No more GUI (X server) after updating 12.04, running on AMD Fusion (Radeon HD 6310)

[Katchina]

Hello,

My mother has a small AMD-fusion based desktop. The integrated GPU is labelled as Radeon HD 6310. I successfully made this machine work under 12.04 about 6-8 weeks ago. If I remember properly, I did manually install AMD's binary driver.

On Sunday, while I was visiting, I did update the system, and now the GUI doesn't come up anymore at boot. I haven't changed anything else.

Here's some basic info...

GPU (lspci | grep VGA) :
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Wrestler [Radeon HD 6310]

Kernel (uname -a) :
3.2.0-24-generic #39-Ubuntu SMP Mon May 21 16:52:17 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Latest Xorg log (cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log) :
http://paste.ubuntu.com/1072740

Running drivers (lsmod) :
http://paste.ubuntu.com/1072736

Also, running apt-get update and then apt-get upgrade didn't fix things, but it specifically says that the kernel packages (linux-generic, linux-headers-generic and linux-image-generic) are being kept as is (bare with me, this is a French system (yeah, remember, it's my mom's), it says "conservés" which I guess translates to "held back" i.e. not upgraded).

I'm a bit puzzled and don't know exactly where to go from here...
Can anyone help based on the info provided above ?
Thanks ahead for any hint.

[mongolito404]

Did you try to reconfigure the xserver (but I'm not sure this has any use with recent Xorg server)?

dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

[Katchina]

Just tried dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg, but it's not helping a bit.
I've got no idea what to do from here on.
Anyone, any idea ?

[msammels]

Katchina, what exactly comes up? Do you get a text based interface? Anything?

[Katchina]

Not getting anything from the command. Just a new CLI prompt after about 1/2 second or so...

[Katchina]

OK I did force upgrade the kernel from 3.2.0-24 to the following :
3.2.0-26-generic #41-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jun 14 17:49:24 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

At boot, I now get a X server with a message stating :
The system is running in low-graphics mode
Your screen, graphics card and input device settings could not be detected correctly. You will need to configure these yourself.

After clicking the "OK" button (the only one that's available), I have to select one of these options :

• Run in low-graphics mode for just one session. Running in low-graphics mode does not actually work (I only get a CLI prompt on tty1).
• Reconfigure graphics. Reconfiguring graphics does not work either. It asks me to make a decision between "Use default (generic) configuration" or "Use your backed-up configuration" but with either choice, after clikcing OK, I'm asked the same question again and again and again.
• Troubleshoot the error. Troubleshooting the error gets me to a screen where I can view the xserver log file, the startup errors, and edit the configuration file. Again, some of these options do not actually work, although I can have a look at the Xorg server log.
• Exit to console login.

The new Xorg log file contains an interesting error message...

Complete log : http://paste.ubuntu.com/1080981/

Interesting lines :

[     5.574] (II) fglrx(0): Adapter AMD Radeon HD 6310 Graphics has 2 configurable heads and 1 displays connected.
[     5.574] (==) fglrx(0):  PseudoColor visuals disabled
[     5.574] (II) Loading sub module "ramdac"
[     5.574] (II) LoadModule: "ramdac"
[     5.574] (II) Module "ramdac" already built-in
[     5.574] (==) fglrx(0): NoDRI = NO
[     5.574] (==) fglrx(0): Capabilities: 0x00000000
[     5.574] (==) fglrx(0): CapabilitiesEx: 0x00000000
[     5.574] (==) fglrx(0): OpenGL ClientDriverName: "fglrx_dri.so"
[     5.574] (==) fglrx(0): UseFastTLS=0
[     5.575] (II) UnloadModule: "radeon"
[     5.575] (II) Unloading radeon
[     5.575] (II) UnloadModule: "vesa"
[     5.575] (II) Unloading vesa
[     5.575] (II) UnloadModule: "fbdev"
[     5.575] (II) Unloading fbdev
[     5.575] (II) UnloadModule: "fbdevhw"
[     5.575] (II) Unloading fbdevhw
[     5.575] (--) Depth 24 pixmap format is 32 bpp
[     5.575] (EE) fglrx(0): atiddxDriScreenInit failed, GPS not been initialized. 
[     5.575] (WW) fglrx(0): ***********************************************************
[     5.575] (WW) fglrx(0): * DRI initialization failed                               *
[     5.575] (WW) fglrx(0): * kernel module (fglrx.ko) may be missing or incompatible *
[     5.575] (WW) fglrx(0): * 2D and 3D acceleration disabled                         *
[     5.575] (WW) fglrx(0): ***********************************************************
[     5.575] (II) fglrx(0): FBADPhys: 0xf00000000 FBMappedSize: 0x10000000

I don't really know where to go from here. I have no idea how I should configure a modern Xorg server from the CLI, I haven't done anything like this in years.

Can anyone help ?

[Katchina]

Oh, also, here's my (fairly standard) xorg.conf file as of now :

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "aticonfig Layout"
	Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
EndSection

Section "Module"
EndSection

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

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	BusID       "PCI:0:1:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
	Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
	Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

(Or see it here : http://paste.ubuntu.com/1081028/)

[Katchina]

OK, problem solved, for the record :

* I had to uninstall the AMD/ATI driver (catalyst 12.4), using the --force option.
* I manually downloaded the new AMD/ATI catalyst 12.6 using wget.
* I installed the driver, which is now properly running (although constantly displaying the "AMD unsupported hardware" watermark, which as far as I remember was displayed only for a few seconds using the 12.4 drivers.

Frustrating thing is, I still don't know exactly what caused the problem in the first place, and whether it's going to happen again in the near future.

[liju.g.chacko]

I too had same experience. I had installed amd graphics driver from AMD site(amd-driver-installer-12.6-legacy-x86.x86_64). After upgrading kernel, gui desktop was not coming. It was showing "user 'motion' error". After reinstalling the graphics driver via command line, desktop was resumed.

*login to administrative user account
*type 'sudo -i' and enter password
*cd to the directory containing driver( amd-driver-installer-12.6-legacy-x86.x86_64.run file)
*Now type './amd-driver-installer-12.6-legacy-x86.x86_64.run --install' <enter> and proceed.

[liju.g.chacko]

I have successfully installed graphics driver but by bluetooth is facing problem it is not identified in new kernel.