Fatal Server Error: AddScreen/ScreenInit failed for driver 0

Hi all,

I have just installed Debian 4.0 "Etch", from the cover DVD of the
October edition of Linux Magazine.

X fails to start up. Fact: I know pretty much nothing about setting
about X!

I get the error in the subject line, and:

(EE) GARTInit: Unable to open /dev/agpgart (no file or directory)
(EE) I810(0): Internal error:maxCacheLine < 0 in
I830Allocate2Dmemory()
(EE) I810(0): Failed to allocate framebuffer. Is your videoram set too
low ??


What could the problem be, and how do I fix it?

Thanks for your time!

Jim

Jim staggered into the Black Sun and said:
> I have just installed Debian Etch. [But] X fails to start up. I know
> pretty much nothing about X!

If you're a complete n00b, Debian may be the wrong distro for you.

> (EE) GARTInit: Unable to open /dev/agpgart (no file or directory)
> (EE) I810(0): Failed to allocate framebuffer. Is your videoram set too
> low ??
> What could the problem be, and how do I fix it?

The first error may point to the FOO_agp and agpgart modules not being
loaded. modprobe those modules. If you don't know what FOO_ is, find
out with lspci like so:

clairissa:~$ lspci | grep 'AGP\|VGA'
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82855PM Processor to AGP
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M10 NT [FireGL
Mobility T2]

This shows that this machine has an Intel AGP chipset and an ATi FireGL
T2 video chipset, meaning that I'd use the intel_agp kernel module and
the radeon X module. What's the specific video chip in your machine?
There are about 20 different i810 variants. Most of them are supported,
but Etch's X is old enough that it might not support the most recent
variants.

--
That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
--Trevor Goodchild, Aeon Flux
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see