Cannot play video

[tuatha1337]

Re: Cannot play video

Hmm, tried the first link at the site I posted, and learned it wasn't entirely the kind of driver I was looking for. So I tried the third one which downloaded the same driver that you recommend along with some sort of text file with vague directions, still deciphering it. Best I can tell so far is that it builds upon the driver that you noted to me by further building some depencies.

Got a reply from the folks at Via, but it, too, is vague. Can you help me figure it out?
It seems like their telling me to download the noted deb packages, but that the preinstalled drivers should be working fine in Ubuntu.

The VIA 72c VGA driver had supported the Ubuntu 7.04 (kernel: 2.6.21-15-generic, xorg: 7.2).
The Kubunt 7.04 differs from Ubuntu 7.04 in Windows Manager (GDM or KDM).
You must install some dependency deb packages e.g. build-essential, linux-source-2.6.20, xserver-xorg-dev, xoeg-dev, libdrm-dev, libgl1-mesa-dev.
VIA had test properly the pre-compile (at Ubuntu 7.04) VGA driver binary at KUbuntu 7.04.

(I know so little about Linux... argh)

[Rog131]

Re: Cannot play video

It seems like their telling me to download the noted deb packages,
but that the preinstalled drivers should be working fine in Ubuntu.

Hmm - do they mean vesa drivers ? They are saying:

3. Install OS built-in VESA display driver
Debian 3.1r4/4.0, Fedora Core 4/5/6, Mandriva 2007/2007.1,
openSUSE 10.2 and Ubuntu 6.10/7.04 Desktop is able to detect the
configurations of the mouse, keyboard, monitor automatically,
but it cannot detect the graphics card because the CN700, CX700M(M2),
CN800, P4M800 CE-Pro, VN800 and VX700M(M2) graphics cards are not
supported yet. Use the following instructions to set up the display controller.

VIA 72c VGA driver ->
http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx...0&SubCatID=184

There is VIA UniChrome family Linux source install guide ( pdf - Version - 0.83, 07 June 2007)
and VIA UniChrome family Linux display driver source (Version - XORG40072_20061226c, 05 June 2007)


They are for:

VIA CLE266/CN400/CN700/CX700M(M2)/CN800/PM880
/P4M800 CE-Pro/VN800/VX700M(M2)
Kernel Display Driver Installation Guide in
Debian 3.1r4/4.0,Fedora Core4/5/6, Mandriva 2007/2007.1,
openSUSE 10.2 and Ubuntu 6.10/7.04 Desktop

In the source install guide:

- Ubuntu Linux 7.04 dependency packages (deb).

- Howto Build VIA UniChrome (Pro) Display Driver.
It is a bit messy, there are instructions for several distributions/versions in one file. It could be
better idea to make separate files for each distribution.

[tuatha1337]

Re: Cannot play video

Attempting the install guide for the 72c driver. It's confusing and I hope to hell I'm not screwing up my system excessively. (Out of curiosity how difficult is it to screw over my system?)

Anyways, on step 4 of the guide it says to follow the commands but doesn't really show any. Am I right in assuming that I should be running "sudo apt-get install" for all the appropriate dependency packages listed in step 4.a. that I don't have? (Goodness I'm such a newb.)

[Rog131]

Re: Cannot play video

It's confusing and I hope to hell I'm not screwing up my system excessively.
(Out of curiosity how difficult is it to screw over my system?)

Well - to me it was easier to make new text file and copy-paste Ubuntu 7.04 parts to the new file.
Easier than check again and again, is this for ubuntu 7.04 or Fedora or something else...


Screwing the system - I think that worst case scenario would be that you don't have kde (only text mode).
And you have been there:

« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2007, 02:39:10 pm » Thank goodness for that backup file.

You don't remove anything - you make and install new VIA driver. Remember to backup files BEFORE you edit


Hmm - There is this:

c. Prepare kernel source for VIA display driver (DRM) or rebuild kernel (AGP)
<*The sample is default kernel in Ubuntu Linux 7.04.*>
# sudo passwd root (change the root's password then login as the root again)

You could use sudo, if you don't want to set root password.
Unofficial Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) Starter Guide / How to set/change/enable root user password
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:F..._user_password

More:
Kubuntu FAQ
http://www.kubuntu.org/faq.php

What is the default root password?

There is no root password set as default. If KDE needs administrator privileges you should use your user password instead.

even more

RootSudo
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

Am I right in assuming that I should be running "sudo apt-get install" for all the appropriate
dependency packages listed in step 4.a. that I don't have?

Yes - You could jump in to the

Ubuntu Linux 7.04 dependency packages (deb):

and sudo apt-get install <list of packages>

If you want to be careful out there :
sudo apt-get -s install <list of packages>

-s, --simulate, --just-print, --dry-run, --recon, --no-act
No action; perform a simulation of events that would occur but do
not actually change the system.

Note #1
Check what kernel version you are using. The latest is 2.6.20-16. I think that these instructions should
work with all 2.6.20 versions. Only small fixing needeed i.e. when there is

cp /boot/config-2.6.20-15-generic .config

you use (if you have -16-generic)

cp /boot/config-2.6.20-16-generic .config

Note #2
Most of these you already have.

Note #3
There is in the list: mesa-6.5.2.orig.tar.gz and mesa_6.5.2-3ubuntu7.diff.gz
You could find them here: http://packages.ubuntu.com/feisty/source/mesa
scroll down and there is Download mesa...

[tuatha1337]

Re: Cannot play video

Made fare progress, but got stuck at 4.d. when inputting #vi /usr/src/linux/Makefile
I received an odd error message as shown:

E325: ATTENTION
Found a swap file by the name "/var/tmp/Makefile.swp"
     owned by: root  dated: Sat Jul 7 14:16:37 2007
     file name: /usr/src/linux/Makefile
     modified: YES
     user name: root  host name: tuatha-desktop
    process ID: 28210
While opening file "/usr/src/linux/Makefile"

(1) Another program may be editing the same file.
  If this is the case, be careful not to end up with two
  different instances of the same file when making changes.
  Quit, or continue with caution.

(2) An edit session for this file crashed.
  If this is the case, use ":recover" or "vim -r /usr/src/linux/Makefile"
  to recover the changes (see ":help recovery").
  If you did this already, delete the swap file "/var/tmp/Makefile.swp"
  to avoid this message.

"/usr/src/linux/Makefile" [New DIRECTORY]
Press ENTER or type command to continue

and when I press Enter, the left side of the Konsole fills up with blue "~" and won't change until I close Konsole and start a new one.

[Rog131]

Re: Cannot play video

E325: ATTENTION

and vi ===>

Vim documentation: usr_11
http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/usr_11.html

You get this message, because, when starting to edit a file, Vim checks if a
swap file already exists for that file. If there is one, there must be
something wrong. It may be one of these two situations.

1. Another edit session is active on this file. Look in the message for the
line with "process ID". It might look like this:

process ID: 12559 (still running)

The text "(still running)" indicates that the process editing this file
runs on the same computer. When working on a non-Unix system you will not
get this extra hint. When editing a file over a network, you may not see
the hint, because the process might be running on another computer. In
those two cases you must find out what the situation is yourself.
If there is another Vim editing the same file, continuing to edit will
result in two versions of the same file. The one that is written last will
overwrite the other one, resulting in loss of changes. You better quit
this Vim.

2. The swap file might be the result from a previous crash of Vim or the
computer. Check the dates mentioned in the message. If the date of the
swap file is newer than the file you were editing, and this line appears:

modified: YES

Then you very likely have a crashed edit session that is worth recovering.
If the date of the file is newer than the date of the swap file, then
either it was changed after the crash (perhaps you recovered it earlier,
but didn't delete the swap file?), or else the file was saved before the
crash but after the last write of the swap file (then you're lucky: you
don't even need that old swap file).

Did you try kate or kwrite ?


Instructions are for different distributions and gnome/kde/whatever desktops -> need
common text editor -> Vi/ Vim

Vim - Vi IMproved, a programmers text editor

Vim is a text editor that is upwards compatible to Vi. It can be used
to edit all kinds of plain text. It is especially useful for editing
programs.

[tuatha1337]

Re: Cannot play video

yay, I managed to open it with kate (though I got the same error messages I always get when I open a file with kate from konsole)...

and the makefile file... was completely empty, there wasn't a scrap of text in it. I get the feeling that this is bad. Or this is somehow related to whatever edit session is active on the file...

Hmm, it looks like the swap file was made while I was installing the files recommended by the install guide.

[Rog131]

Re: Cannot play video

the makefile file... was completely empty, there wasn't a scrap of text in it.

Checking instructions (Ubuntu Linux 7.04 dependency packages (deb): )

There should be linux-headers-generic. But there isn't
linux-headers-generic will install the latest generic kernel headers available.
(= linux-headers-2.6.20-16-generic)

And this will be make /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-16-generic/ and create
symlink /usr/src/linux/ -> /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-16-generic/.

After this there will be /usr/src/linux/Makefile.


So try this (if you are using linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic):

sudo apt-get remove linux-headers-2.6.20-16-generic

Will remove (If there is damaged Makefile or something):

Removing linux-headers-generic ...
Removing linux-headers-2.6.20-16-generic ...

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic

Will install

Installed the following packages:
linux-headers-2.6.20-16-generic (2.6.20-16.29)
linux-headers-generic (2.6.20.16.28.1)

Try again 4.d.

[tuatha1337]

Re: Cannot play video

So Close!!!

I breezed by the above mention problem (changed /usr/src/linux to usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-16-generic) and worked my way through the rest of the tutorial without any problems.

I get to the vinstall, and it seems to run perfectly (though there is a slight pause after inputting the processor type and vmi/v41 specifications). Then I reboot my computer. ARGH!!!!!!!! No success! Same problem as before when I edited xorg.conf. Gets to the kubuntu loader, then nothing. no access to the log-in screen.

How would I go about seeing what went wrong?

[Rog131]

Re: Cannot play video

Hmm - Don't know if this help

Did you:
From Leonardo Andrés Gallego:

First we are going to remove any traces of other may-be-conflicting drivers:
sudo apt-get remove xserver-xorg-video-via xserver-xorg-video-unichrome

no access to the log-in screen.

Is there text log-in ?

If not: Ctrl+Alt+F1 -> log in text mode

How would I go about seeing what went wrong?

When you are in text mode:

nano /var/log/Xorg.0.log

nano is a small, free and friendly editor

In the Xorg.0.log should be information what went wrong.

Looking just errors and warnings:
Errors:

:~$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep "(EE)"

Warnings:

:~$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep "(WW)"

[tuatha1337]

Re: Cannot play video

Double-checked the apt-get remove command, both files are non-existent on my system.

There is text log-in, however, in order to view the command line, I must first reboot my system. When the video driver fails on normal start-up, I get a black screen with the blinking white brick that allows me to type whatever gibberish I may, but this gibberish doesn't do anything. (Heh, after trying it, Ctrl+Alt+F1-> does allow me to enter text mode. Out of curiosity, how do I get my computer to restart from this mode? I've only been able to manage logging out so far.)

Ok, so I went back to the failed log-in and checked out Xorg.0.log

There is one interesting error message:

(EE) VIA(0): Couldn't open "/dev/video2"

I'm not sure what to make of it.

However, after checking out the file with nano, something caught my eye towards the bottom:

VIASetModeUseBIOSTable: Cannot find suitable mode!!
Mode setting in XF86Config(-4) is not supported!!

Fatal Server error
AddScreen/ScreenInit failed for driver 0

Backtrace: 
0: /usr/bin/X(xf86SigHandler+0x81) [0x80c5d91]
1: [0xffffe420]
2: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/driver//via_drv.so(BIOS_SetFlatPanelState+0x43) [0xb7b26803]
3: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/driver//via_drv.so(VIAPrimarySetMode+0x56) [0xb7b27eb6]
4: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/driver//via_drv.so [0xb7b2dba7]
5: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/driver//via_drv.so [0xb7b2e880] 
6: /usr/bin/X(AbortDDX+0xad) [0x80a4c3d]
7: /usr/bin/X(AbortServer+0x23) [0x81ac993]
8: /usr/bin/X(FatalError+0x66) [0x81ace96]
9: /usr/bin/X(InitOutput+0x893) [0x80a5a83]
10: /usr/bin/X(main+0x27b) [0x807456b]
11: /lib/tls/i686/cmov/lib.so.6(__lib_start_main+0xdc) [0xb7d4febc]
12: /usr/bin/X(FontFileCompleteXLFD+0x1e1) [0x8073ab1)

FatalError re-entered, aborting
Caught signal 11. Server aborting

Seems like there's something to be found in there, I just don't know what it is....

[Rog131]

Re: Cannot play video

Out of curiosity, how do I get my computer to restart from this mode?
I've only been able to manage logging out so far.

Shutting down (reboot):

NAME
shutdown - bring the system down

SYNOPSIS
/sbin/shutdown [-t sec] [-arkhncfFHP] time [warning-message]

DESCRIPTION
shutdown brings the system down in a secure way. All logged-in users
are notified that the system is going down, and login(1) is blocked.

You :

sudo /sbin/shutdown -r now

-r Reboot after shutdown.

More (In the konsole):
man shutdown


You could try to start kde/kdm (after you have fixed xorg.conf) Ctrl + Alt F1 (or F2..F6) and:

sudo /etc/init.d/kdm start

Other options:

:~$ /etc/init.d/kdm -help
Usage: /etc/init.d/kdm {start|stop|restart|reload|force-reload}

Using error messages:
Have you tried to google with it ?
(EE) VIA(0): Couldn't open "/dev/video2" and google (34 hits) points to Via Arena.
You could find solutions or use arena and ask (with error messages) - what these mean ?

[tuatha1337]

Re: Cannot play video

Alrighty, I've been waiting for an answer from the folks at VIA for too long. They think it's a problem with my display mode and offered these two lines of code:

HorizSync 30.0 - 50.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 80.0

... but they didn't work.

I found the specs on my monitor but, I don't know how to adjust my xorg.conf settings to the right way:
http://support.dell.com/suppor...s/E153fpb/En/specs.htm

I also posted what my stable and unstable xorg.conf files look like at VIA:
http://forums.viaarena.com/messagevi...&enterthread=y

Is there any way you can help me determine what's up?

[Rog131]

Re: Cannot play video

From XFree86 Modeline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XFree86_Modeline

Modelines may no longer be necessary in XFree86 versions 4 and higher, since for many monitors and HDTVs they are now calculated by the X server at startup based on two factors...

Why to use modelines

EDID is not always completely accurate, and for some situations such as older or unusual display hardware or many HDTVs, it will be necessary to create a modelines to get the setting perfect.

You could just try:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "DELL E153FP"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 30-50
VertRefresh 50-80
EndSection

Or

You could try:

:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

This reconfigures xorg (ask questions - what you want to do) and makes backup.

Here is good page of sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg:
http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/p7.html