Bug 28444 - no image / bad image on external monitor
Summary: no image / bad image on external monitor
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: xorg
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Driver/Radeon (show other bugs)
Version: git
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64) Linux (All)
: medium major
Assignee: xf86-video-ati maintainers
QA Contact: Xorg Project Team
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2010-06-08 06:25 UTC by Wout
Modified: 2010-12-05 23:54 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

See Also:
i915 platform:
i915 features:


Attachments
monitor image using HDMI (409.11 KB, image/jpeg)
2010-06-08 06:25 UTC, Wout
no flags Details
X server log (35.65 KB, patch)
2010-06-08 06:26 UTC, Wout
no flags Details | Splinter Review
xrandr output (971 bytes, text/plain)
2010-06-08 06:27 UTC, Wout
no flags Details
dmesg output (61.06 KB, text/plain)
2010-06-08 07:36 UTC, Wout
no flags Details
dmesg on 2.6.34 kernel (53.72 KB, text/plain)
2010-06-08 08:15 UTC, Wout
no flags Details
Xorg.0.log for 2.6.34 kernel (85.77 KB, patch)
2010-06-08 08:15 UTC, Wout
no flags Details | Splinter Review
xrandr output for 2.6.34 kernel with monitor on HDMI (868 bytes, text/plain)
2010-06-08 08:17 UTC, Wout
no flags Details

Description Wout 2010-06-08 06:25:41 UTC
Created attachment 36141 [details]
monitor image using HDMI

Hi,

I have a Sony VAIO VPC EB1M1E laptop with an ATI Radeon HD5600 series graphics chip (Redwood). Apart from the laptop screen it has one HDMI and one VGA connector. Using the xorg radeon driver I have not been able to get a usable image on my external monitor (Iiyama ProLite E2403WS, 24" LCD).

I am currently running a self compiled version of the radeon driver (pulled from git repository). Version is 6.13.99. When I connect the external monitor to the VGA port I get no image at all (black screen). Xrandr does see the monitor and selects the appropriate mode (1920x1200). If I use the HDMI instead the best I get is a garbled image (photo attached). Again xrandr sees the monitor and selects the appropriate mode.

So it looks like things are almost working: the monitor is detected properly; xrandr shows the right video modes; with HDMI the monitor shows an image that resembles my desktop.

I've attached a photo showing laptop and monitor. The monitor is connected via HDMI. Also attached is xrandr output for HDMI and the Xorg log.

I'm happy to try different versions of the driver, apply patches, provide more info, etc. etc. Just let me know what is needed.

All the best,
Wout
Comment 1 Wout 2010-06-08 06:26:37 UTC
Created attachment 36142 [details] [review]
X server log
Comment 2 Wout 2010-06-08 06:27:12 UTC
Created attachment 36143 [details]
xrandr output
Comment 3 Alex Deucher 2010-06-08 07:32:41 UTC
What kernel are you using?  Can you attach your dmesg?
Comment 4 Wout 2010-06-08 07:36:06 UTC
Created attachment 36149 [details]
dmesg output
Comment 5 Wout 2010-06-08 07:37:37 UTC
Uname output:
Linux zoot 2.6.32-5-amd64 #1 SMP Tue Jun 1 04:34:03 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Debian testing system running kernel from unstable (this made KMS work).
Comment 6 Alex Deucher 2010-06-08 07:39:42 UTC
Any chance you could try 2.6.34?
Comment 7 Wout 2010-06-08 07:49:33 UTC
(In reply to comment #6)
> Any chance you could try 2.6.34?

I will give the 2.6.34 kernel from experimental a try.. it has some dependencies that are scary so if you never hear back from me you know what happened. ;-)
Comment 8 Wout 2010-06-08 08:14:10 UTC
(In reply to comment #6)
> Any chance you could try 2.6.34?

Ok, I've installed kernel from Debian experimental:
Linux zoot 2.6.34-1-amd64 #1 SMP Sun Jun 6 22:29:25 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I even installed the separate firmware package this required as that seemed relevant:
ii firmware-linux-nonfree 0.24 Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel

This contains firmware for various radeon cards.


I then also updated libdrm* to the experimental version: 2.4.20-3

Finally I recompiled the 6.13.0 version of the radeon driver.


At this point X log reports that KMS is no longer supported.
(II) [KMS] drm report modesetting isn't supported.

I will attach fresh dmesg and Xorg.0.log.
Comment 9 Wout 2010-06-08 08:15:07 UTC
Created attachment 36150 [details]
dmesg on 2.6.34 kernel
Comment 10 Wout 2010-06-08 08:15:58 UTC
Created attachment 36151 [details] [review]
Xorg.0.log for 2.6.34 kernel
Comment 11 Wout 2010-06-08 08:17:00 UTC
Created attachment 36152 [details]
xrandr output for 2.6.34 kernel with monitor on HDMI
Comment 12 Wout 2010-06-08 08:18:27 UTC
(In reply to comment #8)
> (In reply to comment #6)
> > Any chance you could try 2.6.34?
> 

Finally: I forgot to mention that with 2.6.34 and all the other updates I now just get a black screen on the monitor (it indicates no signal).
Comment 13 Alex Deucher 2010-06-08 09:23:10 UTC
Make sure the 2.6.34 kernel has kms enabled.  You'll need kms for working digital outputs on most evergreen cards.
Comment 14 Wout 2010-06-09 09:33:33 UTC
(In reply to comment #13)
> Make sure the 2.6.34 kernel has kms enabled.  You'll need kms for working
> digital outputs on most evergreen cards.

I got it working using only Debian packages (no need to compile the driver myself after all).

* Kernel 2.6.34 from experimental
* Firmware "nonfree" package from squeeze (testing)
* DRM packages from experimental
* Radeon driver from unstable

I had to force load the radeon kernel module (added it to /etc/modules). Note that this kernel is compiled with these DRM/KMS/radeon related options:
    CONFIG_DRM=m
    CONFIG_DRM_KMS_HELPER=m
    CONFIG_DRM_TTM=m
    CONFIG_DRM_TDFX=m
    CONFIG_DRM_R128=m
    CONFIG_DRM_RADEON=m
    # CONFIG_DRM_RADEON_KMS is not set
    CONFIG_DRM_I810=m
    CONFIG_DRM_I830=m
    CONFIG_DRM_I915=m
    # CONFIG_DRM_I915_KMS is not set
    CONFIG_DRM_MGA=m
    CONFIG_DRM_SIS=m
    CONFIG_DRM_VIA=m
    CONFIG_DRM_SAVAGE=m

Version list of Debian packages:
firmware-linux-nonfree/squeeze uptodate 0.24
libdrm-radeon1/experimental uptodate 2.4.20-3
libdrm2/experimental uptodate 2.4.20-3
linux-image-2.6.34-1-amd64/experimental uptodate 2.6.34-1~experimental.2
xserver-xorg-video-radeon/unstable uptodate 1:6.13.0-2

No special X11 configuration was required.
At this point it works nicely.

One weird thing still happens: When I log out, the X server gets restarted. It displays the login screen on my laptop. One second later the external monitor displays a chaotic horizontal line pattern that appears to scroll vertically. After logging in the external monitor goes blank (laptop screen works). I can get the external monitor back to work normally using xrandr so I'm not fussed.

Thanks for your help and for all the great work on the driver, Alex!


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