hybrid-graphics-linux team mailing list archive

[Andreas Heider <andreas@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi Peter,

I'm already saving the pci configuration space with pci_save/restore_state and I've also tried manually changing it through /sys/bus/pci/..., but I still have the problem that the blob can't load the vbios.

I've uploaded dumps of it, maybe you can spot something thats obviously wrong with it:
1. After boot: http://andreas.meetr.de/gmux/nv.config
2. After one powercycle: http://andreas.meetr.de/gmux/nv.bad.config
3. After one powercycle and copying the first config space back: http://andreas.meetr.de/gmux/nv.bad.config_restored

Unfortunately this still gives me the NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x30:0xffffffff:858) error.

Thanks,
Andreas


Am 08.03.2012 um 12:38 schrieb Lekensteyn:

> Hi Andreas,
> 
> I've documented about the PCI configuration space issue on
> http://wiki.bumblebee-project.org/ACPI-for-Developers. Bumblebee also saves
> and restores the PCI configuration space before enabling/after disabling.
> 
> Regards,
> Peter
> 
> On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 2:47 AM, Andreas Heider <andreas@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I'll just continue using this mailing list as a blog. After a lot of
> wild guesses in all directions I now have a setup that could be a base
> for useful graphics switching on Macbook Pros. It's not completely
> reliable yet but hopefully that will improve in the future.
> 
> Switching between two running GPUs works pretty well and just needs a
> bit more work. But that shouldn't be a big issue.
> 
> The main problem I fought with is that after powering down the external
> GPU the vbios vanishes and it's impossible to load the proprietary
> nvidia driver:
> 
> [  214.505208] NVRM: failed to copy vbios to system memory.
> [  214.507347] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x30:0xffffffff:858)
> [  214.507357] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
> 
> The same problem exists with nouveau, after the first power cycle
> nouveau doesn't load again if I unload it. I guess this is actually a
> BIOS/EFI/firmware bug, since Apple's switching driver just keeps the
> driver loaded.
> 
> So it's necessary to load the driver once and keep it loaded. This works
> well with nouveau+vga_switcheroo but is a bit problematic with the
> blob.
> 
> At the moment I have the blob running with the patch from my first mail
> and noticed that it survives a powercycle if X _is_ loaded while the GPU
> is powered down. If I shutdown X I get this error when I try to start it
> again afterwards:
> 
> [  144.390920] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1170)
> [  144.390930] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
> 
> I'm not 100% certain that this really works but at the moment it's the
> only possibility for getting full switching support with the blob.
> 
> Speaking of nvidia bugs, I also had problems with the blob not reliably
> loading when I boot with EFI.
> Luckily it's possible to also enable the integrated card in BIOS
> emulation mode. After staring a lot at the output of lspci -xxx from
> both EFI and BIOS boot I noticed that this just requires flipping one
> bit in the pci configuration space. This can be done by adding "setpci
> -d 8086:0044 54.b=0b" in grub. This value will most likely only work for
> this exact model, a MBP 6,2. For more information see
> http://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/322813.pdf page 62.
> 
> If anyone has some hints how to better deal with the blob that would be
> greatly appreciated.
> 
> On Wed, 2012-02-29 at 10:33 +0100, Lekensteyn wrote:
> > Hi Andreas,
> >
> > I'm using nouveau + bbswitch (switcheroo also works, but not after
> > resume), not on
> > a mac, but a Clevo B7130 (branded as "BTO P-BOOK 17CL34").
> >
> > The restoration of the PCI configuration space is a hack to allow the
> > driver to load
> > in case it was accidentally loaded while the card was off. This is
> > especially necessary
> > for the nvidia blob driver which loads itself if you try to
> > access /dev/nvidia* devices.
> >
> > In the case of switcheroo, no driver is attempted to be unloaded (see
> > the second field
> > of the switching_method struct and line 30 of src/switch/switching.c.
> 
> Sorry, that was my fault. I changed that for testing purposes and then
> forgot about it.
> 
> >
> > gmux can be integrated into BB. Writing a new switcher module
> > (src/switch/gmux.c)
> > which also takes care of loading the switcheroo module (only if that
> > is a safe operation!)
> > should do the trick. Just be careful not to conflict with switcheroo.
> > The other way is leave
> > BB as it and require users to load gmux before BB.
> 
> Because of vbios situation and nouveau already working pretty well with
> switcheroo I'd prefer to keep using that.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Peter
> 
> Cheers,
> Andreas
> 
> >
> > On Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 12:25 AM, Andreas Heider <andreas@xxxxxxxx>
> > wrote:
> >         Hi Peter,
> >
> >         I took another look at bumblebee today and got it running with
> >         nouveau!
> >         Bumblebee automatically powers the nvidia card down when it's
> >         not in
> >         use and starting programs with optirun works well.
> >
> >         This required a dirty hack to bumblebee which you can find
> >         here:
> >         https://github.com/ah-/Bumblebee/commit/c5ab6f0e7f841045cee6905bb367c79091b0eb6b
> >
> >         The problem is that bumblebee wants to save/restore the pci
> >         configuration
> >         space, which is already done by nouveau. (See
> >         https://gist.github.com/1935992)
> >
> >         It also shouldn't try to unload the driver.
> >
> >         Do you think this could somehow be integrated into bumblebee?
> >
> >         Cheers,
> >         Andreas
> >
> >         On Tue, 2012-02-28 at 16:14 +0100, Lekensteyn wrote:
> >         > Hi Andreas,
> >         >
> >         > vga_switcheroo is a supported method since Bumblebee 3.0,
> >         but I
> >         > assumed that
> >         > it would not be used for the nvidia driver. If you wish to
> >         use the
> >         > nvidia blob with
> >         > switcheroo, you have to recompile Bumblebee and apply commit
> >         > 85636d1f21b0644e7dd47e3931479860c55b7a05 (or use the develop
> >         branch).
> >         > The
> >         > next version will have this change too.
> >         >
> >         > One shortcoming of vga_switcheroo now is that the state is
> >         messed up
> >         > after
> >         > suspend: switcheroo remembered that the card was off, but in
> >         reality
> >         > the card
> >         > is on. The module bbswitch worked around this by enabling
> >         the card
> >         > before
> >         > suspend and disabling the card on resume.
> >         >
> >         > In some cases, while the card was turned off with switcheroo
> >         caused
> >         > the machine
> >         > to lock when the card is tried to be accessed. If switcheroo
> >         is not an
> >         > option for
> >         > Bumblebee, you can write your own switching code. See the
> >         src/switch/
> >         > directory
> >         > for examples.
> >         >
> >         > Regards,
> >         > Peter
> >         > (Bumblebee and bbswitch developer)
> >         >
> >         > On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 3:16 PM, Andreas Heider
> >         <andreas@xxxxxxxx>
> >         > wrote:
> >         >         Hello everybody,
> >         >
> >         >         I'm developing a vga_switcheroo driver for the Apple
> >         Macbook
> >         >         Pro models
> >         >         with switchable graphics and have a few questions
> >         about how to
> >         >         integrate
> >         >         it with the current linux hybrid graphics
> >         infrastructure.
> >         >
> >         >
> >         >         Apple implemented the switching using a "chip"
> >         dubbed the
> >         >         "gmux" (probably short for graphics multiplexer or
> >         something
> >         >         similar).
> >         >         The gmux can power down the external graphics card,
> >         switch the
> >         >         DDC,
> >         >         internal and external display connections
> >         (individually)
> >         >         between both
> >         >         cards and set the backlight brightness. Unlike most
> >         newer
> >         >         laptops with
> >         >         hybrid graphics, Apple's Macbook Pros use a physical
> >         mux.
> >         >
> >         >         Luckily the gmux has remained mostly the same
> >         between all
> >         >         models with
> >         >         switchable graphics, so it should be possible to
> >         develop one
> >         >         driver that
> >         >         supports all of them.
> >         >
> >         >
> >         >         This driver has actually been lying around in
> >         unfinished state
> >         >         for some
> >         >         time now, until Seth Forshee from Canonical recently
> >         rewrote
> >         >         it into a
> >         >         clean, backlight-only driver that will hopefully
> >         find it's way
> >         >         into
> >         >         mainline soon.
> >         >
> >         >         My goal is to use Seth's work as a base and add the
> >         other
> >         >         features back
> >         >         again and make it work well. A first version is
> >         already
> >         >         working and up
> >         >         at https://github.com/ah-/gmux
> >         >
> >         >         This driver supports all vga_switcheroo operations
> >         (discrete
> >         >         power
> >         >         on/off, display switching) and they all work on my
> >         MBP 6,2
> >         >         using the
> >         >         intel and nouveau drivers.
> >         >
> >         >         But unfortunately, it doesn't work with bumbleebee
> >         and/or the
> >         >         proprietary
> >         >         nvidia driver yet.
> >         >
> >         >
> >         >         Because I'm using CUDA in other projects, getting
> >         the
> >         >         proprietary NVIDIA
> >         >         driver running well is very interesting to me. The
> >         setup
> >         >         bumblebee plus
> >         >         intel + nvidia_current without power management
> >         works well on
> >         >         my laptop
> >         >         if I switch to the intel card in grub. (It's just
> >         three
> >         >         outbs). But that
> >         >         breaks suspend and uses 10W more power than
> >         necessary.
> >         >
> >         >         Does/should bumblebee work with a vga_switcheroo
> >         driver just
> >         >         for ON/OFF?
> >         >
> >         >         One thing I stumbled upon is a patch for the
> >         proprietary
> >         >         NVIDIA
> >         >         driver originally written by "Kayo
> >         <kayo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>" which
> >         >         adds
> >         >         some kind of vga_switcheroo support to it. I
> >         modified it to
> >         >         just register
> >         >         with switcheroo (patch is attached), and that part
> >         works well.
> >         >         Turning
> >         >         off the card works, but turning it on afterwards
> >         doesn't. Any
> >         >         Ideas?
> >         >
> >         >
> >         >         Ultimately I'd like to get two scenarios/workflows
> >         to work
> >         >         well:
> >         >
> >         >         1. Real switching, by disabling one card completely
> >         and only
> >         >         using
> >         >         the other one, requiring a logout/login.
> >         >         Preferably using the NVIDIA driver.
> >         >
> >         >         2. Bumblebee switching with working power management
> >         when the
> >         >         NVIDIA
> >         >         GPU is not in usw.
> >         >
> >         >
> >         >         I'd appreciate any comments and thoughts on how to
> >         implement
> >         >         this and
> >         >         how to integrate it with the current hybrid graphics
> >         >         environment.
> >         >
> >         >         Cheers,
> >         >         Andreas
> >         >
> >         >         _______________________________________________
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> >         >
> >         >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
>