Can't start X: Failed to initialize DMA.

Graphics / Linux Linux
1

Hi,

I’m running Gentoo on an amd64 system, and want to run my GT520 card with nvidia drivers.
Kernel version is 3.6.8 vanilla sources, with the following configuration: [url]http://bpaste.net/show/61869/[/url]
xorg version is 1.13.0

Building the nvidia kernel module works fine, but when i start X, after validating the metamodes, it fails with “(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize DMA.”
I can’t find anything about this error on google, i tried dozens of diffrent kernel configurations and versions.
I even downgraded to nvidia driver version 304.64, but this version only freezes, showing a black screen but no error message.
Here’s a log of Xorg failing to start: [url]http://bpaste.net/show/61870/[/url]

Edit: I can’t attach the bugreport-log, as is’t not a picture(?!), i uploaded it: [url]http://btbn.de/files/nvidia-bug-report.log.gz[/url]

2

I see quite a few of these errors in your log file:

Dec  3 13:35:59 Syobon kernel: NVRM: Can't find an IRQ for your NVIDIA card!
Dec  3 13:35:59 Syobon kernel: NVRM: Please check your BIOS settings.
Dec  3 13:35:59 Syobon kernel: NVRM: [Plug & Play OS] should be set to NO
Dec  3 13:35:59 Syobon kernel: NVRM: [Assign IRQ to VGA] should be set to YES 
Dec  3 13:35:59 Syobon kernel: NVRM: The NVIDIA probe routine failed for 1 device(s).
Dec  3 13:35:59 Syobon kernel: NVRM: None of the NVIDIA graphics adapters were initialized!

This looks like a problem either in your kernel or in the system BIOS where interrupts are not getting set up correctly. Which motherboard are you using and what BIOS version does it have?

3

That seems to be a leftover from when i recompiled the kernel without recompiling the driver(Tested with/without IOMMU support which needs a module recompile). After i recompiled the module these messages stopped and the module loaded fine. But still the same DMA Error.
Even if i disable the indirect memory usage(3GB seemed a bit much on a system with onls 2GB ram), the DMA error stays.

It’s an ASRock G41MH/USB3 with an “up to date” bios 1.10 and an ASUS GT520 low profile card with 1GB vram.

The card works fine with nouveau drivers, but i need vdpau for video decoding.

4

According to the errors in the log, the GPU is reporting memory errors as soon as it’s initialized, preventing the X driver from starting up correctly. Do you have a different GPU you could try in the same slot to see if it’s a problem with the GPU?

5

Unfurtunaltely not, I only got my Laptop here.
I used this card for month on Windows and never had any problems.

And now i plugged in my Ubuntu Live Stick, and it shows(with nouveau driver) a lot of corrupted images and artifacts, specialy on animated spots.

So the cards memory broke? Could this be caused by the linux driver? Cause the very first time I started xorg on it, it came up properly, but froze later.
Is there anything i can do to test if the card or its memory realy got corrupted?

6

I’m not aware of any tools to check your GPU in Linux, but in Windows you should try Video Memory stress Test v1.7 - I won’t give any links, find it in Google.

You can also try running OCCTGPUv0.70.zip but it can easily fry your GPU unless you have proper ventilation.

7

Hi,
I just saw your post now, have you find a solution ?
I guess this is the same problem as here:

Bye
helmut

8

Internally Filed bug 1357839 to track this issue

9

Hey guys, I am not able to find exact Asus GT520 gpu, Is this happening with any other gpu?

10

Is there any process on this topic ?
The problem still persists and I got the same error with a Zotac H77 ITX Board with onboard GT620.

11

Good day!

I was struggling of DMA error on Zotac board as well. I managed to fix it today.

Look at my post in different thread: [url][Nvidia 319] Conflict with RAM - Failed to initialize DMA (Ubuntu 13.10) - Linux - NVIDIA Developer Forums