Trouble configuring ATI Radeon HD 2400 vid card

[dep]

I've been several hours now attempting to configure the subject card, w/256megs DDR memory, if that matters, AGP if *that* matters, using first the xorg ati driver, then the proprietary driver.
It is connected by DVI cable, which is the only output the card has, though it has two of them.

Using dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg, I got what appeared to be a sane xorg.conf (though what *is* it with all the wacom stuff?), but "startx" threw an error: "No device found."

Doing a little online research, it appeared that this was a common problem for which there was no apparent solution. So I d/led the newest proprietary drivers from amd/ati, and ran the installer. I then ran, from a terminal screen without x running, aticonfig --initial --[whatever the command is that specifies /etc/X11/xorg.conf as the victim file]. It produced a somewhat odd but seemingly sane xorg.conf. However . . .

"startx" now produces a graphical screen of possibly the correct resolution (1920x1200), but I cannot know, in that it locks the machine hard solid, cold-reboot-necessary part way through. Cannot switch to a different terminal. Cannot, seemingly, do anything.

I have tried the vesa driver, but it refuses to grant me more than 1600x1200.

So. Is there a way to make this video card work properly with Gutsy?

Many thanks in advance for useful assistance.

dep

[integr8e]

Re: Trouble configuring ATI Radeon HD 2400 vid card

Give Envy a try; it will download, install, and configure the correct ATI driver for your card. As for the freeze-up issue, check out dibl's How To Unlock A Supposedly-Locked Up System.

[dep]

Re: Trouble configuring ATI Radeon HD 2400 vid card

Many thanks; however, Envy seems to want me to spend the night resolving dependencies. And I'm not seeking a lot here -- just 1920x1200x24. I don't need nifty 3D or anything, but I do need proper aspect ratio for photo editing and the like (which is why vesa at 1600x1200 isn't good). So I don't care if I use the xorg driver or the ATI driver. It is amazing that X configurators actually seem to work less well than they did a decade ago. Even as it seems really weird that I can find posts going back two years in which a seemingly sane configuration file simply cannot find the card. Nor does the output of lspci seem to be of much use -- it says the card is at 01:00.0 and 01:00.1 and it says the latter (I suspect the second head) is an "audio device"!

This is just crazy.

[dep]

Re: Trouble configuring ATI Radeon HD 2400 vid card

Give Envy a try; it will download, install, and configure the correct ATI driver for your card. As for the freeze-up issue, check out dibl's How To Unlock A Supposedly-Locked Up System.

Alas. Tried Envy and it got to me to the same locked place that I was before; also, Alt-SysRq doesn't unlock it.

[integr8e]

Re: Trouble configuring ATI Radeon HD 2400 vid card

It may seriously be locked up; in order for it to work, you have to hold Alt+SysRq, and hit r_s_e_i_u_b one at a time, releasing each button before pressing the next. It usually works for me, however, onetime my system was really locked up (required a hard reboot). Would you please post your xorg.conf here.

[dep]

Re: Trouble configuring ATI Radeon HD 2400 vid card

Pproblem is, I don't have a console-mode browser installed, so without X running it's a little tough to install xorg.conf -- at least the one that is broken. I'll rename, reconfigure with vesa, and post the renamed, nonworking one, I guess. What is remarkable to me is that ~/.xsession-errors reports that x starts uneventfully. And it seems to -- even mouse movement -- but KDE never appears, and after a few seconds the mouse locks as well. Not even the KDE startup screen appears, just the crosshatched old-style X background -- but the mouse pointer is the red that I have it configured in KDE.

[dep]

Re: Trouble configuring ATI Radeon HD 2400 vid card

okay, here's the xorg.conf that doesn't work:

[commented lines deleted]

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc101"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Radeon HD 2400"
Driver "fglrx"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
# Option "VideoOverlay" "on"
# Option "OpenGLOverlay" "off"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Acer P241W"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 30-75
VertRefresh 30-60
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "ATI Radeon HD 2400"
Monitor "Acer P241W"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1920x1200"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

[eof]

now. i've commented out various -- the hsync vrefresh and extension lines; same result. and if fglrx is replaced by vesa, it starts uneventfully, but gives me only 1600x1200. both card and monitor support 1920x1200.

ideas?

[integr8e]

Re: Trouble configuring ATI Radeon HD 2400 vid card

Vesa can only display up to a certain resolution; I cannot remember what it actually is, but seeing it won't display above 1600x1200 on your PC means that's probably the max. After a little research, I found this article that may help you configure your card. I only have a limited knowledge of ATI cards, being an Nvidia guy myself, but your xorg.conf looks OK to me; that is, everything minus the ATI bit. Take a look at the article and let me know what you think.

[dep]

Re: Trouble configuring ATI Radeon HD 2400 vid card

Interesting article; have done these things several times during the course of the evening. Most recently I used the uninstall function of Envy to return to the original status quo, in hope that a more basic approach -- and my more basic needs; the speed that glxgears runs is of limited interest to me -- and replaced "fglrx" with "ati" in xorg.conf. Of course, it didn't start x, and /var/log/Xorg.0.log tells me:

(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

There is apparently a 1920x1200 vesa mode; I found it listed in another Xorg.N.log file. Why it does not invoke is a mystery to me.

~/.xsession-errors is silent on the subject.

I do have a new /etc/ati directory and wonder if it is contributing to my ills; also an /etc/avahi directory which I believe might be associated with yet another ATI driver project.

It is driving me just this side of crazy.

[integr8e]

Re: Trouble configuring ATI Radeon HD 2400 vid card

If you can, copy and paste the entire error here (or if you feel like experimenting, try running "startx > xerror.txt" and attach the file if it records the error).

[SheeEttin]

Re: Trouble configuring ATI Radeon HD 2400 vid card

You may also be interested in the open-source radeonhd driver, if you're up to compiling it and playing with it...

As for the current problem, start recovery mode with the hard-locking xorg.conf, execute "startx > log" (substitute log for whatever, e.g. /var/log/xorg-crash). After it locks up, reboot and post or attach xorg-crash.