X freezes on Dell Latitude D600

Michael H. Warfield mhw at wittsend.com
Fri Dec 10 19:36:26 UTC 2004


On Sat, Dec 04, 2004 at 08:21:32PM -0500, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 03, 2004 at 02:39:31PM -0700, Sean Dogar wrote:
> > Hi all:

> > I've just installed FC3 on a Dell Latitude D600 laptop; I seem to be
> > having some problems with X.  This machine has 1 gigabyte of RAM, 80 gig
> > disk, and the ATI Radeon Mobility M9 graphics processor.  

> > I run the laptop primarily in the dock, so as to be able to use a second
> > monitor (dual-head).  There are no major issues for me here; X sets up
> > correctly, and I can use system-config-display to enable and configure
> > the second monitor.  

> > Here's the problem:  If I use any hot-key combination in X to either
> > kill X (with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace) or to switch to a virtual console (with
> > Ctrl-Alt-F1), X freezes.  I can ssh to the box, and I try to kill X, but
> > it's no use, it won't be killed...I can reboot at that point and it will
> > go away.  Examining the X logs afterwards shows nothing but the startup
> > of X, which is successful.  I have also used up2date to update the X
> > binaries, with no success.  

> 	There have been threads on this as well as discussion
> in one of the Fedora forums and there's a bugzilla report on it.

> 	Search the archive for this list for the thread on:

> 	"xorg.conf nx7000 dual head problem"

> 	For the forum discussion go here:

> 	<http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=27513&page=2>

> 	For the buzilla report, go here:

> 	<https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=140435>

	You can also try this bug ID (which seems to be either the same
bug or a related bug:

	<https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=138503>

> 	Basically, from what I can determine, it's an xorg X server
> problem when running in any dual head mode (clone, Xinerama, or
> side-by-side multihead).  If the X server in that mode (and this
> includes rhgb at bootup) on the screen and the virtual consoles are
> switched (either to a text vc or another X server such as the gdm
> screen from rhgb) then you're toast.  The X server hangs burning
> CPU time like crazy.

	Further experimentation seems to indicate that it may
be related to hardward acceleration.

	I added the following line to my xorg.conf file:

        Option      "NoAccel"   "on"

	I added that to the Device section for the Radeon driver.  Now
all the VC switching works and I can switch between multiple instantiations
of X in different modes and dual head configs.  Unfortunately, some of
the graphics (like Mozilla scrolling) is significantly slower.

	:

> > Previously, I used this laptop with FC2 with few issues (aside from
> > never being able to get display acceleration working), and I did a fresh
> > install of FC3 hoping that this would solve my problems, but no dice.
> > For me, this issue is a showstopper as I regularly switch to the
> > standard virtual consoles while using X.  
> 
> 	If you switch to standard vc's while using X then you can not
> use a multi-head mode until they FIX this damn thing.  They are currently
> mutually exclusive.

	Try diabling hardware acceleration and see if that helps.  I
suspect it will "fix" the problem, if you can live with the cost in
graphics performance.

	:

> > -Sean

	Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield    |  (770) 985-6132   |  mhw at WittsEnd.com
  /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/       |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9      |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471    |  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!
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