System hangs with Dualhead (Dualhead not usable on HD 4850)

[Gregor A.]

Hello, I have at the new HD 4850 reproducible Hangs and Lockups if I try to use Dualhead.

Details and steps to reproduce:
1. Use Dualhead (Double device configuration with driver fglrx in xorg.conf ...)
2. Start VLC Media player on the first KDE Desktop

I start it on Firefox with the Firefox Plugin:
http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/conte...2?inPopup=true

3. Open Terminal console on second KDE Desktop.
4. System directly completely hangs after open KDE Terminal, no ping from network!...

Every time reproducible.

But no problems with clone, so I switch to clone modus.

Second issue:
With the config:
aticonfig --overlay-type=Xv

The system hangs every time after some seconds with VLC media player.

Third Issue:
Dualhead modus hangs on halt or reboot system.
I can see, after push the button for reboot or halt, only a black screen.

Also here, no problems with clone modus.
Dualhead is at the moment not usable for me.

System:
Debian Lenny / Testing
HD4850 on a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3 Mainboard with Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, 4 GB Ram
Catalyst 8.6

[bridgman]

I'm about the furthest thing from an expert with the aticonfig commands but anything that uses "overlay" and "Xv" together on a 4850 seems suspicious. The 4850 does not use video overlay for Xv, it uses textured video.

The video playback on a 4850 should be similar to 2xxx and 3xxx boards; can anyone else comment on the aticonfig --overlay-type=Xv setting ?

[Gregor A.]

Hi, I solved my first problem by adding:

Option "TexturedVideo" "off"
to Section "Device"

See:

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Device0"
        Driver          "fglrx"
        BusID           "PCI:1:0:0"
        Screen          0

        Option          "TexturedVideo"         "off"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Device1"
        Driver          "fglrx"
        BusID           "PCI:1:0:0"
        Screen          1
EndSection

Afterwards I do:
cp -av /etc/ati/amdpcsdb.default /etc/ati/amdpcsdb

I think this is a driver bug.
Hopefully AMD fix it for the next release.


But I can not solve the third issue:

Third Issue:
Dualhead modus hangs on halt or reboot system.
I can see, after push the button for reboot or halt, only a black screen.

I added:
TerminateServer=true

to /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc

in sections:

[X-*-Core]
[X-*-Greeter]
[X-:*-Core]
[X-:*-Greeter]
[X-:0-Core]

but this don't solve the problem.

Any another idea?

Thanks for replay.

[Gregor A.]

hmm, I tested again with Catalyst 8.7.

The dualhead function is simply not usable for me.

It is not possible to play Games like UT2004 or ETQW in full screen mode (Graphic corruption) if dualhead is activated.

It is sometimes not possible to switch to tty (complete freeze!!).

It is not possible to logout from KDE. (complete freeze!!).

And I have tearing if I will watch an DVD.

I tested many many options, nothing make dualhead usable for me.

So AMD please fix the bugs in your driver!
http://ati.cchtml.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1193

I change from NVIDIA, because NVIDIA have some performance problems.

But NVIDIA was stable, and never freeze my system.

[Gregor A.]

ok, catalyst 8.8 is out.
I have configured dualhead again and test it.

The same hangs on logout from KDE.
So I remove for a test KDM and install GDM instead.

Now it works, ok this is maybe a solve...

After this I installed KDM again and test with KDM again.

It hangs.

So I added:

TerminateServer=true

to /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc

in sections:
[X-:*-Core]


Wow, now no problems anymore.
It works!!

Ok, one problem stays:
Video tearing.

Also with:
mplayer -vo gl:force-pbo
mplayer -vo gl:force-pbo:ati-hack
mplayer -vo gl:ati-hack,force_pbo

Here is my actual xorg.conf

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
	FontPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
	FontPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
	FontPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
	FontPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
	FontPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
	# path to defoma fonts
	FontPath	"/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load	"i2c"
	Load	"bitmap"
	Load	"dbe"
	Load	"ddc"
	Load	"dri"
	Load	"extmod"
	Load	"freetype"
	Load	"glx"
	Load	"int10"
	Load	"vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Generic Keyboard"
	Driver		"kbd"
	Option		"CoreKeyboard"
	Option		"XkbRules"	"xorg"
	Option		"XkbModel"	"pc105"
	Option		"XkbLayout"	"de"
	Option		"XkbVariant"	"nodeadkeys"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Configured Mouse"
	Driver		"mouse"
	Option		"CorePointer"
	Option		"Device"		"/dev/input/mice"
	Option		"Protocol"		"ImPS/2"
	Option		"Emulate3Buttons"	"true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Device0"
	Driver		"fglrx"
	BusID		"PCI:1:0:0"
	Screen		0
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Device1"
	Driver		"fglrx"
	BusID		"PCI:1:0:0"
	Screen		1
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"Monitor0"
	Option		"DPMS"
	HorizSync	30-65
	VertRefresh	50-75
	DisplaySize	378	302
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"Monitor1"
	Option		"DPMS"
	HorizSync	31-69
	VertRefresh	59-86
	DisplaySize	697	392
	Modeline "1360x768_60.00"  84.72  1360 1424 1568 1776  768 769 772 795  -HSync +Vsync
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Screen0"
	Device		"Device0"
	Monitor		"Monitor0"
	Option		"DPI"		"86x86"

	DefaultDepth	24
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		1
		Modes		"1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		4
		Modes		"1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		8
		Modes		"1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		15
		Modes		"1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		16
		Modes		"1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		24
		Modes		"1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Screen1"
	Device		"Device1"
	Monitor		"Monitor1"
	Option		"DPI"		"120x120"

	DefaultDepth 24
	Subsection "Display"
		Depth	24
		Modes		"1360x768_60.00" 
	EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier	"Default Layout"
	InputDevice	"Generic Keyboard"
	InputDevice	"Configured Mouse"

	Screen	0	"Screen0"
	Screen	1	"Screen1"	Above	"Screen0"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
	Mode	0666
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
	Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection