[SOLVED] Radeon HD2400,ViewSonic VX900 resolution limited

[tleedavidson]

Greetings,

I have a ViewSonic VX900 monitor paired with a Radeon HD 2400 connected through a DVI to (2) VGA splitter due to problems with the pure DVI interface (what should be black is green). Both the monitor and video card are capable of greater than 1024x768 (1280 x 1024 @ 60 Hz [1], and VGA: 2048 x 1536 [2], respectively). Yet, I am unable to set the resolution above 1024x768. That option is apparently not available with on my Mageia 5 (x86_64; 4.1.15-desktop-2.mga5) system.

System Settings > Display and Monitor allows for a max of only 1024x768.

The card driver set for the graphical server in MCC is "ATI Radeon HD 4870 and earlier". Monitor is set to "Custom" and Resolution is set to "Automatic".

The radeon-firmware installed is version 20150824-1.mga5.nonfree.

Code: Select all

$ lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV610 [Radeon HD 2400 PRO/XT]

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$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1024 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
DIN disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DVI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DVI-1 connected primary 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1024x768      60.00*
   800x600       60.32    56.25 
   848x480       60.00 
   640x480       59.94

I stripped out what I thought was irrelevant from the following to reduce 'noise':

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$ grep -i radeon /var/log/Xorg.0.log
[   261.439] (II) LoadModule: "radeon"
[   261.439] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/radeon_drv.so
[   261.440] (II) Module radeon: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[   261.454] (--) RADEON(0): Chipset: "ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT" (ChipID = 0x94c1)
[   261.467] (II) RADEON(0): Output DIN using monitor section monitor1
[   261.481] (II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-0 has no monitor section
[   261.489] (II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-1 has no monitor section
[   261.501] (II) RADEON(0): EDID for output DIN
[   261.515] (II) RADEON(0): EDID for output DVI-0
[   261.523] (II) RADEON(0): EDID for output DVI-1
[   261.523] (II) RADEON(0): Printing probed modes for output DVI-1
[   261.523] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1024x768"x60.0   65.00  1024 1048 1184 1344  768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync (48.4 kHz e)
[   261.523] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "800x600"x60.3   40.00  800 840 968 1056  600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync (37.9 kHz e)
[   261.523] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "800x600"x56.2   36.00  800 824 896 1024  600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync (35.2 kHz e)
[   261.523] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "848x480"x60.0   33.75  848 864 976 1088  480 486 494 517 +hsync +vsync (31.0 kHz e)
[   261.523] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "640x480"x59.9   25.18  640 656 752 800  480 489 492 525 -hsync -vsync (31.5 kHz e)
[   261.523] (II) RADEON(0): Output DIN disconnected
[   261.523] (II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-0 disconnected
[   261.523] (II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-1 connected
[   261.523] (II) RADEON(0): Using exact sizes for initial modes
[   261.523] (II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-1 using initial mode 1024x768
[   261.525] (II) RADEON(0): [DRI2] Setup complete
[   261.525] (II) RADEON(0): [DRI2]   DRI driver: r600
[   261.525] (II) RADEON(0): [DRI2]   VDPAU driver: r600
[   261.526] (II) RADEON(0): RandR 1.2 enabled, ignore the following RandR disabled message.
[   261.567] (II) RADEON(0): Setting screen physical size to 270 x 203


I am wondering if installing the proprietary drivers (ie. FGLRX) might give me more options. If so, which one of the many in Software Management should I install?

When I try to select fglrx-kernel-desktop-latest (x86_64) for install, it wants to install fglrx-kernel-4.1.13-desktop-2.mga5-15.200.1046-7.mga5.nonfree.x86_64 and kernel-desktop-4.1.13-2.mga5-1-1.mga5.x86_64. My kernel version is 4.1.15. I can, though, select the i586 version of fglrx-kernel-desktop-latest, and it appropriately wants fglrx-kernel-4.1.15.

Am I on the right track thinking that installing the proprietary drivers might help? Or, is there something else I can/should do to get the max resolution supported by the hardware?

Thank you for any guidance.

[1] http://www.viewsonic.com.au/support/man ... nglish.pdf
[2] http://www.cnet.com/products/ati-radeon ... 8mb/specs/

[doktor5000]

I am wondering if installing the proprietary drivers (ie. FGLRX) might give me more options. If so, which one of the many in Software Management should I install?

Why do you want to install anything manually? Run drakx11, say yes to the proprietary driver, OK, save and reboot.
Described here: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Setup_the_graphical_server and here: http://doc.mageia.org/mcc/5/en/content/XFdrake.html

[tleedavidson]

Why do you want to install anything manually?

Because that is the only way I know to do it, and because they do not appear to be installed. According to Software Managerment, there are no 'fglrx' -related packages installed. And, yes, I have the nonfree repository enabled.

drakx11 seems to give the same view and options as that of "Set up the graphical server" in Mageia Control Center. (Am I wrong?) I had already visited that and Graphic Card was set to "Vendor > ATI > Radeon HD 4870 and earlier". I just tried again, this time choosing "Xorg > ati". I was given no option to say Yes to a proprietary driver. Just "Keep the changes?" after OK, OK, Quit.

After a reboot, the resolution is still limited. Going back to "Set up the graphical server", Graphic Card was set to "Custom". When I clicked on that to verify its setting, "Vendor > ATI > Radeon HD 4870 and earlier" was immediately selected for me instead of what I had just set it to (ie. "Xorg > ati"). After OK, OK, Quit, I was still not presented an option to accept a proprietary driver. Just "Keep the changes?"

https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Setup_the_graphical_server says, "The system confirms you that a proprietary driver exists for your card and asks you if you want to install it. If the question is not asked, it's because your card is not supported by an actual driver." But to my knowledge, there is a proprietary driver for the HD 2400.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

[doktor5000]

drakx11 seems to give the same view and options as that of "Set up the graphical server" in Mageia Control Center. (Am I wrong?)

That's because drakx11 IS the drakxtool used for "Set up the graphical server".

I had already visited that and Graphic Card was set to "Vendor > ATI > Radeon HD 4870 and earlier". I just tried again, this time choosing "Xorg > ati". I was given no option to say Yes to a proprietary driver. Just "Keep the changes?" after OK, OK, Quit.
[...]
I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

If you chose a free Xorg driver, then obviously you will not be asked for the proprietary driver. You just need to open that dialog to select a driver,
(originally the proprietary driver was preselected, you would just need to have pressed OK) where you need to select the proprietary driver again and press OK.

[tleedavidson]

Thank you very much for trying to help, Doktor.

What you tell me I need to do confuses me, though, because that is exactly what I did.

When I clicked on that to verify its setting, "Vendor > ATI > Radeon HD 4870 and earlier" was immediately selected for me instead of what I had just set it to (ie. "Xorg > ati"). After OK, OK, Quit

That is, like you said, it was preselected. I left is preselected and pressed OK, then OK again, then Quit.

The only reason I had chosen the free driver prior to that is because I thought the config tool would inform me of the availability of a proprietary driver as an alternative. I got that from http://doc.mageia.org/mcc/5/en/content/XFdrake.html: "If you made your choice for a free driver, you may be asked if you want to use a proprietary driver instead with more features (3D effects for example)."


Just FYI in case anyone else reading this is troubleshooting video and drivers... I am coming to the conclusion that there are indeed no proprietary drivers for the HD 2400. I drilled down to find the correct driver at ati.com (AMD), and it is old -- for kernel version up to 3.5! That, I believe, is why I was not give the option of accepting one. What I thought were proprietary drivers (fglrx), are apparently for boards newer than the HD 2400.

But I found the solution anyway. I plugged in an additional monitor so I had my desktop spread across the two. The additional one worked at 1280x1024 while the main one was only 1024x768. I swapped this and that and again this and that, and one time got my main monitor to sync up at 1280x1024. But, couldn't figure out how I did it and couldn't do it again. I didn't pull all my hair out during that time.

Then it dawned on me. The bottom line?

I had a bad VGA cord. No pins were broken at either end. Just a bad cord.

[doktor5000]

Just FYI in case anyone else reading this is troubleshooting video and drivers... I am coming to the conclusion that there are indeed no proprietary drivers for the HD 2400. I drilled down to find the correct driver at ati.com (AMD), and it is old -- for kernel version up to 3.5! That, I believe, is why I was not give the option of accepting one. What I thought were proprietary drivers (fglrx), are apparently for boards newer than the HD 2400.

FWIW what you find upstream doesn't matter that much, as we have some patches that allow those drivers to build e.g. with the 4.x kernels we have in mga5.
See also the recent thread viewtopic.php?f=23&t=10718 on that.

But I just checked, and nothing below a HD 5000 is supported by the proprietary driver. See /usr/share/ldetect-lst/Cards+ for more information.

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grep -nwiE "ati|fglrx" -A4 /usr/share/ldetect-lst/Cards+
[...]
139:# Radeon cards not supported by proprietary driver, but supported by ati
140-# update name as support changes
141:NAME ATI Radeon HD 4870 and earlier
142:DRIVER ati
143-FIRMWARE radeon-firmware
144-DRI_GLX
145-
146:# FireGL cards not supported by proprietary driver, but supported by ati
147-# update name as support changes
148:NAME ATI r300/r400/r500 based FireGL
149:SEE ATI Radeon HD 4870 and earlier
150-
151:# FirePro card not supported by proprietary driver, but supported by ati
152:NAME ATI FirePro M5750
153:SEE ATI Radeon HD 4870 and earlier
154-
155-# Radeon cards supported by proprietary driver and free 'radeon'
156-# driver: update name as support changes
157-# PALM and older - firmware not mandatory (mga #3466)
158:NAME ATI Radeon HD 5000 to HD 6300 (radeon/fglrx)
159:DRIVER ati
160-FIRMWARE radeon-firmware
161-DRI_GLX
162:DRIVER2 fglrx
163-
164-# FireGL cards supported by proprietary driver and free 'radeon'
165-# driver: update name as support changes
166:NAME ATI r600 based FireGL
167:SEE ATI Radeon HD 5000 to HD 6300 (radeon/fglrx)
168-
169-# FirePro cards as above:
170:NAME ATI FirePro (radeon/fglrx)
171:SEE ATI Radeon HD 5000 to HD 6300 (radeon/fglrx)
172-
173-# Radeon cards supported by proprietary driver and free 'radeon'
174-# driver: update name as support changes
175:# SUMO and later - firmware mandatory for 'ati' (mga #3466)
176:# TODO: s/ATI/AMD/, but update Xconfig/card.pm to still show it among
177:# the other ATI entries, maybe under 'AMD / ATI' header or something
178:NAME ATI Radeon HD 6400 and later (radeon/fglrx)
179:DRIVER ati
180-FIRMWARE radeon-firmware
181-DRIVER_NO_FIRMWARE vesa
182-DRI_GLX
183:DRIVER2 fglrx
184-
185-# Radeon cards supported by proprietary driver but not by free driver
186:NAME ATI Radeon HD 5000 and later without free driver (vesa/fglrx)
187-DRIVER vesa
188:DRIVER2 fglrx