F8 and F9 compute different modelines (was: can't get X to work after installing F9)

[Vadim Nasardinov]

On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 11:44 AM, Vadim Nasardinov wrote:
> I upgraded my aging F7 box to F9 yesterday by reinstalling from
> scratch.  After I finished installing selected packages and
> rebooted, I discovered that X no longer worked.  The init process
> gets to the point where it tries to switch into the graphical boot
> screen whereupon my monitor gets wedged.  It says "Out of range" --
> one of those messages that come directly from the monitor itself.

As I mentioned in a different post
 Message-ID: <7f1696260806100729l640a6befn8956ebc7e289b10 at mail.gmail.com>
I tried downgrading to F8 and it worked.

The difference between F8's and F9's xorg.conf is minimal:

 | $ diff f8/conf/xorg.conf f9/conf/xorg.conf
 | 9a10
 | > # keyboard added by rhpxl
 | 13c14
 | <       Option      "XkbLayout" "us+inet"
 | ---
 | >       Option      "XkbLayout" "us"


So, this can't be the issue.

But the difference between modelines computed by F8 and F9 may be pointing
to the cause of my problems.

The diff between F8's and F9's /var/log/anaconda.xlog is voluminous.
Here are some excerpts:

===============================================================================

36c37
< (II) Loader magic: 0x7bd560
---
> (II) Loader magic: 0x7b3e60
39,41c40,42
< 	X.Org Video Driver: 1.2
< 	X.Org XInput driver : 0.7
< 	X.Org Server Extension : 0.3
---
> 	X.Org Video Driver: 4.0
> 	X.Org XInput driver : 2.0
> 	X.Org Server Extension : 1.0


< (--) PCI:*(1:0:0) Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G400/G450 rev 133, Mem @
0xf2000000/25, 0xf6e00000/14, 0xf6000000/23, BIOS @ 0xf6d00000/17
> (--) PCI:*(0 at 1:0:0) Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G400/G450 rev 133, Mem @ 0xf2000000/33554432, 0xf6e00000/16384, 0xf6000000/8388608, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072


461c328
< (II) MGA(0): Modeline "1280x1024"x59.9  109.00  1280 1368 1496 1712
1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync (63.7 kHz)
---
> (II) MGA(0): Modeline "1280x1024"x60.0  108.88  1280 1360 1496 1712  1024 1025 1028 1060 -hsync +vsync (63.6 kHz)
463c330
< (==) MGA(0): Min pixel clock is 12 MHz
---
> (==) MGA(0): Min pixel clock is 17 MHz
467c334,335
< (II) MGA(0): Clock range:  12.00 to 1200.00 MHz
---
> (II) MGA(0): <default monitor>: Using maximum pixel clock of 140.00 MHz
> (II) MGA(0): Clock range:  17.75 to 1200.00 MHz

================================================================================

The most interesting bit here, to my eye, is the difference between
DDC-gathered modelines under F8 and F9.  Why would these be different?






Footnotes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The difference between loaded modules is slightly less trivial.
here's what F8 loads:

 | $ grep LoadModule f8/log/Xorg.0.log
 | (II) LoadModule: "pcidata"
 | (II) LoadModule: "extmod"
 | (II) LoadModule: "dbe"
 | (II) LoadModule: "glx"
 | (II) LoadModule: "freetype"
 | (II) LoadModule: "type1"
 | (II) LoadModule: "record"
 | (II) LoadModule: "dri"
 | (II) LoadModule: "mga"
 | (II) LoadModule: "kbd"
 | (II) LoadModule: "mouse"
 | (II) LoadModule: "vgahw"
 | (II) LoadModule: "ddc"(II) Module already built-in
 | (II) LoadModule: "i2c"(II) Module already built-in
 | (II) LoadModule: "fb"
 | (II) LoadModule: "xaa"
 | (II) LoadModule: "ramdac"(II) Module already built-in

Here's what F9 loads:

 | $ grep LoadModule f9/log/Xorg.0.log
 | (II) LoadModule: "extmod"
 | (II) LoadModule: "dbe"
 | (II) LoadModule: "glx"
 | (II) LoadModule: "freetype"
 | (II) LoadModule: "dri"
 | (II) LoadModule: "dri2"
 | (II) LoadModule: "mga"
 | (II) LoadModule: "kbd"
 | (II) LoadModule: "mouse"
 | (II) LoadModule: "vgahw"
 | (II) LoadModule: "ddc"
 | (II) LoadModule: "i2c"
 | (II) LoadModule: "fb"
 | (II) LoadModule: "xaa"
 | (II) LoadModule: "ramdac"

The difference:

 | $ diff \
 |   <(grep LoadModule f8/log/Xorg.0.log | sed -r 's/.*"(.*)".*/\1/') \
 |   <(grep LoadModule f9/log/Xorg.0.log | sed -r 's/.*"(.*)".*/\1/')
 | 1d0
 | < pcidata
 | 6,7d4
 | < type1
 | < record
 | 8a6
 | > dri2

In other words, compared to F8, F9 no longer loads "pcidata", "type1",
and "record" but it loads "dri2" which F8 didn't used to do.