HOWTO: 3D acceleration (direct rendering) in ATI radeon mobility U1 (IGP 320m)

[]Nbx*cmD[]

Hi all,

I've got a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo A laptop with an ATI radeon mobility IGP 320 graphics card, also called U1.

People who owns this computer, or other laptops using the same card, will for sure know how weird it is and how difficult is to get it working with direct rendering.

Well, I've been looking up during months on hundreds of forums, mailing lists and IRC channels without coming up to a solution. The main problem with this laptop is that, if I understood well, it uses the same IRQ (irq 11) for different devices, resulting in a system crash when you try to configure the 3d acceleration.

I've found a pretty difficult solution for it in an amilo gnu/linux users mailing list, consisting in modifying the DSDT-table. For getting it to work you have to modify the kernel source code and compile it again, but I'm a very lazy person and I prefered to go on with the research.

Well, I'll stop talking about pseudo-solutions and go straight to the subject. Here you are a VERY EASY HOWTO for getting your U1 direct rendering enabled and being able to play Quake III for hours

Only four steps, since the fifth one is just checking everything worked:

• FIRST STEP: Downloading the Alternate Install CD
  
  Download the Alternate Ubuntu Edgy Eft Install CD from the official Ubuntu website. You can find it here: DOWNLOAD
  
  
• SECOND STEP: Installing Ubuntu Edgy Eft
  
  Just burn the ISO and boot the cd in your laptop cd tray.
  
  Choose the text-mode install and follow the instructions carefully.
  
  
• THIRD STEP: Booting Ubuntu Edgy Eft on recovery mode
  
  Once the installation finished, your computer will reboot and you'll have some seconds to press the ESC key and enter grub.
  
  Choose the RECOVERY MODE boot method.
  
  
• FOURTH STEP: Adding a flag to grub's menu.lst config file
  
  Type the following in the terminal:
  
  

  sudo vi /boot/grub/menu.lst

  Change vi for your favourite text-mode editor, if you haven't realized yet that vi is simply the best one
  
  Go to the section looking similar to:
  
  

  title           Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-26-386
  root            (hd0,0)
  kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-26-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet splash
  initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-26-386
  savedefault
  boot

  And change the kernel line as following:
  
  

  kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-26-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet splash irqpoll

  So, add the irqpoll parameter.
  
  /* For spanish and catalan speakers, irqpoll will solve your IRQPOLLo (bad joke, you're lucky if you didn't understand) */
  
  Ok, all done. Just <esc> :wq (or write the changes and exit from your favourite editor) and reboot your machine:
  
  

  sudo reboot

• FIFTH STEP: Feeling very happy and installing Quake III immediately
  
  If you are as lucky as me, once your laptop rebooted, you'll be able to use direct rendering!
  
  You can test it by typing the following command in a console:
  
  

  glxinfo | grep direct

  And you should get a line similar to the following one:
  
  

  direct rendering= Yes

That's all, easy isn't it?

In the kernel docs you can read 'The "irqpoll" boot parameter reduces driver initialization failures'.

Hope it worked!

[Anthem]

Amazing work, I look forward to trying this.

Have you tried using Compiz/Beryl with this yet?

EDIT: Does this use the open-source radeon driver?

[]Nbx*cmD[]

I didn't try beryl, I just think if it's working... don't touch it

I don't exactly know which driver is it using, it's just the ati driver coming with ubuntu.

Oh btw I found out some "collateral effects" resulting in system crashes... you have to think you are ignoring some irq issues...

Anyway, I'm gonna put two entries in my grub, one using irqpoll and the other not using it, so I can choose when I want 3D and when I don't.

See you!

[z!cHz@cH]

People who have problems with their 320/340m card; this solves a lot of problems!!

This also works for Fedora!

Thanks a lot for the good work ]Nbx*cmD[

[rlynch]

Anthem, did this solve your issue? I know you have the same card as I do. . .


z!cHz@cH, did this work with beryl?


EDIT, do I have to do a 'text mode install'?

Anthem, edgy uses the propriety(sp)drivers, which normally breaks when i boot, but this walkthrough says to add that parameter in grub, which if it works would turn out to be quite nice.

Looks like I have something to do tomorrow.


EDIT2 - and just to be sure, in your Xorg.conf file it identifies your video card as this correct?

Identifier "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon 320M (RS200 IGP)"

[rlynch]

this did nothing for me. . .but then again i couldnt even get it to install with the alternate install cd. it kept freezing on differnt parts, used 2 freshly burned cds, both passing the integrity checks, so i dunno.

I grabbed the edgy desktop i386, burned it, and installed it that way. setup my xorg.conf to use 'flglx' driver, instead of ati. did your irqpoll kernel parameter, and rebooted, it scrolled a 'irq too many/much' something or another, then gave me the 'cant load xorg' error that it always does.


odd thing is when i do that command it's already showing that direct acceleration is running(even before the install on my last one as well)
but i know 3d accel isn't working, cause anything 3d just runs down my processor resources.

so then again, i dunno

[rlynch]

so, i found an older version of xorg by default supports the IGP chipset

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=1740

there is where i found them takling about it for fedora. . .im running edgy now, any idea on how to revert back to xorg vers 6.8?

[]Nbx*cmD[]

Hi,

I've read about this solution as well... the way to revert back to x.org-6.8 is by removing your current one and then installing the old 6.8...

[rlynch]

I dunno enough to do this, hence why I asked.

I dunno if I should add the --purge command, where to get 6.8, etc

[]Nbx*cmD[]

Well...

I warn you you'll have to do all this from the console in text mode (tty), and it may require some x.org knowledge... You can break your system by trying this so... i'm not responsible of your acts hehehe

I guess the way to do it is: (it should work, but i didn't try it)

1 · Add an x.org-6.8 repository to sources.list, these commands will do it automatically:

 
sudo echo "deb http://debian.linux-systeme.com unstable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo echo "deb-src http://debian.linux-systeme.com unstable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list

2 · Comment ALL THE LINES but the last two ones in your sources.list. Just add a # at the line starting. You can do it by using your favourite text editor.

3 · From a tty, remove your current x.org

sudo apt-get remove xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core

Apt will ask for your confirmation to erase LOTS of packages, say yes

4 · Install the old X.org-6.8

sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core

I guess it'll ask for your confirmation to install lots of packages now... say yes again.

5 · Reboot and pray

Hope it helped... and hope you made a backup of your important configs and so