ATI Fire GL V3100 and Dual display

[W Bauske]

Alex,

I checked the DVI-VGA adapter on one of my other systems and it no longer works. I
examined it and found the four pins around the flat blade had been pushed up into
the shell. Then I looked at the video cards I've been using for tests. The Asus AX300SE-X
ATI based card's DVI connector has no holes around the flat blade so when I pushed
the connector onto it I must have done the damage. Anyway, swapped it for a good
adapter and now both screens are fine. Also, comparing the Xorg.0.log file, I found
this difference:

OLD

(II) RADEON(0): Primary:
  Monitor   -- CRT
  Connector -- DVI-I
  DAC Type  -- TVDAC/ExtDAC
  TMDS Type -- Internal
  DDC Type  -- DVI_DDC
(II) RADEON(0): Secondary:
  Monitor   -- CRT
  Connector -- VGA
  DAC Type  -- Primary
  TMDS Type -- NONE
  DDC Type  -- VGA_DDC

NEW:

(II) RADEON(0): Primary:
  Monitor   -- CRT
  Connector -- VGA
  DAC Type  -- TVDAC/ExtDAC
  TMDS Type -- NONE
  DDC Type  -- NONE
(II) RADEON(0): Secondary:
  Monitor   -- CRT
  Connector -- VGA
  DAC Type  -- Primary
  TMDS Type -- NONE
  DDC Type  -- VGA_DDC

The primary now states it is a VGA connection.

Thanks for the hints on what to look for. Now I have to go back and try my Opteron and
AMD64 boards to see if they have the same problem or something else. Hopefully it's
just the DVI-VGA adapter being broken.

Wes

Alex Deucher wrote:
> On 7/22/05, Wes Bauske <wsb at paralleldata.com> wrote:
> 
>>
>>Alex Deucher wrote:
>>
>>>>After looking at the log closely, I realized that the radeon driver is switching around
>>>>what is the primary vs secondary "port". The Sceptre monitor is really the primary
>>>>display that the BIOS initializes and the Linux console runs on. The EN7100e is on the
>>>>DVI->VGA adapter and is not initialized at boot. So, this appears to be the problem.
>>>>How to tell the driver to swap them around?
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>are you still having problems getting the screen to come up or are
>>>your heads just swapped?  if it's just the heads that are swapped,
>>>switch the CRT2Position option to RightOf.  If you are still having
>>>problems getting one of the displays to show an image add:
>>>Option "MonitorLayout" "CRT, CRT"
>>>to your device section. That will force both DACs on.  You may also
>>>want to check your dvi-vga adapter.  sometimes they can flake out.
>>>
>>>Alex
>>>
>>
>>The monitor on the DVI port is blank.
>>
>>I tried the MonitorLayout option and it didn't seem to make a difference other than
>>the radeon driver complained the 2nd value was incorrect.
> 
> 
> that's odd.  it shouldn't.  can you send me the message?  what did you
> specify?  the only valid options are:
> 
> CRT - vga connectors, dvi->vga adapters, etc. anything driven by a DAC
> TMDS - digital DVI connections, digital only.
> LVDS - laptop flatpanels
> 
> 
>>I'll try the RightOf setting this afternoon to see if that helps.
>>
>>The DVI-VGA adpter was working last week on another system. I'll fire that system
>>up later today and make sure the DVI-VGA adapter is still working but I've seen
>>this behavior on multiple system combinations, with multiple DVI-VGA adapters.
>>
>>Just to clarify, you say this "forces" both DAC's on. Does that also mean the driver
>>will do a soft reset using the "int10" module on both ports? I still think the driver
>>is confused which port is primary vs secondary. Think I need to go look at the driver
>>source to see what ports are reset and under what conditions.
> 
> 
> it forces it on in that it turns the controller on and turns on the
> DAC to drive it regardless of whether there is a monitor detected on
> that port or not.  There is no post done unless the card is not the
> primary, I think.  Regardless, there is only one graphics chip so the
> second output is never posted, either the card is posted or it isn't. 
> Also since everything is done via direct register writes, there's
> really no need for the bios once the card has been initially posted. 
> If one output works, the other should too especially if you are
> forcing it on.
> 
> Alex
> 
> 
>>Wes
>>
>>
>>>
>>>>Any help appreciated.
>>>>
>>>>Wes
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
> 
>