Dim Screen

[François Cami]

On Wed, 5 Aug 2009 11:09:56 -0700
"Jim Bevier" <jim at jbsys.com> wrote:

> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "François Cami" <fcami at fedoraproject.org>
> To: "For testers of Fedora Core development releases" 
> <fedora-test-list at redhat.com>
> Cc: <jim at jbsys.com>
> Sent: Monday, August 03, 2009 3:27 PM
> Subject: Re: Dim Screen
> 
> 
> >
> > Hi Jim,
> >
> > On Mon, 3 Aug 2009 14:16:19 -0700
> > "Jim Bevier" <jim at jbsys.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Over the last week or more my rawhide AMD x86_64 system w/nvidia GeForce
> >> 8600 card has not been working correctly.  If I use nv driver, X will not
> >> start and just hangs showing the last startup text.  CTL-ALT-F2 will get 
> >> a
> >> login screen.  If I use vesa driver, it also hangs, but shows weird lines 
> >> on
> >> top and old startup text on bottom of screen.  CTL-ALT-F2 gives a black
> >> screen with no login prompt.  I must do reset to restart machine.  If I 
> >> use
> >> the nouveau driver, X will start, but the screen is very dark.  I am able 
> >> to
> >> login to kde or gnome.  I am at the 118 kernel.  I think the last one 
> >> that
> >> worked was in the 60's.  Anybody have something to try?  Any idea what is
> >> broke?
> >
> > Could you try the following kernel builds from koji and report:
> > http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=114132
> > http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=115527
> > http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=122803
> 
> I am sorry this took me so long, I just needed to make some time to do it. 
> I downloaded the suggested kernels (67, 86, and 101) and tried to boot each 
> one using the nouveau driver in xorg.conf.  I did not try the nv or vesa 
> drivers.  Let me know if you want these tested also.  The kernel line in 
> grub.conf had rhgb and quiet parameters on all tests.  I had a few other 
> kernels still installed, so I added them to the test.  Tests were with 
> 20090728 nouveau driver. Here are the results:
> 
> Kernel      X-start?    KDE Login   F2 Console
> * 67           No              -                  Yes (large test)
> * 86           No              -                  Yes (small text)
>    94           No              -                  Yes (small text)
> *101          Yes            Dim              Yes (small text)
>   103          Yes            Dim              Yes (small text)
>   118          Yes            Dim              Yes (small text)
>   122          Yes            Dim              Yes (small text)
> 
> It seems the last working kernel for me was before 67.  Maybe 64?
> 
> I did some more testing and noticed I was running with  "DefaultDepth 16" 
> set in the xorg.conf file.  I changed this to "DefaultDepth 24" and I not 
> get the normal bright login screen.  It seems someone, somewhere has assumed 
> a 24 bit color depth when they should be testing for 16 (maybe even 8 or 
> 15).  I retested and 67, 86, and 94 still do allow X to start.  Kernels 101, 
> 103, 118, and 122 are now at full brightness.  So something was changed 
> before kerenel 101 that ignores the DefaultDepth parameter.

So the problem does not appear without a xorg.conf ?

I'd still suggest filing a bug report against rawhide following the instructions
listed there:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Xorg/Debugging#Information_to_include_in_your_report

Best regards,

F