Finishing the Install: Configuration
Note: try auto config first (what in the heck is auto config??), and follow the question guide, reboot; if no effect observed, restore xorg.conf-bkp
Terminal Command
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf-bkp
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
If you've used fglrx previously, you will not need to do this.
Now you'll have to edit your xorg.conf
For Ubuntu:
Terminal Command
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
For Kubuntu:
Terminal Command
sudo kate /etc/X11/xorg.conf
and add the following line to the Device section (if it does not already exist). Include the following lines without [...]:
Section "Device"
[...]
Driver "fglrx"
[...]
EndSection
Save and exit, then run
Terminal Command
sudo aticonfig --initial -f
in a terminal. If it doesn't give an error you should be good.
Some people find that changes to xorg.conf don't get used by the driver. To force the ati driver to adopt changes made to xorg.conf, type the following command:
Terminal Command
sudo aticonfig --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf --tls=1
Finally, reboot the computer and type
Terminal Command
fglrxinfo
into the terminal. If the vendor string contains ATI, you have installed the driver successfully. Release 9.4 looks like:
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series (This line may be different depending on what graphics card you are using.)
OpenGL version string: 2.1.8591
Please note: Depending on the particular ATI card that you own, you may or may not automatically have all of the relevant driver features enabled. R500 and R600 cards (X1xxx, HD series, and newer) in particular will need TexturedVideo enabled in Xorg.conf (rather than the traditional VideoOverlay) in order to support Xv accelerated video playback.
HOW TO UPDATE DRIVER: To update your driver to a new version (say 9.3 to 9.4) first disable the current driver through Ubuntu's Hardware Manager or use EnvyNG to remove the driver, then go to synaptic and search for "xorg-driver-fglrx" without the quotes and mark it for "Complete removal" and hit "Apply" then reboot your computer. Now simply repeat steps #1, 2, 4 and finally run these commends in a terminal:
Terminal Command
sudo aticonfig --initial -f
and
Terminal Command
sudo aticonfig --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf --tls=1
then reboot.
It is very important that you COMPLETELY remove the old driver which includes the config files because when upgrading without uninstalling the old driver I noticed even though the new driver installed and worked there were some annoying problems that I experienced but after I completely uninstalled the driver then reinstalled it, it worked perfectly.
[edit] Finally
1. Add tweaks as needed:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=849422
2. Restart X, if it doesn't work, you can use the "vesa", "ati", "radeon" or "radeonhd" driver in the mean time, until you make it work.
3. If you downgraded X to make fglrx work: enter synaptic, make sure all packages with "xorg" and "x11" are locked so that you can update and upgrade without worries.
Done! Now run amdcccle, glxgears, warsow etc
[edit] Issues
[edit] Mesa drivers
If fglrxinfo reports that Indirect rendering by Mesa is in place, even though you have installed ATI driver, you might want to remove Mesa:
* Remove the package xserver-xgl.
sudo apt-get remove xserver-xgl
Explanation: If you installed this previously in order to make compiz work, it will not allow direct rendering on your display. You can check out if this is what it causing the problem by running
DISPLAY=:0 glxinfo | grep render
If it returns an ATI renderer, it means that xgl is being displayed indirectly on the display 1. (Taken from [1])
Warning: This might make your compiz stop working as it is configured to use XGL. A solution might be to run the Envy script in order to configure compiz. Or, if Compiz stopped working due to "Composite" problem, check that the following is set in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection
* Check for AGP and DRI errors in /var/log/Xorg.0.log like these are:
(EE) fglrx(0): [agp] unable to acquire AGP, error -1023
(EE) fglrx(0): cannot init AGP
(EE) fglrx(0): atiddxDriScreenInit failed, GPS not been initialized.
(WW) fglrx(0): * DRI initialization failed! *
If you have Intel 8285P and E7205 chipsets and AGP not detected then you have to remove the i82875p_edac module and restart a some others:
rmmod i82875p_edac
rmmod fglrx
rmmod intel-agp
rmmod agpgart
modprobe agpgart
modprobe intel-agp
modprobe fglrx
Blacklist the modules e7xxx_edac so it doesn't start up again when booting - add the following line at the beginning of /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist:
blacklist i82875p_edac
This has been known to fix issues with -Mesa -AGP -DRI -Google earth and -suspend to RAM (s2ram).
Explanation:
http://openwetware.org/wiki/Computing/Linux/Ubuntu
* Check you are running the correct kernel.
Explanation: If you're upgrading from Gutsy to Hardy in some instances the Grub bootloader does not get updated and the new kernel is not loaded.
Run in a terminal:
uname -r
If the output starts with 2.6.22 or below you are not using the current kernel and the Ati drivers will not load properly.
If this doesn't help, try Ubuntu Gutsy Installation Guide#Verifying, or other links: [2], [3], [4].
[edit] Hang at logout
If you experience hangs when logging out (of X) it is probably due to the /etc/ati/authatieventsd.sh script looking for X authorisation files in the wrong place when it starts up. You can kill the hanging authatieventsd.sh processes from a console tty to allow the shutdown of the X server. This can be fixed permanently with:
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/xdm/authdir
sudo ln -s /var/run/xauth /var/lib/xdm/authdir/authfiles
If that doesn't work then you can disable atieventsd with this command:
sudo /usr/sbin/update-rc.d -f atieventsd remove
Before the above commands verify that /etc/ati/authatieventsd.sh exists after build and install, if not just do : (assuming that the installer is in your home directory)
sh ati-driver-installer-8-12-x86.x86_64.run --extract driver
sudo cp ~/driver/packages/Ubuntu/dists/jaunty/replacements/authatieventsd.sh /etc/ati/authatieventsd.sh
(jaunty is to be replaced by the name used at the building stage (intrepid,hardy,8.10,8.04,etc...)
sudo chmod +x /etc/ati/authatieventsd.sh
just reboot login and ctrl+alt+backspace to try
[edit] Suspend/Hibernation
Suspend hibernation works with the latest driver.
For ATI X1400, to get the laptop to wake up from suspend, I had to change the following in /etc/default/acpi-support:
SAVE_VBE_STATE=false
POST_VIDEO=false
ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE=false
Comment: This is a little surprising, since the comments at the beginning of /etc/default/acpi-support seem to make it quite clear that those settings are ignored unless you add "acpi-support" to SUSPEND_METHODS. --Bewst 23:22, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
For Radeon 3200, to wake up from suspend, I had to add the following lines to /etc/X11/xorg.conf: (This settings is not good option, if you are using compiz-fusion or any other transparency-based thingie. Not working for HD 3850)
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Disable"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AIGLX" "off"
EndSection
[edit] Can't remove fglrx with dpkg
If dpkg really-really refuses to remove an older fglrx-package, it might be needed to edit /var/lib/dpkg/diversions and remove a few lines. This is a hack and should be avoided.
[edit] This module/version combo is already installed
If you get this error-message, simply uninstall the previous version before installing the new one with:
Terminal Command
sudo dkms remove -m fglrx -v 8.522 --all
[edit] New kernel installed?
I found out that when getting a new kernel the fglrx kernel-module is not installed for your new kernel. You can do that by these simple steps:
Terminal Command
sudo dkms build -m fglrx -v 8.552 -k `uname -r`
sudo dkms install -m fglrx -v 8.552 -k `uname -r`
if amdcccle doesn't work and says Identifier is not a valid word. Use lower case letter in xorg.conf
