[ltp] Thinkpad T21 Accelerated video problem

[Alex Deucher]

On 3/8/06, harry wert <hwert@earthlink.net> wrote:
>  On Wed, 2006-03-08 at 00:35 -0500, Alex Deucher wrote:
>  On 3/7/06, harry wert <hwert@earthlink.net> wrote:
> > Hello, I have a Thinkpad T21 running Ubuntu Dapper Drake. Everything is
> > working extremely well except I cannot find a repeatable combination of
> > video driver settings which will survive a reboot or cold start. When
> > working, performance is an acceptable increase from 70fps to 355fps. Th=
e
> > internal video card is a Savage /IX-MV, with a chip ID of 8c12 which
> > contains 8192kb of video memory. The accelerated video will not run in =
the
> > 24 depth mode because it needs more than 8092kb of memory. I am able to
> > coax it tho run in the 16 depth mode with a lot of experimentation but =
all
> > is lost on reboot or a cold start. When it fails to start I experience =
a
> > hard freeze which will require a power off shutdown to free up. On the
> next
> > boot the screen appears to be attempting to find a workable video mode =
but
> > will ultimately lock into a dark screen and a hard freeze. It is then
> > necessary to boot up in the recovery mode and change the video depth fr=
om
> 16
> > back to 24 to restore normal (no video acceleration) video operation. I
> > have been searching with Google and reading whatever I can locate on th=
is
> > subject but seem to have struck out!
> >
> > The only video tool I can find to use is xvidtune which is not easy to
> use.
> > Two questions:
> >
> > 1. Are there better tools out there for video tuning and adjustment suc=
h
> as
> > SAX on SuSE?
> >
> > 2. Does anyone have a working xorg with acceleration on a T21 and Ubunt=
u?
> >
> > This is not a crisis - just a curiosity as I don't usually run many
> > programs which require video acceleration.
> >
> > Thanks in advance for any comments and/or guidance in this matter.
> >
>
> Try setting:
> Option "BusType" "PCI"
> AGP hasn't worked reliably on thinkpads with savages in a while.
>
> Alex
>
> > Harry Wert
> > Physicist
> >
> >
>
>  Thanks Alex.  I incorporated your suggestion and major progress has been
> achieved.  Now xorg reliably boots into the 16 depth mode and no errors a=
re
> reported in the xorg.0.0 log.  Unfortunately when I attempt to use 3D usi=
ng
> glxgears the program attempt to start but cannot apparently find the corr=
ect
> mode for several seconds, then stops and freezes the system into a hard
> lock.  Reboot restores the screen for normal 16 depth again.  Another
> program I use for testing "TORCS" goes to a full-scale dark screen but do=
es
> not freeze the system. Consequently I can go to another console and kill =
the
> process to restore normal operation.  I'll continue to investigate as I h=
ave
> time and report back if I find a solution.
>

It seems that something is broken with the savage dri in xorg 7.0.=20
Can you get a log of the crash?  or any drm/savage related messages
from dmesg or your kernel log?  It seems the savages have trouble
reading from the show status reg.

Alex

>  Thanks for your help.
>
>  Harry Wert
>  Physicist
>
>  =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D