Description of problem: I tried to install Fedora core 2 test 3 on a new Dell Inspiron 9100 with a video card that calls itself "6 mb ddr ATI's Mobility Radeon 9700 AGP 8x. The installer did not detect the video card or the monitor. (I still don't know exactly what the monitor is.) On boot, the computer crashed after saying "x not configured." (It went by very fast.) The crash was such that I could not turn off the computer except by unplugging it and removing the battery. This hapened the second time too. The third time, I put in the installation disk and went into rescue mode. I did not get the crash. X just wouldn't start. I ran X -configure, and then tried the file it produced, but that one did not detect the mouse, so it wouldn't work either. Finally, I took the mouse section from the first xorg.conf file and added it to the one produced by X -configure, and then I could boot. But I still can't get it to recognize the video card, and the monitor is 800x600, instead of 1600x1050. Perhaps the video card problem is another bug. But I'll just mention that I have tried several different options, and it keeps reverting to generic vesa. (ATI Radeon 9700, ATI Radeon Mobility, etc.) Before I report that bug, I'm going to look more on the installation disks. But this bug is definitely a problem with the installation sequence.
I should mention that I am willing to carry out further tests. This is a new model high-end Dell laptop, and those who can fix this problem may not have one handy. I don't need to use it for a few weeks, although I will push ahead and try to get it to work unless someone tells me to wait. I can also send various log files, if anyone wants them.
I seem to have gotten it working by fiddling with xorg.conf and deleting XFree86.conf. It seems that the radeon driver is present, just not recognized. A setting of 1400x1050 seems to work, even though technically it should be 1680x1050. The lines that differ from various attempts that did not work are as follows, with my comments in CAPS. Section "Monitor" ### Uncomment if you don't want to default to DDC: Identifier "Monitor0" VendorName "Monitor Vendor" ModelName "LCD Panel 1400x1050" ### Uncomment if you don't want to default to DDC: # HorizSync 31.5 - 90.0 THESE LINES WERE UNCOMMENTED # VertRefresh 59.0 - 75.0 ORIGINALLY Option "dpms" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Videocard0" Driver "radeon" I PUT THESE LINES IN BY HAND VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc" BoardName "ATI Radeon AGP" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "Screen0" Device "Videocard0" Monitor "Monitor0" DefaultDepth 16 SubSection "Display" Viewport 0 0 Depth 16 Modes "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" [LINE FOLDED] EndSubSection EndSection This is still a bug. This should have worked from the start, especially since the driver seems actually to be there. This took approximately 50 attempts at various combinations of things.
Actually, it doesn't quite "work." The setting of 1400x1050 gives that setting, which is not 1680x1050. Thus, everything is just stretched out horizontally. I'm going to see if I can get an updated version of the driver.
Please attach your X server log file, and full config file as individual uncompressed file attachments for troubleshooting. The output of "lspci -vvn" will also be useful if it turns out that the driver or pcitable require PCI ID updates or modifications. Do you have a URL for the technical specs on this laptop handy? It may be useful in getting the native panel resolution to work without having the hardware. Thanks in advance.
Created attachment 100020 [details] The original setup log
Created attachment 100021 [details] The oldest Xorg log I have
Created attachment 100022 [details] The output of lspci as requested.
Created attachment 100023 [details] The current xorg.conf file, which works
Created attachment 100024 [details] The original file made by Fefora, which did not work
Created attachment 100025 [details] The computer - the best I can do I cannot find a page with the technical data. I am attaching the best one I have, which I cannot find again. (Dell's web site is the worst ever.) I have since discovered a log more information about what it has and will be happy to supply it.
Thanks for your information above. I believe I've isolated at least one of the problems to being missing PCI IDs in the hardware database, of which is reported in another bug we're tracking also. This will be added either to the final Fedora Core 2 release, or to erratum updates sometime after the initial release. Right now the installer is defaulting to the "vesa" driver because it does not recognize the hardware IDs, however once this is updated the card should autodetect properly and be configured to use the Radeon driver. The Radeon driver PCI ID updates are being tracked in bug #119789, which you may wish to add yourself to the CC list for instant notification of when the updates are available. I will mark this bug report as dependant on that one so they can be tracked together also. There's another bug concerning the monitor frequency lines being commented out in the config file, which may be contributing to some of the problems you're experiencing as well. That is bug #120950 if you wish to track it. We'll use this bug report to track the hardware autodetect issue for now, and if there are further problems once that is fixed and tested, they can be filed in separate reports and tracked individually. Thanks again for the information.
One additional note I forgot to mention, is that the monitor would not have been detected due to the video card not being detected. Once the video card is being detected properly, then the "radeon" driver should be able to properly DDC probe your monitor and detect it as well. Once the video card detection is fixed, there are still a few reasons why it might still fail to detect the monitor, but we can explore those later if it is still a problem also. Thanks again.
The current rawhide hwdata package should autodetect all supported Radeon hardware correctly, and assign the "radeon" driver now. Setting status to "RAWHIDE"