AMD A4-Series APU A4-3400 compatibility

[O. Sinclair]

On 10/12/11 05:45, 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
>>> <mailto: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&start=100
>>>>>> <http://www.amdzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=532&t=138280&start=100>
>>>>>> <http://www.amdzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=532&t=138280&start=100
>>>>>> <http://www.amdzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=532&t=138280&start=100>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Tue, Dec 6, 2011 at 10:56 AM, Jim Cunning
>>>>>> <jcunning at cunning.ods.org <mailto: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
Just as a note in this discussion: on 11.10 64bit I am still to succeed 
in installing ATI proprietary drivers. Whether I use the version in the 
repos or download from ATI the installation somehow goes wrong. For now 
I have given up and use the foss drivers. This worked fine in 11.04 but 
there I used the 32bit PAE kernel.