Re: Performance problem for X in OpenBSD 4.2

I have realized that it may not be X that is the problem.
I noticed (when compiling JDK) that the system is really slow also when X is
not started.
Top showed that 75% of the time is used by interrupt handling.

So the problem seems to occur from start of the OpenBSD installation. I have
very similar systems (with no X) which is working superbly. Both systems use
a ASUS motherboards A8V-VM and A8N-VM versions.

I'm not sure how to track down the interrupt problem. I have removed
everything possible from the machine (except HD+keyboard), I have switched
HD between IDE and SATA, I have reinstalled OBSD 4.2 and tried to remove
ACPI functionality. I have also installed Ubuntu 7.10 on the same HW and
everything works OK (but it is not OpenBSD :( ).

(cont...)

I have now realized that the main difference between the working amd64
systems and the non working system is the subsystem that is based on nVidia
in the faulty one and VIA in the working systems.

I currently run three systems:

(works perfectly)
 OpenBSD 4.2 (GENERIC) #1179: Tue Aug 28 10:37:50 MDT 2007
    [email protected]:/usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile/GENERIC
real mem = 1005842432 (959MB)
avail mem = 965160960 (920MB)
mainbus0 at root
bios0 at mainbus0: SMBIOS rev. 2.3 @ 0xf0530 (54 entries)
bios0: vendor American Megatrends Inc. version "0203    " date 09/12/2005
bios0: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. K8V-MX
cpu0: AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 2800+, 1600.30 MHz

(works perfectly)
OpenBSD 4.2 (GENERIC) #1179: Tue Aug 28 10:37:50 MDT 2007
    [email protected]:/usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile/GENERIC
real mem = 1005907968 (959MB)
avail mem = 965222400 (920MB)
mainbus0 at root
bios0 at mainbus0: SMBIOS rev. 2.3 @ 0xf0730 (54 entries)
bios0: vendor American Megatrends Inc. version "080012 " date 06/19/2006
bios0: ASUSTeK Computer INC. A8V-VM
cpu0: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+, 2200.38 MHz

(This one have the interrupt problem)
OpenBSD 4.2 (GENERIC) #1179: Tue Aug 28 10:37:50 MDT 2007
    [email protected]:/usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile/GENERIC
real mem = 1005973504 (959MB)
avail mem = 965287936 (920MB)
mainbus0 at root
bios0 at mainbus0: SMBIOS rev. 2.3 @ 0xf06d0 (64 entries)
bios0: vendor American Megatrends Inc. version "0403   " date 10/05/2005
bios0: ASUSTeK Computer INC. A8N-VM
cpu0: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+, 2009.70 MHz

The N on A8N-VM stands for "NVIDIA GeForce 6150" which includes GPU, LAN and
USB etc.
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=210&model=766&modelmenu=1

As I understand NVIDIA is one of the vendors with poor HW documentation.
Debian/Ubuntu only support 800*600 resolution in the free version of the
driver and required proprietary BLOB to work fully.

I can't exactly narrow down which part of the drivers is the problem but it
seems likely that there are some problem with support
http://www.nabble.com/file/p15548021/X_problem.tgz X_problem.tgz  for the
NVIDIA chip set.

I just have to make sure to look more closely in the HW spec of the MB next
time ...
 
Best regards / Peter Ljung



Fred Crowson wrote:
> 
> Peter Ljung wrote:
>> I have used OpenBSD for different server solutions (mainly webservers and
>> firewalls) in the past few years. After a Windows XP crash, I decided to
>> give OpenBSD a try also on the desktop. I have installed X and XFCE to my
>> best effort (I'm new to X installation) following different guidelines
>> (including OpenBSD FAQ) provided on the net.
>> After a while I have managed to set up a seemingly working XFCE
>> environment
>> with only one caveat. The system is so slow that it is unusable by
>> practical
>> means. E.g. starting firefox take almost 4 minutes. Window movement is
>> painlessy slow. I have read a number of articles (e.g. from  
>> http://blogs.echothrust.com/pantelis-roditis/running-openbsd-workstations-part-2
>> echothrust blog ) on the net where OpenBSD has been used successfully on
>> the
>> desktop. So I still hope that I have done some stupid mistake. I would
>> prefer to stick to OpenBSD also on the desktop.
>> 
>> Do anyone know any common mistake that I could have done in my X setup?
>> Is there any way to check/benchmark the performance of X to verify if
>> everything is configured correctly.
>> 
>> Any guidance would be helpful! :-)
>> 
>> Best regards / Peter Ljung
>> 
>> (My current configuration is available as tgz and in text below ...)
>> 
> <snipped>
> 
> Try greping Xorg.0.log for any errors, or warnings:
> 
> nike:fred ~> grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log
>          (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
> (II) Loading extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
> (EE) Cannot find empty range to map base to
> nike:fred ~> grep WW /var/log/Xorg.0.log
> (WW) xf86AcquireGART: AGPIOC_ACQUIRE failed (Device not configured)
> (WW) GARTInit: AGPIOC_INFO failed (Device not configured)
>          (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
> (WW) MGA(0): Video BIOS info block not detected!
> 
> It might provide some clues....
> 
> HTH
> -- 
> http://www.crowsons.com/puters/x41.htm
> 
> 
> 

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