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no direct rendering with via (s3) unichrome and XFree86 4.3.0.1

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Mumia W.

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Jun 23, 2006, 12:26:49 AM6/23/06
to
I can't seem to get direct rendering working. Here is my system info:

Linux 2.6.17.1
Debian 3.1r2.
XFree86 4.3.0.1
Relevant PCI info:
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown
device 3108 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems: Unknown device 1828
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Memory at ec000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=64K]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

The file pci.ids says that device 3108 is an S3 Unichrome Pro VGA
Adapter. I think the 'via' module supports this.

This is what I did to try to get DRM working on my system:

** modprobe via
** Edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 and change this:

> Section "Device"
> Identifier "Generic Video Card"
> Driver "vesa"
> EndSection
to this:
> Section "Device"
> Identifier "Generic Video Card"
> Driver "via"
> EndSection

When I did the "modprobe via," dmesg said this:
> [drm] Initialized drm 1.0.1 20051102
> ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:01:00.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
> [drm] Initialized via 2.7.4 20051116 on minor 0

And lsmod shows that drm and via are loaded.

But when I try to start X, it aborts with the message "(EE) no devices
detected."

How do I get my hardware to do DRI?

Jacob Tranholm

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Jun 24, 2006, 12:08:11 PM6/24/06
to
Mumia W. skrev:

I also have a VIA S3 Unichrome Pro VGA Adapter at my notebook, and I had
a lot of problems configuring it some time ago. But then X.org 6.9.0 was
released... And I have just been using the default via-driver since
then. So my advise is to install a backported version of X.org 6.9.0,
which should be available by adding the following lines to your
sources.list:

-----
deb http://www.debian-desktop.org/pub/linux/debian/xorg-6.8.99.15/ sarge
main
deb-src http://www.debian-desktop.org/pub/linux/debian/xorg-6.8.99.15/
sarge main
-----

--
Best regards Jacob Tranholm <http://jtranholm.dk/>
Favourite quote: "Observation statements and statements of experimental
results are always interpretations of the facts observed." [Karl R. Popper]

Mumia W.

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Jun 24, 2006, 1:45:58 PM6/24/06
to
Jacob Tranholm wrote:
> Mumia W. skrev:
>> I can't seem to get direct rendering working.
>> [...]

>
> I also have a VIA S3 Unichrome Pro VGA Adapter at my notebook, and I had
> a lot of problems configuring it some time ago. But then X.org 6.9.0 was
> released... And I have just been using the default via-driver since
> then. So my advise is to install a backported version of X.org 6.9.0,
> which should be available by adding the following lines to your
> sources.list:
>
> -----
> deb http://www.debian-desktop.org/pub/linux/debian/xorg-6.8.99.15/ sarge
> main
> deb-src http://www.debian-desktop.org/pub/linux/debian/xorg-6.8.99.15/
> sarge main
> -----
>

Thanks Jacob.

Will xorg replace my entire xfree86?

Jacob Tranholm

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Jun 24, 2006, 3:16:41 PM6/24/06
to
Mumia W. skrev:

>
> Thanks Jacob.
>
> Will xorg replace my entire xfree86?

I must admit, it has been quite a while since my last update from
xfree86 to xorg. But as I remember you can add the sources to you
'sources.list', make an 'apt-get update' and an 'apt-get dist-upgrade',
and then your xfree86 is replaced by xorg.

Mumia W.

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Jun 24, 2006, 6:17:21 PM6/24/06
to
Jacob Tranholm wrote:
> Mumia W. skrev:
>> Thanks Jacob.
>>
>> Will xorg replace my entire xfree86?
>
> I must admit, it has been quite a while since my last update from
> xfree86 to xorg. But as I remember you can add the sources to you
> 'sources.list', make an 'apt-get update' and an 'apt-get dist-upgrade',
> and then your xfree86 is replaced by xorg.
>

Thanks, I'll think about doing that.

iforone

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Jun 26, 2006, 8:42:58 PM6/26/06
to

Mumia W. wrote:
> I can't seem to get direct rendering working. Here is my system info:
>
> Linux 2.6.17.1
> Debian 3.1r2.
> XFree86 4.3.0.1
> Relevant PCI info:
> 0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown
> device 3108 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
> Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems: Unknown device 1828
> Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
> Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
> Memory at ec000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
> Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=64K]
> Capabilities: <available only to root>
>
> The file pci.ids says that device 3108 is an S3 Unichrome Pro VGA
> Adapter. I think the 'via' module supports this.

hmm..I'm using
~$ uname -a
Linux sarge 2.6.8-2-386 #1 Tue Aug 16 12:46:35 UTC 2005 i686 GNU/Linux
Debian 3.1r1 - and while you certainly have a newer kernel than I .

I'm using 4.3.0.1 too;
~$ X -version

XFree86 Version 4.3.0.1 (Debian 4.3.0.dfsg.1-14sarge1 20050901212727
f...@localhost.localdomain)
Release Date: 15 August 2003
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 6.6
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.8-16.0508-2 i686 [ELF]
Build Date: 02 September 2005
[...]

Funny this; in my /usr/share/misc/pci.ids ...and I use "Find"
function, there's no mention of *3108* being there;
This is what I have in that file;
===========================================
[...]
# S3 Graphics UniChrome 2D/3D Graphics with motion compensation
7205 VT8378 [S3 UniChrome] Integrated Video
1458 d000 GA-7VM400M Motherboard
8231 VT8231 [PCI-to-ISA Bridge]
8235 VT8235 ACPI
8305 VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133 AGP]
8391 VT8371 [KX133 AGP]
8501 VT8501 [Apollo MVP4 AGP]
8596 VT82C596 [Apollo PRO AGP]
8597 VT82C597 [Apollo VP3 AGP]
8598 VT82C598/694x [Apollo MVP3/Pro133x AGP]
1019 0985 P6VXA Motherboard
8601 VT8601 [Apollo ProMedia AGP]
8605 VT8605 [PM133 AGP]
8691 VT82C691 [Apollo Pro]
8693 VT82C693 [Apollo Pro Plus] PCI Bridge
b091 VT8633 [Apollo Pro266 AGP]
b099 VT8366/A/7 [Apollo KT266/A/333 AGP]
b101 VT8653 AGP Bridge
b102 VT8362 AGP Bridge
b103 VT8615 AGP Bridge
b112 VT8361 [KLE133] AGP Bridge
b168 VT8235 PCI Bridge
b188 VT8237 PCI bridge [K8T800 South]
b198 VT8237 PCI Bridge
[...]
=====================================

Also;
Notice how your "lspci -v" output says "unknown device 1308" and
there's not even any 1828 listing in my pci.ids file for anything - but
perhaps my file is older ? and besides it shouldn't matter much for
this discussion, but keep these things in mind.

For ex; My 'sudo lspci -vv' yields a funky reading for my Nvidia AGP
tnt2 card;
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV5 [RIVA
TNT2/TNT2 Pro] (rev 11) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Ensoniq: Unknown device 0003
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop-
ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium
>TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 64 (1250ns min, 250ns max)
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
Region 0: Memory at f5000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
[size=16M]
Region 1: Memory at fc000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 1
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA
PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
Capabilities: [44] AGP version 2.0
Status: RQ=32 Iso- ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA+ ITACoh- GART64-
HTrans- 64bit- FW- AGP3- Rate=x1,x2,x4
Command: RQ=1 ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA- AGP- GART64- 64bit-
FW- Rate=<none>


Note the;
Subsystem: Ensoniq: Unknown device 0003

Ensoniq is my Chipset onboard SoundBlaster -- go figure --anyways,
supposedly nVidia's don't do/use DRI, or DRM (atleast the older one
like I have)...I recall reading that in an article about configuring X,
and /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

Here's some output of that file;
======================
[...]
Section "Device"
Identifier "NVIDIA Corporation NV5 [RIVA TNT2/TNT2 Pro]"
Driver "nv"
VideoRam 32000
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "LCD1735NXM"
HorizSync 31-81
VertRefresh 56-75
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
[...]
======================

I left the Monitor stuff in there, just in case you need to
reconfigure....which brings me to;
You should be able to run this;

'sudo dpkg-reconfigure -plow xserver-xfreee86'

to completely reconfigure the setup (Video, Monitor, Mouse, Keyboard,
etc - all XF86Config-4 entries) -- the '-plow' (Priority Low) option
means to ask/present you with the smallest detailed questions possible
-- just leave it off (exclude it), if you don't want it that intricate.
But in ther you should be able to add/subtract 'dri' and 'drm' support
if you desire it.

> This is what I did to try to get DRM working on my system:
>
> ** modprobe via
> ** Edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 and change this:
>
> > Section "Device"
> > Identifier "Generic Video Card"
> > Driver "vesa"
> > EndSection
> to this:
> > Section "Device"
> > Identifier "Generic Video Card"
> > Driver "via"
> > EndSection
>
> When I did the "modprobe via," dmesg said this:
> > [drm] Initialized drm 1.0.1 20051102
> > ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:01:00.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
> > [drm] Initialized via 2.7.4 20051116 on minor 0

Is this an AGP card? -- or likely this is an Onboard Chipset?
Do you have AGP support -- now mine is Intel's, but yours would be the
VIA equivalent;
~$ lsmod | grep -i agp
intel_agp 20512 1
agpgart 31784 1 intel_agp


> And lsmod shows that drm and via are loaded.
>
> But when I try to start X, it aborts with the message "(EE) no devices
> detected."
>
> How do I get my hardware to do DRI?

We're trying ;-)

Regards

iforone

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Jun 26, 2006, 8:42:59 PM6/26/06
to

Mumia W. wrote:
> I can't seem to get direct rendering working. Here is my system info:
>
> Linux 2.6.17.1
> Debian 3.1r2.
> XFree86 4.3.0.1
> Relevant PCI info:
> 0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown
> device 3108 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
> Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems: Unknown device 1828
> Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
> Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
> Memory at ec000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
> Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=64K]
> Capabilities: <available only to root>
>
> The file pci.ids says that device 3108 is an S3 Unichrome Pro VGA
> Adapter. I think the 'via' module supports this.

hmm..I'm using

'sudo dpkg-reconfigure -plow xserver-xfreee86'

> This is what I did to try to get DRM working on my system:


>
> ** modprobe via
> ** Edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 and change this:
>
> > Section "Device"
> > Identifier "Generic Video Card"
> > Driver "vesa"
> > EndSection
> to this:
> > Section "Device"
> > Identifier "Generic Video Card"
> > Driver "via"
> > EndSection
>
> When I did the "modprobe via," dmesg said this:
> > [drm] Initialized drm 1.0.1 20051102
> > ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:01:00.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
> > [drm] Initialized via 2.7.4 20051116 on minor 0

Is this an AGP card? -- or likely this is an Onboard Chipset?


Do you have AGP support -- now mine is Intel's, but yours would be the
VIA equivalent;
~$ lsmod | grep -i agp
intel_agp 20512 1
agpgart 31784 1 intel_agp

> And lsmod shows that drm and via are loaded.
>
> But when I try to start X, it aborts with the message "(EE) no devices
> detected."
>
> How do I get my hardware to do DRI?

We're trying ;-)

Regards

iforone

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Jun 26, 2006, 8:47:18 PM6/26/06
to

If you do actually do that you'll be doing a complete dist-upgrade to
"Testing" (...or even the lesser "upgrade" posted by Jacob Tranholm
earlier, will likely upgrade 'X' only, and it's components, but may
break a few things too) -- Either way, see this;
<http://wiki.debian.org/Xorg69To7>

Regards

Mumia W.

unread,
Jun 27, 2006, 12:21:36 AM6/27/06
to

Hi iforone.

I downloaded a new pci.ids file from the Internet.

> You should be able to run this;
>
> 'sudo dpkg-reconfigure -plow xserver-xfreee86'
>

Hmm, I should've done this again. I did try that once, but it asked a
lot of questions and didn't make any changes to the XF86Config-4 file.

I'll probably just rename it and try again.

>
> Is this an AGP card? -- or likely this is an Onboard Chipset?
> Do you have AGP support -- now mine is Intel's, but yours would be the
> VIA equivalent;

Hmm. I don't know if the card is AGP, but I'll load a bunch of AGP
modules and see if that works.


>> [...]


>> How do I get my hardware to do DRI?
>
> We're trying ;-)
>
> Regards
>

Thanks again iforone.

iforone

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Jun 27, 2006, 6:15:34 AM6/27/06
to

Mumia W. wrote:

> Hi iforone.

Hello there ;-)

> I downloaded a new pci.ids file from the Internet.

Cool

> > You should be able to run this;
> >

> > 'sudo dpkg-reconfigure -plow xserver-xfree86'

I fixed the typo above (xfreee...becomes xfree - there was one too
many 'e' s)

> Hmm, I should've done this again. I did try that once, but it asked a
> lot of questions and didn't make any changes to the XF86Config-4 file.
>
> I'll probably just rename it and try again.

Just run it without the '-plow' option - and less questions will be
asked -- but have the necessary info handy;
<http://www.mepislovers-wiki.org/index.php?title=Dpkg-reconfigure_xserver-xorg>

"Preparation" section.

See <http://linuxbasics.org/irc/irc_bots>
Run the command listed there (below) to compare the md5sums...here's
mine;

~$ md5sum /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 | diff -sq
/var/lib/xfree86/XF86Config-4.md5sum -
Files /var/lib/xfree86/XF86Config-4.md5sum and - are identical


(don't forget that last '-' after a blank space)

hmmm...you may be able to obtain some info using the 'dmidecode'
utility (it gives a ton of hardware info)...
You may need to d/l and install it;

~$ sudo apt-get install dmidecode

Then run it, and pipe it through 'less' so you can scroll through the
tons of info (hit PageDown a few times atleast).

~$ sudo dmidecode | less

[...]
Handle 0x0026
DMI type 9, 13 bytes.
System Slot Information
Designation: AGP, J4E1
Type: 32-bit AGP 2x
Current Usage: Unknown
Length: Long
ID: 0
Characteristics:
3.3 V is provided
[...]

Funny though - On mine, using dmidecode, all the other PCI bus entries
that are in use, say so, and the RAM slot info is correct and
everything...but the AGP info above should be as well in the Current
Usage: line (it should say "In Use" or it should say "Available", if it
was indeed available). -- but as I said, my 'lspci -vv' is reading
funky as well.

The Ensoniq entry I mentioned earlier is funky too..

Handle 0x0027
DMI type 10, 6 bytes.
On Board Device Information
Type: Sound
Status: Disabled
Description: ENSONIQ

My sound is quite enabled ;-) I can assure you...
This could be due to a buggy iFlash of my BIOS I did quite a few years
ago -- perhaps I'll reflash again.

> > Is this an AGP card? -- or likely this is an Onboard Chipset?
> > Do you have AGP support -- now mine is Intel's, but yours would be the
> > VIA equivalent;

> Hmm. I don't know if the card is AGP, but I'll load a bunch of AGP
> modules and see if that works.

> Thanks again iforone.

My pleasure ;-)

Regards

iforone

unread,
Jun 27, 2006, 6:50:54 AM6/27/06
to

I think I found *my* issue...
I used "hwinfo" - I had to d/l and install it

First find out some info about it;

$ apt-cache show hwinfo
Package: hwinfo
Priority: optional
Section: admin
Installed-Size: 1432
Maintainer: Morten Werner Olsen <wer...@debian.org>
Architecture: i386
Version: 12.9-2
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.3.6-6), libdbus-1-2 (>= 0.61), libhal1 (>= 0.5),
libsysfs2
Filename: pool/main/h/hwinfo/hwinfo_12.9-2_i386.deb
Size: 540986
MD5sum: aa01135be2819bd436767f72806a9fec
Description: Hardware identification system
hwinfo is the hardware detection tool used in SuSE Linux.
.
[...]

Then d/l and install;

$ sudo apt-get install hwinfo

Then run the command ...and wait a few seconds and watch the output.

$ sudo hwinfo

Note; I use "Konsole" (KDE shell module), and it has quite a big
buffer, so even with all the info 'hwinfo' outputs, I can easily
rescroll upscreen, to view from the start - One could probably pipe the
output to 'less' or 'more' -- Yes, 'less' works fine, just need to wait
a few more seconds for all the debugging info to appear ;-)

~$ sudo hwinfo | less
use Up/Down, or PageUP/PageDown to scroll, then hit 'q' when you want
to quit

================================
[...]

15: PCI(AGP) 00.0: 0600 Host bridge
[Created at pci.244]
Unique ID: qLht.QY7xTb2Jn2E
SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0
SysFS BusID: 0000:00:00.0
Hardware Class: bridge
Model: "Intel 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge"
Vendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
Device: pci 0x7190 "440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge"
Revision: 0x03
Driver: "agpgart-intel"
Memory Range: 0xf8000000-0xfbffffff (rw,prefetchable)
Driver Info #0:
Driver Status: intel-agp is active
Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe intel-agp"
Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

16: PCI 01.0: 0604 PCI bridge (Normal decode)
[Created at pci.244]
Unique ID: vSkL.+oqW+GBE7wA
SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0
SysFS BusID: 0000:00:01.0
Hardware Class: bridge
Model: "Intel 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge"
Vendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
Device: pci 0x7191 "440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge"
Revision: 0x03
Driver Info #0:
Driver Status: shpchp is not active
Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe shpchp"
Driver Info #1:
Driver Status: pciehp is not active
Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe pciehp"
Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

[...]
================================

Notice 16 above;
*** Driver Status: shpchp is not active ***
I keep getting errors during bootup about this and another simialar
module (pciehp)....

~$ dmesg | grep -i pciehp
pciehp: acpi_pciehprm:\_SB_.PCI0 evaluate _BBN fail=0x5
pciehp: acpi_pciehprm:get_device PCI ROOT HID fail=0x5

~$ dmesg | grep -i shpchp
shpchp: acpi_shpchprm:\_SB_.PCI0 evaluate _BBN fail=0x5
shpchp: acpi_shpchprm:get_device PCI ROOT HID fail=0x5

I'll have to look further into that for myself -- I did in the past,
but was basically told, don't worry about it (something to do with
"hotplug") -- or upgrade the Kernel, which I may do anyways

HTH -- ....see? It's all good. I'm helping myself sort things out too,
while I'm trying to help others ;-)

Regards

Mumia W.

unread,
Jun 27, 2006, 6:29:29 PM6/27/06
to
iforone wrote:
> [...]

> ~$ dmesg | grep -i pciehp
> pciehp: acpi_pciehprm:\_SB_.PCI0 evaluate _BBN fail=0x5
> pciehp: acpi_pciehprm:get_device PCI ROOT HID fail=0x5
> [...]

Pciehp is the PCI Express Hotplug driver. from ./drivers/hotplug/pciehp*
in the kernel source. If you don't have pci express, you can blacklist
the module.

Good luck.

Ties

unread,
Jun 28, 2006, 2:00:12 PM6/28/06
to
iforone wrote:
> If you do actually do that you'll be doing a complete dist-upgrade to
> "Testing" (...or even the lesser "upgrade" posted by Jacob Tranholm
<snip>
I don't think it was implied anywhere he should change his
sources.list in such a manner.

--
Ties | And remember kids: always reply inline, or
http://tknet.nl/ | Sinterklaas will kidnap and molest you!
ties...@gmail.com | http://tknet.nl/nntp/reply/inline/

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