AMD A4-Series APU A4-3400 compatibility

Sat Dec 10 04:18:08 UTC 2011

On Saturday, December 10, 2011 03:45:59 AM Mark Greenwood wrote:
> The ATI proprietary driver is called 'fglrx':
> [   128.967] (II) LoadModule: "fglrx"
> [   128.968] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module fglrx
> [   128.968] (II) UnloadModule: "fglrx"
> [   128.969] (II) Unloading fglrx
> [   128.969] (EE) Failed to load module "fglrx" (module does not exist, 0)
> Your Xorg.log shows that the 'fglrx' driver doesn't exist - it hasn't been
> installed correctly. X tries to load it and fails so falls back to trying
> various other drivers (I think it ends up trying the radeon driver or
> framebuffer mode, I'm no expert in these things), but none of these drivers
> can handle it. So we need to get it installed properly. Unless you know how
> to install it from the command line (which I don't) then this means using
> the Additional Drivers tool.. but that needs X, so we need to get you into
> X.
> 
> It's possible that 'nomodeset' may be confusing the various drivers. So we
> need to see if we can get you into X without using that option. If I take
> it as read that you can't just boot into X without using nomodeset, then
> this means bypassing the ****** plymouth splash screen. edit
> /etc/default/grub: Comment out (with a hash) the line that starts with
> 'GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT'. Uncomment the line GRUB_TIMEOUT and set a value,
> e.g. GRUB_TIMEOUT=10. Now run sudo update-grub, and reboot.
> When you do this you should see the grub menu at boot. This will allow you
> to select 'recovery mode'. Do this and then just select 'Continue normal
> boot'. This bypasses the plymouth splash screen. Try this with or without
> nomodeset - one way might get you into X from where you can install the ATI
> driver. Once done you'll again need to see whether you now need nomodeset
> to get the system to boot properly.
> 
> The other way to bypass the splash is just to prevent plymouth ever using a
> splash screen - I haven't tried this myself but in /etc/default/grub you'll
> see the options 'quiet splash' on GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT. You can
> remove these options, run sudo update-grub again and reboot and you'll get
> a good old-fashioned very messy looking linux boot up :)
> 
> I went through all this on a recent NVIDIA system install, so I'll try to
> help all I can.
> 
> Mark
> 
> On 9 Dec 2011, at 23:25, Jim Cunning wrote:
> > Top-posted, see bottom
> > 
> > On 12/09/2011 03:11 AM, Mark Greenwood wrote:
> >> It's plymouth. You'll probably find that if you boot into recovery
> >> mode and then just select 'continue normal boot', you'll boot up just
> >> fine. Otherwise 'nomodeset' is the way.
> >> 
> >> If there are proprietary video drivers for your card, install them. It
> >> fixed the problem for me.
> >> 
> >> Mark
> >> 
> >> On 9 Dec 2011, at 01:42, theuteck at gmail.com wrote:
> >>> My Atom system does something similar.  I have to pass 'nomodeset'
> >>> to grub and and add it to /etc/default/grub to see the video.  If I
> >>> boot into recovery mode I can still see the screen so I can make
> >>> the edit, so hopefully that is the same for you.
> >>> 
> >>> On Thursday, December 08, 2011 05:04:38 PM Jim Cunning wrote:
> >>>> Update:  I purchased the product and tried to install 11.04.  The
> >>>> install CD first displays "error: prefix is not set", then grub
> >>>> gives me the choice of "Start Kubuntu" or "Check disc for
> >>>> defects"
> >>>> 
> >>>> Regardless of which selection I choose, the screen goes blank, and
> >>>> eventually the monitor reports "No signal".  Despite this, I
> >>>> believe the system is booting because I can hear and see CD drive
> >>>> activity.  If I select "Check disc for defects" the drive remains
> >>>> active for quite some time, confirming my suspicions.  The
> >>>> problem is that the video never comes back after the initial grub
> >>>> screen.
> >>>> 
> >>>> The behavior is the same with 11.10, however 10.04 LTS does boot,
> >>>> successfully and install completely.  The problem with 10.04 LTS
> >>>> is that the video is only 1280x1024 on a 1920x1080 monitor, and
> >>>> eth0 is recognized and sends DHCP requests, but never receives
> >>>> the responses from the router.  I know the LAN interface works
> >>>> with Windows 7 in the remaining partition on the disk.
> >>>> 
> >>>> I also tried installing from a USB stick and got the same results
> >>>> as
> >>>> with install CDs.
> >>>> 
> >>>> Anyone know what kind of grub/kernel boot parameters I can used to
> >>>> get a video display to continue a 11.04 or 11.10 install?
> >>>> 
> >>>> Thanks,
> >>>> Jim Cunning
> >>>> 
> >>>> On 12/06/2011 09:22 AM, uteck wrote:
> >>>>> That is one of the new Bobcat or Llano chips., I Googled for
> >>>>> "ubuntu
> >>>>> bobcat apu"
> >>>>> The AMD forum has some good reviews of it working very well with
> >>>>> 11.04
> >>>>> http://www.amdzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=532&t=138280&star
> >>>>> t=100
> >>>>> <http://www.amdzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=532&t=138280&sta
> >>>>> rt=100>
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> On Tue, Dec 6, 2011 at 10:56 AM, Jim Cunning
> >>>>> <jcunning at cunning.ods.org>>>>> 
> >>>>> <mailto:jcunning at cunning.ods.org>> wrote:
> >>>>>   Hello all,
> >>>>>   
> >>>>>   I am looking at purchasing an Acer desktop computer with an
> >>>>>   AMD
> >>>>>   A4-Series APU A4-3400(2.7Hz) processor.  I assume the CPU
> >>>>>   itself
> >>>>>   is
> >>>>>   x86_64 compatible, but was wondering about the graphics
> >>>>>   compatibility. I didn't see anything from Google to give me
> >>>>>   a
> >>>>>   clue.  Anyone have experience with this processor? Any
> >>>>>   caveats?
> >>>>>   
> >>>>>   Thanks,
> >>>>>   Jim Cunning
> > 
> > There is no "recovery mode" available from grub on the install CD/USB
> > stick, no "nomodeset" was my only option, and it worked.  I installed
> > 11.10, but somehow Windows 7 screwed up the HDD grub, and I had to
> > re-install grub from the live CD.  OK, so far.
> > 
> > Now the system (11.10) will boot as long as I put in "nomodeset", but X
> > fails to start and I have only virtual consoles available.  I downloaded
> > the AMD ATI proprietary driver, which had successfully installed on
> > 10.04 LTS, but it aborts when started from a virtual console.
> > 
> > /var/log/Xorg.0.log has a lot of stuff (of course), but the error line
> > near the end
> > 
> >    (EE) RADEON(0): Chipset: "SUMO2" (ChipID = 0x9644) requires KMS
> > 
> > The entire Xorg.0.log file is available at
> > http://cunning.ods.org/Xorg.0.log
> > 
> > Jim

I have seen on some of my test boxes that when I bypass plymouth that way, X 
does not start automatically, but if I login and restart GDM/KDM, X starts.  