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Reporting blank screen using vesabf console



Hi,

(while I was writing this e-mail I found some complains similar to mine in 
the debian-kernel list - one of them:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-kernel/2005/01/msg00292.html - anyway, here it goes)

Since the kernel 2.6.9, I'm unable to boot using vesabf console (using
'vga=xxx' in the kernel's boot loader parameters). I got a blank screen,
while the system boots normally. Everything else works, including X. I
have a AGP 'nVidia GeForce2 MX 200' that works perfect with others
OS/kernel versions. (I'm using the same .config, importing it to the new 
kernel version using 'make oldconfig')

I have tried some of the options using 'vga=ask' kernel boot parameter and
all worked fine. All vesa codes I tried (773, 790, 769, etc) produced
blank screens (althoulgh my LCD panel told me the screen switched to the
right resolution!)
Also tried some other stuff noted in 
/usr/src/linux/Documentation/fb/vesabf.txt (video=vesabf:xxxx) without any 
success.

Tired of tring :-) , I started wondering why it didn't work and, and,
looking for a reason, I reached this:
http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/k/kernel-source-2.6.9/kernel-source-2.6.9_2.6.9-5.diff.gz

This is the fragment, that perhaps is related to the problem:

++Framebuffer layer.
++~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
++- James Simmons has reworked the framebuffer/console layer considerably for
++  2.6. Support for some cards is still lagging a little, but it should be
++  functionally no different than previous incarnations.
++- boot time arguments may have changed depending on your driver.
++  an example of the change is..
++    append = "video=radeon:1024x768-24@100"
++  needs to become..
++    append = "video=radeonfb:1024x768-24@100"
++- Current userspace tools (fbset for eg) are not yet updated,
++  and won't function as expected.
++- The VESA framebuffer now enables MTRRs for the framebuffer memory range during
++  initialisation (Note: PCI cards only).
++  If you notice screen corruption, please report this, along with an lspci output,
++  so your card can be blacklisted.
++- Any problems should go to <jsimmons@infradead.org>


I also have Gentoo installed in the same computer and it works fine. 
Cheking Gentoo's kernel changelog, I could not find any mention to 
something similar. Also nothing mentioned in www.kernel.org either. So I 
think this is a debian-related 'feature' :-)

(From my understanding, reading some e-mails, something new was added to
the kernel source and now the vesafb is not working. Did I got it right?  
It is really a nice feature! :-| )

Any workaround to continue use vesafb? Or we mortals have to wait for a 
fix?

If anybody replies, please CC: me, as I'm not subscribed to the list.
(if recommended, I can subscribe myself for some time, but I can't cope 
with lots of e-mail nowadays)

Thanks!


BTW, the related part of the 'lspci -vv':

0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11DDR 
[GeForce2 MX 100 DDR/200 DDR] (rev b2) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- 
ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- 
<TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 248 (1250ns min, 250ns max)
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
        Region 0: Memory at d5000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
        Region 1: Memory at d8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
        Expansion ROM at d7ff0000 [disabled] [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA 
PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
        Capabilities: [44] AGP version 2.0
                Status: RQ=32 Iso- ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA- ITACoh- GART64- 
HTrans- 64bit- FW+ AGP3- Rate=x1,x2,x4
                Command: RQ=32 ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA- AGP+ GART64- 64bit- FW- 
Rate=x4



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