Nvidia Driver AGP FastWrite and Side Band Addressing

Message

John2583 · Post by **John2583** » Thu Jan 09, 2003 5:38 am

I just tried the suggested tip, but it didn't work. I have a Geforce4 Ti4200 64MB

cat /proc/driver/nvidia/cards/0 
Model:           GeForce4 Ti 4200
IRQ:             11
Video BIOS:      04.25.00.29.00
Card Type:       AGP

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cat version
NVRM version: NVIDIA Linux x86 NVdriver Kernel Module  1.0-3123  Tue Aug 27 15:56:48 PDT 2002
GCC version:  gcc version 3.2.1

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cat host-bridge 
Host Bridge:     nVidia (unknown)     
Fast Writes:     Supported
SBA:             Supported
AGP Rates:       4x 2x 1x 
Registers:       0x1f000217:0x00000000

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 cat card
Fast Writes:     Supported
SBA:             Supported
AGP Rates:       4x 2x 1x 
Registers:       0x1f000217:0x00000000

but unfortunately agp is still disabled

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 cat status 
Status:          Disabled

any ideas?

edit: also after i rebooted my /proc/driver/nvidia directory was gone! and there was a new directory in /proc/driver/ray_cs. so i ran startx and the nvidia directory and all the stuff inside it were recreated? what's up with that?

edit again: taskara just told me in a diff. thread that agp gart isn't supported yet for the nforce2 motherboard i have. oh well, i'll wait till nvidia releases them.

I know you enabled it in the bios, but what I'm saying is that linux has no support for the nforce AGP gart.

Sure agp will work - I mean you can see your screen can't you?

but it won't have a specific driver loaded for it.

not until nvidia releases an agp driver, cause they keep all their stuff closed source.

DarkJedi9 · Post by **DarkJedi9** » Fri Jan 10, 2003 1:20 am

John2583 wrote: edit: also after i rebooted my /proc/driver/nvidia directory was gone! and there was a new directory in /proc/driver/ray_cs. so i ran startx and the nvidia directory and all the stuff inside it were recreated? what's up with that?

So the ray_cs deal was before you ran startx at all after a reboot? Not sure here, but possibly the nvidia stuff doesn't come into play until X is up and running. After all, agp gart doesn't do much when you're only in a console.

floam · Post by **floam** » Sat Jan 18, 2003 11:41 am

its not gonna showup in the driver list unless its loaded, remeber that stuff in /proc really arent "files"

DuF · Post by **DuF** » Fri Jan 24, 2003 3:38 am

I'm looking for if somebody have try to enable fast writes on a MB Abit KT7a (with via kt133) with Geforce2Pro and if there is no problem of stability ?
I can enabled it, but before trying I will prefer to know if it's a good idea or not

If anybody answer me, I will try, but I prefer to know before

floam · Post by **floam** » Fri Jan 24, 2003 2:01 pm

my old kt133 worked fine, just try it. its not like you can permanatly hurt anything

DuF · Post by **DuF** » Sat Jan 25, 2003 2:32 am

Thanks for the information floam, I will try it at the next reboot, I have change my /etc/modules.d/nividia, so I'm ready to see if I will can play UT2k3

TheCoop · Post by **TheCoop** » Sat Jan 25, 2003 9:27 am

i would recommend removing xdm from the startup scripts when you try it, so you dont have to bot with the cd if it locks up your machine

ScubaStreb · Post by **ScubaStreb** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 6:58 am

On the latest driver release, this solution didn't work for fast write and SBA. I edited my /etc/modules.d/nvidia file to look like this and it worked.

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alias char-major-195 nvidia
options nvidia NVreg_EnableAGPSBA=1 NVreg_EnableAGPFW=1

In the Nvidia 4191 driver release, they changed the module from "NVdriver" to "nvidia".

Good luck!

TheCoop · Post by **TheCoop** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 8:27 am

with the new gentoo release the lines you need are only commented out in the relevant files

pYrania · Post by **pYrania** » Sat Mar 08, 2003 8:22 pm

seems like i am pretty fucked with the gf4go in my notebook

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# cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status 
Status:          Enabled
Driver:          AGPGART (inactive)
AGP Rate:        4x
Fast Writes:     Disabled
SBA:             Disabled

# cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/card   
Fast Writes:     Supported
SBA:             Not Supported
AGP Rates:       4x 2x 1x 
Registers:       0x1f000017:0x1f000104

# cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge 
Host Bridge:     SiS (unknown)        
Fast Writes:     Not Supported
SBA:             Supported
AGP Rates:       4x 2x 1x 
Registers:       0x1f000207:0x00000104

zephyr1256 · Post by **zephyr1256** » Sat Mar 15, 2003 4:06 am

I gave this tip a try. Had no problems starting up fluxbox. We'll see if this is stable in a little while(in the past I could run for a while then it would lock up). Before(with Mandrake 9) I wasn't able to run with fast writes or agp greater than 2x, but I did things differently back then. Just for reference I'm using VIA KT266 MB with GeForce Ti 4200 128 MB(8x capable but my MB only supports 4x).

edit: It wasn't stable. Took a while but it eventually crashed, so I reverted to my previous settings.

hooligan · Post by **hooligan** » Sun Mar 30, 2003 9:52 am

aw weak... I had to update my mobo's bios to support my new processor... and now /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge says that Fast Writes are not supported... but it worked prior to my update...

hmmm... agp fast write or 200MHz more processor?

I think I will have to stick with no agp fast write... but it still really really sucks

MatzeOne · Post by **MatzeOne** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 9:22 am

what are good benchmarks to see if the activation of fast write and sba increase the performance?

i only know glxgears

Bastux · Post by **Bastux** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 9:31 pm

Just if you activated the fast write and it makes your X crash even you retired the fast write just compil again the nvidia module

dmind · Post by **dmind** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 11:08 am

floam wrote:my old kt133 worked fine, just try it. its not like you can permanatly hurt anything

can only agree, i have a asus a7v kt133 motherboard and i just recently "upgraded" to an good old geforce2 mx 400 64mb card (bought it from a friend for nothing) and tried it out and works like a charm. though it doesnt support sba. so now i can play nwn and stuff!

nwn didnt like me old tnt1

neenee · Post by **neenee** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 9:34 am

when i enabled sba and fw, my system
locks up when i run tvtime for a minute
or so.

before i ran tvtime, i ran glxgears, which
produced the same fps as without sba
and fw.

both things considered, i'll leave them off.

grrrrr · Post by **grrrrr** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 10:41 pm

fw and sba won't make a difference in glxgears
it'll only show in stuff that uses large textures, like games and stuff

christsong84 · Post by **christsong84** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 2:07 am

k...followed the tip...here's the results

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-(swells@psalms)-(pts0)-(18:01/03-Mar-04)--
--<~>-- cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status 
Status:          Enabled
Driver:          AGPGART
AGP Rate:        8x
Fast Writes:     Enabled
SBA:             Disabled
--(swells@psalms)-(pts0)-(18:01/03-Mar-04)--
--<~>-- cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/card   
Fast Writes:     Supported
SBA:             Supported
AGP Rates:       8x 4x 
Registers:       0x1f000e1b:0x1f004112
--(swells@psalms)-(pts0)-(18:01/03-Mar-04)--
--<~>-- cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge 
Host Bridge:     Intel Corp. 82875P Memory Controller Hub
Fast Writes:     Supported
SBA:             Supported
AGP Rates:       8x 4x 
Registers:       0x1f004a1b:0x00000912

since it's supported by both card and mobo...how come even after enabling it, sba doesn't show up? help?

Glorandar · Post by **Glorandar** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 8:46 am

since it's supported by both card and mobo...how come even after enabling it, sba doesn't show up? help?

I have (apparently) had the same issue until I used both the latest kernel with the latest nvidia drivers. Also my glxgears performance was suffering.

However, I overcame those issues this evening, on the following system, with the included configuration details:

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mobo: ABIT NF7-S rev 2 [the standard nforce2 ultra 400 chipset)
video card: GeForce FX 5600
sys-kernel/gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.3-r1 [AGPGART enabled]
media-video/nvidia-kernel-1.0.5336-r1
media-video/nvidia-glx-1.0.5336-r1

To emerge these (latest) keyword masked versions of the nvidia driver, add these two lines to /etc/portage/package.keywords:

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media-video/nvidia-glx
media-video/nvidia-kernel

Here is my /etc/X11/XF86Config's Device section:

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Section "Device"
        Identifier  "NVAGP"
        Driver      "nvidia"
        VendorName  "nvidia"
        Option      "NvAGP" "3"
        Option      "CursorShadow" "yes"
        Option      "NoLogo" "yes"
        Option      "RenderAccel" "yes"
EndSection

Here are my AGP results:

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wblew@mortis wblew $ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status
Status:          Enabled
Driver:          AGPGART
AGP Rate:        8x
Fast Writes:     Enabled
SBA:             Enabled
wblew@mortis wblew $ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/card
Fast Writes:     Supported
SBA:             Supported
AGP Rates:       8x 4x
Registers:       0x1f000e1b:0x1f004312
wblew@mortis wblew $ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge
Host Bridge:     nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (different version?)
Fast Writes:     Supported
SBA:             Supported
AGP Rates:       8x 4x
Registers:       0x1f00421b:0x00000312

Here are my glxgears results:

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wblew@mortis wblew $ glxgears
7164 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1432.800 FPS
9204 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1840.800 FPS
9172 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1834.400 FPS
9177 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1835.400 FPS

I hope this helps.

Redeeman · Post by **Redeeman** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 3:41 pm

floam wrote:be warned: enabling fastwrites can cause lots of system instability with some via chipsets.

works perfect on asus k8v deluxe with via k8t800

Stolz · Post by **Stolz** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 11:30 pm

Same problem as rbonthond and christsong84

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$ cat /etc/X11/XF86Config | grep NvAGP
    Option "NvAGP" "1"

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$ cat  /etc/modules.d/nvidia
alias char-major-195 nvidia
alias /dev/nvidiactl char-major-195
options nvidia NVreg_EnableAGPSBA=1 NVreg_EnableAGPFW=1

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$ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/card
Fast Writes:     Supported
SBA:             Supported
AGP Rates:       8x 4x

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$ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge
Host Bridge:     nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (different version?)
Fast Writes:     Supported
SBA:             Supported
AGP Rates:       8x 4x

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$ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status
Status:          Enabled
Driver:          NVIDIA
AGP Rate:        8x
Fast Writes:     Enabled
SBA:             Disabled

My System:

mobo: Epox 8RDA+ rev 1.1
video card: GeForce 4 Ti 4200
sys-kernel/gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.3-r1 [AGPGART disabled, using NVIDIA driver]
media-video/nvidia-kernel-1.0.5336-r1
media-video/nvidia-glx-1.0.5336-r1

How can I get SBA enabled?

Thanks in advice.

John5788 · Post by **John5788** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 4:32 am

yeah same here, i want to know how to get SBA enabled. i have fastwrite on and its not doing much of a difference.

buser · Post by **buser** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 10:51 pm

Crashes instantly with SBA and Fastwrites enabled. Crashes after about 8 days uptime randomly with Fastwrites enabled and SBA disabled. Rock solid stable with both off.

Specs:

Asus A7v Kt133
Crucial pc 133 Ram
MSI Geforce 4 ti-4200 64mb
Kernel 2.6.3-gentoo-r1

John5788 · Post by **John5788** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 11:02 pm

my system locked up with only fastwrite on while playing an opengl game.

dmitrio · Post by **dmitrio** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 7:39 pm

I have copied this HOWTO, with permission of elboricua to gentoo-wiki.com
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Nvidia_ ... Addressing
If you see anything that should be added or changed, feel free to do so.

Thank you for a great HOWTO

Nvidia Driver AGP FastWrite and Side Band Addressing

Update to enable w/new Nvidia Drivers.

I have had the same issue but its now working!

:. copied to gentoo-wiki.com