graphics driver problem

[MontyWilliams]

mageia 5 64 bit Boot option acpi=off Fresh install. Tried first as an upgrade from mageia 4. Saw the nvidia 346 / 340 situation, removed the 346, but no help.
nvidia 8600gs card
nvidia 340 driver
sony sdm hs 95p monitor

Frequent random freezing of system. Had been working for several years with previous nvidia drivers. Originally had problems as posted here(solved):
https://forums.mageia.org/en/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2646

Experimenting in another partition with a fresh install of mageia 5 without proprietary drivers. Cannot get nouveau to work.
Seems drakx11 cannot get monitor recognized. Getting error message $Display not set.
Have tried setting to plug&play, generic flat panel 1280x1040, cannot see sony sdm hs95p in vendor list - tried hs94p.
Using drakx11 to set system to proprietary driver does not have this problem.

Have never succeeded in getting nouveau to work on this system with mageia / mandriva, had not even tried in years.
Have working korora18(fedora) using nouveau on another partition. Knoppix (7.6) with nouveau works. korora22 live works.

Seems to be a unique problem. Not seeing any related posts on internet.
This could be the final reason for upgrading my hardware. Really would not like to move to another distro.

Cheers

[doktor5000]

Your writing is pretty confusing, as you partly miss the problem which you actually want to solve.
Do you want to get the proprietary drivers configured, or do you want to get nouveau configured or do you want to tackle the system freezes?

Please at least show the output of

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rpm -qa | grep nvidia

[fixxer]

Post also output of commands:

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cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

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lspci -k | grep -A2 VGA

[doktor5000]

Do you want to get the proprietary drivers configured, or do you want to get nouveau configured or do you want to tackle the system freezes?

All of the above actually.

I have in one set of partitions containing my "working" copy of Mageia 5 with the problematic installation of nvidia 340.
In another partition (usually containing cauldron) I have a copy of Mageia 5 which has never had the nvidia drivers installed. This is where I am trying to get nouveau to work.
Whichever I get to work will be used as a template for the "working" system.

This post typed in the MacBook Pro.

I will follow up ASAP with the requested info if I can get the Mageia installation to hold together long enough. The "nvidia" system tends to crash as I open windows. The "nouveau" system will not boot. Have been using failsafe to try to configure the display with drakx11.


UPDATE:
From the "nvidia" system:

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# rpm -qa | grep nvidia
x11-driver-video-nvidia340-340.93-1.mga5.nonfree
nvidia340-doc-html-340.93-1.mga5.nonfree
dkms-nvidia340-340.93-1.mga5.nonfree
nvidia340-kernel-4.1.13-desktop-2.mga5-340.93-3.mga5.nonfree
nvidia340-kernel-3.19.8-desktop-3.mga5-340.76-27.mga5.nonfree
nvidia340-kernel-desktop-latest-340.93-3.mga5.nonfree


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# cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# File generated by XFdrake (rev 262502)

Section "Extensions"
    Option "Composite" "Disable"
EndSection
# File generated by XFdrake (rev 262502)

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the xorg.conf man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "ServerFlags"
    AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does not work
    Option "DontZap" "False" # disable <Ctrl><Alt><BS> (server abort)
    #DontZoom # disable <Ctrl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "monitor1"
    VendorName "Plug'n Play"
   
    # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.                                                                                         
    # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync                                                                                                         
    ModeLine "768x576"     50.00  768  832  846 1000   576  590  595  630                                                                   
                                                                                                                                           
    # 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync                                                                                                     
    ModeLine "768x576"     63.07  768  800  960 1024   576  578  590  616                                                                   
EndSection                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                           
Section "Device"                                                                                                                           
    Identifier "device1"                                                                                                                   
    VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce 8100 to GeForce 415"
    Driver "nvidia"
    Option "DPMS"
    Option "RenderAccel" "false"
    Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "screen1"
    Device "device1"
    Monitor "monitor1"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "layout1"
    Screen "screen1"
EndSection


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# lspci -k | grep -A2 VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G86 [GeForce 8400 GS] (rev a1)
        Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device 0f1e
        Kernel driver in use: nvidia

UPDATE:

From the "nouveau" system:

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rpm -qa | grep nvidia
--- no entries ---
rpm -qa | grep nouveau
lib64drm_nouveau2-2.4.59-1.mga5
x11-driver-video-nouveau2-2.4.59-1.mga5

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lspci -k |grep -A2 VGA
Kernel modules nvidiafb, nouveau

drakx11 monitor set to Plug'n Play -shows as custom.

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cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section  "Monitor"
as above
Section "Device"
as above except missing Options:
                              Option "RenderAccel" "false"
                              Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"

Rest seems as for other system.

Note: It is my assumption that the freeze problem is due to the nvidia 340 driver.
Reasoning - the freeze-ups happen when opening or interacting with the windows.
The system is set up as it has been for years, with Mageia updates and upgrades.

Other operating systems using nouveau (korora, fedora, knoppix, gparted) work on this machine. In all cases, I must use boot append acpi=off otherwise they freeze as did Mageia/Mandriva in the past.

At some point I may try the nvidia driver in korora, but I want to leave it as is until I can get Magiea 5 stabilized. May try modifying the korora live usb for testing.

If it sounds as if I am confused, it is because I am.

cheers and Merry Christmas.

[doktor5000]

Do you want to get the proprietary drivers configured, or do you want to get nouveau configured or do you want to tackle the system freezes?

All of the above actually.

Then open another topic for the nouveau system. One problem per thread please.

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Section "Device"                                                                                                                           
[...]
    Option "RenderAccel" "false"
EndSection


Why do you have that set? This disables hardware acceleration. The default is enabled, see http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/L ... tions.html

And by "system tends to crash as I open windows" you mean what exactly?
What crashes, only the X session, does the laptop reboot, does it freeze and don't react to keypresses anymore and needs to be turned off? Please be more verbose.

Also acpi=off is not a good idea in general. Please provide more details about your hardware used, like what motherboard.
Please also attach the outpuf of journalctl -ab as root

[MontyWilliams]

does the laptop reboot,

Desktop.

The MacBook is what I am using to access the internet these days until I get the desktop working.

does it freeze and don't react to keypresses anymore and needs to be turned off?

That is it.
Usually use "magic keys", sometimes have to hard reboot.

Details on system including reason for acpi=off in this old post:
[url]
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2646
[/url]

This disables hardware acceleration.

Turned off to eliminate possible complication. Made no difference.
Also dropped opengl from 2.0 to 1.2 as some posts have indicated problems re: older hardware. No difference.

One problem per thread please.

You are right, the nouveau situation is likely unrelated to the other nvidia, freeze situation , but part of the troubleshooting difficulty I have.

journalctl info to follow.


UPDATE:

journal entry here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84711948/journalctl_Dec25.odt

Care to guess how many times I had to reboot to generate and publish this info?

Cheers

[doktor5000]

Details on system including reason for acpi=off in this old post:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2646

I don't see an actual reason, only that you use acpi=off instead of acpi=ht.
It might have helped if you would have mentioned that you already filed a kernel bug for this: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12723

You could try something like explained in http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=869249 - maybe your board is affected too.
Followup is at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=877721
But if that's the case, I'd probably get another board, as there doesn't seem to be a mentioning of your specific board (and hence no workaround) related to ACPI issues.

Did you try a BIOS update yet?
Please also have a look at http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions ... nt-kernels
Some other kernel boot options to try: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootO ... el_Options

Also dropped opengl from 2.0 to 1.2 as some posts have indicated problems re: older hardware. No difference.

What do you refer to, how did you drop opengl to a lower version? Please be more verbose.

[MontyWilliams]

Doctor - thank you for your suggestions. You gave me a lot to work on.

I wanted to give you the link to the Mandriva forum post where it all began, but not available.

Phoenix award bios v1.06.53 as built upgraded to v1.06.60b in about 2010 using bios upgrade file 635F1P32 now upgraded by file 635F1P33.
No improvement.

FYI - "flashrom" 0.9.6.1 -r1705 does not work - board not supported. Had to dust off the old boot floppy I made in 2008 for this job.

You could try something like explained in http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=869249 - maybe your board is affected too.
Followup is at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=877

Saw these posts back then.
Quoted them when I submitted a complaint to FOXCONN customer "support" . Here is their reply "The 975x7ab-8erks does not need a BIOS fix to adjust for linux kernel bug."

I see a number of posts indication that this board has similar problems with Windows 7.

Copied the dsdt code and looked at it. Seemed similar to the code discussed in the ubuntu forum. I failed to get a revised dsdt recompiled at that time.

Have just tried your suggested acpi_osi=Windows which should have had the same effect as revising the BIOS, also acpi_os_name=Windows and acpi_os_name= " "
Worse freeze problem than acpi=off

acpi.power_nocheck=1 with acpi_os_name=Windows is looking promising. Will update and mark thread as solved if it continues to work.
I wonder if this is why fedora works for me.

Some other kernel boot options to try: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootO ... el_Options

Tried them all back then.

What do you refer to, how did you drop opengl to a lower version?

kde settings -> Desktop Effects -> advanced
select compositing type from listed options.

Have now set to opengl2.0. desktop effects are now enabled.

I'd probably get another board

Have been pricing out skylake / z170 low noise systems and imac 27.
Chokes me up.


UPDATE:
Workaround not entirely successful. acpi.power_nocheck=1 acpi_os_name=Windows
Still freezes, maybe not as often.

From journal:

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Dec 31 13:18:29 Williams kernel: ACPI Warning: SystemIO range 0x0000000000000428-0x000000000000042F conflicts with OpRegion 0x00000000000004
Dec 31 13:18:29 Williams kernel: ACPI: If an ACPI driver is available for this device, you should use it instead of the native driver
Dec 31 13:18:29 Williams kernel: ACPI Warning: SystemIO range 0x00000000000004B0-0x00000000000004BF conflicts with OpRegion 0x00000000000004
Dec 31 13:18:29 Williams kernel: ACPI: If an ACPI driver is available for this device, you should use it instead of the native driver
Dec 31 13:18:29 Williams kernel: ACPI Warning: SystemIO range 0x0000000000000480-0x00000000000004AF conflicts with OpRegion 0x00000000000004
Dec 31 13:18:29 Williams kernel: ACPI: If an ACPI driver is available for this device, you should use it instead of the native driver
Dec 31 13:18:29 Williams kernel: lpc_ich: Resource conflict(s) found affecting gpio_ich


journalctl -ab:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84711948/journalctl_dec31.odt





Cheers