# PBM: Random freezes with xf86-video-ati-6.9.0

## VinzC

Hi.

I believe I experience random freezes with xf86-video-ati-6.9.0 video driver. I must then power off and back on. I hate that...

My main concern is that I don't seem to experience any freeze at all with radeonhd but then videos are completely scrambled (using Xine engine). Also switching to a text console or quiting X with radeonhd lets the screen blur and fade to white very slowly, leaving me no other option but reboot.

Here are my related packages:x11-base/xorg-server-1.3.0.0-r6

x11-base/xorg-x11-7.2

media-libs/mesa-7.1_rc3

x11-proto/xf86driproto-2.0.4

x11-drivers/xf86-video-ati-6.9.0Did anyone experience such freezes with xf86-video-ati? Is there a fix?

Thanks in advance.

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## mrsteven

I also had some freezes and other stability issues using the same version of the X server and of the ATI driver as you. A downgrade to 6.8.0-r1 fixed it.

Maybe it also helps to use a newer X server (>=1.4.0.90) but I don't know.

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## VinzC

 *mrsteven wrote:*   

> I also had some freezes and other stability issues using the same version of the X server and of the ATI driver as you. A downgrade to 6.8.0-r1 fixed it.

 

Too bad since 6.9.0 benefits from the latest 3D developments... Thanks for your feedback.

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## cyrillic

This is what I am using with my r5xx radeon, and it seems to be very stable (and 3D works too).

x11-base/xorg-server-1.4.99.906

x11-base/xorg-x11-7.3

media-libs/mesa-7.1_rc3

x11-proto/xf86driproto-2.0.4

x11-drivers/xf86-video-radeonhd-9999

sys-kernel/vanilla-sources-2.6.27_rc3 with CONFIG_DRM_RADEON=m 

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## VinzC

Thanks cyrillic.

As for radeonhd driver, the problem I experience from time to time is when switching to a text console from X: the screen sometimes blurs and fades to white very slowly. E.g. my background picture remains printed and then the whole screen starts to fade to white slowly.

It's very difficult to describe as I can't take a screenshot at that time. I guess it would be the same if the video signal was suddenly stopped and the LCD screen left as is waiting for the screen remanence to decay naturally...

Did you experience the same «strange» effect? In fact this is the reason why I switched to xf86-video-ati. My video card is a Radeon Mobility X1400 (Model M54, RV515 chipset).

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## cyrillic

I did not have any strange LCD effects because this is a desktop machine, and I am using a (old fashioned) 21" CRT monitor.

I actually had the opposite problem, xf86-video-ati would not switch back to a (vesafb) text console without corrupting the display, but xf86-video-radeonhd would switch back and forth nicely.

BTW, this is the card I am using.

```
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV516 [Radeon X1300/X1550 Series]

01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV516 [Radeon X1300 Pro] (Secondary) 
```

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## VinzC

Out of curiosity, what framerate do you get with glxgears?

EDIT: There's a whole bunch of packages to unmask, BTW...

EDIT: Where did you get radeonhd-9999? Are you using layman? If yes what are the packages that you used from layman?

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## VinzC

I've just upgraded xorg and other packages to the level you have -- except I don't have radeonhd-9999. It's soewhat worse than before and I have several issues:synaptics driver doesn't compile anymore and I have the latest version

as a result, my touchpad doesn't work and I need an external mouse

X doesn't start anymore now with xf86-video-ati

OpenGL seems to work (judging by glxgears) but I have ~180 FPS with the windowed gears... I had ~1000FPS before running into trouble with X...I really don't know what I'm going to do next.

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## cyrillic

I get ~1400 FPS in glxgears.

Since I run ~ARCH globally, only a few needed packages were hardmasked.

x11-drivers/xf86-video-radeonhd-9999 is a custom ebuild from here :

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-606785.html

x11-drivers/synaptics doesn't compile with the latest xorg-server, so I use x11-drivers/xf86-input-synaptics instead, from here :

https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=234794

 *VinzC wrote:*   

> 3. X doesn't start anymore now with xf86-video-ati 

 

What does the log say ?

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## VinzC

 *VinzC wrote:*   

> 3. X doesn't start anymore now with xf86-video-ati

 

 *cyrillic wrote:*   

> What does the log say ?

 

```
Fatal server error: No screens found.
```

Thanks a lot for the info, I'm updating immediately.

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## VinzC

Hmmm... No more than 334 FPS with glxgears now... If only I could restore my previous settings...

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## mikkoc

The hard lockups I experience are due to drm, they're not related to radeon or radeonhd.

Maybe you don't experience lockups with radeonhd because it doesn't enable dri by default (you need to set Option "DRI" "true")?

If that's the case, please see the bug I opened: http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16198

These hard lockups are known to happen with some R500 cards, but they seem to be difficult to fix (I have been experiencing them since the first time I tried 3d with oss drivers, back in May).

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## VinzC

 *mikkoc wrote:*   

> The hard lockups I experience are due to drm, they're not related to radeon or radeonhd.
> 
> Maybe you don't experience lockups with radeonhd because it doesn't enable dri by default (you need to set Option "DRI" "true")?
> 
> If that's the case, please see the bug I opened: http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16198
> ...

 

Aow! So it looks like I might not be out of trouble yet. In fact I was hoping enabling NPTL again would help... I'll see if I still experience these. I recall they mostly occurred while compiling stuff but the CPU wasn't 100% busy.

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## mikkoc

yes, they tend to happen more frequently while the system is under heavy load.

But they also happen in normal conditions.   :Sad: 

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## VinzC

I've spent more than one day working and still no freeze. I've also compiled a couple of packages -- after an upgrade -- and everything went fine. Compiling gtk+ did take a certain amount of time, both cores went up to 100% but no freeze... Crossing my fingers  :Smile:  .

However I get something strange. Sometimes, at random moments, I see the screen flicker (how can I say) a very short moment, less than half a second. It's too fast for me to clearly see but it's just as though one small portion of my background picture (or is it one of the corners of the screen) was enlarged over the entire screen (I can see some text). The screen immediately gets back to normal afterwards. It's like a subliminal image...

Also there is a small, vertical area across the screen that repeats every 256 pixels in which the mouse pointer gets «noisy» (only the pointer icon). This happens 7 times and a half on my screen, which is 1920 pixels wide. There is an invisible, 8-pixel-width, vertical region (didn't count to that point  :Wink:  ) in which the mouse pointer becomes «troubled». Black, horizontal lines are going down the pointer slowly, like on an older television. This happens only to the pointer at specific spots on the screen.

Tried my best to describe the problem  :Very Happy:  .

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## VinzC

Almost one week with xf86-video-ati-6.9.0 and the new release of mesa and xorg: not a single freeze! This looks like the end of darkness to me  :Wink:  .

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## VinzC

Hay! Got it! My first freeze after one week using xf86-video-ati. The freeze occurred while running 2 KVM virtual machines, one of them was compiling. The computer froze as soon as I started Apache2 on my laptop. Strangely enough only one core was 100% busy due to the compiling VM.

Got back to radeonhd, just in case...

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