# Sony Vaio VGN-Z690J

## darkseer

OK, for the most part the vaio guides that are out there for gentoo rock. I have X running, the latest kernel, wifi, bluetooth, most powermanagment running(working on cpufreqd now). There is one issue though I can't seem to resolve in my research about the video. I found out that the laptop has 2 video cards, an intel 915 chipset and an nvidia 9300M chipset. In vista is actually swtices between the two depending on the powersaving mode. I currently have X working through the intel graphics adaptor. Has anyone on gotten the nvidia adaptor to work? When I try I keep getting I/O error on /dev/nvidia in the xorg log. All the recomendations around that error involve disabling acpi. I've tried doing all the permutations recomended in the boot barameters to no avail.  

-darkseer

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## truc

It's working fine here with a vaio VGN SZ61MN ( Intel dont_remember_what / GeForce 8400M GS ). I don't need any special boot option for the nvidia card to work.

I can post whichever conf file you want, just ask.

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## darkseer

kernel boot parameters if any

kernel version

nvidia driver version

xorg.conf

----------

## truc

```
kernel /kernel-2.6.30_rc4 fastboot quiet video=uvesafb:1280x768-32,mtrr:3,ywrap
```

```
 uname -a

Linux slt 2.6.30-rc4 #14 SMP PREEMPT Thu May 28 23:33:14 CEST 2009 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7250 @ 2.00GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

```

 (vanilla-sources)

```
 emerge -s nvidia-drivers

Searching...

[ Results for search key : nvidia-drivers ]

[ Applications found : 1 ]

*  x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers

      Latest version available: 180.60

      Latest version installed: 180.60

      Size of files: 52,391 kB

      Homepage:      http://www.nvidia.com/

      Description:   NVIDIA X11 driver and GLX libraries

      License:       NVIDIA

```

```
Section "ServerLayout"

   Identifier     "X.org Configured"

   Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0

EndSection

Section "Files"

   ModulePath   "/usr/lib64/xorg/modules"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/OTF"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/"

EndSection

Section "Module"

   Load  "record"

   Load  "dbe"

   Load  "glx"

   Load  "xtrap"

   Load  "extmod"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

   Identifier   "Monitor0"

   VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"

   ModelName    "Monitor Model"

EndSection

Section "Device"

   Identifier  "Card0"

   Driver      "nvidia"

   VendorName  "nVidia Corporation"

   BoardName   "G86 [GeForce 8400M GS]"

   BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"

        Option      "NoLogo"        "1"

        Option      "NvAGP"         "1"

        Option      "VBERestore"    "1"

EndSection

Section "Screen"

   Identifier "Screen0"

   Device     "Card0"

   Monitor    "Monitor0"

   SubSection "Display"

      Viewport   0 0

      Depth      24

                Modes      "1280x800"

   EndSubSection

EndSection

```

----------

## darkseer

didnt work, but the silent boot options highlighted this message:

pci 0000:01:00.0: BAR 6: can't allocate mem resource [0xd0000000-0xcfffffff]

This is the X message I get:

(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA graphics device PCI:1:0:0.

(EE) NVIDIA(0):     Please see the COMMON PROBLEMS section in the README for

(EE) NVIDIA(0):     additional information.

(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA graphics device!

At the command ling I get a SDTOUT message saying error accessing /dev/nvidia (Input/output) error. 

I checked the permissions on the device and they are correct, and my user is in the video group. 

My xorg.conf

```

Section "ServerLayout"                     

        Identifier     "X.org Configured"  

        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0       

#       InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"

#       InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

#       Option "AllowEmptyInput" "no"            

EndSection                                       

Section "Files"

        ModulePath   "/usr/lib64/xorg/modules"

        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc/" 

        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/"  

        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/OTF"   

        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"

        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"

        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/" 

EndSection                                     

Section "Module"

        Load  "dri"

        Load  "dbe"

        Load  "extmod"

        Load  "glx"   

        Load  "record"

        Load  "xtrap" 

        Load  "evdev" 

EndSection            

#Section "InputDevice"

#       Identifier  "Keyboard0"

#       Driver      "kbd"      

#EndSection                    

#Section "InputDevice"

#       Identifier  "Mouse0"

#       Driver      "mouse" 

#       Option      "Protocol" "auto"

#       Option      "Device" "/dev/psaux"

#       Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"

#EndSection                                 

Section "Monitor"

        Identifier   "Monitor0"

        VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"

        ModelName    "Monitor Model" 

EndSection                           

Section "Device"

        ### Available Driver options are:-

        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",

        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"             

        ### [arg]: arg optional                                      

        #Option     "SWcursor"                  # [<bool>]           

        #Option     "HWcursor"                  # [<bool>]           

        #Option     "NoAccel"                   # [<bool>]           

        #Option     "ShadowFB"                  # [<bool>]           

        #Option     "UseFBDev"                  # [<bool>]           

        #Option     "Rotate"                    # [<str>]            

        #Option     "VideoKey"                  # <i>                

        #Option     "FlatPanel"                 # [<bool>]           

        #Option     "FPDither"                  # [<bool>]           

        #Option     "CrtcNumber"                # <i>                

        #Option     "FPScale"                   # [<bool>]           

        #Option     "FPTweak"                   # <i>                

        #Option     "DualHead"                  # [<bool>]           

        Identifier  "Card0"                                          

        Driver      "intel"                                          

        VendorName  "intel"                                          

        BoardName   "intel"                                          

        BusID       "PCI:0:2:0"                                      

EndSection                                                           

Section "Device"

   Identifier  "Card1"

   Driver      "nvidia"

   VendorName  "nVidia Corporation"

   BoardName   "G9 [GeForce 9300M GS]"

   BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"            

   Option      "NoLogo"        "1"

   Option      "NvAGP"         "1"

   Option      "VBERestore"

EndSection

Section "Screen"

        Identifier "Screen0"

        Device     "Card1"

        Monitor    "Monitor0"

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport   0 0

                Depth     1

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport   0 0

                Depth     4

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport   0 0

                Depth     8

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport   0 0

                Depth     15

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport   0 0

                Depth     16

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport   0 0

                Depth     24

        EndSubSection

EndSection

```

-darkseer

----------

## truc

 *darkseer wrote:*   

> I checked the permissions on the device and they are correct, and my user is in the video group. 

 

I don't know what you mean by "correct", so... :

```
ls -l /dev/nvidia*

crw-rw---- 1 root video 195,   0 2009-06-01 11:40 /dev/nvidia0

crw-rw---- 1 root video 195, 255 2009-06-01 11:40 /dev/nvidiactl

```

Looking for the exact error on google might also help.

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## darkseer

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> I don't know what you mean by "correct", so... :
> 
> Code:
> ...

 

Yes, this is what mine shows too for group and owner. 

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> Looking for the exact error on google might also help.
> 
> 

 

I already did, the issue appears to be related to an IRQ conflict or a shared resource conflict of some kind. No one has addressed this exact issue. The closest I came was someone with an nvidia desktop card having this problem when the HDMI cable wasn't inserted.  I'm gonna google more, but I've tried the recomended solutions other people experiencing this error message recomended but to no avail. I was hoping to catch somthing new here.

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## truc

you could probably remove those lines:

```
        Option      "NvAGP"         "1"

        Option      "VBERestore"    "1"

```

from your xorg.conf, I only added them after X was working.

Also, which nvidia driver version do you have?

Did you actually try to configure X from scratch, with no preexisting xorg.conf? ( X -configure... see the handbook)

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## darkseer

 *truc wrote:*   

> you could probably remove those lines:
> 
> ```
>         Option      "NvAGP"         "1"
> 
> ...

 

I generated and initial xorg.conf with the X -configure and worked from there. The driver version is  x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-180.29.

Besides the display driver I'm curious about somthing else, for power management. I'm using the tux on ice kernel sources, acpid, and on-demand frequency scaling. My question is, have you gotten the power manager plasmoid that comes with KDE 4.2 to work. Before I did tux on ice I tried just the powermanagement plasmoid. While it controls screen brightness, it didn't scale the CPU or handle suspend and resume properly. Has anyone experienced the same problem with their vaio.... or am I just lucky  :Smile: 

My solution was to use tux on ice and just trigger the suspend to ram and disk event with the lid closing. It works very well, but setting up tux on ice was a chore.

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## truc

I'm using the vanilla kernel.

Can't suspend2both when using the nvidia card (well, I can, but all I have is a grey screen when resuming - but the system seems up and running-)

I'm actually always using the intel video card, so I can't really help you anymore :/

----------

## tmacedo

The Z series is quite different from the SZ one as the switch is software.

If you want to get the nvidia card working (or just switch it off), you'll have to install a new kernel module and use some kernel parameters:

https://launchpad.net/~sony-vaio-z-series

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## darkseer

awsome link. Will test it tomorrow. Looks very promising.

----------

## darkseer

That link got the nvidia portion of the video going and a few other things. I'm working out the details but all the basices are going now. With a little bit of polish in a day or two I should have a my viao working with everything. 

-Glenn

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## venus_to_mars

I've been trying to get nVidia graphics to work for quite some time, so can you please post what you did to get this working and your xorg.confs?

----------

## darkseer

First off I'm using the latest tuxonice sources 2.6.28-tuxonice-r10, here is the config file for the kernel:

http://pastebin.ca/1532082

Here are the boot parameters:

kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86_64-2.6.28-tuxonice-r10 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/sdb1 resume=file:/dev/sdb4:0x2230000 acpi_osi="!Windows 2006"

initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86_64-2.6.28-tuxonice-r10

The resume statement must me tailored to where your suspend file will reside. Read the tuxonice manual for details. 

I needed a start up script that sets all the video options depending on which card I have at startup. The card is chosen by the speed stamina switch in the upper left hand corner. The acpi_os boot parameter makes sure linux recognizes the HW switch. You cannot change cards while the machine is running, only between boots:

http://pastebin.ca/1532071

Here is the xorg.conf I use for the nvidia card:

http://pastebin.ca/1532073

Here is the xorg.conf I use for the intel card:

http://pastebin.ca/1532078

I have the nvidia drivers and the mesa drivers installed, the eselect in the script takes care of the GL symbolic links.

----------

## darkseer

As a quick aside these are the major points of this config:

Working:

I have resume suspend working. (need to add modules to initrd for resume to work)

I have both graphics cards working (can only be switched between cold boots). 

I have KDE 4.3 running

I have the 2 64 GB SSD drives, instead of raiding them one is for windows and one is for linux. 

Almost all the sony hot keys work except the hibernate key, but that just needs to be mapped.

I have the bluetooth subsystem working. 

I have the wired and wireless working. 

I have the SD card working and probably the memory stick, but I have no stick to test. 

DVD is working

Sound mostly works except for internal mic

Framebuffer

Not working:

Internal mic

Not Tested:

HDMI out

firewire

I'm going to attempt a wiki page.

----------

