Stop fglrx from loading on boot/unload fglrx module without uninstalling it

Question

I have a Fedora 19 install on a laptop, which has Intel integrated graphics & discrete AMD graphics. I have been using the radeon driver, which works for most stuff - though I have recently tried the fglrx driver, and found it to be quite a bit faster and have better power management, though some OpenGL based programs won't run correctly.

So how can I disable the fglrx driver from loading upon boot, so it fall backs onto the radeon driver?

I have tried doing this by editing the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-fglrx.conf file

# Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
# radeon conflicts with AMD Linux Graphics Driver
blacklist radeon

by commenting the blacklist radeon line, and adding `blacklist fglrx_pci

List item

` below it. This just resulted in the GUI login screen not loading, so I had to switch to a TTY and edit back to what it was.

lspci -k with fglrx installed (the only difference with it not installed is Subsystem: Lenovo Radeon HD 6370M/7370M is not shown, and radeon is used as the AMD driver* - when just blacklisted I think the only change is radeon is used):

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 397a
    Kernel driver in use: i915
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
    Kernel driver in use: mei
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
    Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
    Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b5)
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
    Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
    Kernel driver in use: lpc_ich
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 4 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
    Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
    Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Robson CE [Radeon HD 6370M/7370M]
    Subsystem: Lenovo Radeon HD 6370M/7370M
    Kernel driver in use: fglrx_pci
07:00.0 Ethernet controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR8152 v2.0 Fast Ethernet (rev c1)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3979
    Kernel driver in use: atl1c
08:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Broadcom Corporation Device 051b
    Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridge

Here is the RPM made by the installer (the installer offers install directly or build packages for openSUSE or RedHat, I used the latest RedHat 64a option), and here are the RPM install/uninstall scripts extracted from it.

I know about have tried using modprobe to remove the module when the system has booted - this does not work, resulting in modprobe: FATAL: Module fglrx is in use.

Blacklisting the driver (and removing /etc/X11/xorg.conf - one needs to be created after installing fglrx (it looks like this), and fedora does not need one anyway ) works in that the radeon driver is used instead - the problem here is that then quite a few applications don't work, and Gnome Shell & GDM show this: Oh no something has gone wrong GDM & GNOME error screen

However, uninstalling the driver and rebooting always works.

For instance, applying this blacklist in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-fglrx.conf:

# Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
# radeon conflicts with AMD Linux Graphics Driver
#blacklist radeon
blacklist fglrx
blacklist amd_iommu_v2
blacklist fglrx_pci

and removing xorg.conf results in the above GDM error. I can then (and have) switched to a TTY, and used systemctl to switch from GDM to LightDM and log into Xfce (which seems to work normally). Apps such as cairo-dock fail with segmentation faults. glxinfo gives:

name of display: :0.0
X Error of failed request:  BadRequest (invalid request code or no such operation)
  Major opcode of failed request:  153 (GLX)
  Minor opcode of failed request:  19 (X_GLXQueryServerString)
  Serial number of failed request:  12
  Current serial number in output stream:  12

systemctl show this as GDM's status (before I switched to LightDM + Xfce), even though it crashed:

 gdm.service - GNOME Display Manager
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/gdm.service; enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Mon 2014-11-10 17:15:27 GMT; 1min 34s ago
 Main PID: 471 (gdm)
   CGroup: name=systemd:/system/gdm.service
           ├─ 471 /usr/sbin/gdm
           ├─ 597 /usr/libexec/gdm-simple-slave --display-id /org/gnome/DisplayManager/Displays/_0
           ├─ 921 /usr/bin/Xorg :0 -background none -verbose -auth /run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-l88Ufh/database -seat seat0 -nolisten tcp vt1
           └─1102 gdm-session-worker [pam/gdm-launch-environment]

and lspci -k is as follows:

 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 397a
    Kernel driver in use: i915
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
    Kernel driver in use: mei
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
    Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
    Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b5)
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
    Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
    Kernel driver in use: lpc_ich
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 4 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
    Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3975
    Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Robson CE [Radeon HD 6370M/7370M]
    Subsystem: Lenovo Radeon HD 6370M/7370M
    Kernel driver in use: radeon
07:00.0 Ethernet controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR8152 v2.0 Fast Ethernet (rev c1)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3979
    Kernel driver in use: atl1c
08:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Broadcom Corporation Device 051b
    Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridge

Here also are the logs from /var/log/gdm/:0.log, /var/log/Xorg.0.log & /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old - I have checked the timestamps of each log, and I think the GDM & the old Xorg logs are the correct logs - the later Xorg log is the one from the current Xfce session, and should also be relevant.

I think the issue is either there is still some configuration somewhere telling it to use the fglrx driver, or there is a patched version of libGL (or something similar) which fglrx installed which needs fglrx (in which case this may be unsolvable.......).

vfbsilva · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-09 02:59:25Z

2

Use the modprobe command. Assuming the drivers are called radeon and fglrx you can:

modprobe -r radeon 
modprobe -r fglrx

In order to check if those are really the right modules do a lsmod

Assuming those procedures do what you need you can edit your modules

answered Nov 9, 2014 at 2:59

vfbsilva

3,6173 gold badges27 silver badges42 bronze badges

I know about modprobe & lsmod - the problem is I want it to use radeon, and not use fglrx_pci/fglrx, and work.... also it usually just results in modprobe: FATAL: Module NAME is in use. amd_iommu_v2 also appears to be part of fglrx.
– Wilf
Nov 9, 2014 at 14:41
Give me the exact command you used. And the exact message. Copy from terminal. The message suggests you did: mod probe fglrx_pci/fglrx while I tolkd you to do modprobe -r fglrx_pci/fglrx which is a total different deal. Please use proper commands and show the proper output.
– vfbsilva
Nov 10, 2014 at 12:38
1

I did modprobe -vr - the r to remove the module, and the v to show what it did. Trying to use modprobe to load a already existing module does not show anything in terminal anyway :). The issue is that when fglrx is removed, radoen is loaded, but remaining configuration or some other issue (e.g. xorg.conf is one) means that the graphics don't work properly. I will add this in more detail to the question when I have time.
– Wilf
Nov 10, 2014 at 12:50

Add a comment |

Wilf · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-19 19:47:08Z

I eventually just wrote a script that could be used to install and uninstall the driver, as well as set up the xorg.conf as my system required it:

#!/bin/bash
if [[ ! $(whoami) = "root" ]]; then
    echo -e "\033[1;31mPlease run this as root\033[0m"
    exit 1
fi

if [ "$1" = "enable" ]; then
    echo -e "\033[22;34mInstalling fglrx... ('/usr/share/fglrx64_p_i_c.x86_64')\033[1m\033[0m"
    sleep 3
    sudo rpm -ivh /usr/share/fglrx-amd-RPM/fglrx64_p_i_c-14.301.1001-1.x86_64.rpm
    if [ -f "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" ]; then
        echo "Backing up 'etc/X11/xorg.conf'"
        mv "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak.$(date)"
    fi
    echo "Preparing /etc/X11/xorg.conf"
    echo -e 'Section "ServerLayout"\n   Identifier     "aticonfig Layout"\n Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0\nEndSection\n\nSection "Module"\nEndSection\n\nSection "Monitor"\n   Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"\n Option      "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"\n Option      "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"\n   Option      "DPMS" "true"\nEndSection\n\nSection "Device"\n Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"\n   Driver      "fglrx"\n   BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"\nEndSection\n\nSection "Screen"\n   Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"\n    Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"\n    Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"\n   DefaultDepth     24\n   SubSection "Display"\n      Viewport   0 0\n        Depth     24\n  EndSubSection\nEndSection\n' > "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"

elif [ "$1" = "disable" ]; then
    echo "\033[22;34mUninstalling fglrx... ('fglrx64_p_i_c.x86_64')\033[1m\033[0m"
    sleep 3
    sudo rpm -ev fglrx64_p_i_c.x86_64
else
    lsmod | grep fglrx
    echo -e "\033[22;34mThe options for the script are 'enable' 'disable'\033[1m\033[0m"

fi
exit

I could of perhaps had a go at taking apart the rpm scripts to see what it did during install/uninstall, but the above solution I think is simpler.

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