Bug 689263

Summary: [Sandy_Bridge] ATI Radeon HD 6850M unsupported
Product: [Fedora] Fedora Reporter: Pat Gunn <pgunn>
Component: xorg-x11-drv-atiAssignee: Jérôme Glisse <jglisse>
Status: CLOSED WONTFIX QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity: high Docs Contact:
Priority: unspecified    
Version: 14CC: mcepl, taylon, xgl-maint
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Triaged
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: x86_64   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 2012-08-16 13:32:20 UTC Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Attachments:
Description Flags
lspci -v output
none
Xorg.0.log
none
dmesg output none

Description Pat Gunn 2011-03-20 17:16:57 UTC
Created attachment 486487 [details]
lspci -v output

Description of problem: The ATI Radeon HD 6850M in my HP Envy 3D 17" will not function at all without some tweaking and is unsupported by the radeon driver.


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
6.13.1 (I also tried Fedora 15 Alpha, with the same results)

How reproducible:
100%

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Boot system

Additional info:
The installer won't work except in basic video mode, which uses "nomodeset" as a kernel argument and sets the system into VESA mode. Removing nomodeset causes the system to boot without video (the system seems happy when remotely accessed).

lspci shows that there's another VGA chipset in the system (intel); this is not advertised in the system specs and is probably not meant to be used, but it cannot be disabled in the BIOS utility. By blacklisting that driver with "rdblacklist=i915", I can remove "nomodeset" from the kernel arguments and the system boots with video, but still in VESA mode. Explicitly telling Xorg to use the radeon driver (with an xorg.conf) results in X failing to find any hardware it can use and failing to start (again, no video, but examinable by ssh'ing in).

I tried these same steps on a F15Alpha liveCD, in the hopes that a more recent driver would spot the hardware (with the i915 blacklisted), but saw similar results. I also tried the proprietary drivers (with F14) as packaged by RPMFusion, but had no luck with them.

Until this is fixed, I am stuck at 1280x1024 rather than the native resolution of 1920x1080

Please find attached the output of "lspci -v".

Comment 1 Matěj Cepl 2011-03-22 13:36:22 UTC
Thanks for the bug report.  We have reviewed the information you have provided above, and there is some additional information especially concerning your hardware we require that will be helpful in our diagnosis of this issue.

Please install Fedora with a basic video driver, remove /etc/X11/xorg.conf, remove nomodeset and xdriver parameters from the kernel command line, and add 3 to the kernel command line. Then run

startx

command as normal (non-root) user. Whether it fails or not, still /var/log/Xorg.0.log and the output of dmesg program from the failed attempt to start X would be useful.

We will review this issue again once you've had a chance to attach this information.

Thank you very much in advance.

Comment 2 Pat Gunn 2011-03-22 18:07:14 UTC
Unless I blacklist the i915 driver, I get no video. Also, booting at initlevel 3 gives me no visible prompt (although I can blind-type and things work). This is consistent with how the system is generally working with my normal install; X works but the virtual consoles do not.

I ssh'd in and ran startx (WITH the i915 blacklisted). Attached are the results.

Comment 3 Pat Gunn 2011-03-22 18:07:47 UTC
Created attachment 486863 [details]
Xorg.0.log

As requested.

Comment 4 Pat Gunn 2011-03-22 18:22:59 UTC
Created attachment 486868 [details]
dmesg output

Comment 5 Taylon 2011-04-28 18:01:27 UTC
Any news about it?

I'm facing the same problem and I'm willing to help debugging the problem.

Comment 6 Pat Gunn 2011-04-28 21:39:51 UTC
It turns out the hardware setup is an example of "Hybrid Graphics"; it's designed to use the Intel chipset on boot and when sans power cord, and the ATI chipset when plugged in. Neither chipset is supported in Fedora 14.

I upgraded to Fedora 15Beta, and that gets me working Intel graphics with acceleration (at the cost of needing to suffer Gnome3). I'm sure the ATI drivers will be along sometime; I'm happy for now.

Comment 7 Fedora End Of Life 2012-08-16 13:32:22 UTC
This message is a notice that Fedora 14 is now at end of life. Fedora 
has stopped maintaining and issuing updates for Fedora 14. It is 
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of '14' have been closed as WONTFIX.

(Please note: Our normal process is to give advanced warning of this 
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