SGI: Hardware

Am I toasting my V6?

pub_bronx avatar
pub_bronx
From Switzerland
Who joined Jan. 13, 2006, 10:39 a.m.
Wrote the following at May 17, 2006, 1:10 p.m...
Hello,
Tired of the poor resolution I had, I've decided to switch to a 1280x1024 mode. After several tries, I managed to set up my V6 to the wanted resolution. Here's the proof :

Code: Select all

# /usr/gfx/gfxinfo -vvv
Graphics board 0 is "ODYSSEY" graphics.
Managed (":0.0") 1280x1024
BUZZ version A.1
PB&J version 1
32MB memory
Banks: 2, CAS latency: 3
Monitor 0 type: Unknown
Input Sync: Voltage - Video Level; Source - Internal; Genlocked - False
Channel 0:
Origin = (0,0)
Video Output: 1280 pixels, 1024 lines, 59.00Hz (1280x1024_59)
Video Format Flags:  (none)
Sync Disabled
Using Gamma Map 0
Monitor Type:  unknown
Gain (all color components) - 0.000000 ; range [1,10]
#


Oh! I forgot a hinv -vm :

Code: Select all

# hinv -vm
Location: /hw/node
PM10600MHZ Board: barcode MZL357     part 030-1776-001 rev  B
Location: /hw/node/xtalk/15
IP30 Board: barcode KSC685     part 030-1467-001 rev  D
Location: /hw/node/xtalk/15/pci/2
FP1 Board: barcode KKZ898     part 030-0891-003 rev  G
PWR.SPPLY.ER Board: barcode AAE0460405 part 060-0035-002 rev  A
Location: /hw/node/xtalk/11
ODY32 Board: barcode LEB814     part 030-1403-003 rev  B
1 600 MHZ IP30 Processor
Heart ASIC: Revision F
CPU: MIPS R14000 Processor Chip Revision: 2.4
FPU: MIPS R14010 Floating Point Chip Revision: 0.0
Main memory size: 2048 Mbytes
Xbow ASIC: Revision 1.4
Instruction cache size: 32 Kbytes
Data cache size: 32 Kbytes
Secondary unified instruction/data cache size: 2 Mbytes
Integral SCSI controller 0: Version QL1040B (rev. 2), single ended
Disk drive: unit 1 on SCSI controller 0 (unit 1)
Disk drive: unit 2 on SCSI controller 0 (unit 2)
Disk drive: unit 3 on SCSI controller 0 (unit 3)
Integral SCSI controller 1: Version QL1040B (rev. 2), single ended
IOC3/IOC4 serial port: tty1
IOC3/IOC4 serial port: tty2
IOC3 parallel port: plp1
Graphics board: V6
Integral Fast Ethernet: ef0, version 1, pci 2
Iris Audio Processor: version RAD revision 12.0, number 1
PCI Adapter ID (vendor 0x10a9, device 0x0003) PCI slot 2
PCI Adapter ID (vendor 0x1077, device 0x1020) PCI slot 0
PCI Adapter ID (vendor 0x1077, device 0x1020) PCI slot 1
PCI Adapter ID (vendor 0x10a9, device 0x0005) PCI slot 3


I'm a bit upset: when I'm playing a movie with "neko_mplayer", I'm getting the movie window, plus flashing rectangles on the lower half of the screen. And those flashing rectangle also appear when I preview neko_xscreensavers. For both mplayer and xscreensaver, the flashes don't appear when I'm in a fullscreen mode.

The reason why I'm upset is that I read somewhere that there is a frequency bug in the V6/V8, which means that they shoudn't be able to manage a range of frequencies, whose lower bound is about 103 MHz (don't remember about the higher bound). When I launch 'xsetmon', I can see that the Pixel Clock has a value of 107,76 MHz. So do I have to crawl eBay for a new V6?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

PB
Octane R14k 600MHz, V6, 2048 MB RAM, 73GB HD0, 18GB HD1, 73GB HD2
schleusel
From NRW, Germany
Who joined Oct. 20, 2003, 6:49 a.m.
Wrote the following at May 17, 2006, 1:32 p.m...
pub_bronx wrote: The reason why I'm upset is that I read somewhere that there is a frequency bug in the V6/V8, which means that they shoudn't be able to manage a range of frequencies, whose lower bound is about 103 MHz (don't remember about the higher bound). When I launch 'xsetmon', I can see that the Pixel Clock has a value of 107,76 MHz. So do I have to crawl eBay for a new V6?


109-193MHz was the "forbidden" pixel clock range. Modes in that range can't be selected at all on V6 and V8 so you didn't do anything wrong. Modes that are close to the lower end of that range (like 1280x1024_59/60) are only allowed at 8 bytes/pixel framebuffer size and even at that setting some people reported display problems (noise, flickering) in other threads.
I never really tried it myself (I was running my V6 at 1600x1200 most of the time) but I suppose that might be what you're seeing. In that case another V6 will be of no help of course..
pub_bronx avatar
pub_bronx
From Switzerland
Who joined Jan. 13, 2006, 10:39 a.m.
Wrote the following at May 17, 2006, 2:58 p.m...
Hello schleusel,

First of all, thanks for your quick answer.

Modes that are close to the lower end of that range (like 1280x1024_59/60) are only allowed at 8 bytes/pixel framebuffer size and even at that setting some people reported display problems (noise, flickering) in other threads


I'm running a 1280x1024_59 mode at 16 bytes/pixel, which shouldn't be possible ?!?

How did you manage to push your V6 to a 1600x1200 resolution ? I'm not allowed to do this in 'xsetmon', in the 'Valid Formats' field :

Code: Select all

[...]
DX 1280x1024_59
[...]
X 1600x1200_**
[...]


Any trick ?

Thanks,
PB
Octane R14k 600MHz, V6, 2048 MB RAM, 73GB HD0, 18GB HD1, 73GB HD2
schleusel
From NRW, Germany
Who joined Oct. 20, 2003, 6:49 a.m.
Wrote the following at May 18, 2006, 2:53 a.m...
pub_bronx wrote: I'm running a 1280x1024_59 mode at 16 bytes/pixel, which shouldn't be possible ?!?

Try switching to 8 bytes/pixel and see if it improves the situation
How did you manage to push your V6 to a 1600x1200 resolution ?


no magic involved. 1600x1200 is only possible at 8 bytes/pixel. At 16 bytes/pixel it would need ~30MB framebuffer but the largest possible framebuffer on the 32MB boards is 24MB.
So first switch to 8 bytes/pixel framebuffer size and then to 1600x1200
pub_bronx avatar
pub_bronx
From Switzerland
Who joined Jan. 13, 2006, 10:39 a.m.
Wrote the following at May 18, 2006, 4:20 a.m...
Hello schleusel,
Thanks for the tip, I'll try it tonight.
PB
Octane R14k 600MHz, V6, 2048 MB RAM, 73GB HD0, 18GB HD1, 73GB HD2