Ubuntu
xserver-xorg-video-ati package

Driver misdetects presence of nonexistent VGA display

Bug #151790 reported by Ryan Lovett
2
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
xserver-xorg-driver-ati
Fix Released
Medium
xserver-xorg-video-ati (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

This is with the Gutsy daily desktop CD for amd64 from 2007/10/10.

Apps like gdm and gnome-panel put their "bottom parts", e.g. the bottom gnome-panel instance and the gdm button area, about 2/3 to the bottom. I've attached some screenshots of this behavior. I couldn't figure it out until I went to the Screen and Graphics Preferences tool. It is autodecting a resolution of 1280x800 when the LCD screen is actually a normal 1280x1024 19" LCD. When I typed 'xrandr -q' I got:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 1024, maximum 1280 x 1200
VGA-0 connected 1280x800 0 0 (normal left inverted right) 0mm x 0mm
   1280x800 60.0*
   1280x768 60.0
   1024x768 60.0
   800x600 60.3
   640x480 59.9
DVI-0 connected 1280x1024 0 0 (normal left inverted right) 359mm x 287mm
   1280x1024 60.0* 59.9
   1024x768 75.1 60.0
   800x600 75.0 60.3
   640x480 75.0 60.0
   720x400 70.1

It seems as if GNOME apps assume that the screen is 1280x800 even though nothing is actually plugged into the VGA port. Once I dragged the panel down to the bottom it stays their across sessions. The other apps like gdm still have the odd behavior. The screenshots demonstrate this better than I can describe.

udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_1002_514c'
  info.bus = 'pci' (string)
  info.parent = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_1022_7455' (string)
  info.product = 'Radeon R200 QL [Radeon 8500 LE]' (string)
  info.subsystem = 'pci' (string)
  info.udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_1002_514c' (string)
  info.vendor = 'ATI Technologies Inc' (string)
  linux.hotplug_type = 2 (0x2) (int)
  linux.subsystem = 'pci' (string)
  linux.sysfs_path = '/sys/devices/pci0000:08/0000:08:01.0/0000:09:00.0' (string)
  pci.device_class = 3 (0x3) (int)
  pci.device_protocol = 0 (0x0) (int)
  pci.device_subclass = 0 (0x0) (int)
  pci.linux.sysfs_path = '/sys/devices/pci0000:08/0000:08:01.0/0000:09:00.0' (string)
  pci.product = 'Radeon R200 QL [Radeon 8500 LE]' (string)
  pci.product_id = 20812 (0x514c) (int)
  pci.subsys_product_id = 20812 (0x514c) (int)
  pci.subsys_vendor = 'Palit Microsystems Inc.' (string)
  pci.subsys_vendor_id = 5481 (0x1569) (int)

See original description
Revision history for this message
Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote :

The bottom of the faded portion isn't the bottom of the screen.

Revision history for this message
Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote :

The GUI is showing the resolutions for the VGA output when nothing is actually connected to it.

Revision history for this message
Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton) wrote :

Do you have the same problem with 7.10 final? If yes, could you test the newer driver from https://wiki.ubuntu.com/XorgOnTheEdge?

Changed in xorg-server:
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :

This sounds similar to the gnome-panel issue where it fails to pay attention to xrandr events. So possibly this should be filed with gdm rather than -ati...?

description: updated
Revision history for this message
Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote :

I'm still having this problem with the latest hardy release candidate.

Revision history for this message
Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote : Re: gnome apps misinterpret xrandr in hardy rc

Here is a camera grab of the gdm screen. You can see how the gdm controls are not at the bottom of the actual screen.

Revision history for this message
Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote :

This is a camera shot of first login. The "bottom" gnome-panel is hovering at 800 pixels down instead of 1024.

Revision history for this message
Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote :

I opened the Screen Resolution preference program and took a screenshot. The artifacts to the right of the gnome-terminal are compiz artifacts I don't much care about. You can see that the program is detecting a resoltion of 1280x800 while the actual monitor is an LCD at 1280x1024. The really pixelated bits at the bottom of the shot do not appear on my screen.

Revision history for this message
Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote :

Here I just clicked on the 'Dell 18"' box in the program and another display called Unknown pops up. The available resolutions for the Dell now has a 1280x1024. Changing the resolutions here has no effect nor does clicking the detection button.

Revision history for this message
Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote :

You can see how xrandr is detecting a CRT that doesn't exist at a resolution of 1280x800. There is no CRT attached to the VGA port on the card - only an LCD attached to the DVI port.

Revision history for this message
Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote :

What I'm guessing is the default xorg.conf for hardy installations.

Revision history for this message
Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote :

Note the following in the log file:

(II) RADEON(0): EDID vendor "DEL", prod id 57347
(II) RADEON(0): Output VGA-0 connected
(II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-0 connected
(II) RADEON(0): Output VGA-0 using initial mode 1280x800
(II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-0 using initial mode 1280x1024

even though nothing is connected to the VGA port.

Revision history for this message
Brian Murray (brian-murray) wrote : Ubuntu needs you!

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. In the development cycle for Intrepid there have been some vast improvements in the open source ati video driver and we could use your help testing them. Could you please download the latest Alpha CD image of Intrepid and test this particular bug just using the Live CD? You can find the latest image at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing . Your testing can help make Ubuntu and the open source ati driver even better! Thanks in advance.

Revision history for this message
Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote : Re: [Bug 151790] Ubuntu needs you!

On Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 10:27:50PM -0000, Brian Murray wrote:
> Thanks for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu
> better. In the development cycle for Intrepid there have been some vast
> improvements in the open source ati video driver and we could use your
> help testing them. Could you please download the latest Alpha CD image
> of Intrepid and test this particular bug just using the Live CD? You
> can find the latest image at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing . Your
> testing can help make Ubuntu and the open source ati driver even better!
> Thanks in advance.

I tried to test with the live cd, intrepid 4, but it drops me to a BusyBox
initramfs prompt at boot rather than an X session.

Ryan

Revision history for this message
Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote : Re: gnome apps misinterpret xrandr in hardy rc

Followup to my previous post.

Running without 'quiet splash', the live cd displays dozens of

kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds.
EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.

before dropping to the prompt.

Revision history for this message
Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :

Report that as a separate issue, and re-test for this bug once you've got that resolved.

Changed in xserver-xorg-video-ati:
status: Incomplete → New
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.

Changed in xserver-xorg-video-ati:
status: Incomplete → Invalid
Revision history for this message
Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote :

Please reopen. Does the latest release no longer fail to boot? If so I can test the bug now.

Bryce Harrington (bryce)
Changed in xserver-xorg-video-ati:
status: Invalid → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote :

I tried the latest Intrepid release and was able to boot the machine. It was more successful though still not correct.

The display came up in 1152x864 which, on a 19" LCD, was stretched. I went to System -> Preferences -> Screen Resolution and 1280x1024 wasn't in the Resolution list. "Mirror Screens" was checked (though I only had the LCD plugged into DVI and nothing in the VGA) so I unchecked it. This caused the Resolution list to refresh so I chose 1280x1024. I hit Apply and it said it would write out the configuration and that I'd have to logout for the new configuration to take effect. I logged out and saw the gdm login screen which didn't seem quite optimal so I hit Control-Alt-Backspace to really restart X but it didn't look different.

When I logged in, the bottom panel was at the very top of the screen and the desktop background was... hard to describe. It was as if someone took the smudge tool to the regular intrepid background and made long straight vertical streaks going from top to bottom. I managed to start a terminal and looked at the xorg.conf the previous step had created. It had written a Virtual size of "1280x1888" instead of "1280x1024". I manually edited this, logged out, hit Control-Alt-Backspace, and logged in.

The resolution came up in 1152x864 again. I decided to try 'xrandr'. As in the xrandr output at the very top of this bug it believed I had a display attached to the VGA port when there wasn't anything plugged into it. I looked through 'xrandr -h' and invoked

  xrandr --output VGA-0 --off
  xrandr --output DVI-0 --preferred

and voila the screen changed to 1280x1024. I'm just guessing that the GNOME apps are relying on the xrandr information which is incorrect since there is no VGA attached though the xrandr mechanism thinks it is and uses it as the primary display. Perhaps this bug should be retitled?

Revision history for this message
In , Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :
Download full text (4.7 KiB)

Created an attachment (id=20617)
Xorg.0.log

Forwarding this bug from a Ubuntu reporter:
https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/151790

[Problem]
A single monitor is connected to DVI, but -ati is detecting and enabling both the DVI and VGA ports when it should only be enabling DVI.

[Xorg.0.log]
Note the following in the log file:

(II) RADEON(0): EDID vendor "DEL", prod id 57347
(II) RADEON(0): Output VGA-0 connected
(II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-0 connected
(II) RADEON(0): Output VGA-0 using initial mode 1280x800
(II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-0 using initial mode 1280x1024

even though nothing is connected to the VGA port.

[lspci]
Radeon R200 QL [Radeon 8500 LE] [1002:514c]

[Original Report]
This is with the Gutsy daily desktop CD for amd64 from 2007/10/10.

Apps like gdm and gnome-panel put their "bottom parts", e.g. the bottom gnome-panel instance and the gdm button area, about 2/3 to the bottom. I've attached some screenshots of this behavior. I couldn't figure it out until I went to the Screen and Graphics Preferences tool. It is autodecting a resolution of 1280x800 when the LCD screen is actually a normal 1280x1024 19" LCD. When I typed 'xrandr -q' I got:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 1024, maximum 1280 x 1200
VGA-0 connected 1280x800 0 0 (normal left inverted right) 0mm x 0mm
   1280x800 60.0*
   1280x768 60.0
   1024x768 60.0
   800x600 60.3
   640x480 59.9
DVI-0 connected 1280x1024 0 0 (normal left inverted right) 359mm x 287mm
   1280x1024 60.0* 59.9
   1024x768 75.1 60.0
   800x600 75.0 60.3
   640x480 75.0 60.0
   720x400 70.1

It seems as if GNOME apps assume that the screen is 1280x800 even though nothing is actually plugged into the VGA port. Once I dragged the panel down to the bottom it stays their across sessions. The other apps like gdm still have the odd behavior. The screenshots [in the downstream bug report] demonstrate this better than I can describe.

 * * *

I tried the latest Intrepid release and was able to boot the machine. It was more successful though still not correct.

The display came up in 1152x864 which, on a 19" LCD, was stretched. I went to System -> Preferences -> Screen Resolution and 1280x1024 wasn't in the Resolution list. "Mirror Screens" was checked (though I only had the LCD plugged into DVI and nothing in the VGA) so I unchecked it. This caused the Resolution list to refresh so I chose 1280x1024. I hit Apply and it said it would write out the configuration and that I'd have to logout for the new configuration to take effect. I logged out and saw the gdm login screen which didn't seem quite optimal so I hit Control-Alt-Backspace to really restart X but it didn't look different.

When I logged in, the bottom panel was at the very top of the screen and the desktop background was... hard to describe. It was as if someone took the smudge tool to the regular intrepid background and made long straight vertical streaks going from top to bottom. I managed to start a terminal and looked at the xorg.conf the previous step had created. It had written a Virtual size of "1280x1888" instead of "1280x1024". I manually edited this, logged out, hit Control-Alt-Backspa...

Read more...

Revision history for this message
Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :

Thanks for retesting that. Yeah it definitely sounds like the VGA-0 detection issue is still there. I'll forward the bug upstream.

Changed in xserver-xorg-video-ati:
importance: Undecided → Medium
status: Confirmed → Triaged
Revision history for this message
Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :

Hi Ryan,

I've forwarded your bug report upstream to https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18719 . Could you please subscribe to that bug report in case upstream needs further information or wishes you to test something? Thanks ahead of time!

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in xserver-xorg-driver-ati:
status: Unknown → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
In , agd5f (agd5f) wrote :

this should be fixed in 6e0c48958c6a50a639368e369ce72d813256aee4
Please re-open if you are still having problems.

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in xserver-xorg-driver-ati:
status: Confirmed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
In , Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote :

Thanks for the information. Is 6e0c48958c6a50a639368e369ce72d813256aee4 a version control marker? If so, can I view the change via the web?

Otherwise, when was the change made?

Revision history for this message
In , Ryan Lovett (ryan-spacecoaster) wrote :

Sorry, never mind:

http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/driver/xf86-video-ati/commit/?id=6e0c48958c6a50a639368e369ce72d813256aee4

Revision history for this message
Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :

As per upstream, should be fixed now in Jaunty.

Changed in xserver-xorg-video-ati:
status: Triaged → Fix Released
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in xserver-xorg-driver-ati:
importance: Unknown → Medium
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in xserver-xorg-driver-ati:
importance: Medium → Unknown
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in xserver-xorg-driver-ati:
importance: Unknown → Medium
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