CrunchBang Linux

el_koraco

#!/loony/bun

From: inside Ed

Registered: 2011-07-25

Posts: 4,644

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

It will automatically set the ondemand governor, which is what you want. Helps with fan noise and heat more than with power usage. If you experience power usage problems, there's a cure for that as well, let me know.

sandwich

#! Member

Registered: 2011-01-20

Posts: 61

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

I have not rebooted the system after installing cpufrequtils.
Should I do that?

el_koraco

#!/loony/bun

From: inside Ed

Registered: 2011-07-25

Posts: 4,644

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

Nup, the daemon is started and the governor set to ondemand. Check it out, I have

cpufreq-info -p
800000 2300000 ondemand

Also, look up the man pages for cpufreq-info and cpufreq-set to see what you can do. Stuff varies according to individual needs.

el_koraco

#!/loony/bun

From: inside Ed

Registered: 2011-07-25

Posts: 4,644

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

One more thing. If any system update offers to do anything to xserver or xorg, uninstall fglrx, reboot and only then proceed with the upgrades. The same goes for the kernel, although doing Xserver upgrades with fglrx will render your system unbootable. I was smart enough to do just that today, and had to reinstall

Last edited by el_koraco (2011-08-20 00:51:11)

sandwich

#! Member

Registered: 2011-01-20

Posts: 61

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

One more thing. If any system update offers to do anything to xserver or xorg, uninstall fglrx, reboot and only then proceed with the upgrades. The same goes for the kernel, although doing Xserver upgrades with fglrx will render your system unbootable. I was smart enough to do just that today, and had to reinstall

Right, so I will follow your earlier suggestion.

... go to /usr/share/ati.
You'll see the uninstall script.
If you ever need to uninstall the driver (like for getting a new kernel),
you need to go to that directory and run
sudo sh amd_uninstallwhatever

In this case, I see "amd-uninstall.sh" which calls "fglrx-uninstall.sh".

xeNULL

#! Pirate

From: The Internet

Registered: 2011-01-23

Posts: 811

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

I have the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT which is getting very old now but it wont show output is it too old for statler? lol. I know its working because the fan is going.

---

AKA xii on #crunchbang #!WMFS2
dotshare | dA | 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0

sandwich

#! Member

Registered: 2011-01-20

Posts: 61

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

One more thing. If any system update offers to do anything to xserver or xorg, uninstall fglrx, reboot and only then proceed with the upgrades. The same goes for the kernel, although doing Xserver upgrades with fglrx will render your system unbootable. I was smart enough to do just that today, and had to reinstall

This UN-installation, do upgrades and then RE-installation ... Is that only for ATI or should it be done for other cards as well? (nVidia, etc.)

el_koraco

#!/loony/bun

From: inside Ed

Registered: 2011-07-25

Posts: 4,644

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

Yeah, I'd do that as well., even though I have no experience with Nvidia.

Root-Minuz

#! Member

From: Florida USA

Registered: 2011-04-18

Posts: 72

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

One more thing. If any system update offers to do anything to xserver or xorg, uninstall fglrx, reboot and only then proceed with the upgrades. The same goes for the kernel, although doing Xserver upgrades with fglrx will render your system unbootable. I was smart enough to do just that today, and had to reinstall

This UN-installation, do upgrades and then RE-installation ... Is that only for ATI or should it be done for other cards as well? (nVidia, etc.)

Doesn't dkms handle the Kernel modules automatically?

el_koraco

#!/loony/bun

From: inside Ed

Registered: 2011-07-25

Posts: 4,644

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

Doesn't dkms handle the Kernel modules automatically?

If you install the driver from the repos, then yes. If you use the ATI installer, it builds itself against the present version of the kernel, and, as I found out the difficult way, the present version of X.

sandwich

#! Member

Registered: 2011-01-20

Posts: 61

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

el_koraco,

To summarize what I have learned.

If there are any package updates related to:
  *  kernel
  *  xserver
  *  xorg
  *  or the need to use a different kernel then ...
the following steps are to ensure that I do the next (package) upgrade very carefully so that I don't end up with an unbootable system:

1. Logout of the desktop of this system.
2. Login to this system from the console or remotely via ssh.  (Avoiding GUI, because I will be un-installing the ATI graphics driver.)
3. Run the ATI uninstall script.   sudo   sh   /usr/share/ati/amd-uninstall.sh
4. Reboot this system.
5. Login to this system from the console or remotely via ssh. (Avoiding GUI, because I just un-installed the ATI graphics driver.)
6. Do this system's package upgrades via command line.
7. Reboot this system.
8. Login to this system from the desktop.
9. Download the latest ATI run file (if available) from http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx for my ATI Radeon HD 5670 graphics card.
10. Run the ATI install script.   sudo  sh  ati-driver-installer-NNNN-x86.x86_64.run 
11. You get a GUI to complete the process, choose the default setup.
12. Logout of the desktop of this system.
13. Reboot this system.
14. Login to this system from the desktop.  (Because I just installed the latest ATI graphics driver.)
15. If the desktop needs an Overscan adjustment then run gksudo amdcccle -> Display Manager -> DTV(1) -> Adjustments -> Scaling Options
16. Then adjust the slider till the CrunchBang desktop expanded to fill up the display. Click Apply and then click OK.
17. Logout of the desktop of this system.
18. Reboot this system.
19. Done.

Did I miss anything?

el_koraco

#!/loony/bun

From: inside Ed

Registered: 2011-07-25

Posts: 4,644

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

Everything i correct, but there's no need to stop the Xserver for uninstalling or reinstalling the driver, no need to connect via SSH or constantly download the latest driver. If there are major changes, you uninstall, reboot to make sure everything is unloaded, upgrade, reboot, install the driver again, and reboot once more.

lightning_underscore

Member

Registered: 2012-02-04

Posts: 13

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

Hi, great information.

Followed the instructions, but is seems the GPU is still running hot. The fan doesn't stop.

I checked for processor problems and memory just in case, but it seems to be the graphics card.

Here is a print out

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Whistler XT [AMD Radeon HD 6700M Series] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 3389
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 54
    Memory at a0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
    Memory at c6500000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
    I/O ports at 5000 [size=256]
    Expansion ROM at c6520000 [disabled] [size=128K]
    Capabilities: <access denied>
    Kernel driver in use: radeon

Most of the motherboard is Intel based w/ i7 core, but the graphics is Radeon as shown above.

I can figure out why it's running so hot.  (People tell me that's how it supposed to be... I don't believe them).

It runs quietly on Windows.

Let me know if you know how to fix this or help it.

Last edited by lightning_underscore (2012-02-06 16:42:23)

el_koraco

#!/loony/bun

From: inside Ed

Registered: 2011-07-25

Posts: 4,644

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

    Kernel driver in use: radeon

You don't have the proprietary driver installed, or else the module isn't loaded. Which method did you use?

lightning_underscore

Member

Registered: 2012-02-04

Posts: 13

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

    Kernel driver in use: radeon

You don't have the proprietary driver installed, or else the module isn't loaded. Which method did you use?

Hey, thanks for responding...

I used this one...

http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/post/159654/#p159654

I am having a go at it one more time. I probably botched the first install.

Last edited by lightning_underscore (2012-02-06 20:00:28)

el_koraco

#!/loony/bun

From: inside Ed

Registered: 2011-07-25

Posts: 4,644

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

Intel Core i7? You have switchable graphics - the intel GPU is part of the CPU, and the AMD one is "discrete". I'm out of my league there, sorry. I'd try to disable the discrete GPU when using Linux, there should be a BIOS option for that. Or check out vga_switcheroo, something along those lines.

lightning_underscore

Member

Registered: 2012-02-04

Posts: 13

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

Intel Core i7? You have switchable graphics - the intel GPU is part of the CPU, and the AMD one is "discrete". I'm out of my league there, sorry. I'd try to disable the discrete GPU when using Linux, there should be a BIOS option for that. Or check out vga_switcheroo, something along those lines.

I was reading that it would be difficult.

As for now...I could probably fry an egg on it.

(UPDATE)

Bios settings are changed it was Bios -> Hardware Settings -> Choose switchable or fixed Graphics.

Still really hot with switchable graphics off...

I don't understand.

Blasted AMD/ATI  errrrrR.

Updated printout looks the same.

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Whistler XT [AMD Radeon HD 6700M Series] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 3389
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 54
    Memory at a0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
    Memory at c6500000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
    I/O ports at 5000 [size=256]
    Expansion ROM at c6520000 [disabled] [size=128K]
    Capabilities: <access denied>
    Kernel driver in use: radeon

Love #! hate AMD/ATI switchable graphics.

Last edited by lightning_underscore (2012-02-06 20:22:55)

lightning_underscore

Member

Registered: 2012-02-04

Posts: 13

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

I was hoping to at least get the module running.

el_koraco

#!/loony/bun

From: inside Ed

Registered: 2011-07-25

Posts: 4,644

Re: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver

It seems when you disable switchable graphics, it reverts to the AMD card, and it's running with the open source radeon driver. I wouled have liked to see it default to the Intel card, but alas. Try to use the smxi script. I do have to warn you, you may easily bork your system and have to reinstall. That's how I learned the little bit I do know about AMD cards.