Debian/AMD64/Sid on MSI S270 notebook
Dear All,
I just bought an MSI S270 notebook (with a Turion MT 34, 1800MHz, 1Mb
cache, 25W) to run Debian (only) on it. I even bought it without
Windows!
about this notebook
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/notebook/nb/pro_nb_selling.php?UID=608
I bought it with 1Gb RAM, an extra 8cell battery, the Wifi internal
card, (no Windows!), for 1588 euros.
(FWIW, I am fairly used to Debian, I did run Sid on x86 and on a
PowerBook Apple 12" whose disk crashed)
This notebook has a ATi RS480M + ATi SB400 chipset, meaning that
graphic memory is shared with RAM (actually, the BIOS setup tells how
much 32,64,128Mb of RAM is reserved for video).
For curious, the lspci output is
################
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5950
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 0131
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5a3f (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=64
I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff
Memory behind bridge: fbe00000-fbefffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000f0000000-00000000faf00000
Capabilities: [44] #08 [a803]
Capabilities: [b0] #0d [0000]
0000:00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4374 (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4374
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 193
Memory at fbdfd000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [d0] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
0000:00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4375 (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4375
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 193
Memory at fbdfe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [d0] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
0000:00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4373 (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4373
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 193
Memory at fbdff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [d0] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
0000:00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4372 (rev 10)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 0131
Flags: 66MHz, medium devsel
I/O ports at c800 [size=16]
Memory at fbdfc400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: [b0] #08 [a802]
0000:00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4376 (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 0131
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 185
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at ff00 [size=16]
Capabilities: [70] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
0000:00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4377
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0
0000:00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4371 (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode])
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=04, sec-latency=64
I/O behind bridge: 0000e000-0000efff
Memory behind bridge: fbf00000-fbffffff
0000:00:14.5 Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4370 (rev 01)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 0131
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, slow devsel, latency 64, IRQ 177
Memory at fbdfc800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [40] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
0000:00:14.6 Modem: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4378 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Generic])
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 0131
Flags: 66MHz, slow devsel, IRQ 177
Memory at fbdfcc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [40] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
0000:00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
Flags: fast devsel
Capabilities: [80] #08 [2101]
0000:00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
Flags: fast devsel
0000:00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
Flags: fast devsel
0000:00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
Flags: fast devsel
0000:01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5955 (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 0131
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 10
Memory at f0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
I/O ports at d800 [size=256]
Memory at fbef0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Expansion ROM at fbec0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
0000:02:03.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 0131
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 209
I/O ports at e800 [size=256]
Memory at fbfffc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Expansion ROM at fbfe0000 [disabled] [size=64K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
0000:02:04.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev ac)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 0131
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 193
Memory at 40000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Bus: primary=02, secondary=03, subordinate=06, sec-latency=176
Memory window 0: 40400000-407ff000 (prefetchable)
Memory window 1: 40800000-40bff000
I/O window 0: 00004400-000044ff
I/O window 1: 00004800-000048ff
16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001
0000:02:04.1 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev ac)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 0131
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 201
Memory at 40001000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Bus: primary=02, secondary=07, subordinate=0a, sec-latency=176
Memory window 0: 40c00000-40fff000 (prefetchable)
Memory window 1: 41000000-413ff000
I/O window 0: 00004c00-00004cff
I/O window 1: 00005000-000050ff
16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001
0000:02:04.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C552 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 04) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 0131
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 169
Memory at fbfff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
0000:02:09.0 Ethernet controller: Linksys, A Division of Cisco Systems [AirConn] INPROCOMM IPN 2220 Wireless LAN Adapter (rev 01)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 6855
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 5
I/O ports at e400 [size=32]
Memory at fbfff800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32]
Memory at fbffe800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
################
I don't have the exact specification of the LCD (internal) monitor,
except that it is 12.1" TFT WXGA (1280x800). In particular, I don't
know the frequency of the screen (I guess it is 50Hz)
Some remarks:
The notebook has 1Gb RAM (2*512Mb memory banks). Since 64Mb is
reserved to video(my BIOS setting), the useful memory is 960Mb. The
memory did pass a memtest86 test for 5 hours without any errors.
But the vmlinuz-2.6.8-11-amd64-k8 Debian kernel is not very
reliable. With it, many processes crash (or even kernel
drivers). Rebooting with a mem=800M helps significantly, but even with
that many errors happen (non-reproductible SEGV, ACPI 40(40) ..)
I recompiled a kernel.org source 2.6.12.1 kernel with the config which
you can find on http://starynkevitch.net/Basile/config-2.6.12-msi_s270
now it is much more reliable. I was able to compile under it the
latest CVS Xorg tree. I might have some ACPI or thermal related
problems (it was quite hot yesterday, about 32 degrees celsius).
here is my /etc/X11/xorg.conf
################
Section "Files"
FontPath "unix/:7100" # local font server
# if the local font server has problems, we can fall back on these
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "GLcore"
Load "bitmap"
Load "dbe"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
# Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "record"
Load "speedo"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "fr"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI S270 internal"
Driver "ati"
BusID "PCI:1:5:0"
Option "NoAccel" "true"
Option "UseFBDev" "true"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "MSI S270 screen"
UseModes "16:10"
HorizSync 30-60
VertRefresh 50
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Modes"
Identifier "16:10"
#-# 1280x800 @ 45.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 36.94 kHz; pclk: 60.29 MHz
#-Modeline "1280x800" 60.29 1280 1328 1456 1632 800 801 804 821 -HSync +VSync
#-# 1280x800 @ 50.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 41.20 kHz; pclk: 68.56 MHz
#-Modeline "1280x800" 68.56 1280 1336 1472 1664 800 801 804 824 -HSync +Vsync
# 1280x800 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 49.68 kHz; pclk: 83.46 MHz
Modeline "1280x800" 83.46 1280 1344 1480 1680 800 801 804 828 +HSync +Vsync
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "ATI S270 internal"
Monitor "MSI S270 screen"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
EndSection
Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection
################
The problem is that this is not really working. The Debian/Sid Xfree86
does not work at all. The Xorg shows something on the screen, but
apparently with vertical strips (as if some overlapping is
misdone). Nothing is readable, except when the bare X screen is shown
with its X cursor.
I'm seeking hints or advices to make Xorg working. The Xorg version is
(latest CVS), ie
/usr/X11R6/bin/Xorg -version
This is a pre-release version of the The X.Org Foundation X11.
It is not supported in any way.
Bugs may be filed in the bugzilla at http://bugs.freedesktop.org/.
Select the "xorg" product for bugs you find in this release.
Before reporting bugs in pre-release versions please check the
latest version in the The X.Org Foundation "monolithic tree" CVS
repository hosted at http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/xorg/
X Window System Version 6.8.99.13
Release Date: 26 June 2005 + cvs
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 6.8.99.13
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.12.1 x86_64 [ELF]
Current Operating System: Linux maurice 2.6.12.1 #2 Wed Jun 29 20:45:28 CEST 2005 x86_64
Build Date: 29 June 2005
Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.X.Org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
I suspect that video RAM & memory interact quite badly under Linux!
Any clues, hints, advices are welcome!
--
Basile STARYNKEVITCH http://starynkevitch.net/Basile/
email: basile(at)starynkevitch(dot)net
8, rue de la Faïencerie, 92340 Bourg La Reine, France
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