Ubuntu Gutsy Installation Guide

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The latest fglrx driver supports Radeon 9500 and the X-series cards up to HD2900. Workstation cards are not supported.

Pre-Installation Checks

Enable "restricted" Repository

Make sure the restricted repository is enabled in /etc/apt/sources.list or this guide will not work!

System > Administration > Software Sources. Check "Proprietary Drivers for Devices (Restricted)" box.


Installation

Method 1: Install the Driver the Ubuntu Way

sudo apt-get update	
sudo apt-get install linux-restricted-modules-generic restricted-manager
sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx
sudo depmod -a

Note: The second line of the above may not be necessary. If apt says it cannot find the "linux-restricted-modules" package, try line 3. If that fails, check your sources.list (see top of page)

If the system complains about dependencies, use your preferred package manager to download python2.4 and, if necessary, its dependencies.

(Note: This method did not work with ATI X1300 Radeon on Gutsy whereas method 2 worked perfectly for us. 26/10/2007)

Method 2: Install the 8.42.3 Driver Manually

  • Note: This is just an alternative installation method for the section above. It might help if you still get 'DRI missing' errors.

Download the ATI driver installer: ati-driver-installer-8.42.3-x86.x86_64.run (this installer is for 32bit and 64bit systems)

Change to the download directory. Make sure that you have the universe and multiverse repositories enabled in /etc/apt/sources.list before doing these steps.

There is a detailed manual with screenshots at Ubuntu Wiki.

By default, Ubuntu did not enable the Universe and Multiverse repositories, but now in Gutsy, both Universe and Multiverse are activated by default.

Install necessary tools: 

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install module-assistant build-essential fakeroot dh-make debhelper \
debconf libstdc++5 linux-headers-generic

Create .deb packages:

(don't use fakeroot ,"fakeroot: nested operation not yet supported") 

sudo bash ati-driver-installer-8.42.3-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/gutsy

Blacklist old fglrx module from linux-restricted-modules:

As Ubuntu Gutsy's linux-restricted-modules package includes the fglrx module from an old driver version (8.37.6), we have to blacklist this module to make sure the new kernel module which is needed by the new driver will be used instead.

Ubuntu/Gnome users type in: 

gksu gedit /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

Kubuntu/KDE users type in: 

kdesu kate /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

Add "fglrx" to the line "DISABLED_MODULES"

File: /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common 
DISABLED_MODULES="fglrx"


Install .deb packages: 

sudo dpkg -i xorg-driver-fglrx_8.42.3-1*.deb \
fglrx-kernel-source_8.42.3-1*.deb \
fglrx-amdcccle_8.42.3-1*.deb
  • Note: If you get a 'Bad file descriptor' message concerning the xorg.conf file try switching user to root and repeating the same command without sudo. This might be valid for the following commands too. (Ubuntu Gutsy installs with no password set for root by default. You can set a password for the root by typing 'sudo passwd root' first.)
  • Note: If you have a 64 bit install, the above dpkg command will likely complain that "Errors were encountered while processing: fglrx-amdcccle". This is because of a dependency of the amdccle package on 32 bit libraries. If you recieve this error, issue the following command after the above dpkg command, which will force the installation of all of the 32 bit dependencies, and then the amdccle pacakge:
sudo apt-get install -f


Remove any old fglrx debs from /usr/src/: 

sudo rm /usr/src/fglrx-kernel*.deb

Fix broken dependencies

  • Note: You only need to do this if you have installed previous versions of these drivers using this method before.
sudo apt-get -f install

Compile the kernel module: 

sudo module-assistant prepare,update
sudo module-assistant build,install fglrx -f
sudo depmod -a

It's necessary, because sometimes this file is written by other packages, and so there's no 3D acceleration.


Create the following folder 

sudo mkdir /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/volatile

Note: the volatile directory might already exist at this stage then simply continue with the next step.

Create a symbolic link 

sudo ln -sf /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/misc/fglrx.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/volatile/fglrx.ko


IMPORTANT: You have to recompile the kernel module after each kernel update! (Note: How do you recompile the kernel? A simple reboot worked for us.)

Configure the Driver

  • Note Method 2 Users: Before you carry out this step you must reboot your machine. Or else the fglrx driver will not be in use on xorg.conf and using the aticonfig options will cause a memory dump and not intialise the Driver properly.
  • Note: An alternative to the aticonfig --initial command is to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and replace the string "ati" with "fglrx" in the "Device" section. This way you won't lose your old "Screen" and "Monitor" settings. Afterwards you can use aticonfig for setting overlay etc. Another alternative is aticonfig --initial --force if you encounter issues with the first command.
sudo aticonfig --initial

Then: 

sudo aticonfig --overlay-type=Xv
  • Note: Is there an alternative to the previous step?

Finish the Installation

Now save any open document and reboot your system: 

sudo shutdown -r now
  • Note: An alternative to rebooting is to restart the X Server by pressing your CTRL ALT BACKSPACE keys. You must remove any old kernel modules such as "drm" "radeon" or "fglrx" using the "rmmod" command. Example: sudo rmmod fglrx


Post-Installation Checks

Verifying

Run the following command to check its output to ensure the fglrx driver is installed properly: 

$ fglrxinfo
display: :0.0  screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600/9700 Series
OpenGL version string: 2.0.6650 (8.40.4)

The OpenGL vendor string should read ATI and not Mesa.

If it still says Mesa and not ATI, even after re-enabling the driver from the Restricted-manager: You can try the following:

  • Remove all the packages provided by the xserver-xorg-video-all meta-package (search for it using Synaptic or Adept), then restart the machine. The X Server should now use the new fglrx driver by force (provided the driver is being used in xorg.conf).
If you can't log in after this, you'll have to log in to a terminal in the login screen, and reinstall the xserver-xorg-video-all package. Your problem is probably somewhere else. (taken from [1]).

If you see a message like 'Xlib: extension "XFree86-DRI" missing on display ":1.0"' then you may have to add the following to /etc/X11/xorg.conf (see [2]):

File: /etc/X11/xorg.conf 
Section "Extensions"
    Option "Composite" "0"
EndSection


If you still see a message like "Xlib: extension "XFree86-DRI" missing on display ":0.0"." you may simply need to enable the restricted drivers.

Ubuntu and Kubuntu use a Restricted-Driver manager to load/unload non-FOSS drivers. Even if they are installed and specified in the xorg.conf does not mean they'll load properly.

To start the restricted manager in both Ubuntu & Kbuntu: 

sudo /usr/bin/restricted-manager

If you check the box to enable the restricted driver and reboot, it should work.

Additional configure with aticonfig tool

You can configure the driver even further with the aticonfig tool, more information can be found at Configuring.

For example:

  • use powerplay option to switch power state for battery friendly or performance mode
  • use dual head or one big desktop mode
  • turn second monitor on/off on the fly

Ubuntu-specific Issues

If installing on Ubuntu x64...

(thanks to Michael at Phoronix forums and aolana at Ubuntuforums.org)

Building packages for Ubuntu 64-Bit is known to be broken. If you're installing on Ubuntu 64-Bit, do this:

Download this: fglrx-8.42-ubuntu+debian-2.tar.bz2

Extract the installer: 

bash ati-driver-installer-8.42.3-x86.x86_64.run --extract somedirectory

Extract the archive you downloaded to the directory that you extracted the driver's installation files to.

Then build the package: 

./ati-installer.sh 8.42.3 --buildpkg Ubuntu/gutsy

Revert to Xorg driver

If (for any reason) the fglrx install fails, you can revert to the Xorg driver by executing 

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

and selecting the "ati" driver, or simply restoring the previous /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, if you made a backup.

You also need to remove the xorg-driver-fglrx or your manually installed drivers to get the 3D acceleration back, since it is provided by file /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.2 which belongs to libgl1-mesa package and which is moved to backup and replaced at the installation of xorg-driver-fglrx (or the manually built) package. In case the removal of the fglrx drivers fails to restore the file from libgl1-mesa, you have to reinstall the package by running: 

sudo apt-get install --reinstall libgl1-mesa

If suspend is not working

If suspend stops working after fglrx installation, meaning display will not initialize after attempting to resume, then changing a few options has been reported to work for some hardware .


For ATI X700 and ATI X1100 on Acer Aspire 5051:

File: /etc/default/acpi-support 
SAVE_VBE_STATE=false
POST_VIDEO=true
USE_DPMS=false

For ATI X1300 and the ATI X1400 on a Dell Inspiron 9400(*), also for ATI X1600 on Asus Z96J (using install method 2):

File: /etc/default/acpi-support 
POST_VIDEO=false

(*)It seems don't work for Dell Inspiron 6400 with ATI X1400.

If you get /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri/fglrx_dri.so not found

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/ /usr/X11R6/lib/modules

libGL error

  • fglrxinfo gives: libGL.so.1: cannot open shared object file.
  • Fixed with command:
sudo ln /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.2 /usr/lib/libGL.so.1

See Also

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