still trying to boot a git-version kernel on my f11 laptop

[Robert P. J. Day]

On Tue, 14 Jul 2009, Robert P. J. Day wrote:

>
>   for the sake of experimenting with kernel debugging, i'm still
> trying to build a git-level kernel for my fully-updated f11 x86_64
> laptop, and the major stumbling block is getting proper 1280x800 video
> with my radeon driver.
>
>  lspci shows me:
>
> 01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS690M [Radeon
> X1200 Series]
>
> and my xorg.conf consists of nothing more than:
>
> =====
>
> Section "ServerFlags"
> 	Option "DontZap" "false"
> EndSection
>
> Section "Device"
> 	Identifier "Videocard0"
> 	Driver "radeon"
> 	Option "AccelMethod" "XAA"
> EndSection
>
> =====
>
> and here's where the fun starts.
>
>   if i boot under my 2.6.29.5-191.fc11.x86_64 kernel, video works fine
> at full 1280x800. buried way down in /var/log/Xorg.0.log is:
>
> ...
> (II) RADEON(0): Output: HDMI-0, Detected Monitor Type: 0
> (II) RADEON(0): EDID for output HDMI-0
> (II) RADEON(0): Output: VGA-0, Detected Monitor Type: 0
> Dac detection success
> (II) RADEON(0): EDID for output VGA-0
> (II) RADEON(0): Output: LVDS, Detected Monitor Type: 0
> (II) RADEON(0): Query for AtomBIOS Get Panel EDID: failed
> (II) RADEON(0): Added native panel mode: 1280x800
> ...
>
>   as an alternative, however, i grabbed the config file for this
> kernel, the git kernel tree, did "make oldconfig", built a kernel and
> booted with it, and that's where things started to go wrong.
>
>   first, with the original (fedora) kernel, the boot process is
> accompanied by a growing horizontal bar across the bottom of the
> screen, with 3 colours -- white, light blue and dark blue -- that
> grows from left to right.  what is it that causes that bar to appear?
> it looks kind of cheap and tacky, is that a boot option that i haven't
> noticed?
>
>   however, with the git kernel, the on-screen graphic is a stylized
> circle in the middle of the screen (actually, the fedora "f" and
> infinity symbol) that is slowly filled in with white from the bottom
> left to top right.  definitely nicer looking -- what's the difference
> in the boot process that distinguishes between those two boot
> graphics?  (i'd never seen that graphic before trying to boot the git
> kernel.)
>
>   finally, once the git kernel comes up, i have no video, and
> /var/log/messages reads:
>
> ...
> Jul 13 09:22:27 localhost gdm-binary[2416]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.455812 seconds
> Jul 13 09:22:28 localhost kernel: i2c-adapter i2c-1: unable to read EDID block.
> Jul 13 09:22:28 localhost kernel: radeon 0000:01:05.0: LVDS-1: no EDID data
> Jul 13 09:22:28 localhost kernel: i2c-adapter i2c-1: unable to read EDID block.
> Jul 13 09:22:28 localhost kernel: radeon 0000:01:05.0: LVDS-1: no EDID data
> Jul 13 09:22:28 localhost kernel: [drm:radeon_cp_getparam_kms] *ERROR* invalid ioctl with kms radeon_cp_getparam_kms
> Jul 13 09:22:28 localhost gdm-binary[2416]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.504048 seconds
> Jul 13 09:22:28 localhost gdm-binary[2416]: WARNING: GdmLocalDisplayFactory: maximum number of X display failures reached: check X server log for errors
> Jul 13 09:22:28 localhost init: prefdm main process (2416) terminated with status 1
> Jul 13 09:22:28 localhost init: prefdm main process ended, respawning
> Jul 13 09:22:28 localhost init: prefdm respawning too fast, stopped
> ...
>
>   so ... any hints?  what in a configured kernel or module is
> responsible for extracting the EDID from a display, as i'm suspecting
> that that's the part that's going bad in the git kernel.

  i should have added that i can get 1024x768 video just fine if i use
the stock "vesa" driver in xorg.conf.  but that shouldn't be
surprising.  it just looks crappy on a 1280x800 LCD display.

rday
--

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Robert P. J. Day                               Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA

        Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry.

Web page:                                          http://crashcourse.ca
Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
"Kernel Newbie Corner" column @ linux.com:          http://cli.gs/WG6WYX
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