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Bodhisattva
Joined: 25 Jul 2002
Posts: 1663
Location: Berlin
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 Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2002 8:17 am Post subject: Problems with ELSA WINNER 1000/T2D (S3-TrioV2/DX Controller) |
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Yeah, I know, this is stone-age hardware. I'm trying to revitalise an old desktop that I want to give to the kids to play with. I had to add a second HDD to be finally able to emerge X without running out of disk space (and it took only 7 hours, including Fluxbox!  ), but now X doesn't like my video card.
Here's the situation:
| Code: | # cat /proc/pci | tail -3
VGA compatible controller: S3 Inc. 86c775/86c785 [Trio 64V2/DX or /GX] (rev 22)
IRQ 11.
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe0000000 [0xe3ffffff]
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So far, so good. xf86config has a card called Elsa Winner 1000/T2D in the database, but where the suggested drivers are listed it says (null), I never get the dialogue for default modes, only default depth (16), and when I open the resulting XF86config file afterwards, it says the card is unsupported.
| Code: | Section "Device"
Identifier "Elsa"
Driver "vga"
# unsupported card
#VideoRam 2048 |
Actually, I'm not sure if the card has 1 or 2 MB, but uncommenting that last line and switching to 1024 doesn't change the result a bit. The X server seems to be completely unimpressed with what I put in there, because it always reverts to
| Code: | | (**) VGA(0): videoRam: 1024 kBytes (using 256 kBytes). |
and I can't change that behaviour no matter what I do. After that, I get a long list of failed modes, all with "insufficient memory for mode".
Time to give up on this dinosaur? It's in everybody's compatibility lists for Xfree 4.2.0 (checked xfree86.org, RedHat), so it must work somehow! If all fails I could buy a new video card, sure, but would I find anything that fits in my 166 Mhz Pentium MMX 64 MB desktop? I'd be very grateful for any help from people who got this chipset to run! If you need additional information, I can post the entire log file, too. |
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pjp
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| Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2002 8:27 am Post subject: |
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Does changing the VideoRam line to 256 do anything different?
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Bodhisattva
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Location: Berlin
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| Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2002 8:36 am Post subject: |
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| Not a thing. Actually, changing the default depth to 8 bpp does start X successfully, but all get is a very ugly screen of 320x200... |
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pjp
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| Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2002 8:40 am Post subject: |
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What about changing the Driver to something in the s3 arena? This page suggests that it has 1 or 2MB of RAM.
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Bodhisattva
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Location: Berlin
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| Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2002 8:53 am Post subject: |
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I've tried that, but then the final error message goes to "Fatal server error: no screens found".
I found two drivers that correspond more or less to s3 in /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers: One called s3_drv that produces
| Code: | (EE) LoadModule: Module s3_drv does not have a s3_drvModuleData data object.
(EE) Failed to load module "s3_drv" (invalid module, 0)
(EE) No drivers available |
and the other driver called s3virge (which would be wrong for my card, anyway) gives me:
| Code: | | (EE) No devices detected. |
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Bodhisattva
Joined: 25 Jul 2002
Posts: 1663
Location: Berlin
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| Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2002 8:58 am Post subject: |
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| Sorry. I tried just "s3" too, earlier, with the same result as "s3virge". Thought adding the _drv bit would maybe change things, but it just changed the error message... |
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pjp
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| Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2002 9:24 am Post subject: |
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Hrm... is "Driver" the same as server? Try XF86_S3 (source)
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Bodhisattva
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Location: Berlin
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| Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2002 10:22 am Post subject: |
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A different server  How do I know which server gets started when I startx? How can I change that? The XF86config file actually has a section on XF86_S3, telling me to go RTFM at /usr/X11R6/lib/doc/README.S3, but at that location no FM, and there's no man page either. Not even a directory with READMEs at all. Googling for any of these catchy terms doesn't make me any smarter either. Found the man page here, but frankly, it's four years old and doesn't really tell me anything...
Completely in the dark now.  |
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Bodhisattva
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Location: Berlin
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| Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2002 11:42 am Post subject: |
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Ok, I found the release notes for the server I'm running.
| Quote: | Release Notes for XFree86[tm] 4.2.0
2.1 Video Driver Enhancements
o An s3 driver is added, which provides support for many of the older non-ViRGE and non-Savage S3 chipsets. |
Sounds good. So I should be getting somewhere if I use that driver, shouldn't I?
Here's my XF86config file (well, not all of it, just the meaningful parts, all lines without a leading #):
| Code: | Section "Module"
SubSection "extmod"
EndSubSection
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
EndSection
Section "Files"
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "Keyboard"
Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc101"
Option "XkbLayout" "de"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "My Monitor"
HorizSync 31.5-60
VertRefresh 56-75
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Standard VGA"
VendorName "Unknown"
BoardName "Unknown"
Driver "vga"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Elsa"
Driver "s3"
VideoRam 2048
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "Elsa"
Monitor "My Monitor"
DefaultDepth 16
Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Simple Layout"
Screen "Screen 1"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
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Now please, what is it I'm missing here? The log file says the module does get loaded, but that's just the beginning of the end:
| Code: | (II) S3: driver (version 0.3.5 for S3 chipset: 964-0, 964-1, 968,
Trio 32/64, Aurora64V+
(II) Primary Device is: PCI 00:0c:0
(--) Assigning device section with no busID to primary device
(EE) No devices detected.
Fatal server error:
no screens found |
Help, please?  |
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pjp
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| Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2002 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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This is way beyond my X knowledge. Honestly, I'd take a look at a local store and see what kind of card you can get. This card is PCI, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a low cost card. Write down as much info about it/them you can find, then Google. If noone has posted a solution when your finished, you'll have an idea of what to buy.
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Bodhisattva
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Posts: 1663
Location: Berlin
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2002 3:58 am Post subject: |
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Just to wrap this up: I've done as suggested, more light-heartedly after hearing from other people, too, that the S3 is a cumbersome chipset. So I went out and ordered a Riva TNT2 M64 for a handful of yen. Which was, to tell you the whole truth, the cheapest PCI card with a reputedly good behaviour in X on offer, yet surprisingly more difficult to find than you said, since the really cheap cards all seem to be AGP. It'll be here in a few days and hopefully relieve me of my pains. And if it doesn't: I'll be back... 
Thanks again for your help. |
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pjp
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2002 4:36 am Post subject: |
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 I assumed the US market for finding a PCI video card. Never having been to Japan (by the way, I am accepting roundtrip tickets to any destination... coach even  ) I'd have no idea what component availability would be. Good luck with the new one.
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Bodhisattva
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Location: Berlin
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2002 5:08 am Post subject: |
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| kanuslupus wrote: | | I assumed the US market for finding a PCI video card. Never having been to Japan (by the way, I am accepting roundtrip tickets to any destination... coach even ) I'd have no idea what component availability would be. Good luck with the new one. |
They're available alright, just for generally thirty percent more money than comparable AGP cards. This is a merciless market for outdated components, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't find them, quite the contrary. In case you do get someone to pay for your ticket I volunteer as your tour guide through the catacombes of Akihabara, Blade Runner atmosphere thrown in for good measure.  |
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Bodhisattva
Joined: 25 Jul 2002
Posts: 1663
Location: Berlin
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| Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2002 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Hate it when unsolved problems dangle their feet from an open thread like this... So here's the end of the story: I slaughtered yet another paleolithic desktop, broken beyond repair this one, and ripped out a Voodoo Banshee video card (a Melco WGP-FX8) that now merrily renders X and Fluxbox on my Pentium MMX 166 Mhz 64 MB antiquity. Surprisingly fast! Glad I didn't give up on it. |
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