Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Mon, 7 May 2001 12:43:09 +0300
From:      Igor Karpov <jc@minjust.gov.ua>
To:        Andrew Hesford <ajh3@chmod.ath.cx>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: XFree86-4.0.3 and i815e.
Message-ID:  <20010507124309.A43551@minjust.gov.ua>
In-Reply-To: <20010506093634.A57398@cec.wustl.edu>; from ajh3@chmod.ath.cx on Sun, May 06, 2001 at 09:36:34AM -0500
References:  <20010506112233.A88011@minjust.gov.ua> <20010506093634.A57398@cec.wustl.edu>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Sun, May 06, 2001 at 09:36:34AM -0500, Andrew Hesford wrote:

[dd]

> 
> Welcome to the world of the unsupported. The i810 and i815 are only
> supported under Linux, because it doesn't work quite right with FreeBSD.
> The real kicker is that it works just fine for some people. This makes
> it doubly frustrating. I have an i810 that does the same thing you speak
> of.
> 
> I never bothered to check my logs like you did, but I knew the cause of
> the problem. Your paste of the xf86BindGARTMemory error confirms what I
> expected. If you look through the souce for the i810 X server (or driver
> or whatever it is called), you will find that somebody decided to
> completely overhaul it between 4.0.1 and 4.0.2. In 4.0.2 and above,
> there is a provision to allocate GART memory, but no provision to
> release it. The maintainer of the port has not bothered to fix this. In
> 4.0.1, there were provisions to free GART memory, and the port
> maintainer created a patch to make this work in FreeBSD.

I have suspected something like this :(.

> 
> The problem is simple. When you switch to a text console and switch
> back, the server tries to reallocate GART memory to display your root
> window. It expects the memory to be free, and tries to grab it. But
> since the memory is already tied up by the X server, the server fails
> with an error.
> 
> This part seems pretty universal. The problem is what happens next. Some
> people, the lucky ones, can restart XFree86 with no trouble. The unlucky
> ones, like me, have to reboot before we can use the X server again. It
> won't only crash, but it will take down video for the whole session.

Thank you for quick answer. Sounds reasonable...

> 
> Who is to blame for this problem? Certainly not XFree86, they warn that
> the i810 is unsupported. Neither is FreeBSD responsible, it has nothing
> to do with the high-level shenanigans of a video card. The culprit is
> Intel. If they didn't give you a cheap-ass onboard video, with no memory
> of its own, you wouldn't need the AGP features of the card. But you do,
> and this is why we have problems.

Well, frankly saying, I had no illusions about onboard cards and I always 
had in mind to buy an external one later. Now the time has come :)

And to close this theme - who may advise the video card, suitable for
X Window? I don't need the bells & whistles, just a card with stable
support...


[dd]

> -- 
> Andrew Hesford
> ajh3@chmod.ath.cx

Regards,
-- 
Igor A. Karpov    phone: +380(44)238-0624
Unix System Administrator                   

      Smith & Wesson: the original "point and click" interface.

To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20010507124309.A43551>