fglrx fails at startup because of missing amdpcsdb.default + removal leaves bad settings in Xorg.conf

I'm attaching the Xorg.0.log file with the /etc/ati/amdpcsdb.default error.

For what it's worth, the official fglrx installer from ATI doesn't work either. Here is fglrx.install.log after my latest try:

---

Creating symlink /var/lib/dkms/fglrx/8.65/source ->
                 /usr/src/fglrx-8.65

DKMS: add Completed.

Kernel preparation unnecessary for this kernel. Skipping...

Building module:
cleaning build area....
su nobody -c "pushd /var/lib/dkms/fglrx/8.65/build; sh make.sh --nohints; popd"....(bad exit status: 127)
0
0
[Error] Kernel Module : Failed to build fglrx-8.65 with DKMS
[Error] Kernel Module : Removing fglrx-8.65 from DKMS

It sounds like you just have a messed up install. These files are installed normally during the configuration stage; if you reboot the system before it's completed this stage, it can result in these files not being put into place properly. This can cause a lot of trouble, which it sounds like you've been having. A fresh reinstall is probably the easiest solution, although if you're skillful with apt you can probably get it back in shape, but that's outside the scope of an X bug report.

Regarding the fglrx from AMD, that won't work. AMD has not yet released a version of fglrx for the kernel we include in Karmic. The fglrx we have is a pre-release version they've provided for Karmic.

Regarding the problem with xorg.conf when manually removing fglrx, that's not really a bug - if you manually remove a video driver you also need to manually remove it from xorg.conf.

Thanks for the explanations.

I did not, however, abort the installation at any point. I waited until the restricted hardware manager asked me to reboot, and rebooted when it did. I also tried doing "dpkg-reconfigure xorg-driver-fglrx" without any luck. Manually installing the *fglrx* packages didn't work either.

As the system was unbootable, I was forced to "manually" remove the *fglrx* packages. For future reference, is there anything else I could have done? Is there a better recovery procedure?

In any way - what am I supposed to do now? I'd rather help tracking down the bug than simply reinstalling and hoping for the best.

well, you can look through /var/log/dpkg.log to see where things went wrong and go from there.

If you manually remove the fglrx packages, you also need to remove or change the Driver "fglrx" in xorg.conf to "ati".

I've looked in /var/log/dpkg.log and there are no errors, warnings or the like regarding the fglrx packages.

You've marked the bug as invalid, yet I have a serious problem that I can reproduce and is willing to help track down. Is there any specific reason that you are ignoring it? "Reinstall and try again" isn't really a constructive way to fix bugs IMHO.

I have same problem!

Bryce, as we are now at least 2 persons with this problem, I dare say this isn't simply about my system being broken.

You didn't reply to my last comment, yet closed this bug anyway, so I take it that you are not interested in actually solving this problem. I'm reopening it anyway, however, so that us affected can at least track the status on this bug until someone fixes it.

So I also had problem to install this package to Jaunty. I described the possible method of fix in this (Hungarina) blog entry of mine:
http://hup.hu/node/76417

So this problem is related to package, I am sure. Blease backtrack the possible root of this problem.

Interesting. It seems like you are restoring the missing amdpcsdb.default file from a distribution upgrade backup. I had one of those too (as mentioned in my original report).

Did your driver stop working immediately after upgrading, or did your file disappear later on as well? Perhaps a new one is never actually being installed?

I think in order to fix this and/or find the original problem, we need a set of steps to /reliably/ reproduce it.

Something like

1) Install 9.10 beta
2) Muck with conf file A, B
3) Delete conf file C
4) Click hardware drivers, activate fglrx
5) Things broke, here's exactly how.

So I will purge all fglrx package the install it. I will attach dpkg log.

apt-cache search fglrx
fglrx-modaliases - Identifiers supported by the ATI graphics driver
xserver-xorg-video-radeon - X.Org X server -- ATI Radeon display driver
jockey-common - user interface and desktop integration for driver management
jockey-gtk - GNOME felhasználói felület és asztali integráció a meghajtókezeléshez
jockey-kde - KDE felhasználói felület és asztali integráció a meghajtókezeléshez
fglrx-amdcccle - Catalyst vezérlőközpont az ATI grafikus gyorsítókhoz
fglrx-kernel-source - Kernelmodul forrása az ATI grafikus gyorsítókhoz
xorg-driver-fglrx - Grafikus meghajtó az ATI videokártyákhoz
xorg-driver-fglrx-dev - Grafikus meghajtó az ATI videokártyákhoz (fejlesztői fájlok)

sudo apt-get purge fglrx-modaliases fglrx-amdcccle fglrx-kernel-source xorg-driver-fglrx xorg-driver-fglrx-dev

Az alábbi csomagok el lesznek TÁVOLÍTVA:
  fglrx-amdcccle* fglrx-kernel-source* fglrx-modaliases* xorg-driver-fglrx* xorg-driver-fglrx-dev*
0 frissített, 0 újonnan telepített, 5 eltávolítandó és 2 nem frissített.
E művelet után 74,7MB lemez-terület szabadul fel.
Folytatni akarod [Y/n]?
(Adatbázis olvasása ... Most 343626 fájl és könyvtár telepített.)
Eltávolítás: fglrx-amdcccle ...
dpkg: warning: while removing fglrx-amdcccle, directory '/usr/share/ati' not empty so not removed.
Eltávolítás: xorg-driver-fglrx-dev ...
Eltávolítás: xorg-driver-fglrx ...
xorg-driver-fglrx beállító fájlok törlése ...
dpkg: warning: while removing xorg-driver-fglrx, directory '/etc/ati' not empty so not removed.
Eltávolítás: fglrx-kernel-source ...
Removing all DKMS Modules
Done.
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
fglrx-kernel-source beállító fájlok törlése ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Eltávolítás: fglrx-modaliases ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for sreadahead ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-12-generic
This kernel does not seem to support TuxOnIce user interface, skipping...

***
sudo mv /etc/ati/ /etc/ati-old

sudo apt-get install fglrx-modaliases fglrx-amdcccle fglrx-kernel-source xorg-driver-fglrx xorg-driver-fglrx-dev

Az alábbi ÚJ csomagok lesznek telepítve:
  fglrx-amdcccle fglrx-kernel-source fglrx-modaliases xorg-driver-fglrx xorg-driver-fglrx-dev
0 frissített, 5 újonnan telepített, 0 eltávolítandó és 2 nem frissített.
Letöltendő az archívumokból: 0B/26,3MB
E művelet után további 74,7MB lemez-területetet használok fel.
Új csomag kiválasztása: fglrx-kernel-source.
(Adatbázis olvasása ... Most 343424 fájl és könyvtár telepített.)
Kicsomagolás: fglrx-kernel-source innen: .../fglrx-kernel-source_2%3a8.660-0ubuntu3_i386.deb ...
Új csomag kiválasztása: xorg-driver-fglrx.
Kicsomagolás: xorg-driver-fglrx innen: .../xorg-driver-fglrx_2%3a8.660-0ubuntu3_i386.deb ...
Új csomag kiválasztása: fglrx-amdcccle.
Kicsomagolás: fglrx-amdcccle innen: .../fglrx-amdcccle_2%3a8.660-0ubuntu3_i386.deb ...
Új csomag kiválasztása: xorg-driver-fglrx-dev.
Kicsomagolás: xorg-driver-fglrx-dev innen: .../xorg-driver-fglrx-dev_...

In the meantime, a new version has been released which seems to have fixed the issue. I've found this workaround / solution which works for me at least:

1) Remove all installed fglrx drivers (both ATI and Ubuntu flavored) and packages (all packages with "fglrx" somewhere in the name)
2) Remove /etc/X11/xorg.conf (if exists)
3) Remove the /etc/ati directory and all files within it (if exists)
4) Install the latest fglrx driver via the restricted hardware manager.

I'm not sure if a standard upgrade path works though. I'd rather not re-break my system now I've finally gotten it to work. Can you still reproduce KAMI?

It seems with tha latest (ubuntu3) release of package the problem is disappeard (at least to my machine). Installing with package manager or restricted hw manager works well in case of fglrx driver. Someone should test what if when the one upgrade form 9.04. I can't try it again :o)

Cool. I'll close this as solved then.

If anyone is able to reproduce, please reopen.

I can confirm that the problem still exists and the new package doesn't solve it if you are using AMD 64bit.

I verified that upgrading from 9.04 fgrlx works correctly due to right xorg.conf settings, I suppose.

I have the same issue on a clean install of 9.10 32-bit. Literally all I did was install Ubuntu, run apt-get update, install FGLRX from Hardware Drivers and reboot the system. The system boots to a black screen. Rebooting in recovery mode and uninstalling the driver causes loading xorg to fail, and the system then boots into Gnome when xorg.conf is renamed.

If it makes any difference, I also have a HD 3650, but it's a standard PCI-E card.

I don't really have much experience with Ubuntu or Linux in general, but if there is anything I can provide to help, let me know. :-)

Thanks for the confirmation Ocram.

I think it might help if you can attach your /var/log/Xorg.0.log file (note that the 0 increases on every boot, so if you, for example, have rebooted once since the error, the correct log will be Xorg.1.log. See if you still have the log from the failed boot laying around. Look for errors near the bottom.).

I couldn't find the original one, so I reinstalled the driver and have attached the log.

Thanks Ocram

Unfortunately, you seem to suffer from yet another error. The log you provided actually passes the stage this bug report is about:

(II) PCS database file /etc/ati/amdpcsdb not found
(II) Creating PCS database from initial defaults instead

I can't see any obvious error messages in that log file. Either way, I suggest you file a new bug (by running "ubuntu-bug xorg-driver-fglrx" or "ubuntu-bug fglrx-installer" (one of them should work) from the system. In gnome, you can simply push ALT + F2 to get a run box, or you can pass the command into a terminal. Please attach the above logfile to that report too :).

I'm having exactly the same bug after upgrading from 9.04

Although I'm quite inexperienced with the shell, I'm willing to test with some guidance.

Thanks Christian for keeping the bug open, and not just reinstalling =0)

:)

Tenkan, do you get the exact same error message (about amdpcsdb.default) in your X logfile? See comment #21.

Yes, I got the same as you did:

(EE) Unable to initialize PCS database
(EE) Missing PCS defaults file /etc/ati/amdpcsdb.default
(EE) No devices detected.

I followed your instructions in #15, and I just managed to get the X back again. The whole display is messed up (no window borders, no refresh, mouse/keyboard failures..) but works "just about" (compatibility mode?)

I don't know how to get from here.... I vaguely recall finding some tutorial about compiling the fglrx myself. Whatever I did, is definitely gone. I'm attaching the xorg logfile from my last reboot in case it is useful.

I am also having this issue.
ATI 4850HD
64 bit ubuntu.

I know the root cause of my troubles: I foolishly tried to install the ATI driver from the ATI website (version 9.10)
I tried to uninstall it and was stuck with dead keyboard and my monitor in sleep mode.
I SSHed into my computer and re-installed the broken ATI driver, that got me something that would at least boot.
tried uninstalling again, this got me to a boot that gave me errors, but allowed me to boot in safe video mode.
In safe video mode, I re-installed the hardware driver via the "Hardware Drivers" option.
This left me stuck with the "missing PCS defaults file /etc/ati/amdpcsdb.default".
I copied the "amdpcsdb.default.dpkg-bak" file to "amdpcsdb.default", and got something that boots, but now I am stuck with a bug in the lower right corner of my screen that says:
"AMD
 Testing use
       only
Unsupported
   hardware"

Guess on top of my head: If if /etc/ati folder exists for some reason, the Ubuntu-flavored fglrx fails to install amdpcsdb.default. Would explain this mess...

I have solved my problem.
Deleting /etc/ati and reinstalling the ati driver did not help. although the /etc/ati directory got created, there was nothing in it.
swapping hard disks, creating a clean install of Ubuntu, updating & installing the hardware driver, then copying amdpcsdb and amdpcsdb.default to the /etc/ati directory of the old hard drive, got something that would boot and work, but with that annoying AMD testing use only bug in the lower right hand corner.

uninstalling the hardware driver, copying the entire /etc/ati from the clean install then re-installing the hardware driver FINALLY got me a working system.

Very interesting. I had exactly the same problem with the envyng-core installer on my IBM Thinkpad T42p Laptop (ATI Mobility FireGL T2 128). After executing envyng-core in uninstaller mode, all was rollbacked.

After booting : Xorg.log

(II) LoadModule: "fglrx"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//fglrx_drv.so
(II) Module fglrx: vendor="FireGL - ATI Technologies Inc."
        compiled for 1.4.99.906, module version = 8.66.10
        Module class: X.Org Video Driver
(II) Primary Device is: PCI 01@00:00:0
(WW) Falling back to old probe method for fglrx
(II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Version Identifier:8.66.10
(II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Release Identifier: 8.66.1
(II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Build Date: Sep 3 2009 21:35:19
(II) PCS database file /etc/ati/amdpcsdb not found
(II) Creating PCS database from initial defaults instead
(--) Assigning device section with no busID to primary device
(EE) No devices detected.

I my case, I think the true problem is related to the incompatibility of this driver with ATI RV3XX Series card, which explain the "No devices detected".
See : https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-release-notes/+bug/284408

After manually installing all /etc/ati/ missing files, amdpcsdb was generate automatically after aticonfig invocation. But since the fglrx module could not be load properly just before... All these are useless.

Having a driver from ATI which supports old GPU series, compiles and runs with recent kernel and xserver, is not for now...

Anyway and at least, the Xorg team did a very good work with the free radeon driver. It is a little bit slower, but after having found a good balance between the driver performance and Compiz Settings, it works quite well. :)

I have an ati 3200 hd card. It is an integrated graphics chip/card on my 780g mini-itx motherboard. None of the ati releases of fglrx work with this card and I get this error when I try to use them via enabling the driver. I was able to enable and not have this problem when I was running Jaunty. Someone please help with the progress of this bug so I can finally watch 1080p in Karmic.

If I enable the fglrx driver, then I get a flashing console login screen and xwindows does not load when I reboot. In order to fix this, I have to delete xorg.conf; at which point, the console login screen stops flashing and I think xwindows begins to load automatically (i am not sure exactly/i forgot).

I cannot watch 1080p movies well because of slowdowns, However when I do watch them, the subtitles sometimes flash and the artifacts of the screen/lighting flash.

Thus, because of all the flashing, maybe this is related to refresh rate or something that goes bad. I am not sure nor how that would be related to amdpcsdb.default

solution?

http://<email address hidden>/msg1843314.html

If that is a solution, someone please tar or zip a clean install directory of those files

SOLUTION: Delete /etc/ati directory, install fglrx driver using the one from www.atitech.com site. After you install via that .run script, type aticonfig --initial ... This will create /etc/ati directory. Make a backup of this directory. I made my backup to /etc/ati2 . After this, enter into xwindows, go into hardware drivers. The driver will not be enabled. After you enable the driver/it does its download and install from somewhere, then copy your backup /etc/ati2 directory files to /etc/ati ...

FIX.... PRESTO...

i have included my /etc/ati2 directory in a tar ball.

Someone give me a cookie.

i have same problem

I have the same problem it appeared when a friend of mine installed drivers from ati website (thinkink it might improve screen resolution).

Replacing etc/ati/ woirked

Replacing etc/ati/ made regular boot possible, but I'm still having massive problems with lagging windows, flickering or not working at all videos. I've had problems with this since 8.10. Nothing graphical really works :(

ATI Mobility Radeon HD2600 512mb
Ubuntu 9.10
Acer 5720G
Latest ATI driver

I run a system with a Sapphire HD5750 graphics card. I have the latest
drivers which I downloaded from the ATI site installed on my system.
Each time a new kernal comes down (like tonight) the graphics on my
system stop working and my system becomes unusable.

What I have to do is uninstall the ATI drivers (I do this in recovery
mode), and then reinstall the ATI drivers from the ATI site. (I take
this opportunity to get and install the most recent version of the drivers.)

Someone out there more knowledgeable about the Linux kernel may be able
to advise why a new kernel breaks the ATI drivers.

Hope this helps.

Bryan

Skyldig wrote:
> Replacing etc/ati/ made regular boot possible, but I'm still having
> massive problems with lagging windows, flickering or not working at all
> videos. I've had problems with this since 8.10. Nothing graphical really
> works :(
>
> ATI Mobility Radeon HD2600 512mb
> Ubuntu 9.10
> Acer 5720G
> Latest ATI driver
>
>

@Bryan Smith:

Uninstall fglrx, install dkms, reinstall fglrx.

# /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh
# apt-get install dkms
# ati-driver-installer-...run

DKMS will automatically rebuild the fglrx kernel module every time the kernel gets updated. That should solve your problem.

HTH

[This bug was nominated for lucid, but no evidence exists in bug report that it still affects lucid, so the nomination is not acceptable at this time. A lucid compatible version of -fglrx was added just recently, so this needs retested.]

The fglrx driver should be installed through Jockey (our restricted drivers manager) now that I have added support for fglrx in Lucid, things should work for you.

I had been same problem. Incorrect device loader from org.conf after installation.

_______________________
# Bad org.conf:

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Module"
 Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "Device"
 Identifier "Default Device"
 Driver "fglrx"
EndSection
____________________________

I can fix with org.conf (from previous 9.4).

# Good xorg.conf ...
Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier "aticonfig Layout"
 Screen 0 "Default Screen" 0 0
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
 Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
 Option "Xinerama" "off"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Device"
 Identifier "Configured Video Device"
 Driver "fglrx"
 BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 Device "Configured Video Device"
 Monitor "Configured Monitor"
 DefaultDepth 24
 SubSection "Display"
  Modes "1440x900" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
 EndSubSection
EndSection

Sorry, previous message at 10.4 beta1 (lucid), updated today.

@almursi
I don't see the following lines in your logs:
(EE) Unable to initialize PCS database
(EE) Missing PCS defaults file /etc/ati/amdpcsdb.default
(EE) No devices detected.

I think you're affected by bug #554191 instead.

@Alberto Milone
Yes, it's possible! (I fear that this was the rush of my first day here ;-)) Thanks.

This bug was fixed in the package fglrx-installer - 2:8.723.1-0ubuntu2

---------------
fglrx-installer (2:8.723.1-0ubuntu2) lucid; urgency=low

  * debian/fglrx.dirs, fglrx.install.in, fglrx.postinst,
    fglrx.preinst:
    - Make /etc/ati a slave link which points to
      /usr/lib/fglrx/etc/ati. This will avoid issues when
      upgrading packages with user modified files in
      /etc/ati (LP: #559587, LP: #440233).
    - Make sure to remove /etc/ati if it's not a link.
 -- Alberto Milone <email address hidden> Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:37:14 +0200

package fglrx-installer doesn't exist? Or is it in a PPA?

root@marvin:~# aptitude reinstall fglrx-installer
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Couldn't find any package whose name or description matched "fglrx-installer"
Couldn't find any package whose name or description matched "fglrx-installer"
No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed.
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 0B will be used.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done

Here's what I'm getting, which makes no sense...

# Xorg.0.log output
(II) LoadModule: "fglrx"
(WW) Warning, couldn't open module fglrx
(II) UnloadModule: "fglrx"
(EE) Failed to load module "fglrx" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) No drivers available.
# lsmod|grep fglrx
fglrx 2353422 0

I was using 32-bit Lucid since the release and there was no problem with fglrx until today. Somehow I decided to accept the ubuntu update. Unfortunately after that in the next reboot I got the 'missing amdpcsdb.default' error. I have an ATI HD5670 card and installed using the driver from the amd website at the fresh intall. Everything worked out of the box until today. Actually when I get into my system I did not see the folder of /etc/ati at all. I copied the /etc/ati folder from another ubuntu on my computer (that one has no problem at all). Then I can boot normally into the system. However, still with lagging windows and no advanced desktop effects at all (compiz).

I tried to uninstall the fglrx driver but get this:
zheng@zzdesk:/usr/share/ati$ sudo ./fglrx-uninstall.sh
restore of system environment completed

Error! There are no instances of module: fglrx
8.723 located in the DKMS tree.
Errors during DKMS module removal

Uninstall fglrx driver complete...

Trying to reinstall the driver again but get this:
Detected configuration:
Architecture: i686 (32-bit)
X Server: X.Org 7.5
DKMS part of installation failed. Please refer to /usr/share/ati/fglrx-install.log for details
Removing temporary directory: fglrx-install.i46ko9

I have the up-to-date DKMS.

So the problem now seems to be that somehow the driver cannot be installed. I have attached my Xorg.0.log. It would be nice if someone may advise me some tips.

Zhao,

I am no expert at this but perhaps the install log for the driver may
give a better clue as to why installation failed:

/usr/share/ati/fglrx-install.log

I have had to reinstall the drivers several times, typically after
downloading and installing a new version of the kernel. This has made
my system unusable and I have had to reinstall the fglrx drivers. Prior
to reinstalling the fglrx driver I have used Synaptic to remove any
packages with "fglrx" in their names. I don't know whether doing this
was technically necessary but I have not noticed any bad side effects.

Currently my system is working quite happily without any "fglrx*" packages.

Regards,

Bryan

On 30/05/10 05:32, Zhao Zheng wrote:
> I was using 32-bit Lucid since the release and there was no problem with
> fglrx until today. Somehow I decided to accept the ubuntu update.
> Unfortunately after that in the next reboot I got the 'missing
> amdpcsdb.default' error. I have an ATI HD5670 card and installed using
> the driver from the amd website at the fresh intall. Everything worked
> out of the box until today. Actually when I get into my system I did not
> see the folder of /etc/ati at all. I copied the /etc/ati folder from
> another ubuntu on my computer (that one has no problem at all). Then I
> can boot normally into the system. However, still with lagging windows
> and no advanced desktop effects at all (compiz).
>
> I tried to uninstall the fglrx driver but get this:
> zheng@zzdesk:/usr/share/ati$ sudo ./fglrx-uninstall.sh
> restore of system environment completed
>
> Error! There are no instances of module: fglrx
> 8.723 located in the DKMS tree.
> Errors during DKMS module removal
>
> Uninstall fglrx driver complete...
>
> Trying to reinstall the driver again but get this:
> Detected configuration:
> Architecture: i686 (32-bit)
> X Server: X.Org 7.5
> DKMS part of installation failed. Please refer to /usr/share/ati/fglrx-install.log for details
> Removing temporary directory: fglrx-install.i46ko9
>
> I have the up-to-date DKMS.
>
> So the problem now seems to be that somehow the driver cannot be
> installed. I have attached my Xorg.0.log. It would be nice if someone
> may advise me some tips.
>
> ** Attachment added: "Xorg.0.log"
> http://launchpadlibrarian.net/49325024/Xorg.0.log
>
>

Bryan,

Thanks for the very quick reply. I have checked my install log. It looks like that it is saying it cannot find my kernel:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Creating symlink /var/lib/dkms/fglrx/8.723/source ->
                 /usr/src/fglrx-8.723

DKMS: add Completed.
You can use the --kernelsourcedir option to tell DKMS where it's located, or you could install the linux-headers-2.6.31-14-generic package.
[Error] Kernel Module : Failed to build fglrx-8.723 with DKMS
[Error] Kernel Module : Removing fglrx-8.723 from DKMS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
To know what --kernelsourcedir I could give, I checked man dkms. It says usually this kernel source is in /lib/modules/$kernel_version/build. However, I did not find this folder 'build' in my /lib/modules/2.6.31-14/ at all. I checked another kernel in my system. It has a build folder, but it is pointing to /usr/src/linux-hearders-2.6.32.22, not the one I would need for 2.6.31-14. In /usr/src there is no such folder. I am not sure if I can install this? The problem is, I cannot boot to the 2.6.32-22 kernel at all because I got only a black screen, even in recovery mode.

I tried to just copy the build folder from /lib/modules/2.6.32-22/build to the one of 2.6.31-14. Now I get a different error in the install log:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Creating symlink /var/lib/dkms/fglrx/8.723/source ->
                 /usr/src/fglrx-8.723

DKMS: add Completed.

Kernel preparation unnecessary for this kernel. Skipping...

Building module:
cleaning build area....
cd /var/lib/dkms/fglrx/8.723/build; sh make.sh --nohints --uname_r=2.6.31-14-generic --norootcheck....(bad exit status: 1)
0
0
[Error] Kernel Module : Failed to build fglrx-8.723 with DKMS
[Error] Kernel Module : Removing fglrx-8.723 from DKMS
------------------------------------------------------------------

So it now looks like dkms has problem when 'cd /var/lib/dkms/fglrx/8.723/build'. I checked my folder there in /var/lib/dkms, there is only one single file dkms_dbversion. I thought maybe it is just too shy to make such a folder there. So I created the folders /fglrx/8.723/build in my /var/lib/dkms. Now the install log (/usr/share/ati/fglrx-install.log) changed to:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Errors during DKMS module removal
Errors during DKMS module removal
[Error] Kernel Module : Failed to add fglrx-8.723 to DKMS
----------------------------------------------------------------

It is just not very logical to me. It failed to remove old module. Apparently I don't have one. But it is still not installing a new one. So in the end I still cannot have a working driver. Strange thing is the Catalyst Control Center still works. Problems besides the lagging windows are: (1) I cannot activate advanced desktop effects; (2) I cannot start blender any more; (3) all the build in games cannot be started. For example:
-------------------------
zheng@zzdesk:~$ quadrapassel
The program 'quadrapassel' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'BadReques...

Zhao,

You should be aware that the following is two commands:

cd /var/lib/dkms/fglrx/8.723/build; sh make.sh --nohints --uname_r=2.6.31-14-generic --norootcheck

These are:

cd /var/lib/dkms/fglrx/8.723/build
sh make.sh --nohints --uname_r=2.6.31-14-generic --norootcheck

The first is a change directory command to directory
/var/lib/dkms/fglrx/8.723/build. This command will only fail if this
directory does not exist.

The second is running make in this directory. The key input to make is
the file Makefile. It is found in this directory. I assume it is the
Kernel module for fglrx which make is is intended to build. Make is
much more complex and could fail for many reasons. My guess is make is
failing (I assume the /var/lib/dkms/fglrx/8.723/build directory
exists). However diagnosing make problems is outside my expertise.

I would also expect that the install is running with root privileges and
therefore should not have any problems with write privileges creating
files etc. Therefore I think your following comment is wrong:

I thought maybe it is just too shy to make such a folder there.

The contents of the /var/lib/dkms/fglrx/8.723/build directory on my
system is (You will note the existence of the files make.sh and Makefile):

bryan@tardis:/var/lib/dkms/fglrx/8.723/build$ ls -l
total 6820
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2010-05-07 21:44 2.6.x
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 290 2010-05-07 21:44 dkms.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4363 2010-05-07 21:44 drm_compat.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 21251 2010-05-07 21:44 drm.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4920 2010-05-07 21:44 drm_os_linux.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 31451 2010-05-07 21:44 drmP.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15405 2010-05-07 21:44 drm_proc.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4834 2010-05-07 21:44 fglrxko_pci_ids.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 163326 2010-05-07 21:44 firegl_public.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 37809 2010-05-07 21:44 firegl_public.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 27696 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_acpi.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5775 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_acpi.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12172 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_agp.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2610 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_agp.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1578 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_config.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4568 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_debug.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7202 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_debug.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5923 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_io.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6271 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_ioctl.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2703 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_ioctl.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2943 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_io.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1529 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_osconfig.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9660 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_pci.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3558 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_pci.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7519 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_str.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2925 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_str.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1863 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_type.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3448 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_wait.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1793 2010-05-07 21:44 kcl_wait.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3251624 2010-05-07 21:44 libfglrx_ip.a.GCC3
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3251624 2010-05-07 21:44 libfglrx_ip.a.GCC4
-rw-r--r-- 1 r...

Bryan,

Thanks for your explanation. I now see that my /var/lib/dkms/fglrx folder is actually deleted when the installer found error. But I managed to copy it from the source /usr/src/fglrx-8.723. Then I run 'sudo sh make.sh --nohints --uname_r=2.6.32-22-generic --norootcheck' at termnial. I changed the kernel version from 2.6.31-14 to 2.6.32-22 and now I see message 'build succeeded with return value 0'. However, nothing really changed after this 'make'.

I have noticed that the file size you listed for libfglrx_ip* are 3MB but the ones I have is only 2MB:
-rw-r--r-- 1 root src 2354408 2010-05-30 12:19 libfglrx_ip.a.GCC3
-rw-r--r-- 1 root src 2354408 2010-05-30 12:19 libfglrx_ip.a.GCC4
All the other file sizes are the same. Is it possible that you post these files so that I can give them a try?

Post #48 suggests to link /etc/ati to /usr/lib/fglrx/etc/ati. But in my /usr/lib there is no such a folder called fglrx.

I also compared my xorg.conf with Post #44. Did not see meaningful differences.

In the meantime, I also made a fresh USB installer from a new download of Lucid. I tried to install the driver there and was hoping to get some good copy. But in the end it is the same.

I also tried to install the driver using Jockey-gtk as discussed by post #14 and #43. I then ended up the same as using Synaptic, i.e. only a broken fglrxamdccc installed but not the real fglrx driver.

I now feel it really hurt to update my Lucid...

Zhao,

Have you read the install notes for the drivers particularly the
following /"Note: You must be logged in with superuser privileges (as
root or with sudo access) in order to successfully install the ATI
Proprietary
Linux driver."/

I am wondering why the directory /var/lib/dkms/fglrx directory is not
present. Is this because you are not running with superuser privileges
and the install script could not create this directory along with it's
contents?

You should be running the command (or something similar):
sudo ./ati-driver-installer-10-4-x86.x86_64.run

Please note the following howto:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI

I don't think I cam help you more.

Bryan

On 31/05/10 01:59, Zhao Zheng wrote:
> Bryan,
>
> Thanks for your explanation. I now see that my /var/lib/dkms/fglrx
> folder is actually deleted when the installer found error. But I managed
> to copy it from the source /usr/src/fglrx-8.723. Then I run 'sudo sh
> make.sh --nohints --uname_r=2.6.32-22-generic --norootcheck' at
> termnial. I changed the kernel version from 2.6.31-14 to 2.6.32-22 and
> now I see message 'build succeeded with return value 0'. However,
> nothing really changed after this 'make'.
>
> I have noticed that the file size you listed for libfglrx_ip* are 3MB but the ones I have is only 2MB:
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root src 2354408 2010-05-30 12:19 libfglrx_ip.a.GCC3
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root src 2354408 2010-05-30 12:19 libfglrx_ip.a.GCC4
> All the other file sizes are the same. Is it possible that you post these files so that I can give them a try?
>
> Post #48 suggests to link /etc/ati to /usr/lib/fglrx/etc/ati. But in my
> /usr/lib there is no such a folder called fglrx.
>
> I also compared my xorg.conf with Post #44. Did not see meaningful
> differences.
>
> In the meantime, I also made a fresh USB installer from a new download
> of Lucid. I tried to install the driver there and was hoping to get some
> good copy. But in the end it is the same.
>
> I also tried to install the driver using Jockey-gtk as discussed by post
> #14 and #43. I then ended up the same as using Synaptic, i.e. only a
> broken fglrxamdccc installed but not the real fglrx driver.
>
> I now feel it really hurt to update my Lucid...
>
>

Bryan,

Thanks for the howto link. I actually had it in my bookmarks some weeks ago but did not get back to read it since my driver was ok at the beginning. I will read it more carefully now and see if I can make some more progress.

Sorry for the confusion, but I should have made it clear that I am aware of using 'sudo'. The reason that I still don't have the /var/lib/dkms/fglrx folder, I think, is due to this error message:

[Error] Kernel Module : Removing fglrx-8.723 from DKMS

This actually was resulted from the confliction of kernel version, which I think I got the work around in my last post. In other words, this folder was created during the installation, but due to the error in the 'make' command, this folder is then wiped away. However, to really get the problem solved, I will learn the info in your link to see if I missed something. Meanwhile, I see that ati has posted a new version of catalyst last week. Maybe that can give some improvements as well. I will also try it tonight back home.

Just had this problem.

In my case looks like some other program (was trying to install openbox) RENAMED amdpcsdb.default to amdpcsdb. , causing this file missing error.

Renaming amdpcsdb. to amdpcsdb.default (just added .default file type) fixed perfectly the problem, in my case.

I'm at Debian Wheezy, ATI Radeon 7520, Toshiba Satellite Notebook C855D.

That's all folks,
Bruno