View Full Version : STILL slow Xfree startup on Slackware 9.0, 1.0-4349, GF2 MX
That's it. I had enough of this. After browsing and reading tons of posts all day in this forum I gave up. Of course, most of you already know what do I mean. It's that damn slow Xfree startup with Nvidia Linux drivers. I've never experienced it before, though I knew about it. Yesterday I installed Slack 9.0 and of course 4349 drivers. BOOM! The computer freezes for like 30 secs or so while loading Xfree. The same thing happens when I switch back from a console to Xfree. THIS IS SO ANNOYING!!! I can't understand why the hell this bug isn't fixed yet. Think about it - the problem was reported for the first time like a year ago. And still a lot of people have to deal with this issue! I also tried 3123 drivers - same damn problem. Tried using agpgart, nvagp, enabling "IgnoreDisplayDevices" in the config, as suggested in the README file - still no luck. I even recompiled the kernel without local APIC support. Nothing helped.
Andy, do something. At least promise us that you guys at Nvidia are gonna do something about it. ANY workaround would be greatly appreciated. Your drivers were awesome until 4xxx. I always respected Nvidia for their high quality linux drivers. Don't disappoint us.
And yes, I STILL experience this massive 2D slowdown in Gnome 2.2 as with 41xx drivers. KDE 3.1 runs like a charm, though. Well at least enabling "RenderAccel" option seems to help now, but as far as I understand this option is still experimental. Nvidia, bring back the gool ol' rock solid and stable Linux drivers!
My hardware - DFI AK74-SC mobo (KT133), Duron 700 Mhz, 512 MB SDRAM, Geforce2 MX 32 MB SDRAM.
Slackware 9.0, kernel 2.4.20, Xfree 4.3.0, glibc 2.3.1, gcc 3.2.2, Dropline Gnome 2.2.1.
THANK YOU for reading this.
I know this isn't related to your post:( but I caught a glimpse of slackware and it really impressed me. I tried to install it on my main system, but when it's done, my screen goes black after boot up. It's not a boot problem, it just can't read/detect either my card or monitor. I have a TI4600 and NEC Multisync...... I was just wondering if this was because I used auto detect during install. Also, when I install the slackware bootloader, I install the "bare" kernel and put lilo on the MBR, but when the menu comes up after install, in only shows Linux, it can't seem to detect my XP Pro partition...... any ideas how to fix either of these problems? I'd really like to get Slackware working .....(Use Red Hat right now)
Andy Mecham
04-08-03, 06:25 PM
KoRnaz: Please post a verbose log for me. I'd also be interested in your vbios version.
--andy
Originally posted by Andy Mecham
KoRnaz: Please post a verbose log for me. I'd also be interested in your vbios version.
--andy
Hey Andy, just so you know, the new installer worked fine for me in Red Hat 9.0:D
hey, you'll have to edit the XF86Config yourself. A good starting point will be the one you get when you type "XFree86 -configure" (as root). and eh: read the HOWTOS, slackware is a lot more do-it-yourself than RH's RPM hell. this all IMHO of course :angel:
of course, you have to follow the nvidia instructions: in XF86Config, disable dri, not the nv driver but the nvidia driver, etc, etc. the nvidia documentation is pretty straightforward, no need to repeat it here.
lilo with W2K Pro works out-of-the box here. different from XP Pro? dunno... maybe you should disable "fastboot" in /etc/lilo.conf? (wild guess). does RH use lilo? what does the /etc/lilo.conf loof like, might give you some hints.
anyways, have fun trying slack, it's a pretty cool distro and editing files is not as scary as pushing buttons in a gui, not knowing what is happening. again IMHO ;). one could also see it as a different level of abstraction *grin*.
Originally posted by 3777
I know this isn't related to your post:( but I caught a glimpse of slackware and it really impressed me. I tried to install it on my main system, but when it's done, my screen goes black after boot up. It's not a boot problem, it just can't read/detect either my card or monitor. I have a TI4600 and NEC Multisync...... I was just wondering if this was because I used auto detect during install. Also, when I install the slackware bootloader, I install the "bare" kernel and put lilo on the MBR, but when the menu comes up after install, in only shows Linux, it can't seem to detect my XP Pro partition...... any ideas how to fix either of these problems? I'd really like to get Slackware working .....(Use Red Hat right now) :angel:
Originally posted by Andy Mecham
KoRnaz: Please post a verbose log for me. I'd also be interested in your vbios version.
--andy
Hey Andy,
I attached my Xfree verbose log file. I hope it will help. Maybe you need Xfree config file as well? Oh, and I did some 'cat /proc/driver/nvidia/*' stuff. Here is what I got:
Model: GeForce2 MX/MX 400
IRQ: 10
Video BIOS: 03.11.00.08.00
Card Type: AGP
Fast Writes: Supported
SBA: Not Supported
AGP Rates: 4x 2x 1x
Registers: 0x1f000017:0x1f000104
Host Bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133]
Fast Writes: Not Supported
SBA: Supported
AGP Rates: 4x 2x 1x
Registers: 0x1f000207:0x00000104
Status: Enabled
Driver: AGPGART
AGP Rate: 4x
Fast Writes: Disabled
SBA: Disabled
NVRM version: NVIDIA Linux x86 nvidia.o Kernel Module 1.0-4349 Thu Mar 27 19:00:02 PST 2003
GCC version: gcc version 3.2.2
Thank you in advance.
hey, maybe it's related to this thread (http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=9800)?
it describes some problems with Leadtek GF2MX400 (low framerate)
Originally posted by jongew
hey, maybe it's related to this thread (http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=9800)?
it describes some problems with Leadtek GF2MX400 (low framerate)
No, I'm not experiencing any 3D slowdown. In fact, 3D speed was never that great before. I get like 10% speed increase in OpenGL apps (glxgears, Q3) with the latest drivers.
On my Duron 700 Mhz (KT133), 512 MB SDRAM, GF2 MX, Slack 9.0, I get the following glxgears results:
Defaul window size:
4593 frames in 5.0 seconds = 918.600 FPS
4593 frames in 5.0 seconds = 918.600 FPS
4584 frames in 5.0 seconds = 916.800 FPS
4595 frames in 5.0 seconds = 919.000 FPS
Maximized window:
625 frames in 5.0 seconds = 125.000 FPS
625 frames in 5.0 seconds = 125.000 FPS
626 frames in 5.0 seconds = 125.200 FPS
624 frames in 5.0 seconds = 124.800 FPS
FPS rate was never that high before :)
this is not very fast for a gforce2mx...
fish reported in another thread that a friend of his with the same graphics card got framerates as high as 1500 fps with a setup not too different from yours (probably, hard to tell from his post).
i cannot quake at bearable framerates with >16bpp@800x600
sucks compared to windows (i hardly dare say it...). i want to run quake well on linux!
now it's hardly, if at all, an improvement over my old PCI based voodoo3....
ye ye complain complain :)
Originally posted by jongew
this is not very fast for a gforce2mx...
fish reported in another thread that a friend of his with the same graphics card got framerates as high as 1500 fps with a setup not too different from yours (probably, hard to tell from his post).
i cannot quake at bearable framerates with >16bpp@800x600
sucks compared to windows (i hardly dare say it...). i want to run quake well on linux!
now it's hardly, if at all, an improvement over my old PCI based voodoo3....
ye ye complain complain :)
Well, I'm totally satisfied with 3D performance of my GF2 MX in Linux :) Q3 timedemo gives me like ~73 fps with 800x600@32bpp in Linux and ~65 fps in Windows 2000. Everything's set to the maximum, except Texture Quality, which is not highest, but high and Marks On The Walls are off. I even turned on so called geforce optimizations in Q3 as suggested by John Carmack (ID Software) at www.geforcefaq.com like 2 years ago.
Linux is a great gaming platform :)
Originally posted by KoRnaz
I even turned on so called geforce optimizations in Q3 as suggested by John Carmack (ID Software) at www.geforcefaq.com like 2 years ago.
ehm, can you tell me how you did this? i can't find anything on the linked page (geforcefaq.com), so if you could help me out with a pointer to a FAQ HOWTO or whatever i'd be much obliged!
Originally posted by jongew
ehm, can you tell me how you did this? i can't find anything on the linked page (geforcefaq.com), so if you could help me out with a pointer to a FAQ HOWTO or whatever i'd be much obliged!
Well, these settings won't increase the overall speed. Here is the quote:
---------------------
Q. How can I get the best possible image quality from Quake 3 Arena?
Firstly, adjust all settings to High Quality in the menu options of Quake 3 Arena, and then set Geometry Detail to High and Texture Detail to the extreme right hand side.
These settings were suggested by John Carmack in order to make the best use of the GeForce - type them in the console:
* /r_lodBias -2 // don't use lower detail models.
* /r_subdivisions 1 // lots more triangles in curves.
* /r_lodCurveError 10000 // don't drop curve rows for a long time.
* /vid_restart
If you want to undo these settings, just select a geometry detail level inside the game.
* /r_stencilbits 8 // enable the 8 bit stencil buffer.
* /vid_restart
* /cg_shadows 2 // enable stencil shadows.
If you want to undo these settings, set cg_shadows back to 1.
However, the shadows options may slow you down quite significantly - they're not recommended if you're into huge 20 player frag fests!
---------------------
Andy Mecham
04-09-03, 12:59 PM
I'm curious if the delay in starting that you're experiencing is related to your USB mouse - the string of messages at the end aren't printed out by the NVIDIA driver. I don't know if that could cause a long delay in startup, but it's worth disabling to see if it has any effect. Other than those messages, I don't see anything that would indicate an immediate problem.
If the USB thing is a red herring, then my next suggestion would be to visit your card vendor's website to see if there's a vbios update available for your card.
--andy
Originally posted by Andy Mecham
I'm curious if the delay in starting that you're experiencing is related to your USB mouse - the string of messages at the end aren't printed out by the NVIDIA driver. I don't know if that could cause a long delay in startup, but it's worth disabling to see if it has any effect. Other than those messages, I don't see anything that would indicate an immediate problem.
If the USB thing is a red herring, then my next suggestion would be to visit your card vendor's website to see if there's a vbios update available for your card.
--andy
Thanks Andy, but my USB mouse doesn't cause this delay. I tried starting X with USB mouse disabled in config - no luck.
I remembered one thing - with default Slackware 9.0 kernel everything worked fine, X was starting without delays, etc. But this kernel is optimized only for 486. So a made a custom kernel with Athlon optimizations. After this I began to experience these annoying delays. But seriously I don't think, that Athlon optimized kernel could cause delays. My guess is that there are issues with AMD processors or VIA chipsets in these new Nvidia drivers. On the other hand, a lot of people say that detection of a monitor causes this delay, but this delay also appears while switching back from a console to X. As far as I understand, this not the case of detection, because monitor is already detected during startup, so there is no need to probe for it everytime you switch back from a console.
Andy, I think you already know, that this is a serious problem. I mean, there are hundreds of posts in this forum about the same problem. WHAT can be a cause of it? Nobody knows :(
Originally posted by Andy Mecham
If the USB thing is a red herring, then my next suggestion would be to visit your card vendor's website to see if there's a vbios update available for your card.
--andy
The problem is that I don't know the vendor of my card. How can I determine that? And where can I find more info about upgrading Geforce vbios?
Thanks.
One more thing. I NEVER experienced this delay with any Nvidia driver on Slackware 7.x, 8.x, Debian (woody), Redhat 8.0, 9. So that leads to another guess - gcc issues? Slackware 9.0 uses gcc 3.2.2 to build a driver, because Nvidia doesn't provide precompiled drivers for Slackware systems. I had Debian (woody) with gcc 3.2. There were also no precompiled drivers for this system, so gcc 3.2 was used to build a driver and it worked just fine. I wonder, what gcc version was used to build a RH 9 driver, which is available from Nvidia? Andy, maybe you guys at Nvidia can build a driver for Slackware 9.0 systems?
Thank you.
Andy Mecham
04-10-03, 12:51 PM
I remembered one thing - with default Slackware 9.0 kernel everything worked fine, X was starting without delays, etc. But this kernel is optimized only for 486. So a made a custom kernel with Athlon optimizations. After this I began to experience these annoying delays. But seriously I don't think, that Athlon optimized kernel could cause delays.
No, it's certainly possible. What exactly did you enable? Can you attach your .config so I can try it here?
Andy, I think you already know, that this is a serious problem. I mean, there are hundreds of posts in this forum about the same problem. WHAT can be a cause of it? Nobody knows
Most of these "hundreds of posts" (actually much less than that ;) ) were caused by bad vbioses - this problem has been worked around, and people should contact their card vendor for vbios udates.
The problem is that I don't know the vendor of my card. How can I determine that? And where can I find more info about upgrading Geforce vbios?
If you bought the card at retail, it should say somewhere on the card itself. If you bought the card as part of a complete system, you'll need to contact the company you bought the system from for that information. However, I now doubt that your problem is related to your vbios.
--andy
nvidiamidknight
06-01-03, 12:56 PM
So what become of this? I (had) have the same problem. Strange thing is, it was like this when I used Mandrake too. This is inclusive of the previous driver release as well. It's been some time now I've been stumped on this.
Bright side was it forced me to get real quick with command line tools and commands.......
My specs:
P4 1.6 CPU
Abit KHT-7 Motherboard
7 hundred something SDRAM :-)
Slackware 9.0
GeForce 3 Ti 500 by PNY Technologies.
I do like the perfomance when X finnaly does load but I'm not pleased with waiting > 5 mintues for it to load......
I too show no errors in my X log.
nvidiamidknight
06-03-03, 01:20 AM
Don't fall over yourselves in responding....
Hey if your looking for paypal contribs, SERIOUSLY Look here.
I am stumped and if there is a solution to this than state it and count on a contribution. If not and you want to state how "HARD" slackware is on a newbie that count on your firewall being busy and count your prayers that you are as good as you think you are. I am at my wits end with people assuming things. Help and be helped in return $$ or keep your your thoughts to yourselves.
Respectfully,
James
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