[SOLVED] Tearing w/ XOrg Drivers / XBMC "Crashes"

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Blackout STi

[SOLVED] Tearing w/ XOrg Drivers / XBMC "Crashes"

Post by Blackout STi »

I have an AMD Radeon HD 7870 card. Running LM17 with the default kernel (3.13 - 24 or something). I have found mutterings of AMD's lack of support for Linux, etc. However, I cannot find a solution to my small issue... Just bashing on AMD.

SO, I was using the default (xserver-xorg-video-ati) driver. I experienced severe vertical tearing when watching movies. So I thought I'd go ahead and switch to the fglrx-updates driver, then enable Tear-Free desktop.

No more tearing BUT - now XBMC will not display properly. That is of course an understatement. It is totally glitched out, and usually locks my computer up to the point where I cannot even use CTRL + ALT + F2 and blindly enter 'sudo service mdm restart'.

I saw some mentions that XBMC has said that "AMD sucks and does not support video acceleration" (or something like that). I don't know if that has something to do with why the program itself will not work when the proprietary driver is installed or what, but XBMC won't work for me now.

So my current situation:
fglrx - Can enable tear-free to remedy vertical tearing, but XBMC doesn't work.
xserver-xorg-video-ati - XBMC works, but terrible vertical tearing.

So, is there a way to enable v-sync on the xserver-xorg-video-ati driver so that XBMC launches and I don't have to suffer through the tearing during video playback? Or perhaps a way to make XBMC work with the fglrx driver?

A solution to my problem will probably save my life tonight. Thanks in advance!
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
grungy_me
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Re: Tearing w/ XOrg Drivers / XBMC "Crashes" with Proprietar

Post by grungy_me »

@Blackout STi

I don't know the answer as to how to enable vsync with the open source AMD graphic drivers. I had terrible problems with it too with games. How about trying the the latest beta 14.6 7/14/2014 graphics driver from AMD's web site to see if that fixes anything?
Blackout STi

Re: Tearing w/ XOrg Drivers / XBMC "Crashes" with Proprietar

Post by Blackout STi »

I have tossed around the idea of using 14.6. It sketches me out a bit though, because I have never learned the proper way to install it. There are a bunch of tutorials around that say the "correct" way to is "blah...". All have different instructions. I'll post here if I give it a shot.

Did you say you had issues with the proprietary driver tearing? (Catalyst Control Center) I am having tearing issues with the default XOrg driver. I hope the proprietary driver doesn't act up on me too :(
grungy_me
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Re: Tearing w/ XOrg Drivers / XBMC "Crashes" with Proprietar

Post by grungy_me »

@Blackout STi

No, I had issue with the default XOrg driver causing all kinds of screen tearing in videos and games. Never with the proprietary AMD driver with tear free desktop enabled.

I'll give you instructions right here about how to install it. It's very easy. The instructions from AMD's web site are not exact on because they use a command (sudosh) that is not included in LinuxMint by default. Download the beta 14.6 driver and extract the .zip file. When it is extracted, you'll have two files and "Doc" folder that has all the documentation in it within the main extracted folder. Open up your terminal in that main extracted folder named "fglrx-14.20" and type in:

Code: Select all

sudo amd-driver-installer-14.20-x86.x86_64.run
This starts the graphical wizard installation. Select the install driver option, and later choose the automatic mode of installation. When it's all done re-boot LinuxMint.

Then go into the AMD Catalyst Control Center which is in the Settings folder of the start menu, and enable the "Tear free desktop" mode which is under "Display Options" and "Tear Free".

If you want to uninstall:
To uninstall the driver, run fglrx-uninstall.sh, which is located in /usr/share/ati directory. You have to do this with superuser privileges. The uninstallation script should remove all files copied by the installer, and restore your system to the original state it had before installation.
So open up your terminal and change to that directory:

Code: Select all

cd /usr/share/ati
Then run the uninstall script with superuser privileges:

Code: Select all

sudo ./fglrx-uninstall.sh
This puts you right back to using the default open source AMD driver.
Blackout STi

Re: Tearing w/ XOrg Drivers / XBMC "Crashes" with Proprietar

Post by Blackout STi »

grungy_me wrote:@Blackout STi

No, I had issue with the default XOrg driver causing all kinds of screen tearing in videos and games. Never with the proprietary AMD driver with tear free desktop enabled.

I'll give you instructions right here about how to install it. It's very easy. The instructions from AMD's web site are not exact on because they use a command (sudosh) that is not included in LinuxMint by default. Download the beta 14.6 driver and extract the .zip file. When it is extracted, you'll have two files and "Doc" folder that has all the documentation in it within the main extracted folder. Open up your terminal in that main extracted folder named "fglrx-14.20" and type in:

Code: Select all

sudo amd-driver-installer-14.20-x86.x86_64.run
This starts the graphical wizard installation. Select the install driver option, and later choose the automatic mode of installation. When it's all done re-boot LinuxMint.

Then go into the AMD Catalyst Control Center which is in the Settings folder of the start menu, and enable the "Tear free desktop" mode which is under "Display Options" and "Tear Free".

If you want to uninstall:
To uninstall the driver, run fglrx-uninstall.sh, which is located in /usr/share/ati directory. You have to do this with superuser privileges. The uninstallation script should remove all files copied by the installer, and restore your system to the original state it had before installation.
So open up your terminal and change to that directory:

Code: Select all

cd /usr/share/ati
Then run the uninstall script with superuser privileges:

Code: Select all

sudo ./fglrx-uninstall.sh
This puts you right back to using the default open source AMD driver.
First of all, thank you for taking the time to explain, in detail, the steps to install the driver! I did not realize AMD revamped the driver and made it easier to install on linux. It even states that AMD made this driver easier to work with Ubuntu 14.04 derivitives... So it is not the hassle it once was.

I am a little confused however, the .zip file was titiled 'linux-amd-catalyst-14.6-beta-v1.0-jul11.zip', however, the directory inside that zip is titled 'fglrx-14.20'. in fact, everything (including Catalyst Control Center) states that the driver installed is 14.2. I am not sure if this is laziness on AMD's part, an error, or just me doing something wrong. (The latter is highly unlikely since I am the greatest at installing drivers - kidding)

Oddly enough, XBMC now runs without issue :) Also, with 'Tear-Free' enabled, I no longer have anything to complain about. My OCD is trippin a little about the 14.6 showing 14.2. But I am happier than I was (since I can now use my computer)
grungy_me
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Re: Tearing w/ XOrg Drivers / XBMC "Crashes" with Proprietar

Post by grungy_me »

@Blackout STi

Hurray! :)

Don't worry about the version discrepancies. It makes no sense to me either, but that's the way it is. The bottom line is that it fixes your problem.

Please alter your post title so it shows [SOLVED] in it.
Blackout STi

Re: Tearing w/ XOrg Drivers / XBMC "Crashes" with Proprietar

Post by Blackout STi »

I will mark solved, as soon as I remember how to do that. I know I need to 'change the title', but it is completely unintuative... Oh geeze. Thanks again!

EDIT: Figured it out: EDIT post and add '[SOLVED]'. Totally should have a 'Mark Solved' button somewhere...
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