Binary package hint: xorg
Using fresh Lucid install and Radeon HD 3870
3D acceleration was previously working using xorg-edgers driverset under Karmic. Card works normally under Windows.
According to the docs, this card should be 3D accelerated out of the box under Lucid, but it is not enabled.
glxinfo reports software rendering, xorg log reports acceleration is disabled, kernel log reports ring test failed, followed by a lot of failed memory allocations. 2D acceleration appears to work normally.
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: xorg 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-21.32-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-21-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue May 4 03:32:12 2010
DkmsStatus: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
GdmLog1: Error: command ['gksu', '-D', 'Apport', '--', 'cat', '/var/log/gdm/:0.log.1'] failed with exit code 1: cat: /var/log/gdm/:0.log.1: No such file or directory
GdmLog2: Error: command ['gksu', '-D', 'Apport', '--', 'cat', '/var/log/gdm/:0.log.2'] failed with exit code 1: cat: /var/log/gdm/:0.log.2: No such file or directory
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
MachineType: To Be Filled By O.E.M. ALiveSATA2-GLAN
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=04492abc-0b5e-46ed-9018-5b2873a76486 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
LANG=en_GB.utf8
SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
dmi.bios.date: 07/24/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: P2.60
dmi.board.name: ALiveSATA2-GLAN
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrP2.60:bd07/24/2007:svnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pnALiveSATA2-GLAN:pvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:rvn:rnALiveSATA2-GLAN:rvr:cvnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: ALiveSATA2-GLAN
dmi.product.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
system:
distro: Ubuntu
codename: lucid
architecture: x86_64
kernel: 2.6.32-21-generic
Having upgraded to maverick, seen similar results, and done a bit of playing around, I think I have a handle of what's going on here. (I think this info also relates to bug 657576).
I tried three different maverick kernels: x64, x86 (PAE), x86 (no PAE), hardware is unchanged.
In all three flavours, if left to boot naturally, the system will hang on a blank screen. In order to have a successful boot, 'nomodeset' must be added to the boot command. (I might have done this when originally installing lucid and then forgotten about it - I have no idea)
With 'nomodeset' in place, the x64 and PAE x86 kernels will then give the errors mentioned in the OP., the non-PAE kernel, however, will work fine and 3d acceleration functions correctly.
This suggests to me that it is the presence of 4GB of memory on my system that is the determining factor here, thus suggesting a 64-bit number bug in the kernel somewhere.