Via Unichrome P4M800 CE-pro

[Daniel Pittman]

FX Fraipont <fxfrpt at gmail.com> writes:

> I bought a Clevo laptop which uses a via P4M800 CE-pro graphics chip
> and a synaptics touchpad, and I cannot make it work under
> Kubuntu. Actually, I have tried half a dozen linux distributions, and
> the only one with which it is almost usable is Fedora Core 6. I say
> almost because that's with the vesa driver, and the fonts are not very
> good-looking.
>
> I tried the via and the unichrome driver, which do not work at all: no
> X, often with the machine freezing completely.
>
> With vesa, kde loads, I can enter my password but when I move the
> cursor everything freezes and I have to reboot. 

[...]

> I then tried downloading and compiling the kernel display driver code
> from viaarena, which involves compiling the driver then mesa, but I
> get stuck at the step that says
>
>     cp -a [Via Driver Package Name]/src/3D/DRI_FC6  src/mesa/drivers/dri/via
>     cd src/mesa/drivers/dri/via
>     make
>
> compiling fails because there's no makefile
>
> the DRI_FC6 is also surprising, since there's a DRI_Ubuntu, but it is
> empty.

[...]

> Can anyone offer a suggestion that I haven't tried yet? 

Sure.  Here are some suggestions to start with:

Start by posting a bug report that includes details of the crash to
Launchpad so that the Ubuntu maintainers can investigate the problem.

Include all the relevant details, such as the errors output from the X
server, in the report.  Those will help them track down the issue.


Consider posting a copy of those details here along with the errors.  
It could be that once we see the cause of the issue we can help you.


Definitely report the fact that your system will lock hard when used
with the VESA driver, coupled to mouse movement.  That is significantly
wrong -- since the VESA driver simply switches to an appropriate video
mode, then does all the work in software.

Ideally you should try to capture the error report there as well.  Try
logging in from another machine over the network and watching the kernel
and X logs.

If that isn't sufficient get hold of a serial cross-over cable and use
that to monitor the same logs; being less complex the serial device may
succeed where the network fails.


The last thing you should do is take your problems with the driver from
"viaarena" to the appropriate forum.  Since that is supplied by VIA, as
I understand it, they are the best people to provide technical support
on their private driver.

Regards,
        Daniel
-- 
Digital Infrastructure Solutions -- making IT simple, stable and secure
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