i386/137822: System crashes leaving X when running vesa driver for S3 Inc. VT8375 [ProSavage8 KM266/KL266]

Sun Aug 16 07:20:03 UTC 2009

>Number:         137822
>Category:       i386
>Synopsis:       System crashes leaving X when running vesa driver for S3 Inc. VT8375 [ProSavage8 KM266/KL266]
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       serious
>Priority:       low
>Responsible:    freebsd-i386
>State:          open
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   current-users
>Arrival-Date:   Sun Aug 16 07:20:02 UTC 2009
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Peter L. Belew
>Release:        7.1
>Organization:
>Environment:
FreeBSD willy.belew 7.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 7.1-RELEASE #0: Thu Jan  1 14:37:25 UTC
2009     root at logan.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  i386

>Description:
This gBox computer runs Windows XP, Ubuntu Linux, and FreeBSD.

I just configured X and Gnome on this system. Xorg -configure produced an xorg.conf file, to which I added some screen resolution information from the same file on the Ubuntu OS. The vesa driver was used.

Before I added the xorg.conf file, the system was unable to find an appropriate screen mode. This is possibly because the Samsung SyncMaster 570S tft monitor I use does not provide sufficient information to the system regarding its possible sweep modes.

I started X as root by entering gdm. This seemed to function all right, but on logging out or trying to shut down or reboot from Gnome, the system froze up.

I had a similar experience earlier running Ubuntu, also using the vesa driver. In that case the problem was corrected by explicitly using a savage driver.

The Ubuntu bug was filed as bug # 404330 ... https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/414330

>How-To-Repeat:
Described above ... will provide more details if needed. The FreeBSD steps were essentially the same as for Ubuntu.
>Fix:
Possibly there is a driver specifically for this display card, rather than vesa. That was the solution on Linux.

Because probing for the display fails, it's necessary to provide an explicit xorg.conf.

>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: