Dim Screen

[Jim Bevier]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "François Cami" <fcami at fedoraproject.org>
To: "For testers of Fedora Core development releases" 
<fedora-test-list at redhat.com>
Cc: <jim at jbsys.com>
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2009 3:27 PM
Subject: Re: Dim Screen


>
> Hi Jim,
>
> On Mon, 3 Aug 2009 14:16:19 -0700
> "Jim Bevier" <jim at jbsys.com> wrote:
>
>> Over the last week or more my rawhide AMD x86_64 system w/nvidia GeForce
>> 8600 card has not been working correctly.  If I use nv driver, X will not
>> start and just hangs showing the last startup text.  CTL-ALT-F2 will get 
>> a
>> login screen.  If I use vesa driver, it also hangs, but shows weird lines 
>> on
>> top and old startup text on bottom of screen.  CTL-ALT-F2 gives a black
>> screen with no login prompt.  I must do reset to restart machine.  If I 
>> use
>> the nouveau driver, X will start, but the screen is very dark.  I am able 
>> to
>> login to kde or gnome.  I am at the 118 kernel.  I think the last one 
>> that
>> worked was in the 60's.  Anybody have something to try?  Any idea what is
>> broke?
>
> Could you try the following kernel builds from koji and report:
> http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=114132
> http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=115527
> http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=122803
>
> Please install with:
> # rpm -i --oldpackage kernel-$version.rpm
>
> Best wishes,
>
> --
> fcami
>
>
I am sorry this took me so long, I just needed to make some time to do it. 
I downloaded the suggested kernels (67, 86, and 101) and tried to boot each 
one using the nouveau driver in xorg.conf.  I did not try the nv or vesa 
drivers.  Let me know if you want these tested also.  The kernel line in 
grub.conf had rhgb and quiet parameters on all tests.  I had a few other 
kernels still installed, so I added them to the test.  Tests were with 
20090728 nouveau driver. Here are the results:

Kernel      X-start?    KDE Login   F2 Console
* 67           No              -                  Yes (large test)
* 86           No              -                  Yes (small text)
   94           No              -                  Yes (small text)
*101          Yes            Dim              Yes (small text)
  103          Yes            Dim              Yes (small text)
  118          Yes            Dim              Yes (small text)
  122          Yes            Dim              Yes (small text)

It seems the last working kernel for me was before 67.  Maybe 64?

I did some more testing and noticed I was running with  "DefaultDepth 16" 
set in the xorg.conf file.  I changed this to "DefaultDepth 24" and I not 
get the normal bright login screen.  It seems someone, somewhere has assumed 
a 24 bit color depth when they should be testing for 16 (maybe even 8 or 
15).  I retested and 67, 86, and 94 still do allow X to start.  Kernels 101, 
103, 118, and 122 are now at full brightness.  So something was changed 
before kerenel 101 that ignores the DefaultDepth parameter.

Hope this helps.

Jim