Problem: ATI fglrx, Fedora Core 5, HP nw8240 Notebook

[C. J. Clegg]

Trying to get Fedora Core 5 up and running on my HP nw8240 notebook
computer. I know I need to install the proprietary ATI driver for the
video chip on my machine. Downloaded the file
ati-driver-installer-8.27.10-x86.run from the ATI website (took me
five days to do that ... their website wouldn't serve that file from
last Thursday until this afternoon). Made sure I had the kernel
source and build environment installed in the right place. Ran the
ATI installer and everything seemed to go to completion without error,
until the very end where it said "Errors found, see log file at
<I.forget.the.pathname>".

Below is the contents of that log file. Everything seems to go
successfully without error or serious warning, then at the end it says
"Kernel Module : Failed to install compiled kernel module - please
consult readme.".

First of all, what ^%#$ "readme"? There was no "readme" file that I
could find that had anything to do with ATI drivers.

In any case, though, from the log it looks like I got a successful
module build and install, right up until the very end where it
complained about failing to install.

Any ideas?

= = = = = <Contents of log follows> = = = = =

[Message] Kernel Module : Trying to install a precompiled kernel
module.
[Message] Kernel Module : Precompiled kernel module version
mismatched.
[Message] Kernel Module : Found kernel module build environment,
generating kernel module now.
ATI module generator V 2.0
==========================
initializing...
cleaning...
patching 'highmem.h'...
assuming new VMA API since we do have kernel 2.6.x...
Assuming default VMAP API
doing Makefile based build for kernel 2.6.x and higher
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5/build
SUBDIRS=/lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5-i686'
CC [M] /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/firegl_public.o
/lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/firegl_public.c:2230: warning:
‘deferred_flush’ defined but not used
LD [M] /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/fglrx.o
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST
Warning: could not find
/lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/.libfglrx_ip.a.GCC4.cmd for
/lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/libfglrx_ip.a.GCC4
CC /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/fglrx.mod.o
LD [M] /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/fglrx.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5-i686'
build succeeded with return value 0
duplicating results into driver repository...
done.
==============================
- recreating module dependency list
- trying a sample load of the kernel modules
failed.
[Error] Kernel Module : Failed to install compiled kernel module -
please consult readme.

 

[Tony DiMarzio]

Trying to get Fedora Core 5 up and running on my HP nw8240 notebook
computer. I know I need to install the proprietary ATI driver for the
video chip on my machine. Downloaded the file
ati-driver-installer-8.27.10-x86.run from the ATI website (took me
five days to do that ... their website wouldn't serve that file from
last Thursday until this afternoon). Made sure I had the kernel
source and build environment installed in the right place. Ran the
ATI installer and everything seemed to go to completion without error,
until the very end where it said "Errors found, see log file at
<I.forget.the.pathname>".

Below is the contents of that log file. Everything seems to go
successfully without error or serious warning, then at the end it says
"Kernel Module : Failed to install compiled kernel module - please
consult readme.".

First of all, what ^%#$ "readme"? There was no "readme" file that I
could find that had anything to do with ATI drivers.

In any case, though, from the log it looks like I got a successful
module build and install, right up until the very end where it
complained about failing to install.

Any ideas?

= = = = = <Contents of log follows> = = = = =

[Message] Kernel Module : Trying to install a precompiled kernel
module.
[Message] Kernel Module : Precompiled kernel module version
mismatched.
[Message] Kernel Module : Found kernel module build environment,
generating kernel module now.
ATI module generator V 2.0
==========================
initializing...
cleaning...
patching 'highmem.h'...
assuming new VMA API since we do have kernel 2.6.x...
Assuming default VMAP API
doing Makefile based build for kernel 2.6.x and higher
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5/build
SUBDIRS=/lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5-i686'
CC [M] /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/firegl_public.o
/lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/firegl_public.c:2230: warning:
â?~deferred_flushâ?T defined but not used
LD [M] /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/fglrx.o
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST
Warning: could not find
/lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/.libfglrx_ip.a.GCC4.cmd for
/lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/libfglrx_ip.a.GCC4
CC /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/fglrx.mod.o
LD [M] /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/fglrx.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5-i686'
build succeeded with return value 0
duplicating results into driver repository...
done.
==============================
- recreating module dependency list
- trying a sample load of the kernel modules
failed.
[Error] Kernel Module : Failed to install compiled kernel module -
please consult readme.

Hmmm... I've also had problems... many, many problems with ATI's linux
drivers. Haven't had a chance to try "ati-driver-installer-8.27.10-x86.run"
yet.

It sound like it failed to load the ATI driver into memory.
cat /proc/modules | grep "fglrx" <-- I think it is... not sure... they might
have changed the driver name. See if it's loaded, and used, or not.
also, restart the linux box. Make sure /etc/inittab is set for run level 3
( not 5 ).
Try to insmod and/or modprobe the ATI driver manually and see what info it
spews. Also check dmesg and /var/log/messages.

Start there... and try to narrow it down. There's got to be a little more
verbosity logged elsewhere.

Tony

 

[Tom Horsley]

You would probably be better off visiting rpm.livna.org
and checking out their fedora kernel modules for installing
the fglrx drivers. Much simpler than the ATI installer
and less likely to screw up your system libraries (which,
unfortunately are probably already screwed up now that
you used ATIs installer - some web searches will probably
turn up descriptions of how to recover your original
mesa libraries).

 

[C. J. Clegg]

Thanks, I will try that.

It's a brand new installation of FC5 so probably the easiest thing for
me to do is just stick the DVD in the drive and re-install the whole
OS since I have nothing to lose by doing that.

 

[Tony DiMarzio]

You would probably be better off visiting rpm.livna.org
and checking out their fedora kernel modules for installing
the fglrx drivers. Much simpler than the ATI installer
and less likely to screw up your system libraries (which,
unfortunately are probably already screwed up now that
you used ATIs installer - some web searches will probably
turn up descriptions of how to recover your original
mesa libraries).

New in the 8.27.10 release, is the ability to generate Fedora Core distro
specific installer packages.

--out of the release notes--
Fedora Core Package Support
This release of the ATI Proprietary Linux driver adds Fedora Core package
support on top of the growing list of per distribution generatable packages.
Fedora Core users are encouraged to use this mechanism to install the ATI
Linux Proprietary Driver.
---------------------------

The ATI Installer can be used as a front end to generate the Fedora Core
driver package.

Tony