On Sun, 21 Mar 2004, Mark Vojkovich wrote:
> > I am using the latest BIOS for my machine, a DELL Dimension XPS R400.
> > The BIOS version is A13, the newest thing from Dell's website. Albiet,
> > it was created in 1999, but it's the newest they have.
> > There is no onboard video on my motherboard - the second video device
> > the X-server thinks it found is the SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Value card
> > (CT4830). There are no video ports on the sound card, just 4 audio jacks
> > and a MIDI/Joystick port. Proof of this list error is found by running
> > "lspci", which says the SB Live! is a "VGA Compatible Unclassified
> > Device". Here's the output from that:
> That sounds like a motherboard BIOS bug then, or a bug with the
> SB Live card's PCI config space.
It's "b)". Creator is notorious for producing adapters that mis-advertise
their PCI type as 00/01 ("prehistoric" VGA) instead of 04/01 (multimedia
audio).
Also, the motherboard BIOS has no way of overriding these types.
> Adding:
> BusID "PCI:0:13:0"
> to the Section "Device" will force the ATI driver to use the
> correct card. Hopfully XFree86's RAC support isn't confused by
> the two "VGA compatible" devices.
That helps, certainly, but by then, this hardware bug has already caused
us to not mark the Radeon as the primary adapter. This causes an attempt
to re-initialise the Radeon, which is not a good idea due to a separate
bug in its BIOS.
This'll require a code change to fix. But I'm not sure what the
best way to fix this is. There's a mechanism in the server to override
advertised PCI types, but it's not pervasive, affecting only certain
areas. Anyway, I'll look into it.
In the meantime, I'd suggest ripping out the Creative, perhaps replacing
with an adapter that doesn't display this problem.
Marc.
+----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Marc Aurele La France | work: 1-780-492-9310 |
| Computing and Network Services | fax: 1-780-492-1729 |
| 352 General Services Building | email: tsi@xxxxxxxxxxx |
| University of Alberta +-----------------------------------+
| Edmonton, Alberta | |
| T6G 2H1 | Standard disclaimers apply |
| CANADA | |
+----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
XFree86 developer and VP. ATI driver and X server internals.
_______________________________________________
XFree86 mailing list
XFree86@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/xfree86
