C360 with A4071B Graphics STI Display Problem
Hello folks,
I bought a C360 a while back and it sat in the cupboard for quite some
time until the other day when I installed Debian 3.0r4 on it. Today I
managed to get my hands on a monitor that can sync-on-green so I've
hooked everything up and it all goes swimmingly until Linux boots, at
which point the screen goes blank (not blank as in no-signal blank,
blank as in 1280x1024@75Hz-but-every-pixel-is-black blank).
When I ask boot admin about my I/O modules it tells me this about the
graphics adapter:
==============================================================================
IODC IODC
Path Decimal Type Location HVER SVER
Vers Dep
------------ ------- ------------------------- ---------- ---- ----
---- ----
...
GRAPHICS(2) 8/8 HPA4071B GSC slot 2 0040 7700
0x01 0x00
...
==============================================================================
So I go ahead and boot with the following kernel command line:
==============================================================================
2/vmlinux root=/dev/sda4 HOME=/ console=tty0 sti=8/8 sti_font=VGA8x16
TERM=linux
==============================================================================
vmlinux is a symlink to the kernel that comes with Debian 3.0r4
(vmlinx-2.4.17-32) and 8/8 is indeed the path to the graphics adapter
according to the boot firmware.
When I ssh to the machine and dmesg | grep [sS][tT][iI], I get the
following:
==============================================================================
Kernel command line: root=/dev/sda4 HOME=/ console=tty0 sti=8/8
sti_font=VGA8x16 TERM=linux palo_kernel=2/vmlinux
STI byte mode ROM at f4000000, hpa=f4000000
STI byte mode ROM, id 2bcb015a-9a02587, conforms to spec rev. 8.04
STI init_graph failed (ret -1, errno 258)
sticonsole_init: searching for STI ROMs
BUG: Skipping previously registered driver: sti (native)
==============================================================================
And fbset -i gives:
==============================================================================
open /dev/fb0: No such device
==============================================================================
With kernel image vmlinux-2.6.10-pa11-32 from parisc-linux.org, dmesg
| grep [sS][tT][iI] gives:
==============================================================================
Kernel command line: root=/dev/sda4 HOME=/ console=tty0 sti=8/8
sti_font=VGA8x16 TERM=linux palo_kernel=2/vmlinux-2.6.10-pa11-32
STI GSC/PCI core graphics driver Version 0.9a
STI init_graph failed (ret -1, errno 258)
sti: probe of 8:8 failed with error 1
==============================================================================
And fbset -i again gives:
==============================================================================
open /dev/fb0: No such device
==============================================================================
With kernel image vmlinux-2.6.11-rc5-pa3-32 from parisc-linux.org,
dmesg | grep [sS][tT][iI] gives:
==============================================================================
Kernel command line: root=/dev/sda4 HOME=/ console=tty0 sti=8/8
sti_font=VGA8x16 TERM=linux palo_kernel=2/vmlinux-2.6.11-rc5-pa3-32
STI GSC/PCI core graphics driver Version 0.9a
STI init_graph failed (ret -1, errno 258)
sti: probe of 8:8 failed with error 1
==============================================================================
And fbset -i yet again gives:
==============================================================================
open /dev/fb0: No such device
==============================================================================
I have read the HOWTOs and I have Googled for several hours trying to
solve this problem and have found only one specific mention of it with
this graphics adapter:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-hppa/2003/10/msg00073.html
That message shows the same card working in a 715 but not a C360, so
might it be a firmware thing? Surely if the boot firmware is able to
output stuff to the display with this card then the kernel can use it
(via STI)?
Are there other parameters I can pass to the kernel to help it out?
Does anyone out there have the same hardware, but working with no
problems?
I'll happily provide further info if it might help find a solution.
Yours with heavy heart and eyelids more so,
David Cosgrove
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