Nouveau - Apr 2010 - [Bug 27706] New: Blank screen and "Error referencing VRAM ctxdma: -12" on NV44A with ubuntu lucid beta 2 (worked in alpha 3)

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=27706

           Summary: Blank screen and "Error referencing VRAM ctxdma:
-12"
                    on NV44A with ubuntu lucid beta 2 (worked in alpha 3)
           Product: xorg
           Version: 7.5
          Platform: x86 (IA32)
        OS/Version: Linux (All)
            Status: NEW
          Severity: critical
          Priority: medium
         Component: Driver/nouveau
        AssignedTo: nouveau at lists.freedesktop.org
        ReportedBy: mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com
         QAContact: xorg-team at lists.x.org


Created an attachment (id=35110)
 --> (https://bugs.freedesktop.org/attachment.cgi?id=35110)
Dmesg on ubuntu lucid beta 2 installed (does not work)

I can't start the ubuntu lucid beta 2 liveCD on a computer with a Nvidia
GeForce 6200 (NV44A rev A1) : the screen stays blank after booting.
It works properly with a ubuntu lucid alpha 3 liveCD (which probably uses a
previous version of nouveau) and ubuntu karmic liveCD (which uses nv driver)

I managed to install the beta 2 on this computer through the alternate CD : the
behavior is the same when booting on the hard drive.
I installed all the updates (as of 16th april 2040) : same behavior

I experience the precise same behavior with Fedora live : Fedora 12 live boots
correctly (but relies on "nv" driver), Fedora 13 beta live gives the
same blank
screen (and also uses "nouveau" driver).

I think this is a regression in the "nouveau" graphic driver : the
version
bundled with lucid alpha 3 works, the one with lucid beta 2 (or fedora 13 beta)
does not.
Here is an excerpt of the dmesg on beta 2 :
  nouveau 0000:03:00.0: RAMHT space exhausted. ch=0
  nouveau 0000:03:00.0: Error referencing VRAM ctxdma: -12
  nouveau 0000:03:00.0: gpuobj -12

This error message does not appear when using lucid alpha 3.

I found that adding "nouveau.noaccel=1" as a boot parameter is a
workaround,
both on ubuntu lucid beta 2 and on fedora 13 beta

My motherboard is a Asus A7N8X-E deluxe, on which a GeForce 6200 video card
(branded MSI) is in the AGP port.

You will find attached the dmesg of :
- ubuntu lucid beta 2 installed (does not work)
- ubuntu lucid alpha 3 liveCD (works)
- ubuntu lucid beta 2 installed, with nouveau.noaccel=1 (works)

lspci gives :
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV44A [Geforce 6200] (rev
a1)

I first opened this bug on ubuntu launchpad :
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-nouveau/+bug/564617

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--- Comment #1 from mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com 2010-04-16 13:05:40 PDT ---
Created an attachment (id=35111)
 --> (https://bugs.freedesktop.org/attachment.cgi?id=35111)
Dmesg on ubuntu lucid alpha 3 live CD (works)

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--- Comment #2 from mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com 2010-04-16 13:06:34 PDT ---
Created an attachment (id=35112)
 --> (https://bugs.freedesktop.org/attachment.cgi?id=35112)
Dmesg on ubuntu lucid beta 2 installed, with nouveau.noaccel=1 (works)

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mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Attachment #35110|application/octet-stream    |text/plain
          mime type|                            |

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mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Attachment #35111|application/octet-stream    |text/plain
          mime type|                            |

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mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Attachment #35112|application/octet-stream    |text/plain
          mime type|                            |

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mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com
           See Also|                            |https://launchpad.net/bugs/
                   |                            |564617

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--- Comment #3 from mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com 2010-04-16 13:35:21 PDT ---
Here are the different versions of libraries used by ubuntu (I don't know
which
ones are relevant in this case) :

On beta 2 (with all current updates) :
xorg 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
libdrmnouveau1 2.4.18-1ubuntu3
xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.15+git20100219+9b4118d-0ubuntu5
kernel 2.6.32-21-generic (on x86)

On alpha 3 liveCD :
xorg 1:7.5+1ubuntu8
libdrmnouveau1 2.4.18-1ubuntu2
xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.15+git20100219+9b4118d-0ubuntu2
kernel 2.6.32-14-generic (on x86)

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--- Comment #4 from Xavier <shiningxc at gmail.com> 2010-04-16 14:42:47
PDT ---
Ok first, I noticed these strange differences :
dmesg-beta2:[    6.686828] Linux agpgart interface v0.103
dmesg-beta2:[    6.709693] agpgart: Detected NVIDIA nForce2 chipset
dmesg-beta2:[    6.725012] agpgart-nvidia 0000:00:00.0: AGP aperture is 64M @
0xe0000000
dmesg-beta2:[    8.814073] agpgart-nvidia 0000:00:00.0: AGP 3.0 bridge
dmesg-beta2:[    8.814090] agpgart: modprobe tried to set rate=x12. Setting to
AGP3 x8 mode.
dmesg-beta2:[    8.814097] agpgart-nvidia 0000:00:00.0: putting AGP V3 device
into 8x mode
dmesg-alpha3:[    4.397083] Linux agpgart interface v0.103
dmesg-alpha3:[    5.005571] agpgart: Detected NVIDIA nForce2 chipset
dmesg-alpha3:[    5.012047] agpgart-nvidia 0000:00:00.0: AGP aperture is 64M @
0xe0000000

It might be worth to understand why that changed first, before looking at the
rest. Unless someone tells you otherwise :)

(In reply to comment #3)
> Here are the different versions of libraries used by ubuntu (I don't
know which
> ones are relevant in this case) :
> 
> On beta 2 (with all current updates) :
> xorg 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
> libdrmnouveau1 2.4.18-1ubuntu3
> xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.15+git20100219+9b4118d-0ubuntu5
> kernel 2.6.32-21-generic (on x86)
> 
> On alpha 3 liveCD :
> xorg 1:7.5+1ubuntu8
> libdrmnouveau1 2.4.18-1ubuntu2
> xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.15+git20100219+9b4118d-0ubuntu2
> kernel 2.6.32-14-generic (on x86)
I suppose you can exclude xorg and xorg nouveau driver, since you apparently
get that problem right when nouveau initializes, before touching X.

There remains libdrm nouveau and the kernel. The problem is that these are
ubuntu packages, and to people external to ubuntu (like all nouveau developers,
and many users, like me), it's not easy to know exactly what code that is
using.

If you could point out the equivalent upstream code, it would help.
For libdrm : http://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/drm/
For drm/ttm :
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/airlied/drm-2.6.git;a=shortlog;h=drm-next
For nouveau drm : http://cgit.freedesktop.org/nouveau/linux-2.6/

More importantly, how do we know that this latest upstream code would not work
for you ?

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--- Comment #5 from Marcin Slusarz <marcin.slusarz at gmail.com>
2010-04-16 14:48:11 PDT ---
please try video=vga16fb:off kernel parameter and attach kernel log

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--- Comment #6 from mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com 2010-04-16 15:10:55 PDT ---
Thanks Xavier and Marcin for your quick answers.

Xavier, I had noticed the extra lines regarding AGP x8 (see
https://bugs.launchpad.net/nouveau/+bug/564617/comments/3).
What is sure is that I did not touch anything inside the PC, or in the BIOS.

Is there an easy way to test with an upstream version of nouveau? I might run a
liveCD, or even install another OS if it's really necessary.

Marcin,
I tried the "video=vga16fb:off" parameter : I can see the ubuntu logo,
but then
I only see grey lines on the screen (see attached photo)
Then, the PC seems frozen : I can only do a hard power-off
You'll find the dmesg and corresponding kern.log attached

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--- Comment #7 from mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com 2010-04-16 15:15:38 PDT ---
Created an attachment (id=35118)
 --> (https://bugs.freedesktop.org/attachment.cgi?id=35118)
Photo of grey lines that appear with option "video=vga16fb:off"

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--- Comment #8 from mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com 2010-04-16 15:16:30 PDT ---
Created an attachment (id=35120)
 --> (https://bugs.freedesktop.org/attachment.cgi?id=35120)
Dmesg on ubuntu lucid beta 2 installed, with video=vga16fb:off

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--- Comment #9 from mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com 2010-04-16 15:17:11 PDT ---
Created an attachment (id=35123)
 --> (https://bugs.freedesktop.org/attachment.cgi?id=35123)
kern.log on ubuntu lucid beta 2 installed, with video=vga16fb:off

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--- Comment #10 from mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com 2010-04-16 15:21:08 PDT ---
Maybe I should add that my screen is plugged on the DVI interface, not the VGA
one
The AGP x8 is enabled in the BIOS

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--- Comment #11 from mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com 2010-04-16 15:31:56 PDT ---
Regarding the version number of libdrmnouveau1, normally ubuntu uses a prefix
for the version upstream, and a suffix for the patches it applies on it.
So, I suppose it is based on version 2.4.18 (
http://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/drm/tag/?id=2.4.18 )
The changelog of ubuntu patches are there :
http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/main/libd/libdrm/libdrm_2.4.18-1ubuntu3/changelog
The difference between version "ubuntu2" and "ubuntu3" seems
to be the
correction of this bug :
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-nouveau/+bug/547124
, that did not apparently affect me, and that corresponds to the following
commit :
http://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/drm/commit/?id=df32c307e8f81b46ee8aa4dd7222fc18f175bbb3
Not sure if it's really relevant in our case.

Maybe version alpha3 of ubuntu had the option "nouveau.noaccel=1" by
default,
and not in version beta2? Which would explain the difference of behavior even
if the versions are very close.

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--- Comment #12 from mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com 2010-04-16 15:41:54 PDT ---
Regarding the kernel used by ubuntu, the changelog is there :
http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/main/l/linux/linux_2.6.32-21.32/changelog

There has been a few changes that consist in disabling acceleration for
specific cards. See for example
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/544088
Well, disabling acceleration is a workaround in my opinion, not a real fix...

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--- Comment #13 from mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com 2010-04-16 23:45:32 PDT ---
In any case, I don't think this could be due to ubuntu patches because the
behavior is the same with fedora 13 beta

The versions used by fedora seem a bit more recent :
kernel 2.6.33.1-24-fc13.i686
xorg-x11-drv-nouveau 1:0.0.16-2.20100218git2964702.fc13
libdrm 2.4.19-1.fc13

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--- Comment #14 from Xavier <shiningxc at gmail.com> 2010-04-17 02:48:09
PDT ---
(In reply to comment #13)
> In any case, I don't think this could be due to ubuntu patches because
the
> behavior is the same with fedora 13 beta
> 
> The versions used by fedora seem a bit more recent :
> kernel 2.6.33.1-24-fc13.i686
> xorg-x11-drv-nouveau 1:0.0.16-2.20100218git2964702.fc13
> libdrm 2.4.19-1.fc13
Fedora has the advantage that its maintained and supported by a nouveau
developer (actually the main one working on the kernel side). But you also
should use the distrib bug tracker in that case.

Going back to ubuntu, it's not just a matter of what custom patches they
have
applied (though that's very important to know too), but also what changed
between the working and broken version.
You said the main new changes was a quirk to disable accel ? How could that be
the problem, since the new version only works when accel is disabled, and you
need to do that manually ?
Anyway it seems the noaccel quirks do no affect your card, and should cause a
message to be displayed when they are used.
http://people.canonical.com/~apw/raof-nv-accel-lucid/

Building latest code manually has several advantages :
- check if it has already been fixed there
- easy way for everyone to see what code you tried
- you can update whenever you want, and quickly apply patches if needed
- if it's indeed a regression, you can git bisect it to find the offending
commit

Instructions are there :
http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/InstallNouveau
http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/InstallDRM

PS : a lot of what I said here is not specific to that bug, more a general
concern about how nouveau bugs should be handled

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--- Comment #15 from Christopher James Halse Rogers <chalserogers at
gmail.com> 2010-04-17 04:06:19 PDT ---
So, the pertinent changes between Lucid Alpha 3 and Beta 2 would be:
Alpha 3 had the nouveau kernel module + drm + ttm from linux 2.6.33 + the
ctxprog voodoo generator backported, in the out-of-tree
linux-backports-modules.
Beta 2 has the drm stack from 2.6.33.2 + a number of fixes pulled in from
nouveau/linux-2.6

If you're interested in bisecting, it should be quicker to start with
2.6.33.2
- if that works, then the problem is in one of the small number of backported
nouveau patches we've got.  If it doesn't, it should be relatively quick
to
bisect from 2.6.33 to 2.6.33.2

If you're uncomfortable building this stack from source, the xorg-edgers PPA
has recent snapshots, available here:
https://edge.launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa

If that works, then this bug can be closed because it's already fixed.  If
that
doesn't work then you'll probably need to do some building from source
in order
to identify which change broke it.

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--- Comment #16 from Marcin Slusarz <marcin.slusarz at gmail.com>
2010-04-17 04:58:48 PDT ---
Before you start bisecting:
video=vga16fb:off does not work because in Ubuntu vga16fb is compiled as module
and kernel parameters does not affect it - you have to blacklist it by hand.
There's "vga16fb: not registering due to another framebuffer
present" (which is
Ubuntu addon) in kernel log so it should not load it, BUT it exercises broken
failure path in vga16fb which is iounmapping memory region which was not
ioremapped by vga16fb (VGA_MAP_MEM is defined differently on different
architectures - on x86 it's NOT ioremap), so it might affect nouveau - I
need
to investigate it more.

In reply to comment 13:
IIRC Fedora does not enable vga16fb, so:
- it might be diffent bug
- this bug is not related to vga16fb at all

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mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|NEW                         |RESOLVED
         Resolution|                            |FIXED

--- Comment #17 from mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com 2010-04-17 09:33:59 PDT ---
Christopher, you were right.
After upgrading to the PPA xorg-edgers packages, the problem seems to be solved
: I can boot successfully without changing any boot parameter.

So, it looks like the problem has already been solved in nouveau.
For further reference, the PPA version number of libdrm is
2.4.20+git20100404.c7650003-0ubuntu0sarvatt3 (instead of 2.4.18-1ubuntu3)
xserver-xorg-video-nouveau version is
1:0.0.15+git20100416.40636169-0ubuntu0sarvatt instead of
1:0.0.15+git20100219+9b4118d-0ubuntu5

The fix must be between these 2 versions.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you to all who had a look in this issue.

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--- Comment #18 from mossroy.mossroy at gmail.com 2010-04-17 09:44:36 PDT ---
Created an attachment (id=35135)
 --> (https://bugs.freedesktop.org/attachment.cgi?id=35135)
Dmesg on ubuntu lucid beta 2 installed, with updated PPA packages (works)

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