Yesterday I found some minutes to update my kernel. Because I did not have time to compile a 2.6.22 kernel, I simply installed linux-source-k7 (linux-source-2.6-k7). This was a “welcome” occassion to update the ATI/AMD Linux driver for my Radeon X1650 Pro graphics card to their latest version 8.42.3.
As a first step I had to find out, that upgrade from my 8.38.x version did not seem to work properly. I got some error messages regarding the diversions in /usr/lib/fglrx/diversions/. So I purged the fglrx* packages. Then I manually removed the diversions, the (now) empty /usr/lib/fglrx/diversions/ directory and the configuration directory /etc/ati:
$ apt-get remove --purge fglrx-driver fglrx-kernel-src fglrx-control $ dpkg-divert --remove /usr/llib/libGL.so.1 $ dpkg-divert --remove /usr/llib/libGL.so.1.2 $ rm -rf /usr/lib/fglrx /etc/ati
Then I reinstalled the fglrx* packages, installed the headers linux-headers-2.6-k7 and prepared the flgrx module package with m-a:
$ m-a prepare $ m-a -l 2.6.22-3-k7 build fglrx
Installing the package and rebooting brought up the system again. glxgears shows around 3000 FPS. However, although everything seems to work properly, I found some log entries and errors, that concern me.
First thing is, that fgl_glxgears refuses to work.
$ fgl_glxgears Using GLX_SGIX_pbuffer X Error of failed request: GLXUnsupportedPrivateRequest Major opcode of failed request: 131 (GLX) Minor opcode of failed request: 16 (X_GLXVendorPrivate) Serial number of failed request: 42 Current serial number in output stream: 43
Looking into the Xorg.0.log shows me this error:
(EE) fglrx(0): Failed to enable interrupts.
And dmesg shows this:
[fglrx] IRQ_MGR is disabled untill GART_CACHABLE memory will be implemented<6> [fglrx] Internal AGP support requested, but kernel AGP support active. [fglrx] Have to use kernel AGP support to avoid conflicts. [fglrx] AGP detected, AgpState = 0×1f000217 (hardware caps of chipset) agpgart: Found an AGP 2.0 compliant device at 0000:00:00.0. agpgart: Putting AGP V2 device at 0000:00:00.0 into 4x mode agpgart: Putting AGP V2 device at 0000:01:00.0 into 4x mode [fglrx] AGP enabled, AgpCommand = 0×1f000314 (selected caps) [fglrx:firegl_lock] *ERROR* Process 32648 is using illegal context 0×00000003
This is very similar to everything I read at e.g. phoronix.com. So if you read between the lines: I did not find a solution nor an answer to the shown error message(s) nor the runtime error. So if you know, what's causing this and how it can be solved, please let me know.
At least the good news is: XVideo seems to work again. No juddering video playback. I like that. Now the bad news: It still burdens my CPU (causes a constant usage of 50-70%). I can even observe this effect when the screensaver is running ... and I think, this is NOT the intended design. So I turned off the screensaver for now and simply make the screen go black and lock.
PS: Maybe I will have a look at updating the fglrx manpages (@ATI/AMD: They are still offered for adoption!)
