[OpenIndiana-discuss] nvidia glitch

[Francois Dion]

None of the 256.x versions worked. nor 260. what a pain to test
this... I went back to the version shipped with OI and tried a
different approach.

The solution is that in the xorg.conf, one has to add:

Option            "CustomEDID" "DFP-0:/etc/X11/edid.bin:

Of course to get the EDID, one has to get the nvidia driver working
with the flat panel, but you cant until you get the custom edid...
Anyway, I was able to get it from a third party, it is only 128 bytes
long. If somebody needs it, let me know, I'll post it on my blog. This
is for the Sony 1600x900 panel.

Once I got that working, I enabled full effects. Now, this locks up
gconf2-d and pegs one of the cpu core, and gets X to consume a lot of
cycles too, so pretty quickly I was seeing 35W from powertop!

But no worry, once you log out and log back in, everything is back to
normal with a load of 0.02,  and the power use stabilises at 17w under
normal workload, with some regular incursions in the 15w (and 19-20w
under compile load). So really not bad. Under windows 7 the only way
to beat that is with the stamina mode (intel graphics) and all the
slowest settings (including no fancy aero stuff), rendering the laptop
pretty unusable, whereas under openindiana it just functions normally
with full compiz effects.

I did have to compile nvclock to get backlight control, and tied that
to F5 and F6 (couldn't figure out how to get a keycode for Fn-F5 and
Fn-F6).

Anyway, I figured somebody might need this information one day...

Francois

On 12/9/11, Francois Dion <francois.dion at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 4:11 AM, Francois Dion <francois.dion at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>> Version: OI 151a
>> hardware: sony vaio vgn-z series (core 2 duo P9600, not sandy bridge i5)
>>
>> So I am trying to boot OI and get an X desktop with compiz on my
>> laptop. When in stamina mode, it boots up ok using the intel
>> integrated graphics and screen is detected as 1600x900, but in speed
>> mode which selects the nvidia card, it just brings up a blank screen.
>>
>> Xorg.0.log then shows, as far as nv is concerned:
>>
>> (II) NVIDIA(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section
>>        "Builtin Default nvidia Screen 0" for depth/fbbpp 24/32
>> (==) NVIDIA(0): Depth 24, (==) framebuffer bpp 32
>> (==) NVIDIA(0): RGB weight 888
>> (==) NVIDIA(0): Default visual is TrueColor
>> (==) NVIDIA(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
>> (**) NVIDIA(0): Option "NoLogo" "True"
>> (II) Dec 08 22:41:53 NVIDIA(0): NVIDIA GPU GeForce 9300M GS (G98) at
>> PCI:1:0:0 (GPU-0)
>> (--) Dec 08 22:41:53 NVIDIA(0): Memory: 524288 kBytes
>> (--) Dec 08 22:41:53 NVIDIA(0): VideoBIOS: 62.98.63.00.06
>> (II) Dec 08 22:41:53 NVIDIA(0): Detected PCI Express Link width: 16X
>> (--) Dec 08 22:41:53 NVIDIA(0): Interlaced video modes are supported on
>> this GPU
>> (--) Dec 08 22:41:53 NVIDIA(0): Connected display device(s) on GeForce
>> 9300M GS at PCI:1:0:0
>> (--) Dec 08 22:41:53 NVIDIA(0):     none
>> (EE) Dec 08 22:41:53 NVIDIA(0): No display devices found for this X
>> screen.
>> (II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
>> (II) UnloadModule: "wfb"
>> (II) UnloadModule: "fb"
>> (EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.
>>
>> Fatal server error:
>> no screens found
>>
>> Please consult the OpenIndiana, based on X.Org Foundation &
>> OpenSolaris sources support
>>         at http://openindiana.org/consolidation/xnv
>>  for help.
>> Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional
>> information.
>>
>> The URL in the message doesn't go anywhere...
>>
>> It appears that the display is not recognized by the nvidia driver. am
>> i using the right driver anyway with a stock OI install or do I need
>> to download something else from nvidia?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Francois
>
> I was able to get an desktop on an external display monitor through vga:
> https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-6KDXW4TfOyQ/TuIDWHy66AI/AAAAAAAAAGg/k43YxBm8BRU/s1152/Screenshot.png
> but clearly, there is nothing on the laptop screen, even forcing xinerama.
>
> and through hdmi to an hdtv:
> https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-8qpzsVqW2x4/TuIDRcPdpvI/AAAAAAAAAGY/UCQPirqy-Jo/s1024/Screenshot-1.png
>
> HDMI only works in speed mode as it is directly tied to the nvidia
> GPU, and it does work.
>
> So it appears the version of the driver that ships with OI has a
> problem with detecting the display on the laptop. I had read that this
> was a problem initially, but it was fixed in 256.x, so having 280.13
> on OI, I figured I'd be ok and didn't even think about it until this
> morning after I thought of testing with an external display.
>
> I could go to a 256.x version, but that is pretty old, maybe there is
> a more recent version that would work? Or anybody has a workaround for
> vaio z laptops? (the issue on these laptops is that the bios is the
> source of info for the nvidia, not the display bus - and I did enable
> in the bios the stamina/speed switch to static and not auto, in case
> somebody is wondering, if I hadn't, only the intel driver would come
> up, but power consumption would be high with both video modules
> enabled...)
>
> Francois
>