I am also experiencing severe problems with the Nouveau driver (hang on black screen), see https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39498

I would like to ask one question... What do you mean exactly for "nomodeset" ? Is it equivalent to "nouveau.modeset=0" on kernel boot parameters or otherwise "option nouveau modeset=0" in modprobe.conf ?

I am now going to try that out...

Thanks.

@ Guido Trentalancia  - 'nomodeset' is a boot code that one enters on the options line of the Grub menu in openSUSE, and its use is documented in the openSUSE-11.3 and 11.4 release notes. It typically disables modesetting in the kernel for that boot, and it also forces openSUSE to use the 'nv' driver.

To all, I encountered what I believe to be the same problem with the 3.0 RC7 kernel on a 32-bit openSUSE-12.1 milestone-3 on a GeForce FX5200 hardware (which booted the nouveau driver fine with the latest 2.6.39 kernel on Tumbleweed-11.4).  

Note I also applied the suggested fix on this 32-bit openSUSE-12.1 Milestone-3 with this FX5200 hardware with the 3.0 RC7 kernel as noted in https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=707110 installing the specially packaged application drm-nouveau-kmp-desktop by Johannes Obermayr, but that was insufficient.  I also had to install the updated xorg-x11-driver-video-nouveau also packaged by Johannes Obermayr after which the nouveau driver did work on my FX5200. I documented that in Comment#7 on that https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=707110 thread.

So with BOTH packages the nouveau driver works for me on the 3.0 rc7 kernel.

Lee, most of the packages shipped by Johannes Obermayr are just git versions.

If you look at the first part of https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39498#c22 (Comment 22 of the severe issue I was experiencing and that I have now sorted out), you would realize that in particular:

- xorg driver xf86-video-nouveau shipped by openSUSE as from jobermayr is
exactly or basically the same source code as upstream git;

- libdrm is exactly or basically the same source code as upstream libdrm git;

- the drm kernel modules (20110721.2009-2.3) use the build option
CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU_KMS=y, which as far as I remember was set to 'n' in the
Makefile from the Nouveau DRM wiki (although I did also try enabling that once
on the git source without achieving anything): in any case I did not touch the
kernel module, still using the already mentioned one from freedesktop snapshot;

In my particular case, the difference was probably made by using the Mesa build options from Johannes Obermayr:

jobermayr: --enable-dri --enable-glx --enable-osmesa --with-dri-drivers=i810,i915,i965,nouveau,swrast --enable-shared-dricore --enable-gles1 --enable-gles2 --enable-openvg --enable-shared-glapi --with-gallium-drivers=i915,i965,nouveau,svga,swrast --enable-xcb --enable-xorg --enable-xa --enable-gallium-egl --with-egl-platforms=x11,drm --enable-debug --with-x --enable-gallium-llvm --enable-gbm --enable-gallium-gbm --enable-gallium-g3dvl --enable-xvmc --enable-vdpau --enable-texture-float --with-egl-displays=x11,drm

instead of: --enable-selinux -with-dri-drivers=nouveau,i915,swrast --with-gallium-drivers=nouveau,i915,swrast,svga

But I need to check it properly and understand which one of those several options did the trick.

Let's get to your nomodeset issue. My understanding as someone whom is not an expert at all, is that starting the framebuffer console during initial boot-up before X starts, creates problems.

All I can think of is the following mandatory drm kernel parameters:

CONFIG_VT_HW_CONSOLE_BINDING=y
CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_CONSOLE (Nouveau wiki reccomends setting it to 'y', but is also says that modeset=0 is equivalent to deactivating that option)

Did you go through the following:

http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/KernelModeSetting ?

Created attachment 49588 [details]
Tar.gz file with LOGS when nouveau failed, and after applying jobermayr fix logs from when nouveau worked

Attached are the boot.log and Xorg.0.log when the nouveau driver boot failed with an FX5200 on 32-bit kernel 3.0 RC. Also in the compressed file are the dmesg (ie boot.log) and Xorg.0.log file when the nouveau driver works with jobermayr fix.

@ Guido - I've seen http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/KernelModeSetting but there is nothing in there needed for me. Johannes Obermayr's fix worked for me. I have the nouveau driver working.

This bug report was raised to address an issue observed by j.reitsma and it may not be the same as yours. I agreed to test Johannes Obermayr's build. I tested it. It worked. 

I also don't think we should needlessly obscure this bug report if what you encountered is different.

You mentioned me having a nomodest issue. I don't have a nomodeset issue. I am now using the nouveau driver.  

In my above post I attached what I hope are helpful log files.

I'm really keen to change my successful GNU/Linux install configuration with the nouveau driver and the 3.0 RC7 kernel (with openSUSE-12.1 milestone3) as I have been asked to do OTHER LXDE desktop testing (with GTK3) that may obscure the success of this configuration, and I would like to stop my support here for this bug.  I don't have the technical knowledge here to offer much. I was asked test a specific package. I did. It worked.

So I am hoping there are no requests for further information on this successful nouveau install from me, using nVidia FX5200 hardware on a 32-bit 3.0 RC7 kernel (openSUSE-12.1 Milestone3).

After update the xorg-x11-driver-video-nouveau package with Johannes',
I can boot without nomodeset!

Occasionally X (or KDE only, I can't figure out yet) freezes, sometimes with frozen mouse pointer, sometimes with a still movable mouse pointer.

If time permits, I'll search for clues in the log files.

It appears that this bug report has laid dormant for quite a while. Sorry we haven't gotten to it. Since we fix bugs all the time, chances are pretty good that your issue has been fixed with the latest software. Please give it a shot. (Linux kernel 3.10.7, xf86-video-nouveau 1.0.9, mesa 9.1.6, or their git versions.) If upgrading to the latest isn't an option for you, your distro's bugzilla is probably the right destination for your bug report.

In an effort to clean up our bug list, we're pre-emptively closing all bugs that haven't seen updates since 2011. If the original issue remains, please make sure to provide fresh info, see http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/Bugs/ for what we need to see, and re-open this one.

Thanks,

The Nouveau Team