Trying to switch back to a console after starting X causes monitor to report out of scan range and will not display an image. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Use vga console with radeon. 2. Start X 3. Ctrl+Alt+F1 back to a console. Actual Results: Monitor reports out of scan range (115.1kHz/120Hz) Expected Results: Console appears. I'm currently using the 2.6.2-gentoo kernel. I have also experienced this problem with 2.6.1 2.4.23-ck1. VESA support enabled in kernel, not radeon. Radeon support actually makes it worse. Portage 2.0.49-r20 (default-x86-1.4, gcc-3.2.3, glibc-2.3.2-r9, 2.6.2-gentoo) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.2-gentoo i686 AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2600+ Gentoo Base System version 1.4.3.10 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CFLAGS="-O2 -march=athlon-xp -pipe" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" COMPILER="gcc3" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /opt/glftpd/etc /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3.1/share/config /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/share/config /usr/share/texmf/tex/generic/config/ /usr/share/texmf/tex/platex/config/ /var/qmail/control" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=athlon-xp -pipe" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoaddcvs ccache sandbox" GENTOO_MIRRORS="ftp://mirrors.tds.net/gentoo" MAKEOPTS="-j2" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="3dnow X alsa apm arts avi berkdb bonobo cdr crypt cups directfb encode esd foomaticdb gatos gdbm gif gnome gpm gtk gtk2 imlib java jpeg kde libg++ libwww mad mikmod mmx motif mozilla mpeg mysql ncurses nls oggvorbis opengl oss pam pdflib perl png postgres python qt quicktime readline ruby sdk sdl slang spell sse ssl svga tcpd tetex truetype x86 xft xml2 xmms xv zlib video_cards_radeon"
If you use a lower refresh rate in X, does that change anything? Try setting the VertRefresh line in XF86Config to a smaller upper limit, such as 75.
I would like to say i resolved the problem. I've seen many forum posts regarding this topic with no successful answers so I will tell all what I've found. This may apply to non-AIW cards as well. If linux is booted with anything connected to the TVOUT or S-VIDEO out on the card, this error is produced as well as X not starting at all using gatos or ati drivers. Simply unplug anything connected to TVOUT or S-VIDEO Out to resolve the issue. Maybe someone will fix this in software soon...