bored with ATI and made my decision.

Anyway im running Arch with a full Composition OpenBox enviroment and it seems to be working fine for me.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-09-16 11:24:53

Radeon drivers fail to open X

#2 2011-09-16 11:30:44

Re: Radeon drivers fail to open X

#3 2011-09-20 19:53:18

Re: Radeon drivers fail to open X

#4 2011-09-23 02:02:40

Re: Radeon drivers fail to open X

#5 2011-09-26 19:26:44

Re: Radeon drivers fail to open X

#6 2011-09-27 07:07:31

Re: Radeon drivers fail to open X

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