Bug#476876: Bug #476876 : Additional information, ROM BIOS address
As noted before, "lspci -v" returns the BIOS address for the S3 Trio
as "09c100000 [disabled]"
However, "setpci -s 01:09.0 ROM_ADDRESS" returns "80800000"
I do not know why this contradiction occurs. I decided to try setting
the BIOS address register to match the address reported by lspci (and
by the S3 driver.) I used the following command:
setpci -s 01:09.0 ROM_ADDRESS=9c100000
Both commands now report the same address for the BIOS, and lspci no
longer says it is "disabled".
Unfortunately, the S3 driver still fails in the same manner, with the
same symptoms. The only difference is that the error messages about
the insufficient address space and V_BIOS not found have disappeared.
The S3 Trio 64 BIOS banner appears on the screen when X is invoked,
then the screen blanks and the same meaningless pattern of pixels is
displayed. The keyboard and mouse are still disabled and the system
must be rebooted in order to recover control. When the system is
rebooted, the BIOS address register on the card is set back to
"80800000" and must again be altered to re-enable the video BIOS. I'm
guessing this may be a "plug and play" issue, since the card was an
early "plug and play" device. Probably a workaround for the BIOS
address would be to insert a "setpci" somewhere in the system
initialization.
While this trick with setpci does not solve the S3 driver issues, it
does let the VESA driver work with the card. Where previously that
driver also said "V_BIOS not found" and would just exit with "no
usable screens found" it now will operate at 800x600 16bpp. There are
"lightning flashes" when the keyboard or mouse are used, but otherwise
it appears to work. The flashing screen is not very usable, however,
and getting the S3 driver to work would still be preferable and
probably faster performance as well.
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