step-by-step solution for most users with ATI cards [Solved]

[anomaly65]

Perhaps this may help others. I'll do my best between routine duties to keep it up to date

It works "TODAY" 14june2013 with the current up to date kernel. For future, replace the latest and matching kernel/driver version numbers with those found in the repo database (currently based on sabayon-weekly). This doesn't cover hybrid (i.e. intel-ati on many new laptops) as I don't have one to test on Sabayon just keeps running on my old laptop, no reason to upgrade. PLEASE NOTE: as versions change and packages are updated, version numbers below also may change, thus you may need to adjust these instructions. I've tried this more than once and it works on up to date systems, or fresh installs of 11 & 13.04

I've noticed routine weekly updates may remove items listed below (e.g. nomodeset, blacklist radeon) so don't hesitate to recheck those if you run into trouble after an update.


Even in "just console mode" (no X running)

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# lsmod |grep fglrx

should return something like:

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fglrx                5090729  416

The key is the second number. If you do have an ATI card and the second number is "0" another module has been loaded for the graphics card. Following the directions below should resolve this by removing the conflicting driver such as that included in x11-base/xorg-drivers-1.14 or xf86-video-ati.

open a konsole window (or xterm?) and "su" (become root user) and enter root password when prompted. The following commands may help do the trick for you, cut-n-paste except for the edit of the grub file itself.

NOTE: the r600-HD4xxx are on hold due to other portions of system incompatibility. Recommend looking at SABAYON FROZEN as a temporary solution (allowing slightly older driver/kernel installation)

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equo update --force
equo remove ati-drivers
echo "blacklist radeon" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

(edit /etc/default/grub as mentioned in article above using nano, kwrite, vi, or your favorite editor)

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GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="nomodeset" 

If you have an HD5000 or newer, then run these "cut-n-paste" style as root:
If one or more of the "remove" commands finds nothing to remove, don't worry, continue onto the next comand.

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equo remove  xf86-video-ati
equo remove --configfiles xf86-video-ati 
equo remove ati-drivers
equo remove =x11-base/xorg-drivers-1.14
equo install =sys-kernel/linux-sabayon-3.9.4
equo install =sys-kernel/sabayon-sources-3.9.4
equo install =x11-drivers/ati-drivers-13.4#3.9.0-sabayon amdcccle
eselect bzimage set kernel-genkernel-x86_64-3.9.0-sabayon
eselect kernel set linux-3.9.0-sabayon
eselect opencl set amd
eselect opengl set ati
rc-update del x-setup boot

********
for those without a previously working ati/fglrx xorg.conf config, this is a good idea. Note, there are numerous variations depending upon your configuration (dual head, crossover, etc) but for the majority of users, this puts in a good starter xorg.conf file to begin using the ati-drivers. The program does make a backup copy in /etc/X11 of the existing xorg.conf file. PLEASE practice good housekeeping and make a copy of your config files before adjusting them

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/opt/bin/aticonfig --initial

or to update your already decent xorg.conf if you like it, but are switching to the proprietary drivers:

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/opt/bin/aticonfig --initial --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf

*********

Then reboot, and again, open a window (e.g. konsole) and su to root.

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/opt/bin/amdcccle

which brings up a gui to allow you to set the various parameters of the amd/ati driver if you wish.

Hope that helps, feel free to ask any question that might help.

If you still wind up with just a blinking cursor in the upper left, take a look at viewtopic.php?f=56&t=30039 as it works for my setup, which has a few odd restrictions in the LCD hardware.....

Yes, I'm certain one can do most of this (except edit the file /etc/default/grub) with rigo, the gui package manager.

And yes, I'm a bit old school, grew up with the command line.

Cheers, and good luck,
andy

[xBlack]

great dude and i was suprised that my girlfriends notebook was unable to use the hdmi function... timorrow ill try ur fixes

[anomaly65]

xBlack, the amdcccle program should enable that for you "on demand" as I used to use it to hook up projectors/etc for presentations good luck!!

[anomaly65]

updated for march 17th, 2013. Seems to be a sore point for ATI video card owners. Fix still works (updated to current version numbers, double check of course!).
Cheers!!

[DanAlucard]

thanks, this must become a sticky bro

[anomaly65]

In reading through a few comparable ati video card problem posts, I edited and updated (already aged out as of yesterday!). Still seems to be the winning recipe with the fewest "exceptions" ... and it just works

[nicklas]

thanks for the tip. but seems my card isnt supported after all, get no modules found (or something like that, dont remember exactly) at /opt/bin/aticonfig --initial , so seems my card isnt supported by the drivers now, since its not included in the list apperantly.

[VolvoBirkenstock]

I have used the procedure described at the top of this thread to update my system. My system uses an ATI 7700 series card and a single monitor. While this gives good results for the X display, the console terminals (Contol-Alt-F1, Control-Alt-F2, etc.) are providing a double image where the first column appears both at the start of a line and also in the middle of the line. Prior to this procedure, the console terminals were normal. Can anyone tell me how to fix this?

[anomaly65]

Hi VolvoBirkenstock

I experienced the same problem during shutdown (ugly, duplicated screens). Unfortunately, the easiest fix was a reinstall. I have no good evidence, but this could be copied from a virtualbox install as well, was the contents of /etc/ati directory.

My reinstall was prompted by excessive overclocking (AMD 8350 @5Ghz on air cooling) which caused filesystem errors on the primary OS SSD. (I run XFS) xfs tools repaired the problem, but left more items in lost&found than I was comfortable with. I wish I had seen this before I did the OS reinstall (took 30 minutes or so via a USB stick) as I would have copied and compared the two suspect directories. As it turns out, my overclocking errors were not speed related, but I had increased the Vcore slightly too high. It runs quite nicely now with a lower voltage

It seems that the ati drivers aren't quite so good at cleaning up during upgrades as they should be. Sorry for any problems.

[nickdanger]

I just installed a Radeon 7850 a few days ago because I wanted to use it for GPU computing. I thought I was going to pull it back out because every time I switched to the proprietary drivers, I went "black screen". I was a little concerned my card was not supported, but this worked great. Considering my previous NVIDIA card installed without a glitch, I hope soon AMD will be the same. Thank you for the help!