Cannot make Direct-Rendering video work

Asked by David A. Cobb

The question is "What should I try next?" The detailed situation is as follows.

XUbuntu 12.10. Up-to-date, plenty of optional packages installed.

Hardware, here is what 'lspci' tells me:
-[0000:00]-+-00.0 Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 761/M761 Host
           +-01.0-[01]--+-00.0 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RV710 [Radeon HD 4350]
           | \-00.1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RV710/730 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 4000 series]
           +-02.0 Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS965 [MuTIOL Media IO]
           +-02.5 Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 IDE Controller

$ { dmesg | grep -e "agp" -e '\<dri\>' -e '\<drm\>' ; } | tee ...
[ 0.152915] agpgart-amd64 0000:00:00.0: >AGP bridge [1039/0761]
[ 0.155608] agpgart-amd64 0000:00:00.0: >AGP aperture is 64M @ 0xf0000000
[ 0.332591] Linux agpgart interface v0.103

So, I have an agp port but no direct rendering module loaded.

Using vesafb during boot-up, if it matters.

Attempting to run a program that really needs fancy rendering, such as any version of Celestia incurs:
bash_$ celestia-glut
X Error of failed request: BadRequest (invalid request code or no such operation)
  Major opcode of failed request: 153 (GLX)
  Minor opcode of failed request: 19 (X_GLXQueryServerString)
  Serial number of failed request: 22
  Current serial number in output stream: 22

bash_$ celestia-gnome
The program 'celestia-gnome' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'BadRequest (invalid request code or no such operation)'.
  (Details: serial 1319 error_code 1 request_code 153 minor_code 19)
  (Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
   that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
   To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
   option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
   backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)

bash_$ celestia [ same as above ]

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N1ck 7h0m4d4k15
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Best N1ck 7h0m4d4k15 (nicktux) said :
#1

Ubuntu 12.10 (or derivatives Xubuntu , Kubuntu ..etc) they have Xorg 1.13.
This version of Xorg and your graphics card (series 4xxx) don't have good relationship.

This is due to AMD/ATI that stopped to support these cards (series 2xxx-4xxx) for Linux.
See the article here:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd_catalyst_legacy2&num=1

So you have either to use Xubuntu 12.04 LTS
OR
add a PPA to downgrade automatically the Xorg version and install Catalyst Legacy driver (now is 13.1 version).

To add the ppa use the commands below

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:makson96/fglrx
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install fglrx-legacy

Please copy-paste the 4 commands above one by one , for more accuracy.
Then reboot your system.

Thank you.

Revision history for this message
N1ck 7h0m4d4k15 (nicktux) said :
#3

Didn't work ?

I saw you re-opened the question ... meaning not solved.

What happened ?

Thanks

Revision history for this message
David A. Cobb (superbiskit) said :
#4

Sorry, Nick. I posted my results by mail, but the text didn't get posted. Probably pilot error.
The original post follows:
----
I do think my problem is solved, but not without some problems. I suspect the instructions should have included purging at least any remnant of the other fglrx* packages. I'm attaching an edited copy of the aptitude term.log.

Celestia does run, Open Universe does run, gl-117 doesn't run.
The menu item for "3D acceleration" launches DRIConf in "expert mode," however I can't do anything useful with it. Should I perhaps remove driconf? Should I reinstall some other packages so the installer finds the GL pieces it should?

The hardware settings item for "AMD Catalyst Control Center" did seem to be effective.

Q221151.log

(Reading database ... 1284825 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking fglrx-legacy (from .../fglrx-legacy_2%3a8.97.100.7-makson1~ppa1_amd64.deb) ...
/usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh: 32: /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh: cannot create /etc/ati/fglrx-uninstall.log: Directory nonexistent

[Warning] Uninstall : inst_path_default or inst_path_override
 does not exist in /etc/ati. This suggests that the AMD driver
 is not installed, the AMD driver is only partially installed,
 or the current AMD driver installed is an older version than the
 one this script was designed for. Both files listed above are
 required for determining where installed files are located.
 To force uninstallation of the driver by guessing where the
 uninstallation files are located, set the force option
 re-run /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh (this is not recommended).

dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/fglrx-legacy_2%3a8.97.100.7-makson1~ppa1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
Log ended: 2013-02-06 10:32:02

########### HUMAN COMMENT ##############
There might be a better way than modifying /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh to set useForce="true", but I didn't know what it is:
#######################################

/usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh: 32: /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh: cannot create /etc/ati/fglrx-uninstall.log: Directory nonexistent
Forcing uninstall of AMD Catalyst(TM) Proprietary Driver.
No integrity verification is done.
/usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh: 91: /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh: cannot create /etc/ati/fglrx-uninstall.log: Directory nonexistent
/usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh: 1: /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh: cannot create /etc/ati/fglrx-uninstall.log: Directory nonexistent
/usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh: 402: /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh: cannot create /etc/ati/fglrx-uninstall.log: Directory nonexistent
/usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh: 1: /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh: cannot create /etc/ati/fglrx-uninstall.log: Directory nonexistent

########### HUMAN COMMENT ##############
#### Many many repetitions of the above clipped
#######################################

/usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh: 413: /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh: cannot create /etc/ati/fglrx-uninstall.log: Directory nonexistent
ln: failed to create symbolic link `/usr/lib32/fglrx/libGL.so': No such file or directory
########### HUMAN COMMENT ##############
#### That is a bit scary! But things continued, so I hope I'm not damaged
#######################################

restore of system environment completed
Error! There are no instances of module: fglrx
8.97.100.7 located in the DKMS tree.
Errors during DKMS module removal
Uninstall fglrx driver complete.
For detailed log of uninstall, please see /etc/ati/fglrx-uninstall.log
System must be rebooted to avoid system instability and potential data loss.
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.5.0-23-generic
Processing triggers for ureadahead ...
Setting up fglrx-amdcccle-legacy (2:8.97.100.7-makson1~ppa1) ...
Setting up fglrx-legacy-dev (2:8.97.100.7-makson1~ppa1) ...
Setting up fglrx-legacy (2:8.97.100.7-makson1~ppa1) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/fglrx/ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/x86_64-linux-gnu_GL.conf (x86_64-linux-gnu_gl_conf) in auto mode
update-alternatives: warning: skip creation of /etc/OpenCL/vendors/amdocl32.icd because associated file /usr/lib/fglrx/etc/OpenCL/vendors/amdocl32.icd (of link group x86_64-linux-gnu_gl_conf) doesn't exist
update-alternatives: warning: forcing reinstallation of alternative /usr/lib/fglrx/ld.so.conf because link group x86_64-linux-gnu_gl_conf is broken
########### HUMAN COMMENT ############## ANOTHER SCARY BREAKAGE WARNING

update-alternatives: warning: skip creation of /etc/OpenCL/vendors/amdocl32.icd because associated file /usr/lib/fglrx/etc/OpenCL/vendors/amdocl32.icd (of link group x86_64-linux-gnu_gl_conf) doesn't exist
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/fglrx/alt_ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/i386-linux-gnu_GL.conf (i386-linux-gnu_gl_conf) in auto mode
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.5.0-17-generic
Loading new fglrx-legacy-8.97.100.7 DKMS files...
First Installation: checking all kernels...
Building for 3.5.0-17-generic and 3.5.0-23-generic
Building for architecture x86_64
Building initial module for 3.5.0-17-generic
Done.

fglrx:
Running module version sanity check.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/3.5.0-17-generic/updates/dkms/

depmod.............................

DKMS: install completed.
Building initial module for 3.5.0-23-generic
Done.

fglrx:
Running module version sanity check.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/3.5.0-23-generic/updates/dkms/

depmod.................................................................

DKMS: install completed.
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for ureadahead ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.5.0-23-generic
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Log ended: 2013-02-06 11:09:15

Revision history for this message
David A. Cobb (superbiskit) said :
#5

Thanks NikTh, that solved my question.