Lockups due to AGP card disabled?

[Amazing Iceman]

I've been experiencing lockups using Mandrake 9.1 (Fresh install with latest updates and kernel) while trying to run UT2003, and after lots of research on the web, I was able to query this information which shows that may AGP GeForce TI4600 AGP 128MB is not running in AGP mode.
If that's the case, how do I get it to work in AGP mode?

Motherboard: ASUS A7A266 (Please see the reports below for additional
information. Thank you...


[root@localhost nvidia]# cat agp/card
Fast Writes: Supported
SBA: Supported
AGP Rates: 4x 2x 1x
Registers: 0x1f000217:0x00000000


[root@localhost nvidia]# cat agp/host-bridge
Host Bridge: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] M1647 Northbridge [MAGiK 1 /
MobileMAGiK 1]
Fast Writes: Not Supported
SBA: Supported
AGP Rates: 4x 2x 1x
Registers: 0x1b000207:0x00000000


[root@localhost nvidia]# cat agp/status
Status: Disabled
====> How could it be Disabled????



[root@localhost nvidia]# cat cards/0
Model: GeForce4 Ti 4600
IRQ: 11
Video BIOS: 04.25.00.22.00
Card Type: AGP


[root@localhost dev]# ls -al nvidia*
crw------- 1 root root 195, 0 Dec 31 1969 nvidia0
crw------- 1 root root 195, 255 Dec 31 1969 nvidiactl
===> Notice that I don't have a device called nvidia, only nvidia1. Is this
normal?


[root@localhost proc]# cat version
Linux version 2.4.21-0.13mdk (flepied@bi.mandrakesoft.com) (gcc version
3.2.2 (Mandrake Linux 9.1 3.2.2-3mdk)) #1 Fri Mar 14 15:08:06 EST 2003


[root@localhost proc]# cat pci
PCI devices found:
Bus 0, device 0, function 0:
Host bridge: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] M1647 Northbridge [MAGiK 1 /
Mobil
eMAGiK 1] (rev 4).
Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf0000000 [0xf7ffffff].
Bus 0, device 1, function 0:
PCI bridge: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] PCI to AGP Controller (rev 0).
Master Capable. No bursts. Min Gnt=8.
Bus 0, device 2, function 0:
USB Controller: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 3).

IRQ 9.
Master Capable. Latency=32. Max Lat=80.
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe5800000 [0xe5800fff].
Bus 0, device 6, function 0:
USB Controller: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] USB 1.1 Controller (#2)
(rev 3)
.
IRQ 9.
Master Capable. Latency=32. Max Lat=80.
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe4800000 [0xe4800fff].
Bus 0, device 4, function 0:
IDE interface: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] M5229 IDE (rev 196).
Master Capable. Latency=32. Min Gnt=2.Max Lat=4.
I/O at 0xd400 [0xd40f].
Bus 0, device 7, function 0:
ISA bridge: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] M1533 PCI to ISA Bridge
[Aladdin IV
] (rev 0).
Bus 0, device 9, function 0:
Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone] (rev
36).
IRQ 5.
Master Capable. Latency=32. Min Gnt=10.Max Lat=10.
I/O at 0xb800 [0xb87f].
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe3800000 [0xe380007f].
Bus 0, device 11, function 0:
Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 5).
IRQ 10.
Master Capable. Latency=32. Min Gnt=2.Max Lat=20.
I/O at 0xb400 [0xb41f].
Bus 0, device 11, function 1:
Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Live! MIDI/Game Port (rev 5).
Master Capable. Latency=32.
I/O at 0xb000 [0xb007].
Bus 0, device 12, function 0:
FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB12LV23 IEEE-1394 Controller
(rev
0).
IRQ 11.
Master Capable. Latency=32. Min Gnt=3.Max Lat=4.
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe3000000 [0xe30007ff].
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe2800000 [0xe2803fff].
Bus 0, device 13, function 0:
SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AHA-2940U/UW/D / AIC-7881U (rev 1).
IRQ 9.
Master Capable. Latency=32. Min Gnt=8.Max Lat=8.
I/O at 0xa800 [0xa8ff].
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe2000000 [0xe2000fff].
Bus 0, device 17, function 0:
Bridge: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] M7101 PMU (rev 0).
Bus 1, device 0, function 0:
VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV25 [GeForce4 Ti4600]
(rev 16
2).
IRQ 11.
Master Capable. Latency=248. Min Gnt=5.Max Lat=1.
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe6000000 [0xe6ffffff].
Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe8000000 [0xefffffff].
Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe7800000 [0xe787ffff].
===> NOTICE THAT IT SHOWS AS A PCI Controller... Is this correct??


[root@localhost proc]# lsmod
Module Size Used by Tainted: P
binfmt_misc 7020 1
autofs4 11540 2 (autoclean)
parport_pc 25096 1 (autoclean)
lp 8096 0 (autoclean)
parport 34176 1 (autoclean) [parport_pc lp]
nvidia 1678784 10 (autoclean)
ipt_TOS 1592 12 (autoclean)
ipt_LOG 4280 5 (autoclean)
ipt_REJECT 3640 4 (autoclean)
ipt_state 1080 18 (autoclean)
iptable_mangle 2712 1 (autoclean)
ip_nat_irc 3280 0 (unused)
ip_nat_ftp 4016 0 (unused)
iptable_nat 21048 2 [ip_nat_irc ip_nat_ftp]
ip_conntrack_irc 4304 1
ip_conntrack_ftp 5200 1
ip_conntrack 27264 4 [ipt_state ip_nat_irc ip_nat_ftp
iptable_nat ip_conntrack_irc ip_conntrack_ftp]
iptable_filter 2348 1 (autoclean)
ip_tables 14648 9 [ipt_TOS ipt_LOG ipt_REJECT ipt_state
iptable_mangle iptable_nat iptable_filter]
nls_cp437 5148 2 (autoclean)
snd-seq-midi 5024 0 (autoclean) (unused)
snd-emu10k1-synth 5276 0 (autoclean) (unused)
snd-emux-synth 31644 0 (autoclean) [snd-emu10k1-synth]
snd-seq-midi-emul 6780 0 (autoclean) [snd-emux-synth]
snd-seq-virmidi 4572 0 (autoclean) [snd-emux-synth]
snd-seq-oss 31104 0 (unused)
snd-seq-midi-event 5640 0 [snd-seq-midi snd-seq-virmidi snd-seq-oss]
snd-seq 42608 2 [snd-seq-midi snd-emux-synth
snd-seq-midi-emul snd-seq-virmidi snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi-event]
snd-pcm-oss 43556 0 (unused)
snd-mixer-oss 14488 0 [snd-pcm-oss]
snd-emu10k1 69268 0 [snd-emu10k1-synth]
snd-rawmidi 17600 0 [snd-seq-midi snd-seq-virmidi snd-emu10k1]
snd-pcm 77536 0 [snd-pcm-oss snd-emu10k1]
snd-timer 18376 0 [snd-seq snd-pcm]
snd-page-alloc 7732 0 [snd-emu10k1 snd-pcm]
snd-util-mem 3008 0 [snd-emux-synth snd-emu10k1]
snd-ac97-codec 40160 0 [snd-emu10k1]
snd-seq-device 5832 0 [snd-seq-midi snd-emu10k1-synth
snd-emux-synth snd-seq-oss snd-seq snd-emu10k1 snd-rawmidi]
snd-hwdep 6368 0 [snd-emu10k1]
snd 40868 0 [snd-seq-midi snd-emux-synth
snd-seq-virmidi snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi-event snd-seq snd-pcm-oss
snd-mixer-oss snd-emu10k1 snd-rawmidi snd-pcm snd-timer snd-util-mem
snd-ac97-codec snd-seq-device snd-hwdep]
soundcore 6276 0 [snd]
nfsd 74256 8 (autoclean)
af_packet 14952 0 (autoclean)
floppy 55132 0
3c59x 29584 1 (autoclean)
scsimon 9280 0 (unused)
sbp2 19424 2
ohci1394 19048 0 (unused)
ieee1394 45900 0 [sbp2 ohci1394]
nls_iso8859-1 3516 4 (autoclean)
ntfs 76812 2 (autoclean)
supermount 15296 1 (autoclean)
vfat 11820 2 (autoclean)
fat 37944 0 (autoclean) [vfat]
sr_mod 16920 0 (autoclean)
cdrom 31648 0 (autoclean) [sr_mod]
usbmouse 2936 0 (unused)
keybdev 2720 0 (unused)
mousedev 5268 0
hid 20900 0 (unused)
input 5664 0 [usbmouse keybdev mousedev hid]
printer 8448 1
usb-ohci 20584 0 (unused)
usbcore 72992 1 [usbmouse hid printer usb-ohci]
rtc 8060 0 (autoclean)
ext3 59916 2
jbd 38972 2 [ext3]
sd_mod 11548 4
aic7xxx 120860 0 (unused)
scsi_mod 91796 5 [scsimon sbp2 sr_mod sd_mod aic7xxx]

[bwkaz]

From the README:

On ALi1541 and ALi1647 chipsets, NVIDIA drivers disable AGP to work around timing issues and signal integrity issues. You can force AGP to be enabled on these chipsets by setting NVreg_EnableALiAGP to 1. Note that this may cause the system to become unstable.

[Amazing Iceman]

I have already tried disabling AGP on XF86Config-4, but the system keeps locking up...


How do I configure NVreg_EnableALiAGP 1 ?

Thank you...

[bwkaz]

AGP is already disabled -- there is nothing you can do in XF86Config-4 to disable it if it's not running! ;)

Passing that option to the nvidia kernel module will also not get you any stability -- it'll probably cause more lockups. The snippet of the README that I posted was explaining why your AGP was disabled in /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status.

About your other questions that I missed before:

PCI Controller... Is this correct? Most definitely correct. The only difference between AGP and PCI is that AGP has faster access to parts of the system memory. They are, in the end, exactly the same bus.

===> Notice that I don't have a device called nvidia, only nvidia1. Is this
normal? You should neither have a /dev/nvidia nor a /dev/nvidia1. You should only have a /dev/nvidia0, assuming your distro uses devfs.

Are your lockups happening with a DVI-connected monitor? If so, that's probably the cause -- the nVidia drivers are having issues with DVI. Hook the monitor up with a VGA connector (or DVI->VGA converter, that works too) instead.

[Amazing Iceman]

You should neither have a /dev/nvidia nor a /dev/nvidia1. You should only have a /dev/nvidia0, assuming your distro uses devfs.

=> Yes I do have /dev/nvidia0. Sorry, may mistake while typing.

Are your lockups happening with a DVI-connected monitor? If so, that's probably the cause -- the nVidia drivers are having issues with DVI. Hook the monitor up with a VGA connector (or DVI->VGA converter, that works too) instead.

=> I only have a regular VGA Monitor using the VGA Connector.


After tweaking the system, now the lockups occur just as the game (only tried Single Player Mode) is about to start. Before it used to crash during the nVidia Logo.

X runs ok...


Thank you...

[Amazing Iceman]

System Still lockig up under UT2003. I have tried all combinations and still locks up.

Any more ideas???

Do I need to recompile my kernel not to use ACPI?

HELP!

:(

[Amazing Iceman]

System Still lockig up under UT2003. I have tried all combinations and still locks up.

Any more ideas???

Do I need to recompile my kernel not to use ACPI?

HELP!

:(

[bwkaz]

That might help, I don't know... while you're at it, I think you can turn off all the APM stuff too, except for "console blanking" and the main APM setting (you need the main one to be able to shut the computer off after shutting down, in runlevel 0).

[energyman76b]

Try disabling dga.
Maybe it is solving your problems, maybe not.

Have a look into you XF86Config.
Search for this lines:
SubSection "extmod"
Option "omit xfree86-dga"

If the Option line is missing, place it directly in the line beneath the extmod line

[Amazing Iceman]

disabling dga didn't help either.Just in case, I added the End SubSection command to close the subsection, otherwise X wouldn't start.
Any other ideas?
Should I leave the Videocard working as a PCI card instead of AGP or should I force it to work in AGP mode?
Should I disable DPMS in X?
Should I use AGPGART or Nv_AGP?
:'(

It's been over a week and can't figure out how to solve the problem. In the meantime I was able to help 4 other new Linux Users, but can't help myself!!!!