Linux backlight driver - Page 9

Zem · 01-05-11, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zem

I also have another problem.
Everytime an application goes in fullscreen, or I lock the screen, or I play a video with mplayer (not vlc or xine), brightness is reset to 100%.

Nobody?

The weird thing is, when i do these things "/sys/class/backlight/nvidia_backlight/brightness" remains unchanged, while "/sys/class/backlight/nvidia_backlight/actual_brightness" becomes "26751" (!!)

damdim · 01-05-11, 01:34 PM

I had created the following thread with not many replies. This must be a problem with the nvidia drivers and not with nvidiabl. If you reduce the backlight and unload nvidiabl module you still get the same effect.
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=157634

guillaumezin · 01-05-11, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zem

Nobody?

The weird thing is, when i do these things "/sys/class/backlight/nvidia_backlight/brightness" remains unchanged, while "/sys/class/backlight/nvidia_backlight/actual_brightness" becomes "26751" (!!)

brightness contains a memory of the last settings sent by nvidiabl, actual_brightness rereads the register and reinterprets it as a brightness value. It would mean that another module is changing the brightness register directly... nvidiabl is basically based on reverse engineering, maybe I need to mask part of this register because another part is used for another purpose like VDPAU as mentionned in the other thread.

Could you give me the output of:

Code:

cd /sys/module/nvidiabl/parameters
cat *

This way, maybe I would be able to detect the "broken" bit.

Guillaume.

Zem · 01-05-11, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guillaumezin

Could you give me the output of:

Code:

cd /sys/module/nvidiabl/parameters
cat *

This way, maybe I would be able to detect the "broken" bit.

Guillaume.

Here it is:

Code:

/sys/module/nvidiabl/parameters$ cat *
128000
7000
0
2603

guillaumezin · 01-07-11, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zem

Here it is:

Code:

/sys/module/nvidiabl/parameters$ cat *
128000
7000
0
2603

Ok, I have no clue with this, the wole register is screwed up. We will try to log writes and reads of the register. This is a bit dangerous, so do it only if you're a bit familiar with Linux command line.

Code:

sudo nano /etc/rc2.d/S00mmiotrace

containing:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

echo mmiotrace > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/current_tracer
echo Starting > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace_marker

modprobe -r nvidia
modprobe -r nvidiabl

echo Inserting nvidia > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace_marker

modprobe nvidia

echo Inserting nvidiabl > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace_marker

modprobe nvidiabl

then:

Code:

sudo chmod +x /etc/rc2.d/S00mmiotrace

Reboot.

After reboot, Ubuntu may complain that the graphic driver didn't initialize properly. Ask to try again. If you're stuck, do CTRL+ALT+F2, login, type "sudo rm /etc/rc2.d/S00mmiotrace" then "sudo reboot". If your desktop environment boots up fine:

Code:

cat /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace_pipe > ~/mydump.txt &
sudo su -c "echo playing with the backlight > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace_marker"

Keep the terminal window open and change you backlight brightness up and down a bit. After that:

Code:

sudo su -c "echo break backlight register > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace_marker"

And play a movie fullscreen until you reproduce your problem. Then:

Code:

sudo su -c "echo nop > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/current_tracer"
sudo rm /etc/rc2.d/S00mmiotrace

Reboot and publish here the content of the file mydump.txt from your home directory. If the file is big, keep only the end starting with the text string "playing with the backlight".

Thank you.

Guillaume

Zem · 01-07-11, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guillaumezin

Ok, I have no clue with this, the wole register is screwed up.

The first two values are the minimum and maximum brightness I set for the module; I don't know if this could help.

Quote:

Originally Posted by guillaumezin

Reboot and publish here the content of the file mydump.txt from your home directory. If the file is big, keep only the end starting with the text string "playing with the backlight".

I don't understand completely what these commands do, so I followed your instructions literally; mydump.txt does not contain the string "playing with the backlight".
Here is the whole file:

Code:

VERSION 20070824
PCIDEV 0000 80860044 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 0008 80860045 28 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 pcieport
PCIDEV 00d0 80863b3c 10 e8e08000 0 0 0 0 0 0 400 0 0 0 0 0 0 ehci_hcd
PCIDEV 00d8 80863b56 2f e8e00004 0 0 0 0 0 0 4000 0 0 0 0 0 0 HDA Intel
PCIDEV 00e0 80863b42 29 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 pcieport
PCIDEV 00e1 80863b44 2a 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 pcieport
PCIDEV 00e2 80863b46 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 pcieport
PCIDEV 00e5 80863b4c 2c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 pcieport
PCIDEV 00e8 80863b34 17 e8e07000 0 0 0 0 0 0 400 0 0 0 0 0 0 ehci_hcd
PCIDEV 00f0 80862448 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 00f8 80863b03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 00fa 80863b2f 2e e071 e061 e051 e041 e021 e8e06000 0 8 4 8 4 20 800 0 ahci
PCIDEV 00fb 80863b30 4 e8e05004 0 0 0 e001 0 0 100 0 0 0 20 0 0 
PCIDEV 00fe 80863b32 12 e8e04004 0 0 0 0 0 0 1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 0100 10de0a2b 10 e2000000 d000000c 0 e000000c 0 d001 e3000002 1000000 10000000 0 2000000 0 80 80000 nvidia
PCIDEV 0101 10de0be2 10 e3080000 0 0 0 0 0 0 4000 0 0 0 0 0 0 HDA Intel
PCIDEV 0200 168c002b 10 e7a00004 0 0 0 0 0 0 10000 0 0 0 0 0 0 ath9k
PCIDEV 0300 1180e822 11 e6603000 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 sdhci-pci
PCIDEV 0301 1180e230 4 e6602000 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 0303 1180e832 10 e6601000 0 0 0 0 0 0 800 0 0 0 0 0 0 firewire_ohci
PCIDEV 0304 1180e822 13 e6600000 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 sdhci-pci
PCIDEV 0400 11ab4380 2d e5220004 0 a001 0 0 0 e5200000 4000 0 100 0 0 0 20000 sky2
PCIDEV 3f00 80862c62 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 3f01 80862d01 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 3f10 80862d10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 3f11 80862d11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 3f12 80862d12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 3f13 80862d13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
MARK 20.079958 Starting
MAP 20.405545 1 0xd0000000 0xffffc900050c8000 0x1000 0x0 0
MAP 20.426532 2 0xd0001000 0xffffc900050cc000 0x1000 0x0 0
MAP 36.782903 3 0xd0003000 0xffffc900050d0000 0x1000 0x0 0
MAP 36.783025 4 0xd0004000 0xffffc900050d4000 0x1000 0x0 0
UNMAP 36.799142 3 0x0 0
UNMAP 36.799238 4 0x0 0
MAP 36.820277 5 0xd0003000 0xffffc900050d0000 0x1000 0x0 0
MAP 36.820396 6 0xd0004000 0xffffc900050d4000 0x1000 0x0 0
UNMAP 55.142572 2 0x0 0
MAP 55.300762 7 0xd0001000 0xffffc900050cc000 0x1000 0x0 0
UNMAP 55.616272 5 0x0 0
UNMAP 55.616373 6 0x0 0
MAP 55.624525 8 0xd0003000 0xffffc900050d0000 0x1000 0x0 0
MAP 55.624653 9 0xd0004000 0xffffc900050d4000 0x1000 0x0 0

rohandhruva · 01-08-11, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guillaumezin

Code:

sudo modprobe -r nvidiabl
sudo modprobe nvidiabl min=50 max=500

and test min and max backlight, repeat the procedure until you have correct behavior and post the values.

Other debug parameters :

Code:

module_param_named(off, off, long, 0644);
MODULE_PARM_DESC(off, "value to put in the register to disable the backlight");

module_param_named(min, min, long, 0644);
MODULE_PARM_DESC(min, "minimum register value for the backlight");

module_param_named(max, max, long, 0644);
MODULE_PARM_DESC(max, "maximum register value for the backlight");

module_param_named(pci_id, pci_id, ulong, 0644);
MODULE_PARM_DESC(pci_id, "PCI ID of the Nvidia card - usefull only when not using autodetection and more than one Nvidia PCI device");

module_param_named(model, model, charp, 0644);
MODULE_PARM_DESC(model, "backlight model, must be empty for autodetection, nv4x or nv5x");

Guillaume

I'm sorry, I missed your message earlier! Anyway, I just tried the latest version of nvidiabl, and brightness control works out of the box, using your acpi scripts. So now I everything working fine. Thank you very much for all the great work

guillaumezin · 01-08-11, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zem

I don't understand completely what these commands do, so I followed your instructions literally; mydump.txt does not contain the string "playing with the backlight".

I change a bit the procedure, could you try again (I edited my previous post)? The commands enable a tracer that logs any read or write to registers to the /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace_pipe file. But modules need to be reloaded after enabling the tracing mechanism. Writing to the /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace_marker file permits to add command to the trace file.

Thank you.

Guillaume

Zem · 01-08-11, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guillaumezin

I change a bit the procedure, could you try again (I edited my previous post)? The commands enable a tracer that logs any read or write to registers to the /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace_pipe file. But modules need to be reloaded after enabling the tracing mechanism. Writing to the /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace_marker file permits to add command to the trace file.

Thank you.

Guillaume

Ok, this time it worked

:

Code:

VERSION 20070824
PCIDEV 0000 80860044 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 0008 80860045 28 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 pcieport
PCIDEV 00d0 80863b3c 10 e8e08000 0 0 0 0 0 0 400 0 0 0 0 0 0 ehci_hcd
PCIDEV 00d8 80863b56 2f e8e00004 0 0 0 0 0 0 4000 0 0 0 0 0 0 HDA Intel
PCIDEV 00e0 80863b42 29 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 pcieport
PCIDEV 00e1 80863b44 2a 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 pcieport
PCIDEV 00e2 80863b46 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 pcieport
PCIDEV 00e5 80863b4c 2c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 pcieport
PCIDEV 00e8 80863b34 17 e8e07000 0 0 0 0 0 0 400 0 0 0 0 0 0 ehci_hcd
PCIDEV 00f0 80862448 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 00f8 80863b03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 00fa 80863b2f 2e e071 e061 e051 e041 e021 e8e06000 0 8 4 8 4 20 800 0 ahci
PCIDEV 00fb 80863b30 4 e8e05004 0 0 0 e001 0 0 100 0 0 0 20 0 0 
PCIDEV 00fe 80863b32 12 e8e04004 0 0 0 0 0 0 1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 0100 10de0a2b 10 e2000000 d000000c 0 e000000c 0 d001 e3000002 1000000 10000000 0 2000000 0 80 80000 nvidia
PCIDEV 0101 10de0be2 10 e3080000 0 0 0 0 0 0 4000 0 0 0 0 0 0 HDA Intel
PCIDEV 0200 168c002b 10 e7a00004 0 0 0 0 0 0 10000 0 0 0 0 0 0 ath9k
PCIDEV 0300 1180e822 11 e6603000 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 sdhci-pci
PCIDEV 0301 1180e230 4 e6602000 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 0303 1180e832 10 e6601000 0 0 0 0 0 0 800 0 0 0 0 0 0 firewire_ohci
PCIDEV 0304 1180e822 13 e6600000 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 sdhci-pci
PCIDEV 0400 11ab4380 2d e5220004 0 a001 0 0 0 e5200000 4000 0 100 0 0 0 20000 sky2
PCIDEV 3f00 80862c62 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 3f01 80862d01 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 3f10 80862d10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 3f11 80862d11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 3f12 80862d12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
PCIDEV 3f13 80862d13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
MARK 19.935580 Starting
UNMAP 19.950677 -1 0x0 0
MARK 19.951211 Inserting nvidia
MARK 19.959408 Inserting nvidiabl
MAP 19.961049 1 0xe261c084 0xffffc900050b6084 0x4 0x0 0
R 4 19.961395 1 0xe261c084 0x40ada 0x0 0
W 4 19.961397 1 0xe261c084 0x80040834 0x0 0
MAP 20.005131 2 0xd0000000 0xffffc90005094000 0x1000 0x0 0
MAP 20.047344 3 0xd0001000 0xffffc900050a6000 0x1000 0x0 0
R 4 31.206705 1 0xe261c084 0x4001fd82 0x0 0
W 4 31.306011 1 0xe261c084 0x80016693 0x0 0
R 4 31.307292 1 0xe261c084 0x16693 0x0 0
MAP 33.232282 4 0xd0003000 0xffffc900050aa000 0x1000 0x0 0
MAP 33.232403 5 0xd0004000 0xffffc900050ae000 0x1000 0x0 0
UNMAP 33.413486 4 0x0 0
UNMAP 33.413580 5 0x0 0
MAP 33.431884 6 0xd0003000 0xffffc900050aa000 0x1000 0x0 0
MAP 33.432005 7 0xd0004000 0xffffc900050ae000 0x1000 0x0 0
R 4 37.356923 1 0xe261c084 0x4001fd82 0x0 0
R 4 37.461901 1 0xe261c084 0x4001fd82 0x0 0
UNMAP 59.811246 3 0x0 0
MAP 59.982268 8 0xd0001000 0xffffc900050a6000 0x1000 0x0 0
UNMAP 60.041018 6 0x0 0
UNMAP 60.041118 7 0x0 0
MAP 60.055150 9 0xd0003000 0xffffc900050aa000 0x1000 0x0 0
MAP 60.055277 10 0xd0004000 0xffffc900050ae000 0x1000 0x0 0
MARK 125.687924 playing with the backlight
R 4 161.646870 1 0xe261c084 0x4001fd82 0x0 0
R 4 161.654654 1 0xe261c084 0x4001fd82 0x0 0
W 4 161.660450 1 0xe261c084 0x8001d639 0x0 0
R 4 162.031484 1 0xe261c084 0x1d639 0x0 0
R 4 162.038045 1 0xe261c084 0x1d639 0x0 0
W 4 162.043371 1 0xe261c084 0x8001b4bb 0x0 0
R 4 163.897700 1 0xe261c084 0x1b4bb 0x0 0
R 4 163.904405 1 0xe261c084 0x1b4bb 0x0 0
W 4 163.909848 1 0xe261c084 0x8001cec8 0x0 0
MARK 176.580983 break backlight register
R 4 246.255938 1 0xe261c084 0x4001fd82 0x0 0

Anyway, I noticed I have this problem only with Desktop Effects enabled (kwin), or if I play a video in mplayer using VDPAU; maybe this can help.

guillaumezin · 01-09-11, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zem

Ok, this time it worked

:

Code:

MARK 19.951211 Inserting nvidia
MARK 19.959408 Inserting nvidiabl
MAP 19.961049 1 0xe261c084 0xffffc900050b6084 0x4 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl mapping
R 4 19.961395 1 0xe261c084 0x40ada 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl read
W 4 19.961397 1 0xe261c084 0x80040834 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl write and enable brightness control
MAP 20.005131 2 0xd0000000 0xffffc90005094000 0x1000 0x0 0 -- nvidia mapping
MAP 20.047344 3 0xd0001000 0xffffc900050a6000 0x1000 0x0 0 -- nvidia mapping
R 4 31.206705 1 0xe261c084 0x4001fd82 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl read: the register has been broken by another module (nvidiabl ?)
W 4 31.306011 1 0xe261c084 0x80016693 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl write
R 4 31.307292 1 0xe261c084 0x16693 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl read
MAP 33.232282 4 0xd0003000 0xffffc900050aa000 0x1000 0x0 0
MAP 33.232403 5 0xd0004000 0xffffc900050ae000 0x1000 0x0 0
UNMAP 33.413486 4 0x0 0 -- nvidia unmapping
UNMAP 33.413580 5 0x0 0 -- nvidia unmapping
MAP 33.431884 6 0xd0003000 0xffffc900050aa000 0x1000 0x0 0 -- nvidia mapping
MAP 33.432005 7 0xd0004000 0xffffc900050ae000 0x1000 0x0 0 -- nvidia mapping
R 4 37.356923 1 0xe261c084 0x4001fd82 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl read: the register has been broken by another module (nvidiabl ?)
R 4 37.461901 1 0xe261c084 0x4001fd82 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl read: the register has been broken by another module (nvidiabl ?)
UNMAP 59.811246 3 0x0 0 -- nvidia unmapping
MAP 59.982268 8 0xd0001000 0xffffc900050a6000 0x1000 0x0 0 -- nvidia mapping
UNMAP 60.041018 6 0x0 0 -- nvidia unmapping
UNMAP 60.041118 7 0x0 0 -- nvidia unmapping
MAP 60.055150 9 0xd0003000 0xffffc900050aa000 0x1000 0x0 0 -- nvidia mapping
MAP 60.055277 10 0xd0004000 0xffffc900050ae000 0x1000 0x0 0
MARK 125.687924 playing with the backlight
R 4 161.646870 1 0xe261c084 0x4001fd82 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl read: the register has been broken by another module (nvidiabl ?)
R 4 161.654654 1 0xe261c084 0x4001fd82 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl read: the register has been broken by another module (nvidiabl ?)
W 4 161.660450 1 0xe261c084 0x8001d639 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl write
R 4 162.031484 1 0xe261c084 0x1d639 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl read
R 4 162.038045 1 0xe261c084 0x1d639 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl read
W 4 162.043371 1 0xe261c084 0x8001b4bb 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl write
R 4 163.897700 1 0xe261c084 0x1b4bb 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl read
R 4 163.904405 1 0xe261c084 0x1b4bb 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl read
W 4 163.909848 1 0xe261c084 0x8001cec8 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl write
MARK 176.580983 break backlight register
R 4 246.255938 1 0xe261c084 0x4001fd82 0x0 0 -- nvidiabl read: the register has been broken by another module (nvidiabl ?)

Anyway, I noticed I have this problem only with Desktop Effects enabled (kwin), or if I play a video in mplayer using VDPAU; maybe this can help.

The register is restored to an old value by another module with bit 30 set: I don't know the effect of bit 30 and it is not used by the nvidiabl module for sure. I need to dig further to know what it means.

Could you try to see if the problem appears without desktop effects and witt VDPAU disabled ?

Could you check, as Damdim mentionned, to lower the brightness, unload the nvidiabl module with

Code:

sudo modprobe -r nvidiabl

and see if it still happens ?

Thank you.

Guillaume

Zem · 01-09-11, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guillaumezin

Could you try to see if the problem appears without desktop effects and witt VDPAU disabled ?

With desktop effects disabled and without using VDPAU it doesn't appear.

Quote:

Originally Posted by guillaumezin

Could you check, as Damdim mentionned, to lower the brightness, unload the nvidiabl module with

Code:

sudo modprobe -r nvidiabl

and see if it still happens ?

Yes, it still happens. I guess I have the same problem as Damdim, even if he didn't mention fullscreen applications.

damdim · 01-09-11, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zem

With desktop effects disabled and without using VDPAU it doesn't appear.
Yes, it still happens. I guess I have the same problem as Damdim, even if he didn't mention fullscreen applications.

Yes, it's exactly the same problem. Without desktop effects it happens only in fullscreen flash videos, with desktop effects it happens in every 3d app or playing a video with vdpau.

01-05-11, 01:34 PM	#98
damdim Registered User Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 21	Re: Linux backlight driver I had created the following thread with not many replies. This must be a problem with the nvidia drivers and not with nvidiabl. If you reduce the backlight and unload nvidiabl module you still get the same effect. http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=157634