[ubuntu] Ubuntu not recognizing my onboard GPU (780G) No Hybrid Crossfire

[HeikoH]

Hello everybody, Bloemetjesgordijn pointed me to this topic because I do have hybrid crossfire working with Catalyst 9.1. Let me talk you through the steps I have taken, perhaps this may help you to get it working. I did everything manually, but I think it should also work when using the graphical installer:

First some details about my system and OS:

• Ubuntu 8.04.2, 64 bits, fully updated
• Motherboard: Asus M3A78-EM, has an AMD 780G chipset and onboard HD3200
• Graphics card: Asus HD3450 with 512mb memory

The steps I took to install the driver (mostly I'm doing this booting in single user mode, but you could also do this from graphical mode):

• remove the old driver manually:
  

  dpkg -P fglrx-amdcccle
  dpkg -P fglrx-modaliases
  dpkg -P libamdxvba1
  dpkg -P xorg-driver-fglrx
  dpkg -P fglrx-kernel-source

• I had to enable an option in the bios to use both videocards (I think it is called surround view on the Asus motherboard)
• generate the packages for Ubuntu:

  ./ati-driver-installer-9-1-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/hardy
  # for Ubuntu 8.10 should be:
  # ./ati-driver-installer-9-1-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/intrepid

• install the packages manually:
  

  dpkg -i fglrx-kernel-source_8.573-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb
  dpkg -i xorg-driver-fglrx_8.573-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb
  dpkg -i libamdxvba1_8.573-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb
  dpkg -i fglrx-modaliases_8.573-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb
  dpkg -i fglrx-amdcccle_8.573-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb

What I did to configure the driver and setup crossfire:

aticonfig --initial --adapters=all -f # this forces a new configuration
aticonfig --lsa               # this now shows two adapters, the HD3200 and the HD3450
                              # it also shows a number for each adapter (probably 0 and 1)
aticonfig --lscc              # the crossfire candidates, shows also both adapters

aticonfig --cfa --adapter=0,1 # in this case card 0 is the master card,
                              # card 1 is the slave card. I think I use
                              # the HD3450 as the master card, so check
                              # with aticonfig --lscc which number it has

aticonfig --cf=on --adapter=0 # again, in case the mastercard of the chain
                              # has number 0 assigned, this should enable
                              # crossfire on the next start of Xorg

# after rebooting:
aticonfig --lsch              # this should show the crossfire chain using
                              # both graphics cards, and it should be
                              # enabled

What I have done besides this is checking my xorg.conf (/etc/Xorg/xorg.conf) to see if everything is setup correct by aticonfig. Make sure in the xorg.conf file the monitor/screen sections use the correct device (if according to xorg.conf a monitor is connected to your slave card, ie the HD3200, while nothing is connected to this card, you might boot in a black screen. So I checked if any monitors were listed that were not actually connected and removed them.


If (one of) the cards is not recognized by `aticonfig --lsa' you might try to reinstall the driver (including regenerating the packages) after removing `/etc/ati' directory. Regenerating the packages is necessary, otherwise complaints arise about some file in `/etc/ati/' are not found. I think these are regenerated when the packages are generated.

[alejandro.mc]

Would you be so kind as to post your xorg.conf? If possible comment on how the xorg.conf should be configured simply to use through the onboard vga without suffering strange issues?

Thank you a lot!

Many of us are having trouble with th 780g, but i think it's worth looking into solving all this; it has a much better perfomance with HD TVs (thx Avivo) than the nvidia alternative. At least that's my humble opinion, for what I've seen in MSW desks.

Thanks!!

Alejandro
Buenos Aires
Argentina

[HeikoH]

In my xorg.conf I have three device sections. One is for the internal HD3200. I have two HD3450 device sections because I also use the TV-out of the graphics card.

I think what happened on one of the occasions I tried to get this working, was that aticonfig created a Screen section that used the HD3200 as device and created a dummy monitor for that device (there was no monitor connected to the HD3200).

If you see a Screen section in your xorg.conf that uses the HD3200 (or the HD3450), while no monitor is connected to the HD3200 (or the HD3450). Remove that Screen section. So basically you should just look at your xorg.cong and check whether:

For each monitor you have connected:

• there is a Monitor section
• there is a Screen section that uses the Monitor section
• the device mentioned in the Screen section is the device to which the monitor is actually connected

So, how do you know which device section belongs to which videocard?
Try:

lspci | grep VGA
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon HD 3200 Graphics
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Mobilitiy Radeon HD 3450

As you can see, in my case the HD3200 has BusID 01:05.0 (which translates in your xorg.conf too "PCI:1:5:0") and the HD3450 has BusID 02:00.0 (which translates in xorg.conf too "PCI:2:0:0"). Another way to find out what BusID your cards have (and see whether aticonfig recognizes both cards) is:

aticonfig --lsa
* 0. 02:00.0 ATI Radeon HD 3450
  1. 01:05.0 ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics

* - Default adapter

My xorg.conf looks like this (I replaced the auto generated names of the devices to make it a bit clearer):

# the server layout, this specifies two desktops, one on my normal
# computer monitor and one on my TV. I cannot drag windows from one to
# another, but I can move the mouse from one to another (the dual-head
# option of aticonfig creates such a configuration).
Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "aticonfig Layout"
	Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
	Screen         "aticonfig-Screen[0]-1" RightOf "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
EndSection

# my normal computer monitor
Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
	Option	    "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
	Option	    "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
	Option	    "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

# monitor section for my TV
Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-1"
	Option	    "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
	Option	    "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
	Option	    "DPMS" "false"
EndSection

# device section for the HD3450
Section "Device"
	Identifier  "HD3450-0"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	BusID       "PCI:2:0:0"
EndSection

# also device section for the HD3450, but this is for the TV-out
# (hence the Screen option)
Section "Device"
	Identifier  "HD3450-1"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	BusID       "PCI:2:0:0"
	Option      "TVFormat" "PAL-B"
	Screen      1
EndSection

# device section for the internal HD3200
Section "Device"
	Identifier  "HD3200"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	BusID       "PCI:1:5:0"
EndSection

# screen section for my computer monitor (uses the first HD3450 device)
Section "Screen"
	Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
	Device     "HD3450-0"
	Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

# screen section for the TV-out (uses the device from the second HD3450 device section)
Section "Screen"
	Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-1"
	Device     "HD3450-1"
	Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-1"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

I hope this helps. Much more info I can't give I think. In my case it was also a bit of trial and error, and I found my pc booting into a black screen several times during the configuration.

Anyway, to get Crossfire working, at least aticonfig should recognize both devices and should tell you both devices are candidates for a crossfire chain (changing xorg won't help you if aticonfig does not see one of the devices).

[Davidovitch]

HeikoH, thanks very much for you input. I already looked in my bios to find the settings to switch on my on-board video, but didn't realize it had anything to do with Surroundview. After it was activated, I deleted and reinstalled the ati driver as before and now it works like a charm.

The ./ati......run file did not work for me, I had to use sh ati....run to get it started. Don't know why.

Much appreciated your help, regards.

[BB2008]

I did not have ati driver to start with, but I followed the driver removal instructions anyway, to be on the safe side

dpkg -P fglrx-amdcccle
dpkg -P fglrx-modaliases
dpkg -P libamdxvba1
dpkg -P xorg-driver-fglrx
dpkg -P fglrx-kernel-source

After doing this, I rebooted, went into the BIOS setup of my rig, enabled the surroundview option, and then booted up to a command prompt - I mean, I went from a GUI to a NON GUI desktop...is that ok??? Please help!

Bloemetjesgordijn, since you have the same board as mine (ga-ma78gm-s2h), have you been able to switch to surroundview and still boot up to a gnome desktop?

[Bloemetjesgordijn]

HeikoH, Thx very much


Comments for future reference.
1) first set your bios to surround
2) ./ati.... didnt work for me sh ati did work
3) I had to install some add dependencies (The reason could be, that I did a clean install of Ubuntu)

One question still left is:
how do I arrange that my HD 3200 is my primairy card

marc@htpc:~$ aticonfig --lsa
* 0. 02:00.0 ATI Radeon HD 3450
  1. 01:05.0 ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics

Should I change
aticonfig --cf=on --adapter=0
to
aticonfig --cf=on --adapter=1

Sorry to ask this, I am a bit reluctant to try this out as I just had to do a clean install.

[BB2008]

HeikoH, you rock!

Thankyou Bloemetjesgordijn as well for getting HeikoH to this thread!

I am now (X)firing on all cylinders!

BTW, I found this post very helpful in resolving some of my earlier troubles when I was booting into a NON X (Commandline) environment - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...er/+bug/267241.

Peace to all!

[Bloemetjesgordijn]

Originally Posted by BB2008 Bloemetjesgordijn, since you have the same board as mine (ga-ma78gm-s2h), have you been able to switch to surroundview and still boot up to a gnome desktop?

BB2008

No, it failed. That is the reason I had to do a clean install.


By the way can you help me in the following:
One question still left is:
how do I arrange that my HD 3200 is my primairy card

Code:
marc@htpc:~$ aticonfig --lsa
* 0. 02:00.0 ATI Radeon HD 3450
1. 01:05.0 ATI Radeon HD 3200 GraphicsShould I change
aticonfig --cf=on --adapter=0
to
aticonfig --cf=on --adapter=1

Sorry to ask this, I am a bit reluctant to try this out as I just had to do a clean install.

[HeikoH]

Originally Posted by Bloemetjesgordijn HeikoH, Thx very much Comments for future reference. 1) first set your bios to surround 2) ./ati.... didnt work for me sh ati did work

Thats correct, I always change the permissions on the file so it becomes an executable file:

chmod 700 ./ati-driver-installer-9-1-x86.x86_64.run

This makes the ati-driver installer readable, writable and executable for the user owning the file. Hereafter you can do:

./ati-driver-installer-9-1-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/hardy

3) I had to install some add dependencies (The reason could be, that I did a clean install of Ubuntu)

Could very well be indeed, I used the Ubuntu `BinaryDriverHowto/ATi' the first time I installed the driver manually (see: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Bi...nary%20drivers). That also lists some dependency packages.

One question still left is: how do I arrange that my HD 3200 is my primairy card marc@htpc:~$ aticonfig --lsa * 0. 02:00.0 ATI Radeon HD 3450 1. 01:05.0 ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics Should I change aticonfig --cf=on --adapter=0 to aticonfig --cf=on --adapter=1 Sorry to ask this, I am a bit reluctant to try this out as I just had to do a clean install.

If your config is like this and you want the HD3200 to be the master card in the crossfire setup, proceed as follows:

aticonfig --cfa --adapter=1,0 # the adapter that is listed first is the master card

# now you have created the chain, hereafter you have to enable it:
aticonfig --cf=on --adapter=1

A small table, of possible different setups. In the first case the HD3450 is recognized as device 0 and the HD3200 is recognized as device 1:

# assume if you execute aticonfig --lsa, you see the following:
aticonfig --lsa
* 0. 02:00.0 ATI Radeon HD 3450
  1. 01:05.0 ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics

# now you want the HD3450 to be the master card
aticonfig --cfa --adapter=0,1
aticonfig --cf=on --adapter=0

# now you want the HD3200 to be the master card
aticonfig --cfa --adapter=1,0
aticonfig --cf=on --adapter=1

Another possibility. The HD3200 is now recognized as device 0, while the HD3450 is recognized as device 1:

# assume if you execute aticonfig --lsa, you see the following:
aticonfig --lsa
* 0. 01:05.0 ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics
  1. 02:00.0 ATI Radeon HD 3450

# now you want the HD3450 to be the master card
aticonfig --cfa --adapter=1,0
aticonfig --cf=on --adapter=1

# or you want the HD3200 to be the master card
aticonfig --cfa --adapter=0,1
aticonfig --cf=on --adapter=0

One other personal experience I had when trying to install the 9.2 driver: I also have a tv connected as a second monitor. This tv causes lots of problems when setting up the driver. Changing options made Ubuntu boot up with a black screen (the pc completely crashed after rebooting, I also could not reach a command line with Ctrl-Alt-Fn). What I did was disconnect the cable of my tv. Install the driver, setup hybrid crossfire and if everything works: connect my tv again (you have to make sure though there are the correct sections for monitor, screen and device in xorg.conf to make this work).