On Thu, Mar 25, 2004 at 08:30:34PM +0100, Christian Guggenberger wrote:
> On Thu, 2004-03-25 at 18:03, Mark Zimmerman wrote:
> > On Tue, Mar 16, 2004 at 05:35:39PM +0100, Christian Guggenberger wrote:
> > > On 16.03.2004   17:15 Mark Zimmerman wrote:
> > > >On Mon, Mar 15, 2004 at 11:59:05PM +0100, Christian Guggenberger wrote:
> > > >> On Mon, 2004-03-15 at 16:44, Mark Zimmerman wrote:
> > > >> > Greetings:
> > > >> >
> > > >> > I am running a mixed testing/unstable setup on a Dell system with the
> > > >> > Intel 865G onboard graphics device. I installed the latest Xfree86
> > > >> > packages 4.3.0-5 and everything works fine with one exception: I 
> > > >> > still
> > > >> > need to run the 865patch program to reserve video memory prior to
> > > >> > starting the X server. The changelog comments in xserver-xfree86
> > > >> > indicate that this should no longer be the case.
> > > >> >
> > > >> I'm not sure, if even XFree86 4.4 can work around all broken Dell
> > > >> Bioses...
> > > >>
> > > >> Well you could give it try:
> > > >> Basically, it should be sufficient to replace the following files
> > > >> (make a backup of the old ones)
> > > >> /usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86
> > > >> /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libpcidata.a
> > > >> /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libscanpci.a
> > > >> /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/i810_drv.o
> > > >>
> > > >> with those found at http://www.xfree86.org/~alanh/drivers/x86/
> > > >>
> > > >> See, if it works better then...
> > > >>  - Christian
> > > >
> > > >Good news and bad news: It looks like it is reserving memory properly.
> > > >The old log showed this:
> > > >(--) I810(0): Maximum space available for video modes: 832 kByte
> > > >and the new log shows this:
> > > >(--) I810(0): Maximum space available for video modes: 32576 kByte
> > > >
> > > >However, the X server fails to start. Here is what I see on the console:
> > > >
> > > >giving up.
> > > >xinit:  No such file or directory (errno 2):  unable to connect to X 
> > > >server
> > > >xinit:  No such process (errno 3):  Server error.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > 
> > > I'm busy right now, but I could check (actually not check, just merge 
> > > into 
> > > 4.3.0-5) all changes from HEAD's i810 driver within a week, or so, and 
> > > build some homebrew debian packages.
> > > I'll drop you a note, when I'm finished - maybe it would work then.
> > > 
> > >  - Christian
> > 
> > I have tried a few more experiments, with discouraging results:
> > 
> > 1. I downloaded the files (noted above) from xfree86.org and tried
> >    them. No luck.
> > 2. I tried various combinations of these with the ones from ~alanh.
> >    No luck.
> > 3. I went back to all of the ones from ~alanh and was unable to
> >    reproduce the partial success.
> > 4. I installed the latest OpenBSD snapshot which includes driver
> >    updates as recent as a week ago. No luck.
> > 
> > My bios revision is A03; this is the latest version available from
> > Dell. Perhaps older ones are better (less bad?) but I have no access
> > to them.
> > 
> 
> Hi Mark.
> 
> I did some further tests on our Dell Optiplex GX270 Systems.
> 
> To sum up:
> a) Neither XFree4.4 nor debian's 4.3.0-7 is able to work on the GX270 if
> BIOS a03 is used  - it would only work with the help of 865patch program
> by C. Zietz.
> 
> b) Dowgrading the BIOS to a02 _and_ setting it's BIOS VideoBuffer Option
> to 8MB helps. (with both 4.4 and 4.3.0-7)
> 
> The Bios image's called gx270a02.exe  - go grab it from dell's ftp
> server (in subdir 'bios'), if you have a GX270, of course.
> 
> I've heard rumours that some GX270 refuse to downgrade to a02 - don't
> force it, it might destroy your Bios completely.
> 

Downgrading to A02 fixed everything -- both debian 4.3.0-7 and OpenBSD
4.4. Thanks for the insight.

-- Mark

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