Garbled screen in X (RedHat 9, GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP 8X)

[ross.w]

Hi all

I have a nVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 with AGP8X running on an ASUS A7V8X (VIA KT400 chipset). I have an Athlon XP 2600+ (333MHz FSB edition).

I'm running a fresh install of RedHat Linux 9 and the latest nVIDIA drivers as of today.


After installing the driver and updating XF86Config to load the "nvidia" driver instead of "nv", X produces garbled output and locks the system. Even CTRL+ALT+DEL doesn't seem to work. CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE doesn't even cause the screen to refresh. I have to use rescue mode and edit my XF86Config back to what it was to be able to use linux again.

I have tried switching back to AGP 4x mode in the BIOS because I heard somewhere that linux might not support AGP8x (??), but that didn't help.

If you know of any way to fix this or something I can try to diagnose the problem that would be good.

Edit: My video BIOS version is 4.18.20.07.01

Thanks

Ross

[ross.w]

Here is my XFree86Config and the XFree86.0.log file is attached.

# XFree86 4 configuration created by redhat-config-xfree86

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"

# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally
# no need to change the default.
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"
# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
# Option "XkbDisable"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
#
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# If the normal CorePointer mouse is not a USB mouse then
# this input device can be used in AlwaysCore mode to let you
# also use USB mice at the same time.
Identifier "DevInputMice"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Philips 109S"
HorizSync 30.0 - 95.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 160.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "NV AGP"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "nvidia"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "NV AGP"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

#Section "DRI"
# Group 0
# Mode 0666
#EndSection

[--MeAngry--]

Amazing! I finally found somebody with exactly the same problem as I am currently having!
I am now trying to install the older 31xx drivers to check out if these work better, but for some reason these won't compile because some user 'buildmeister' doesn't exist :confused:

Hope anybody has an idea of why this 'error' occures.

Ow, another note, I have a GF2MX400, no GF4MX which makes it even stranger.

[bwkaz]

Your "buildmeister" error isn't the problem. There are other problems that are causing the rpmbuild to fail, look through the output of the rpmbuild command for them.

Alternatively, use the .tar.gz files. They won't clutter the output with useless errors.

[Andy Mecham]

This is a KT400 issue. Please see http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9927 for a temporary workaround.

--andy

[ross.w]

Thanks!

That seemed to work (the second one, involding changing the module configuration). Tux Racer works so I'm assuming OpenGL is working too. Again, thanks - I thought it might have had something to do with the chipset.

Ross

Method that worked:
Alternatively, you may be able to enable AGP 8x on your KT400 based
system by overriding the default NVreg_EnableAGPSBA registry key.
To do this you can either:

- set the value on the modprobe command line; for example:
modprobe nvidia NVreg_EnableAGPSBA=1

- add an options line to your module configuration file,
usually /etc/modules.conf; for example:
options nvidia NVreg_EnableAGPSBA=1

and use NVIDIA's AGP (Option "NvAGP" "1" in the Screen section
of your XF86Config file).

[MostlyCompetent]

Could this possibly be the same problem I am having (I have a KT333 w/ only 4x AGP? I get the random ASCII Chars when X tries to start.

[ventricle]

I am getting this same problem.
I have a Ti4800SE and an A7N8X mboard, which is nForce2 chip.
I tried setting Option "NvAGP" "0" in the config file, but that didn't work.
The closest I've gotten to getting this to work is having the nvidia splash screen display, then the gray screen follow it. Then the whole system freezes and I have to hard reboot.
I've tried a lot of different things to get it to work, but just no luck.
I read about needing to disable PnP and Set Assign IRQ to VGA, but I don't seem to have these options in my BIOS (Phoenix).
I'm running Gentoo.
Is there anything else I can try?