Ubuntu

Drivers for MSI PM8M3-V motherboard

Asked by LEGOManiac

My installation of Ubuntu has gone fairly well with a few exceptions having to do with graphics, that I'll deal with in the next post.

To the same end, I had thought to install the latest drivers for my MSI PM8M3-V motherboard.

MSI's Ubuntu drivers are version 7.10. I downloaded them anyway but Ubuntu wouldn't install them. I wasn't surprised by this as I'm using version 8.10.

I'm wondering: is it safe to use these drivers anyway, and if so, how?

Alternatively, is there another source for compatible drivers?

I only get the options for 1280x1024, 800x600 and 640x480 screen resolutions (and sometimes not even the 1280x1024, as I'll discuss in my next post. I'd like to get all my available screen resolutions back, as well as the (presumed) ability to correctly detect my monitor, but that's the topic for another post.

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Savvas Radevic (medigeek) said : 		#1

> MSI's Ubuntu drivers are version 7.10

Can you show me the link where you got the MSI drivers from?

Usually you don't have to download anything, Ubuntu catches every piece of hardware automatically.
Go to Applications > Accessories > Terminal and execute:

lspci -nn

If you see any "Unknown device", then you need a driver. If not, then you don't need anything!

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LEGOManiac (bzflaglegomaniac) said : 		#2

May I begin by saying that I am grateful for the you and the other volunteer experts are providing.

Sorry. The question was a bit misleading. I was looking for MSI drivers on the MSI site but they only have Windows drivers. The chipset on the MSI motherboard is made by VIA so I checked out their site and it was there that I found Linux drivers:

http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=2&OSID=45

Since it's the video I'm having problems with, I selected the Integrated Graphics link then the P4M800 chipset to arrive at the Ubuntu 7.10 drivers.

Unzipping it, I followed the instructions in the installation instructions, correcting the typo's present and tried installing:

VIA_U710_UniChrome-GFX-v40072d.run

I figured this would probably fail so I tried it anyway just to see what it would say:

sudo sh VIA_U710_UniChrome-GFX-v40072d.run
Verifying archive integrity... All good.
Uncompressing VIA UniChrome (Pro) Family Linux Driver for Ubuntu 7.10 v40072d...................................................................................................................................................................................

Please choose the job you want to do:
1. Install driver
2. Uninstall driver
1
====== VIA UniChrome (Pro) Family Display Driver for Ubuntu 7.10 ======
====== Installation Program ======
Error:
  This driver package is only support the default kernel
  "2.6.22-14-generic" for Ubuntu 7.10

I'm pretty sure I get this: it's complaining that I have the wrong version of Ubuntu.

If this were Windows XP, I'd be comfortable trying to install these drivers anyway to see what happens, knowing that I can always reboot in Safe Mode and use the "Roll Back Drivers" option if it fails. I'm not shure how or even if this can be done in Ubuntu.

I am aware that, when booting Grub, you can choose from 4 different installations: the current kernel version and the previous version along with what appear to be two "safe mode" variations of the corresponding kernels.

I presume that I could use the "safe mode" (can't remember exactly what it was called) version to fix 8.10 if the drivers fail.

I tried your suggestion of using "lspci -nn" and got the following results:

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge [1106:0314]
00:00.1 Host bridge [0600]: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge [1106:1314]
00:00.2 Host bridge [0600]: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge [1106:2314]
00:00.3 Host bridge [0600]: VIA Technologies, Inc. PT890 Host Bridge [1106:3208]
00:00.4 Host bridge [0600]: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge [1106:4314]
00:00.7 Host bridge [0600]: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge [1106:7314]
00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237/VX700 PCI Bridge [1106:b198]
00:0f.0 IDE interface [0101]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE [1106:0571] (rev 06)
00:10.0 USB Controller [0c03]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller [1106:3038] (rev 81)
00:10.1 USB Controller [0c03]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller [1106:3038] (rev 81)
00:10.2 USB Controller [0c03]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller [1106:3038] (rev 81)
00:10.3 USB Controller [0c03]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller [1106:3038] (rev 81)
00:10.4 USB Controller [0c03]: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 [1106:3104] (rev 86)
00:11.0 ISA bridge [0601]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 ISA bridge [KT600/K8T800/K8T890 South] [1106:3227]
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller [1106:3059] (rev 60)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] [1106:3065] (rev 78)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/P4M800 Pro/P4M800 CE/VN800 [S3 UniChrome Pro] [1106:3344] (rev 01)

From that output it would appear that Ubuntu has correctly identified my chip set but what isn't clear is if the drivers are from VIA themselves or someone else's attempt at a VIA driver.

I'd like to get my full video support back (all modes), have the monitor detected properly, and have the correct version of OpenGL installed. (actually, I'm not even sure if the VIA drivers include OpenGL drivers, but I have software that needs it)

So, the core of my question:

 - Is it even advisable to try forcing an older version of the official VIA drivers on the system, or am I headed for disaster? It could be months before VIA comes out with an 8.10 updated driver.

- If it's not a disaster in the making, how do I go about installing the drivers without them being rejected?

- If it fails, what is the proceedure for rolling back the driver to the one I currently have?

Revision history for this message
Savvas Radevic (medigeek) said : 		#3

> I'd like to get my full video support back (all modes), have the monitor detected properly, and have the correct version of OpenGL installed. (actually, I'm not even sure if the VIA drivers include OpenGL drivers, but I have software that needs it)

You have to go to System > Administration > Hardware drivers
See if there are any drivers that have to be installed for your devices. If not (and I think you don't need any for VIA), then that's good, just head to System > Preferences > Screen Resolution, see if you can set the screen resolution/modes you want.

This is your VIA graphics card:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/P4M800 Pro/P4M800 CE/VN800 [S3 UniChrome Pro] [1106:3344] (rev 01)

Use the above to ask help in http://www.ubuntuforums.org
You probably need to post the contents of the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf as well - to do that, you have to execute:

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

With these two information, I think you'll get the screen resolution you wish, provided that another Ubuntu member knows how to configure the xorg.conf file for VIA. :)

 - Is it even advisable to try forcing an older version of the official VIA drivers on the system, or am I headed for disaster? It could be months before VIA comes out with an 8.10 updated driver.

Probably headed for disaster, since I think their drivers are specific to the kernel version.
You could ask from VIA to update their drivers for 8.10, otherwise stick with what you have (and usually that's the smartest choice). :)

- If it's not a disaster in the making, how do I go about installing the drivers without them being rejected?
- If it fails, what is the proceedure for rolling back the driver to the one I currently have?
You can force it, and you can remove it.

To install through command line (Terminal) you execute:
sudo dpkg -i thepackage-file.deb

to remove it (purge) you execute:
sudo dpkg -P thepackage

Warning: Since it's not in neither Debian nor Ubuntu repositories, I can't guarantee that it will work as expected - you should check that out with the VIA support or forums. :)

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LEGOManiac (bzflaglegomaniac) said : 		#4

Thanks. I'll follow your advice and pursue the forums with respect to tweaking the VIA settings and consider this thread closed.

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sandeep raut (sandeep-raut) said : 		#5

i have want Drivers for MSI PM8M3-V motherboard

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Jeruvy (jeruvy) said : 		#6

Sandeep,

This answer is marked 'solved'. You will get far more attention to your issues if you post a NEW question.

Thanks very much.