Black screen using the Geode driver

This topic has 17 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated Feb 5-4:49 am by caprea.

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January 21, 2022 at 4:36 pm #75720

Member

Abigail

Hi everyone!

I’m running into some issues trying to run X using the Geode graphics driver. The screen goes completely black if I set the driver to Geode (as generated by running X -configure after installing the package xserver-xorg-video-geode). If I uninistall the driver I can normally run lightdm and xfce (I guess it’s defaulting to vesa driver?), but it’s kind of slow (not that the processor is any powerful, but in Windows XP seems to work a bit more decently).

I’ve googled the issue and very little comes up with this particular driver. As I understand it’s pretty old and no longer maintained, but since X -configure was able to detect it and produce a configuration based on it I guessed it should be able to at least run it, right?

I’m kinda new to Linux in general, still learning stuff. 🙂

Thank you!

My processor is AMD Geode LX800.

January 21, 2022 at 10:22 pm #75749

Forum Admin

rokytnji

Helpful

Howdy and Welcome. To get the attention you wish to deserve. Post the ouput using code tags below

inxi -Zv7

Sounds almost like my Savage graphics chip on my IBM t23. Newer xorg and savage driver don’t play well together. Had no choice then but to run vesa.
It is on the shelf for now.

Sometimes I drive a crooked road to get my mind straight.
Not all who Wander are Lost.
I'm not outa place. I'm from outer space.

Linux Registered User # 475019
How to Search for AntiX solutions to your problems

January 22, 2022 at 8:24 pm #75835

Member

Abigail

Helpful

System:
  Host: AbiPC Kernel: 4.9.0-279-antix.1-486-smp i586 bits: 32 compiler: gcc 
  v: 10.2.1 Console: tty 1 DM: LightDM 1.26.0 
  Distro: antiX-21_386-core Grup Yorum 31 October 2021 
  base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Packard Bell NEC product: 00000000000000000000000 
  v: N/A serial: N/A Chassis: Packard Bell BV type: 13 
  v: ñÑÑÑÑ serial: 50424E 
  Mobo: Packard Bell BV model: SA Series v: Rev 1.00 serial: 0123456789 
  BIOS: Insyde v: S18_V0.5_EC0.8 date: Built: 06/21/2007 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 0.0 Wh condition: N/A volts: 19.0 min: 19.0 
  model: NBP3A61 type: Li-ion serial: 0000 status: Unknown 
Memory:
  RAM: total: 992.2 MiB used: 80.5 MiB (8.1%) 
  Array-1: capacity: 1024 MiB slots: 1 EC: None max-module-size: 1024 MiB 
  note: est. 
  Device-1: Slot0 size: 1024 MiB speed: N/A type: DDR detail: edo 
  bus-width: 64 bits total: 64 bits manufacturer: N/A part-no: Not Specified 
  serial: Not Specified 
CPU:
  Info: Single Core model: Geode Integrated by AMD PCS bits: 32 type: UP 
  arch: Geode rev: 2 cache: L2: 128 KiB bogomips: 996 
  Speed: 498 MHz min/max: N/A volts: 1.2 V ext-clock: 33 MHz 
  Core speed (MHz): 1: 498 
  Flags: 3dnow 3dnowext 3dnowprefetch clflush cmov cx8 de fpu mmx mmxext msr 
  pge pse sep tsc vmmcall 
Graphics:
  Message: No device data found. 
  Display: server: X.org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: geode 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa tty: 80x25 
  Message: Unable to show advanced data. Required tool glxinfo missing. 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD CS5536 [Geode companion] Audio vendor: Inventec 
  driver: snd_cs5535audio v: kernel bus-ID: 00:0f.3 chip-ID: 1022:2093 
  class-ID: 0401 
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k4.9.0-279-antix.1-486-smp running: yes 
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: no 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL-8100/8101L/8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter 
  vendor: Inventec driver: 8139too v: 0.9.28 port: cd00 bus-ID: 00:0d.0 
  chip-ID: 10ec:8139 class-ID: 0200 
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: 00:a0:d1:c2:c1:54 
  Device-2: Qcom Usb2Wlan type: USB driver: N/A bus-ID: 1-4.2:5 
  chip-ID: 18e8:6206 class-ID: 0000 serial: 101d350112 
  WAN IP: No WAN IP found. Connected to web? SSL issues? Try enabling dig 
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Cambridge Silicon Radio Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) type: USB 
  driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 2-3:2 chip-ID: 0a12:0001 class-ID: e001 
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down bt-service: not found 
  rfk-block: hardware: no software: no address: see --recommends 
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found. 
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found. 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 74.53 GiB used: 2.72 GiB (3.6%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Hitachi model: HTS541680J9AT00 size: 74.53 GiB 
  speed: <unknown> type: N/A serial: SB0242SGFDRMVH rev: A70H scheme: MBR 
  Message: No optical or floppy data found. 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 71.8 GiB used: 2.72 GiB (3.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
  label: N/A uuid: 128e9a3a-1bdb-4d91-8b1c-bb54917a06c2 
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found. 
Unmounted:
  ID-1: /dev/sda2 size: 1.03 GiB fs: N/A label: N/A uuid: N/A 
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900 
  Hub-2: 1-4:3 info: Standard Microsystems USB 2.0 Hub ports: 2 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 480 Mb/s power: 2mA chip-ID: 0424:2503 class-ID: 0900 
  Device-1: 1-4.1:4 info: Dialogue PenMount USB type: Mouse 
  driver: hid-penmount,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 1.0 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  power: 500mA chip-ID: 14e1:6000 class-ID: 0301 
  Device-2: 1-4.2:5 info: Qcom Usb2Wlan type: WiFi driver: N/A interfaces: 1 
  rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA chip-ID: 18e8:6206 class-ID: 0000 
  serial: 101d350112 
  Hub-3: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 1.1 
  speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0001 class-ID: 0900 
  Device-1: 2-3:2 info: Cambridge Silicon Radio Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) 
  type: Bluetooth driver: btusb interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  chip-ID: 0a12:0001 class-ID: e001 
Sensors:
  Missing: Required tool sensors not installed. Check --recommends 
Info:
  Processes: 109 Uptime: 5m wakeups: 2 Init: SysVinit v: 2.96 runlevel: 5 
  default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 alt: 10 Packages: apt: 948 
  Shell: Bash (login) v: 5.1.4 running-in: tty 1 inxi: 3.3.06

It was kind of hard to even run a Javascript supporting browser in here to just post this repply but Palemoon-nonSSE2 seems to work amazinlgly decent! 🙂

January 22, 2022 at 9:59 pm #75845

Forum Admin

rokytnji

Helpful

Did you happen by chance install pulse audio? I am just asking because of this


 Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: no 
Network:

I ask because on my low spec gear cpu with no sse2 support > I see no sense in doing that. Only modern browsers that won’t run anyways on our old gear require pulseaudio for sound.

Ok. Now back on Point. Looking at your readout. I don’t see where you are are running xfce. But on those specs. JWM, Fluxbox, Icewm without rox desktop running.
That is how I woud roll on those specs.

So. Using my google fu since I wrestled savage graphics chip.
My search term ” geode chip xorg 1.20.11 ” took me over here:

https://www.x.org/wiki/GeodeDriver/

Even gave me a forum page

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/how-to-use-antix-on-computers-with-a-motherboard-with-sis-or-via-chipset/page/7/

probably because of marcels post
https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/how-to-use-antix-on-computers-with-a-motherboard-with-sis-or-via-chipset/page/7/#post-62466

Lot of xorg info in that thread also.

Kinda hard to dig up info on older gear . As Usual I guess. Good Luck.

Sometimes I drive a crooked road to get my mind straight.
Not all who Wander are Lost.
I'm not outa place. I'm from outer space.

Linux Registered User # 475019
How to Search for AntiX solutions to your problems

January 22, 2022 at 10:31 pm #75849

Forum Admin

Dave

Helpful

Is the inxi output when you have the driver package installed or when it is uninstalled?
The output shows that the geode driver is currently in use when that inxi command was run.

Computers are like air conditioners. They work fine until you start opening Windows. ~Author Unknown

January 23, 2022 at 4:45 am #75868

Forum Admin

rokytnji

Helpful

Dave wrote:

Is the inxi output when you have the driver package installed or when it is uninstalled?
The output shows that the geode driver is currently in use when that inxi command was run.

I noticed that also but did not wish to call em mistaken for the thread title. But I get thrown for a loop with the tty 1 next to lightdm in the top of readout over here.

Console: tty 1 DM: LightDM 1.26.0

Like I mentioned earlier. No xfce shown.

This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by rokytnji.
This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by rokytnji.
This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by rokytnji.

Sometimes I drive a crooked road to get my mind straight.
Not all who Wander are Lost.
I'm not outa place. I'm from outer space.

Linux Registered User # 475019
How to Search for AntiX solutions to your problems

January 23, 2022 at 7:45 pm #75927

Member

Abigail

Helpful

Hey, sorry, I didn’t know if you needed the output before or after having the Geode driver installed.

That was the output with it installed, and I can’t start Xfce with it (black screen). I have uninstalled it and now I’m running Xfce. Here’s the output now:


System:    Host: AbiPC Kernel: 4.9.0-279-antix.1-486-smp i586 bits: 32 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.24 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.16.1 vt: 7 
           dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: antiX-21_386-core Grup Yorum 31 October 2021 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) 
Machine:   Type: Desktop System: Packard Bell NEC product: 00000000000000000000000 v: N/A 
           serial: <superuser required> Chassis: Packard Bell BV type: 13 
           v: ������ serial: <superuser required> 
           Mobo: Packard Bell BV model: SA Series v: Rev 1.00 serial: <superuser required> 
           BIOS: Insyde v: S18_V0.5_EC0.8 date: Built: 06/21/2007 
Memory:    RAM: total: 992 MiB used: 152.9 MiB (15.4%) 
           RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required. 
CPU:       Info: Single Core model: Geode Integrated by AMD PCS bits: 32 type: UP arch: Geode 
           rev: 2 cache: L2: 128 KiB bogomips: 996 
           Speed: 498 MHz min/max: N/A Core speed (MHz): 1: 498 
           Flags: 3dnow 3dnowext 3dnowprefetch clflush cmov cx8 de fpu mmx mmxext msr pge pse sep 
           tsc vmmcall 
Graphics:  Message: No device data found. 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.16.1 driver: loaded: vesa 
           unloaded: fbdev,modesetting alternate: geode resolution: 1024x768 s-dpi: 96 
           Message: Unable to show advanced data. Required tool glxinfo missing. 
Audio:     Device-1: AMD CS5536 [Geode companion] Audio vendor: Inventec driver: snd_cs5535audio 
           v: kernel bus-ID: 00:0f.3 chip-ID: 1022:2093 class-ID: 0401 
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k4.9.0-279-antix.1-486-smp running: yes 
           Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL-8100/8101L/8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter vendor: Inventec 
           driver: 8139too v: 0.9.28 port: cd00 bus-ID: 00:0d.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8139 class-ID: 0200 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: 00:a0:d1:c2:c1:54 
           Device-2: Qcom Usb2Wlan type: USB driver: N/A bus-ID: 1-4.2:5 chip-ID: 18e8:6206 
           class-ID: 0000 serial: 101d350112 
           WAN IP: No WAN IP found. Connected to web? SSL issues? Try enabling dig 
Bluetooth: Device-1: Cambridge Silicon Radio Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) type: USB driver: btusb 
           v: 0.8 bus-ID: 2-3:2 chip-ID: 0a12:0001 class-ID: e001 
           Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down bt-service: not found rfk-block: 
           hardware: no software: no address: see --recommends 
Logical:   Message: No logical block device data found. 
RAID:      Message: No RAID data found. 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 74.53 GiB used: 3.87 GiB (5.2%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Hitachi model: HTS541680J9AT00 size: 74.53 GiB speed: <unknown> 
           type: N/A serial: SB0242SGFDRMVH rev: A70H scheme: MBR 
           Message: No optical or floppy data found. 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 71.8 GiB used: 3.87 GiB (5.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 label: N/A 
           uuid: 128e9a3a-1bdb-4d91-8b1c-bb54917a06c2 
Swap:      Alert: No swap data was found. 
Unmounted: ID-1: /dev/sda2 size: 1.03 GiB fs: <superuser required> label: N/A uuid: N/A 
USB:       Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s 
           chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900 
           Hub-2: 1-4:3 info: Standard Microsystems USB 2.0 Hub ports: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s 
           power: 2mA chip-ID: 0424:2503 class-ID: 0900 
           Device-1: 1-4.1:4 info: Dialogue PenMount USB type: Mouse driver: hid-penmount,usbhid 
           interfaces: 1 rev: 1.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 500mA chip-ID: 14e1:6000 class-ID: 0301 
           Device-2: 1-4.2:5 info: Qcom Usb2Wlan type: WiFi driver: N/A interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 
           speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA chip-ID: 18e8:6206 class-ID: 0000 serial: 101d350112 
           Hub-3: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
           chip-ID: 1d6b:0001 class-ID: 0900 
           Device-1: 2-3:2 info: Cambridge Silicon Radio Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) 
           type: Bluetooth driver: btusb interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 0a12:0001 
           class-ID: e001 
Sensors:   Missing: Required tool sensors not installed. Check --recommends 
Info:      Processes: 122 Uptime: 3m wakeups: 2 Init: SysVinit v: 2.96 runlevel: 5 default: 5 
           Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 alt: 10 Packages: apt: 1050 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.4 
           running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.06

January 24, 2022 at 1:06 am #75938

Member

stevesr0

Helpful

Hi – all reading the posts on this thread,

Why does inxi show “no device data” for graphics? Does X need to be able to identify a device in order to work? (presumably not the case with vesa, since that is producing a display.)

stevesr0

January 24, 2022 at 1:08 am #75939

Forum Admin

Dave

Helpful

OK, yes it uses the vesa driver when you are able to get to the desktop.
When you say completely black, does it also have a white cursor blinking in the top left?
What does X -configure make for a configuration file? Maybe post it here.
Also if could post the output of /var/log/Xorg.0.log when you have the driver installed and have tried to start an X session. So we can perhaps see why it is crashing or stalling.
Inxi does not give very much information as to the actual hardware. Could you run as root in terminal and post the output of
lspci |grep -v "vga"

Computers are like air conditioners. They work fine until you start opening Windows. ~Author Unknown

January 24, 2022 at 1:09 am #75940

Forum Admin

Dave

Helpful

stevesr0 wrote:

Hi – all reading the posts on this thread,

Why does inxi show “no device data” for graphics? Does X need to be able to identify a device in order to work? (presumably not the case with vesa, since that is producing a display.)

stevesr0

Not certain, but my guess would be that inxi is not familiar with the hardware.

Computers are like air conditioners. They work fine until you start opening Windows. ~Author Unknown

January 27, 2022 at 5:44 pm #76238

Member

Abigail

Helpful

Trying multiple times to post the outputs but the forum flags it as spam -.-

January 27, 2022 at 6:02 pm #76240

Member

Abigail

Helpful

Uploading everything into a txt file hoping the spam filter won’t complain…

Attachments:

postantix.txt

January 28, 2022 at 3:08 pm #76270

Moderator

Brian Masinick

Helpful

We saw your post get marked as spam yesterday; will run the filter and hopefully it’ll come through; you were also “whitelisted”. which should help.

--
Brian Masinick

February 1, 2022 at 11:40 pm #76594

Member

Abigail

Helpful

Thanks!

Let’s try one more time 🙂

lspci output:

00:01.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] Host Bridge (rev 31)
00:01.1 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Geode LX Video
00:01.2 Entertainment encryption device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Geode LX AES Security Block
00:0c.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
00:0c.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Flash Media Controller
00:0c.3 SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller
00:0d.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8100/8101L/8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter (rev 10)
00:0f.0 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] ISA (rev 03)
00:0f.2 IDE interface: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] IDE (rev 01)
00:0f.3 Multimedia audio controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] Audio (rev 01)
00:0f.4 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] OHC (rev 02)
00:0f.5 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] EHC (rev 02)

xorg.conf produced by X -configure (geode driver installed):

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "X.org Configured"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
	ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
	FontPath     "built-ins"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load  "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Keyboard0"
	Driver      "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Mouse0"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option	    "Protocol" "auto"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
	Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Monitor0"
	VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
	ModelName    "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz",
        ### <percent>: "<f>%"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
	Identifier  "Card0"
	Driver      "geode"
	BusID       "PCI:0:1:1"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen0"
	Device     "Card0"
	Monitor    "Monitor0"
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     1
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     4
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     8
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     15
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     16
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

February 2, 2022 at 12:30 am #76596

Forum Admin

rokytnji

Helpful

Wondering now if running a older xorg version might help.

To get rid of black screen when running Geode driver.

Try opening synaptic. Look for xorg. See what versions are available 1st. There is a force option inside synaptic to load one older than 1.7.
I would peruse old inxi readouts in google using geode inxi as a search term .
Hopefully someone posted a complete inxi readout showing a working geode video driver and what version of xorg was installed.

Then after everything is working. I’d pin it down with synaptic (lock for updating ) and in /etc/apt/preferences.d
So xorg never updates on me.

Sometimes one needs to jump through multiple hoops to run old gear the way they want to. I was pleased as punch when my savage chip driver was replaced by vesa because of a xorg incompatibility. My screen was scrambled eggs. Bitjam saved my kiester on that one.

Sometimes I drive a crooked road to get my mind straight.
Not all who Wander are Lost.
I'm not outa place. I'm from outer space.

Linux Registered User # 475019
How to Search for AntiX solutions to your problems

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