Ubuntu Wiki

Note: Currently, ATI Drivers for AMD64 are only available in Hoary

Warty Warthog (Ubuntu 4.10)

1. Install the following package for Warty:

   sudo apt-get install fglrx-driver

2. echo fglrx | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

   • This command won't have any effect until you reboot. To load the kernel module immediately, run sudo depmod -a ; sudo modprobe fglrx, but this will only work if you have already rebooted since upgrading the kernel. If it doesn't work, perform the next step (below) and then reboot.

3. Edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 and change "ati" to "fglrx", perhaps with a command like:

   • sudo sed -i -e 's/"ati"/"fglrx"/'/etc/X11/XF86Config-4. Alternatively, just use your favourite text editor, or use sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86 and select "fglrx" instead of "ati".

4. Restart your machine

Hoary Hedgehog (Ubuntu 5.04)

1. Install the xorg-driver-fglrx package:

   sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx

2. echo fglrx | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

   • This command won't have any effect until you reboot. To load the kernel module immediately, run sudo depmod -a ; sudo modprobe fglrx, but this will only work if you have already rebooted since upgrading the kernel. If it doesn't work, perform the next step (below) and then reboot.

3. Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and change "ati" to "fglrx", perhaps with a command like: sudo sed -i -e 's/"ati"/"fglrx"/' /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Alternatively, just use your favourite text editor, or use sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg and select "fglrx" instead of "ati".

4. Restart your machine

Notes

Common issue: If you have an nforce2 chipset motherboard or if your Xorg.0.log reveals troubles when initialising AGP, put this in the Device section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf: Option "UseInternalAGPGART" "no"

Note (optional): If you are going to compile 3d applications, you will want to install the fglrx-driver-dev package

Note If you are having problems related to DRI or 3d acceleration and the following lines show up in your /var/log/Xorg.0.log

(WW) fglrx(0): Kernel Module version does *not* match driver.
(EE) fglrx(0): incompatible kernel module detected - HW accelerated OpenGL will not work

then make sure you have linux-restricted-modules installed for your kernel (type sudo apt-get install linux-restricted-modules-$(uname -r)).

Note (optional): You might want to install the fglrx-control package, which provides a control panel to configure graphics card options such as dual-head display (two monitors).

Note If your screen goes blank after the reboot and your card has two outputs... try connecting your monitor to the other output. Or you can make the card send the same image to both outputs by adding the following line in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, in the same section where you put fglrx: Option "MonitorLayout" "Auto,Auto"

ATI driver version 8.12.10 is available in breezy, which should fix this problem + have a decent performance improvement.

Troubleshooting

execute the command:

fglrxinfo

Something like this should appear:

display: :0.0  screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: RADEON X800 PRO Generic
OpenGL version string: 1.3.4769 (X4.3.0-8.8.25)

If it doesn't, something is wrong. One solution is to try installing the drivers while X is stopped.

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to bring up a command-line terminal.

2. Login as root.

3. Execute the command:

/etc/init.d/gdm stop

4. Make sure the fglrx module isn't loaded with the command:

modprobe -r fglrx

5. Reinstall the drivers using apt.

apt-get install --reinstall linux-restricted-modules-2.6.10-5-<your architecture here> xorg-driver-fglrx

replace <your architecture here> with your architecture (386, 586, etc..)

6. Restart X with the command:

startx

CategoryDocumentation CategoryCleanup