AMD driver installed but not in use?

[brian_the_droid]

Hi. I have mageia 2 installed (currently using gnome version). I have enabled the non free repositories and downloaded the AMD radeon drivers. I run the graphical wizard from the control panel and tell the system I want to use the proprietary driver and it completes. But, when I check the system details after rebooting, it still shows the VESA driver is being used. How do I get the actual AMD driver to work? The ATI settings show up under my applications window, which means they are installed, and I double checked the package manager and it shows them as downloaded (green, not red). I have an ATI radeon HD 6870 video card.

Thanks

--brian

[doktor5000]

How do you check the system details?

For documentation on how to install the driver, please see https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Setup_the_graphical_server
Also please show the output of

Code: Select all

grep -i driver /var/log/Xorg.0.log

[Ken-Bergen]

Hi doctor. I was checking the details on the 'details' selection in system settings (not mcc). here is the output from the code.

Code: Select all

[brian@localhost ~]$ grep -i driver /var/log/Xorg.0.log
[    18.229]    X.Org Video Driver: 11.0
[    18.229]    X.Org XInput driver : 13.0
[    18.406] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/v4l_drv.so
[    18.406]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0
[    18.484] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/fglrx_drv.so
[    18.682]    Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[    18.683] (II) v4l driver for Video4Linux
[    18.683] (II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Version Identifier:8.96.4
[    18.683] (II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Release Identifier: 8.961                               
[    18.683] (II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Build Date: Apr  5 2012 23:06:21
[    18.712] (II) AMD Video driver is running on a device belonging to a group targeted for this release
[    18.712] (II) AMD Video driver is signed
[    18.713] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/fglrx_drv.so
[    18.713]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0
[    19.095]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0
[    19.854] (==) fglrx(0): OpenGL ClientDriverName: "fglrx_dri.so"
[    19.854] (II) fglrx(0): swlDriScreenInit for fglrx driver
[    19.854] (II) fglrx(0): [uki] created "fglrx" driver at busid "PCI:1:0:0"
[    19.854] (II) fglrx(0): Kernel Module version matches driver.
[    19.881] (II) fglrx(0): Initialized in-driver Xinerama extension
[    19.921] (II) fglrx(0): Disabling in-server RandR and enabling in-driver RandR 1.2.
[    20.589] (II) AIGLX: Loaded and initialized OpenGL driver(II) GLX: Initialized DRI GL provider for screen 0
[    20.662]    Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
[    20.662]    ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 13.0
[    20.662] (II) Using input driver 'evdev' for 'Power Button'
[    20.687] (II) Using input driver 'evdev' for 'Power Button'
[    20.688] (II) No input driver specified, ignoring this device.
[    20.688] (II) Using input driver 'evdev' for 'Logitech USB Gaming Mouse'
[    20.688] (II) No input driver specified, ignoring this device.
[    20.688] (II) No input driver specified, ignoring this device.
[    20.689] (II) No input driver specified, ignoring this device.
[    20.689] (II) No input driver specified, ignoring this device.
[    20.689] (II) No input driver specified, ignoring this device.
[    20.689] (II) No input driver specified, ignoring this device.
[    20.689] (II) No input driver specified, ignoring this device.
[    20.689] (II) No input driver specified, ignoring this device.
[    20.689] (II) No input driver specified, ignoring this device.
[    20.690] (II) Using input driver 'evdev' for 'AT Translated Set 2 keyboard'
[brian@localhost ~]$


this seems to suggest that maybe it in fact is being used? why does it still show 'VESA:02" on the gnome system settings detail page? also, it doesn't feel like it is using it correctly. is it partially installed?

[doktor5000]

[ 18.683] (II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Version Identifier:8.96.4
[ 18.683] (II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Release Identifier: 8.961
[ 18.683] (II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Build Date: Apr 5 2012 23:06:21
[ 18.712] (II) AMD Video driver is running on a device belonging to a group targeted for this release
[ 18.712] (II) AMD Video driver is signed
[ 18.713] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/fglrx_drv.so
[ 18.713] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0
[ 19.095] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0
[ 19.854] (==) fglrx(0): OpenGL ClientDriverName: "fglrx_dri.so"
[ 19.854] (II) fglrx(0): swlDriScreenInit for fglrx driver
[ 19.854] (II) fglrx(0): [uki] created "fglrx" driver at busid "PCI:1:0:0"
[ 19.854] (II) fglrx(0): Kernel Module version matches driver.

Yes, it is installed, and yes it is being used. Maybe the VESA:02 refers to a screen running in some vesa resolution?
vesa is not only the name of a driver, it's a whole group of standards for many things, includiing display timings, resolutions and so on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA

[martinw]

FWIW, GNOME system settings reports

Driver VESA:PITCAIRN

on my system where the ATI proprietary driver is installed and working.

You can tell whether GNOME has detected that you have installed the ATI driver - it will force you to use fallback mode if it thinks the driver is inadequate.

[brian_the_droid]

thanks for your assistance everyone. my main concern was that it was not in use because my video playback seemed quite poor compared to ubuntu and fedora. i'm still not sure why this is. i've been using smplayer in the gnome session. i haven't tried other DE's yet, but i'm not sure it would make a difference. any thoughts?

[doktor5000]

Maybe you want to try another media player, such as VLC?