Bug 18407

Created attachment 20101 [details]
old xorg.log

Created attachment 20102 [details]
xorg.conf

Created attachment 20103 [details]
xorg.log

Created attachment 20104 [details]
radeontool regmatch '*' after fresh boot

Created attachment 20105 [details]
Xfree running ...

Created attachment 20106 [details]
Xfree killed with ctrl-alt-bs, console still usable (bright text)

Created attachment 20107 [details]
Xorg running ...

Created attachment 20108 [details]
Xorg killed like XFree by me, but text console mauch darker now

Created attachment 20109 [details]
2nd cycle in row - Xorg running

Created attachment 20110 [details]
now  text hardly visible without brightness boost.

Created attachment 20111 [details]
diff -u between Xfree and Xorg

Separate runs, but just reboot in between, not full power off/wait/power on cycle.

http://mail-index.netbsd.org/tech-x11/2008/10/03/msg000156.html

This is not only my problem...

Yes, that's definitely not broken hardware issue. I was experiencing this bug using my old notebook Acer 5024 with X700 Mobility.
After every X restart console screen was getting darker. However X was fine, ever when I couldn't read anything in VTx, I didn't see any difference in X.

I have Arch Linux with the xf86-video-ati(6.10.0-1) and xorg(1.5.3-4)from the "extra" repo. After starting the X server the text console becomes very dark. Both if I change to another tty or I exit X.

(In reply to comment #14)
> I have Arch Linux with the xf86-video-ati(6.10.0-1) and xorg(1.5.3-4)from the
> "extra" repo. After starting the X server the text console becomes very dark.
> Both if I change to another tty or I exit X.

6.10.0 version is over year old, could you check some up-to-date version?

My ooold Acer has broken PANEL (well, it does not have it anymore) so I can not debug this locally.

If problem still exists for you in current version of radeon (xf86-video-ati) we should be able to easily debug this with simple registers chacking.

closing due to lack of feedback.

My RV370 still has this problem with 6.13.2 on 1.6.5 (on NetBSD, pkgsrc Xorg, using UMS obviously).

Jonathan: I really got lost in this report and attachements plus I do not know *BSD.

First of all, does this issue happen when you switch from X to console? Like ALT+CTRL+F1 in Linux? I believe there is similar operation in *BSD?

Or does it happen only if you close/kill whole X?

(In reply to comment #18)
> First of all, does this issue happen when you switch from X to console? Like
> ALT+CTRL+F1 in Linux? I believe there is similar operation in *BSD?

AFAIU:
1) ALT+CTRL+F1: quite nice console
2) ALT+CTRL+F7: back to X
3) ALT+CTRL+Fx: darker console
4) ALT+CTRL+Fx: back to X
5) ALT+CTRL+Fx: even darker console

and so on... Is that right?

(In reply to comment #19)
> (In reply to comment #18)
> > First of all, does this issue happen when you switch from X to console? Like
> > ALT+CTRL+F1 in Linux? I believe there is similar operation in *BSD?
> 
> AFAIU:
> 1) ALT+CTRL+F1: quite nice console
> 2) ALT+CTRL+F7: back to X
> 3) ALT+CTRL+Fx: darker console
> 4) ALT+CTRL+Fx: back to X
> 5) ALT+CTRL+Fx: even darker console
> 
> and so on... Is that right

Yes, it happens at every switch from X to console (VT switch or X exit), with the console getting progressively dimmer each time. `vbetool vbemode set 3` will restore the normal intensity to the console.

> Yes, it happens at every switch from X to console (VT switch or X exit), with
> the console getting progressively dimmer each time. `vbetool vbemode set 3`
> will restore the normal intensity to the console.

Also, it doesn't happen if the output is DVI-D, only VGA (and maybe TV, but I'm not sure about that).

Please, do cold boot (to have "fresh" brightness) into X and perform following:

1) ALT+CTRL+F1 (to console)
2) radeontool regmatch '*' > console.great.log
3) ALT+CTRL+F7 (back to X)

4) ALT+CTRL+F1 (to console)
5) radeontool regmatch '*' > console.good.log
6) ALT+CTRL+F7 (back to X)

7) ALT+CTRL+F1 (to console)
8) radeontool regmatch '*' > console.poor.log
9) ALT+CTRL+F7 (back to X)

10) ALT+CTRL+F1 (to console)
11) radeontool regmatch '*' > console.bad.log
12) ALT+CTRL+F7 (back to X)

Then attach all the 4 logs. Please note I am not interested in dumps from X. Just console (ALT+CTRL+F1).

Well, bugzilla doesn't seem to want to let me attach anything. :(

Anyway, PALETTE_30_DATA seems to be the only relevant register that changes when the brightness changes.

Created attachment 39593 [details] [review]
save/restore palette

Does this patch help?

Created attachment 39594 [details]
Comparision of regs

Comparison based on regs dumps I got privately mailed. In case Alex's patch won't help.

This comparison looks weird however... Maybe it's really PALETTE related?

(In reply to comment #24)
> Created an attachment (id=39593) [details]
> save/restore palette
> 
> Does this patch help?

unfortunately not.

(In reply to comment #26)
> (In reply to comment #24)
> > Created an attachment (id=39593) [details] [details]
> > save/restore palette
> > 
> > Does this patch help?
> 
> unfortunately not.

Playing with this some more, if I move the palette restore to after the vgahw restore, it works properly.

Thanks.  Pushed:
5efdf514ab0e5439114e8dd7a49105812155eb69

*** Bug 19217 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***