Problems with fglrx
This page discusses issues with the ATI proprietary fglrx display driver.
Contents
Known Troubles and Solutions
No hardware acceleration
If the ATI driver works only without the hardware acceleration, take into consideration that fglrx_dri.so was linked against libstdc++.so.5 which may not be present if your system uses gcc-3.4.
To fix this, compile gcc-3.3.5 and copy libstdc++.so.5* to /usr/lib and update the dynamic linker cache via # ldconfig.
Another possible cause for broken hardware acceleration (2D and 3D) is the radeonfb framebuffer: Switching to vesafb or vesafb-tng is reported to solve the problem on some systems. Also it has proven helpful to not perform # modprobe fglrx after boot but to have the module loaded via /etc/modules.autoload/kernel2.x at boottime instead.
Troubles using software suspend
When the computer resumes from suspend, X only displays a garbled image and the computer is frozen. The problem is acknowledged in ATI's release notes and in knowledge base entry 737-218. Driver version 8.19.10 has "initial support for Suspend and Resume".
Using vbetool to save/restore the video card state before/after suspend solved this for some people. If you use Software Suspend 2 (suspend2) scripts, you can simply uncomment EnableVbetool yes in /etc/hibernate/hibernate.conf.
| model | distro | kernel | fglrx | PM | success | comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T42 | SUSE 9.3 | 2.6.11 | 8.14.13 | swsusp | yes | |
| T41p | ??? | 2.6.14 | 8.19.10 | suspend2 2.2-rc9 | yes | needs a small patch |
| T42p | Debian | 2.6.10 | Debian packaged | suspend2 | yes | |
| T43 | ??? | 2.6.12-rc6 | 8.14.13 | suspend2 | no | works if fglrx kernel driver not loaded |
| T43 | FC3 | 2.6.14.1 | 8.19.10 | suspend2 2.2-rc9 | yes | needs a small patch |
| R50p | ??? | ??? | 8.19.10 | swsusp | yes |
Troubles with large RAM
Version 8.14.13 (and probably earlier versions) of the driver does not seem to be able to cope with large amounts of RAM: with 512 MB it works, with 1.5 GB it crashes the machine as soon as X is started. The problem is present only if the fglrx kernel module is loaded, but independently of whether (CONFIG_HIGHMEM) is enabled. A workaround is to limit RAM by adding the mem=864m kernel parameter.
Version 8.16.20 fixes the problem.
Display switching
The switching between internal and external display doesn't work, because the driver blocks messing around with the chipset via ACPI. If you want to use this feature (i.e. during presentations), you should use the VESA server instead (experienced with a R52, Kernel 2.6.11, xorg 6.8.2, fglrx 8.16.20).
Patches
The following patches might be needed for certain versions of fglrx.
- for kernel >= 2.6.13 Missing verify_area bug
V 8.8.25
Beta Testing
The fglrx developers are looking for T Series users to take part in their beta program.
If interested, plese contact mtippett (at) ati.com.
