[gentoo-user] blank consoles after X starts

[gentoo-user] blank consoles after X starts

[William Kenworthy]

I have a machine thats sudeenly lost its console sessions.  I dont think
its the kernel as the config looks ok, and it *used to work*.  Its fine
on bootup, but once X starts, switching to a console just gives a blank
screen.

Its a radeon video card using the radeon driver if that makes a
difference
-- 
William Kenworthy <billk@iinet.net.au>
Home in Perth!

[gentoo-user] Re: blank consoles after X starts

[Nikos Chantziaras]

William Kenworthy wrote:
> I have a machine thats sudeenly lost its console sessions.  I dont think
> its the kernel as the config looks ok, and it *used to work*.  Its fine
> on bootup, but once X starts, switching to a console just gives a blank
> screen.
> 
> Its a radeon video card using the radeon driver if that makes a
> difference

Which Radeon?  If it's an R500 chip (X1000 series) I had the same 
problems on AMD64.  I fixed it by upgrading to xf86-video-ati 6.9.0.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: blank consoles after X starts

[William Kenworthy]

Thanks, its an R280 (9200) on an old athlon - but I'll give the upgrade
a go.

BillK

On Sun, 2008-07-27 at 03:50 +0300, Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
> William Kenworthy wrote:
> > I have a machine thats sudeenly lost its console sessions.  I dont think
> > its the kernel as the config looks ok, and it *used to work*.  Its fine
> > on bootup, but once X starts, switching to a console just gives a blank
> > screen.
> > 
> > Its a radeon video card using the radeon driver if that makes a
> > difference
> 
> Which Radeon?  If it's an R500 chip (X1000 series) I had the same 
> problems on AMD64.  I fixed it by upgrading to xf86-video-ati 6.9.0.
> 
-- 
William Kenworthy <billk@iinet.net.au>
Home in Perth!

[gentoo-user] Re: blank consoles after X starts

[Nikos Chantziaras]

William Kenworthy wrote:
> Thanks, its an R280 (9200) on an old athlon - but I'll give the upgrade
> a go.

I don't think it will help on R280 (and it's not worth the hassle as 
xf86-video-ati 6.9.0 pulls in many ~arch packages (maybe [M] too even).

As a starter, comment out every fancy stuff in xorg.conf and only use 
the bare minimum. Something like this:

Section "Files"
    # Your font paths here.
EndSection


Section "Device"
     Identifier "Blabla"
     Driver     "radeon"
EndSection


Section "Screen"
     Identifier  "Screen 1"
     Device      "Blabla"
     DefaultDepth 24
     Subsection "Display"
         Depth       8
         Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
         ViewPort    0 0
     EndSubsection
     Subsection "Display"
         Depth       16
         Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
         ViewPort    0 0
     EndSubsection
     Subsection "Display"
         Depth       24
         Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
         ViewPort    0 0
     EndSubsection
EndSection


Section "ServerLayout"
     Identifier  "Simple Layout"
     Screen "Screen 1"
EndSection


Section "DRI"
     Mode 0666
EndSection

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: blank consoles after X starts

[Jorge Martínez López]

Hi!

Recompile v86d with the x86emu flag on. That solved the problem for me.

Greetings!
-- 
Jorge Martínez López <jorgeml@gmail.com> http://www.jorgeml.net

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: blank consoles after X starts

[Jorge Martínez López]

Hi!

Again, it is not working. The relevant error in /var/log/messages is:

uvesafb: mode switch failed (eax=0x209, err=0)

In the mean time I recompiled the kernel (2.6.25-gentoo-r7). I will
reemerge v86d once again, to see if it fixes it.

Greetings!
-- 
Jorge Martínez López <jorgeml@gmail.com> http://www.jorgeml.net

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: blank consoles after X starts

[Jorge Martínez López]

Hi!

Sorry for the monologue. It appears to be a complex issue. I hope
someone with more experience can solve this.

Here come some links with interesting info:

http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=226107
http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/7/7/241

Greetings!
-- 
Jorge Martínez López <jorgeml@gmail.com> http://www.jorgeml.net

[gentoo-user] Re: blank consoles after X starts

[Nikos Chantziaras]

Jorge Martínez López wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> Again, it is not working. The relevant error in /var/log/messages is:
> 
> uvesafb: mode switch failed (eax=0x209, err=0)

I was always getting that one too, but other than this message, it was 
working.

I switched from uvesafb to vesafb at some point (to have the boot splash 
enabled right at boot without any delay).  If you're on x86 or AMD64 you 
might want to try that one (compile in-kernel, not as module).

Personally, I don't see a reason to use uvesafb on PCs.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: blank consoles after X starts

[Jorge Martínez López]

Hello!

2008/7/27 Nikos Chantziaras <realnc@arcor.de>:
[...]
> I was always getting that one too, but other than this message, it was
> working.
>
> I switched from uvesafb to vesafb at some point (to have the boot splash
> enabled right at boot without any delay).  If you're on x86 or AMD64 you
> might want to try that one (compile in-kernel, not as module).

I installed the klibc and v86d versions mentioned in the bug report
and it seems to work again.

uvesafb was working perfectly for me, without any delays at boot. It
has been included in the mainline kernel and it seems to be "The Way
to Go" (TM).

Greetings!
-- 
Jorge Martínez López <jorgeml@gmail.com> http://www.jorgeml.net

[gentoo-user] Re: blank consoles after X starts

[Nikos Chantziaras]

Jorge Martínez López wrote:
> Hello!
> 
> 2008/7/27 Nikos Chantziaras <realnc@arcor.de>:
> [...]
>> I was always getting that one too, but other than this message, it was
>> working.
>>
>> I switched from uvesafb to vesafb at some point (to have the boot splash
>> enabled right at boot without any delay).  If you're on x86 or AMD64 you
>> might want to try that one (compile in-kernel, not as module).
> 
> I installed the klibc and v86d versions mentioned in the bug report
> and it seems to work again.
> 
> uvesafb was working perfectly for me, without any delays at boot. It
> has been included in the mainline kernel and it seems to be "The Way
> to Go" (TM).

I never got it to work without delay.  I could see kernel messeges for 1 
or 2 seconds.  That is not acceptable, I need the bootsplash in 0.01 
nanoseconds.

(lol)

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: blank consoles after X starts

[William Kenworthy]

I went through the kernel options turning everything on for console and
now I have it back.

BillK

On Sun, 2008-07-27 at 11:42 +0200, Jorge Martínez López wrote:
> Hello!
> 
> 2008/7/27 Nikos Chantziaras <realnc@arcor.de>:
> [...]
> > I was always getting that one too, but other than this message, it was
> > working.
> >
> > I switched from uvesafb to vesafb at some point (to have the boot splash
> > enabled right at boot without any delay).  If you're on x86 or AMD64 you
> > might want to try that one (compile in-kernel, not as module).
> 
> I installed the klibc and v86d versions mentioned in the bug report
> and it seems to work again.
> 
> uvesafb was working perfectly for me, without any delays at boot. It
> has been included in the mainline kernel and it seems to be "The Way
> to Go" (TM).
> 
> Greetings!
-- 
William Kenworthy <billk@iinet.net.au>
Home in Perth!

[gentoo-user] Re: blank consoles after X starts

[Nikos Chantziaras]

Jorge Martínez López wrote:
> uvesafb was working perfectly for me, without any delays at boot. It
> has been included in the mainline kernel and it seems to be "The Way
> to Go" (TM).

I stumbled upon a new development on X.Org: Kernel Mode Setting.  I 
think that "The Way to Go" will be using the same driver for the 
framebuffer console as well as X.

http://www.x.org/wiki/ModeSetting
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=kernel_modesetting&num=1

Hopefully we'll see this sooner rather than later.  It would mean 100% 
thorough and *instant* VT switching.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: blank consoles after X starts

[Jorge Martínez López]

Hi!

Indeed, that looks quite promising. It would be a nice Christmas
present for Gentoo users.

In the mean time my problems were gone by using the versions stated in the bug.

Greetings!
-- 
Jorge Martínez López <jorgeml@gmail.com> http://www.jorgeml.net