MGA G200 issue in 6.12 and up

MGA G200 issue in 6.12 and up

[Wakko Warner]

I decided to upgrade to 6.14 on a system with a Matrox G200 onboard vga
(supermicro X9SCL).

I use this system via the BMC.  When the mgag200 driver loads, the bmc
screen flashes between no signal and the screen.  The rate seems to be about
1 second no signal and 1 second with signal.

6.12 and 6.13 both have this problem.

6.11 does not have this problem.

I have a monitor plugged into the vga port and it doesn't have this problem
on any of the kernels I've tried.  Only the remote connection through the bmc
has this problem.  I have booted the system with and with out the monitor
plugged in, it does not appear to make a difference.

-- 
 Microsoft has beaten Volkswagen's world record.  Volkswagen only created 22
 million bugs.

Re: MGA G200 issue in 6.12 and up

[Wakko Warner]

I found the fix that works for me.  See below.

Wakko Warner wrote:
> I decided to upgrade to 6.14 on a system with a Matrox G200 onboard vga
> (supermicro X9SCL).
> 
> I use this system via the BMC.  When the mgag200 driver loads, the bmc
> screen flashes between no signal and the screen.  The rate seems to be about
> 1 second no signal and 1 second with signal.
> 
> 6.12 and 6.13 both have this problem.
> 
> 6.11 does not have this problem.
> 
> I have a monitor plugged into the vga port and it doesn't have this problem
> on any of the kernels I've tried.  Only the remote connection through the bmc
> has this problem.  I have booted the system with and with out the monitor
> plugged in, it does not appear to make a difference.

I found a thread on arch linux forums
(https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=303819) where the op has the
same issue.  He bisected and came up with the bad commit.
That commit is 
d6460bd52c27fde97d6a73e3d9c7a8d747fbaa3e drm/mgag200: Add dedicated variables
for blanking fields

I searched this commit and manually reverted it from my vanilla 6.14 and it
works fine.  No blinking in the BMC remote console and the external VGA
works fine as well.

-- 
 Microsoft has beaten Volkswagen's world record.  Volkswagen only created 22
 million bugs.

Re: MGA G200 issue in 6.12 and up

[David Airlie]

adding some people

On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 10:35 AM Wakko Warner <wakko@animx.eu.org> wrote:
>
> I found the fix that works for me.  See below.
>
> Wakko Warner wrote:
> > I decided to upgrade to 6.14 on a system with a Matrox G200 onboard vga
> > (supermicro X9SCL).
> >
> > I use this system via the BMC.  When the mgag200 driver loads, the bmc
> > screen flashes between no signal and the screen.  The rate seems to be about
> > 1 second no signal and 1 second with signal.
> >
> > 6.12 and 6.13 both have this problem.
> >
> > 6.11 does not have this problem.
> >
> > I have a monitor plugged into the vga port and it doesn't have this problem
> > on any of the kernels I've tried.  Only the remote connection through the bmc
> > has this problem.  I have booted the system with and with out the monitor
> > plugged in, it does not appear to make a difference.
>
> I found a thread on arch linux forums
> (https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=303819) where the op has the
> same issue.  He bisected and came up with the bad commit.
> That commit is
> d6460bd52c27fde97d6a73e3d9c7a8d747fbaa3e drm/mgag200: Add dedicated variables
> for blanking fields
>
> I searched this commit and manually reverted it from my vanilla 6.14 and it
> works fine.  No blinking in the BMC remote console and the external VGA
> works fine as well.
>
> --
>  Microsoft has beaten Volkswagen's world record.  Volkswagen only created 22
>  million bugs.
>

Re: MGA G200 issue in 6.12 and up

[Thomas Zimmermann]

Hi,

thanks for reporting.

Am 16.04.25 um 03:46 schrieb David Airlie:
> adding some people
>
> On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 10:35 AM Wakko Warner <wakko@animx.eu.org> wrote:
>> I found the fix that works for me.  See below.
>>
>> Wakko Warner wrote:
>>> I decided to upgrade to 6.14 on a system with a Matrox G200 onboard vga
>>> (supermicro X9SCL).
>>>
>>> I use this system via the BMC.  When the mgag200 driver loads, the bmc
>>> screen flashes between no signal and the screen.  The rate seems to be about
>>> 1 second no signal and 1 second with signal.
>>>
>>> 6.12 and 6.13 both have this problem.
>>>
>>> 6.11 does not have this problem.
>>>
>>> I have a monitor plugged into the vga port and it doesn't have this problem
>>> on any of the kernels I've tried.  Only the remote connection through the bmc
>>> has this problem.  I have booted the system with and with out the monitor
>>> plugged in, it does not appear to make a difference.
>> I found a thread on arch linux forums
>> (https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=303819) where the op has the
>> same issue.  He bisected and came up with the bad commit.
>> That commit is
>> d6460bd52c27fde97d6a73e3d9c7a8d747fbaa3e drm/mgag200: Add dedicated variables
>> for blanking fields
>>
>> I searched this commit and manually reverted it from my vanilla 6.14 and it
>> works fine.  No blinking in the BMC remote console and the external VGA
>> works fine as well.

I sent out a patch for what I think is the problem. See

https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20250416083847.51764-1-tzimmermann@suse.de/

Testing and feedback would be much appreciated.

Best regards
Thomas

>>
>> --
>>   Microsoft has beaten Volkswagen's world record.  Volkswagen only created 22
>>   million bugs.
>>

-- 
--
Thomas Zimmermann
Graphics Driver Developer
SUSE Software Solutions Germany GmbH
Frankenstrasse 146, 90461 Nuernberg, Germany
GF: Ivo Totev, Andrew Myers, Andrew McDonald, Boudien Moerman
HRB 36809 (AG Nuernberg)