Problems configuring Radeon Card (was "Noob Radeon Woes")

[funkmasterbill]

My problem is this:

I downloaded and installed ATI's XFree86 4.3 drivers. I restarted X and I didn't have any hardware rendering, so I followed ATI's instructions as to how to generate a customized kernel module. The problem arose when I cd'ed to to /lib/module/fglrx/build_mod and entered ./make.sh. It had this to say for itself:

ATI module generator V 2.0
==========================
Error:
kernel includes at /lib/modules/2.4.20-20.9/build/include do not match current kernel.
they are versioned as "2.4.20-20.9custom"
instead of "2.4.20-20.9".
you might need to adjust your symlinks:
- /usr/include
- /usr/src/linux

As I am a noob, I have no clue as how to remedy this. I've seen this topic touched upon in these forums before, but the question was never remedied. Any information that someone could provide me with would be appreciated.

System Specs:
P4 266 Ghz
1 Gb Ram
Radeon 9700 Pro
Red Hat 9
Kernel 2.4.20-20.9
XFree86 v. 4.3.0-2

[hard candy]

For the sym link to the kernel, "rm /usr/src/linux" then "ln -s /usr/src/kernel-(your new kernel that you rebuilt) /usr/src/linux". That will make a link to the new kernel. Then remove the old link in the /usr/include that points to the /lib/modules/2.4*./**/88/include and make a new one by "ln -s /lib/modules/(the new kernel name)/include /usr/include/(the name of the old link updated with the new kernel name)".
There's a program that will list all the sym links in your system but I can' t remember what it is called.

[mdwatts]

Anytime you compile hardware drivers, you need to have the kernel source installed that was used to build your current running kernel version.

uname -r (tells the running kernel version)

As hard candy posted, you need to have the kernel source in

/usr/src/linux-#.#.#

with a symlink pointing to

/usr/src/linux

[bwkaz]

Originally posted by funkmasterbill
Error:
kernel includes at /lib/modules/2.4.20-20.9/build/include do not match current kernel.
they are versioned as "2.4.20-20.9custom"
instead of "2.4.20-20.9". Yay RedHat's default kernel source. :rolleyes:

Edit the top-level Makefile in /usr/src/linux, and remove "custom" from the EXTRAVERSION variable in there. Then make oldconfig dep from inside that same directory, to regenerate the files that will need to be regenerated.

Then try make.sh again.

[funkmasterbill]

I did just as bwkaz said, but when I executed make.sh it spit the following out:

ATI module generator V 2.0
==========================
probing for VMA API version...
cleaning...
patching 'highmem.h'...
skipping patch for 'drmP.h', not needed
patching 'drm_os_linux.h'...
doing script based build for kernel 2.4.x and similar
compiling 'agpgart_be.c'...
<command line>:137890855:3120: /lib/modules/2.4.20-20.9/build/include/linux/modversions.h: No such file or directory
In file included from agpgart_be.c:72:
/usr/include/linux/modversions.h:1:2: #error Modules should never use kernel-headers system headers,
/usr/include/linux/modversions.h:2:2: #error but rather headers from an appropriate kernel-source package.
/usr/include/linux/modversions.h:3:2: #error Change -I/usr/src/linux/include (or similar) to
/usr/include/linux/modversions.h:4:2: #error -I/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build/include
/usr/include/linux/modversions.h:5:2: #error to build against the currently-running kernel.
compiling failed - object file was not generated

If someone could tell me what this means and how to fix it I would be eternally grateful.

[hard candy]

You may need to re-install the kernel-header rpm. Try the latest version.

[funkmasterbill]

I ran up2date kernel-source and it still spit the same message back at me.

[hard candy]

I may have read the last post wrong, the kernel-header rpm is separate from the kernel sources rpm. The kernel headers can be used with different versions of the kernel sources, but yours may have been corrupted in some way. The error message was talking about the header files which are part of the kernel-header package. Or you might just try some generic kernel-headers from www.rpmfind.net (http://rpmfind.net/linux/RPM/) It's OK if the RH 8 and 9 versions aren't listed, sometimes header files are used for 2-3 versions of the kernel.

[funkmasterbill]

I installed glibc-kernheaders-2.4-8.10.i386.rpm (which I found on the Redhat website, so I assume it's the most recent) and I got the same message.

[hard candy]

From another forum:
"Go here, and get the drivers for XFree86 4.3 it's a zip file it's the only one for 4.3.
http://www.schneider-digital.de/html/download_ati.html

Extract it
install the RPM
Please note you should get your Horizontal & Vertical Monitor syncs first, and determine your mouse device (/dev/mouse, dev/tty etc...)
After installing the driver log out of X.
X will not be able to restart now, you will need to get to a console & login as root.
Run "fglrxconfig" That will get you through the setup I got quake3 running on dual head and it looks awesome, also I'd reccomend using the AGP option, and the 1st of the 3 options it will prompt you for (I can't remember what the 2nd one's for but the 3rd option is openGL compatibility for VMware & stuff the 1st options just the fastest GL ICD I'd reccomend that). Good luck and let me know if you have any problems.

Thanks, "
And more, "Well I finally got it to work. It turns out that the fglrxconfig program generates a bad XF86Config file that I had to fix manually. In my case, the mouse entry was corrupted."
And more," can post my Xfree86 a little later but for now I'm running redhat 9. 2.4.20 & there updated kernel 2.4.20.-18 it works fine with both I did the install on 2.4.20. I just double clicked the RPM and their RPM manager took care of everything. After that I logged out, and the X-server chokes, it asks if you'd like to try and restart the X-server, select NO, then it asks if you'd like to run the X-server configurator or whatever it's called, I selected NO. Back to a console login, login as root, and run 'fglrxconfig' if you configure this properly it will write you a new X-free 86 file, it worked for me I got quake3 going at over 200FPs at some points in the game.
Re: Redhat 9 Driver For Radeon 9700 Pro new by Thorsten"
And the link to the forum,
Linuxusers.com (http://linux-user.com/index.php?view=235&)

[funkmasterbill]

My problem isn't that I haven't installed the drivers (which I did a second time just for good measure), but I've installed the drivers and I still don't have hardware rendering. That's why I'm trying to build a customized kernel module.

[hard candy]

Here are some other links (the second looks to be the best:

hardware direct rendering (http://www.rsinc.com/services/techtip.asp?ttid=3524)

radeon driver custom module (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/archive/18/2003/02/2/43472)

And make sure the apgart module is working. "modprobe ls" should list the modules available. Then modprobe the apgart module to load it. Look at the last few posts on the link I gave you in the previous post, see if your dmesg is about the same.
Also, in your xf86config file:
"Section "Device"
Identifier "device1"
VendorName "ATI"
BoardName "ATI Radeon"
Driver "radeon"
Option "AGPMode" "4"
Option "DPMS"
Option "BackingStore" "On"
ChipId 0x4242

[funkmasterbill]

I seccessfully got the module built and installed (thanks to the second post), but I still don't hardware rendering. Is there some specific path that I perform the modprobe ls in? Because every time I've attempted it I've gotten "modprobe: Can't locate module ls." That is an L as in lettice, right?

[hard candy]

I'm sorry, it should have read "modprobe -l" with the dash. I can only claim late night visual blurriness.
If you are ever unsure about a command, you can use "man xxxx" to give you info on a command.

[funkmasterbill]

My agpgart.o is located in /lib/modules/2.4.20-20.9/kernel/drivers/char/agp so I cd'ed there and ran "modprobe agpgart" and it had this to say:

/lib/modules/2.4.20-20.9/kernel/drivers/char/agp/agpgart.o: init_module: No such device
Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.
You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg
/lib/modules/2.4.20-20.9/kernel/drivers/char/agp/agpgart.o: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.20-20.9/kernel/drivers/char/agp/agpgart.o failed
/lib/modules/2.4.20-20.9/kernel/drivers/char/agp/agpgart.o: insmod agpgart failed

What am I doing wrong? I must admit, even after reading the man page I'm not quite sure as to how to operate modprobe.

[funkmasterbill]

I also found this piece of information in my dmesg output, don't know if it helps:

Linux agpgart interface v0.99 (c) Jeff Hartmann
agpgart: Maximum main memory to use for agp memory: 941M
agpgart: Unsupported SiS chipset (device id: 0655), you might want to try agp_try_unsupported=1.
agpgart: no supported devices found.
Based on agpgart interface v0.99 (c) Jeff Hartmann
agpgart: Maximum main memory to use for agp memory: 816M
agpgart: Unsupported SiS chipset (device id: 0655), you might want to try agp_try_unsupported=1.
agpgart: no supported devices found.
Linux agpgart interface v0.99 (c) Jeff Hartmann
agpgart: Maximum main memory to use for agp memory: 941M
agpgart: Unsupported SiS chipset (device id: 0655), you might want to try agp_try_unsupported=1.
agpgart: no supported devices found.
Linux agpgart interface v0.99 (c) Jeff Hartmann
agpgart: Maximum main memory to use for agp memory: 941M
agpgart: Unsupported SiS chipset (device id: 0655), you might want to try agp_try_unsupported=1.
agpgart: no supported devices found.

[hard candy]

Let's try "depmod" to make a config file, then try 'modprobe agpgart) again. Your distro may have apgpart already compiled in the kernel instead of being a module. How about "modprobe radeon" ?

[funkmasterbill]

I did depmod and modprobe radeon and they processed without a hitch. Yet when I try modprobe agpgart I get the same thing I posted below.

I thought occured to me, the following was part of the fglrxconfig. I said no, but should I have said yes?

External AGPGART module:

It is possible (but not recommended) to turn off the usage of
built-in agp support of the provided fglrx kernel module and
use the external AGP GART module (agpgart.o) of the Linux kernel.
If you want to use the external module then ensure that it loads
prior to the drivers full startup. In order to manually load the
external agpgart module execute this on the commandline (as root):
/sbin/insmod agpgart
or alternatively configure your system to auto load the module.

Do you want to use the external AGP GART module (y/n)? [n]

[hard candy]

I would try it and see, what do you have to lose? Damn, isn't this better than that ol' plug and play windows? I thought about a radeon card but now I'm glad I got a nvidia card (even if it is underwhelming).
If we can't get it working with RedHat, have you thought about another distro? Or downloading Knoppix and seeing if it can run with Knoppix at least?

[funkmasterbill]

I tried saying yes to the External AGPGART module and running Knoppix and neither one gave me hardware rendering. Two questions: 1. Is there some way to disable Mesa? If I could do that, I figure the ATI drivers may then kick in and do the rendering. I have no evidence to back this up though, just pure speculation. 2. If I were to switch distro's (and I just may after all this stuff), which is best for newbies? Precisely, which distro do you think I'd have the least amount of trouble configuring my graphics card with?