Disabling AGP / Getty lockup

[linuxvvhore]

I have an Abit Siluro OTES Ti4200 8x w/128MB

I've got two serious issues with the NVidia drivers:

1) The ASCII garbage problem. Using the drivers in AGP mode causes the computer to freeze hard with ASCII garbage on the screen when starting X.

I've tried disabling AGP in the XF86Config file (Option "NvAgp" "0") and this works, but doesn't this decrease the performace of my card?

2) After successfully starting X with the above workaround, I find that when I try to switch to a virtual terminal (mingetty) the screen goes black and the computer is unresponsive. Gettys are important to me.

I have yet to find a workaround to this in the forum threads. Any suggestions?

I figure this post might help NVidia realize what the show-stopping bugs are in the drivers and fix them ASAP. Don't get me wrong: I like the fact that NVidia actually puts in the effort in supporting their video cards with drivers, but what a pain in the arse. This makes me yearn for the standard pre-packaged GPL drivers.

[Andy Mecham]

1) The ASCII garbage problem. Using the drivers in AGP mode causes the computer to freeze hard with ASCII garbage on the screen when starting X.What chipset/AGP driver are you using?

2) After successfully starting X with the above workaround, I find that when I try to switch to a virtual terminal (mingetty) the screen goes black and the computer is unresponsive. Gettys are important to me.We're aware of it, and are working on it. What's your vbios revision?

--andy

[linuxvvhore]

I'm not sure if this answers both of your questions, but I'll give it a shot:

[johnh@integrity johnh]$ more /proc/driver/nvidia/version
NVRM version: NVIDIA Linux x86 nvidia.o Kernel Module 1.0-4349 Thu Mar 27 19:00:02 PST 2003
GCC version: gcc version 3.2
[johnh@integrity johnh]$ more /proc/driver/nvidia/cards/0
Model: GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X
IRQ: 11
Video BIOS: 04.28.20.16.80
Card Type: AGP
[johnh@integrity johnh]$

[Andy Mecham]

What's in /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status and /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge?

--andy

[linuxvvhore]

[johnh@integrity johnh]$ more /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status
Status: Disabled
[johnh@integrity johnh]$ more /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge
Host Bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8377 [KT400 AGP] Host Bridge
Fast Writes: Supported
SBA: Supported
AGP Rates: 8x 4x
Registers: 0x1f000a1b:0x1f000000
[johnh@integrity johnh]$

[Andy Mecham]

It's a known KT400 problem. Check out the "KT400 Workaround" thread or look at the 1.0-4349 errata text on the driver download page for some solutions.

--andy

[linuxvvhore]

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9927

Thanks! That worked.

Is this a problem with the driver that will probably be fixed in the future? I know that the card seems to work fine in Windows, so I should think the same would be possible in Linux.

Thanks again for all of your help Andy. I really appreciate it.