# How to get the Radeon driver to work in FreeBSD 10.2?



## GautamGoel (Aug 23, 2015)

Hi guys,

I successfully installed FreeBSD 10.2 on my Haswell box. Since 10.2 doesn't support Haswell graphics, I decided to try using an AMD FirePro v4900 (with a 6670 "Turk" chip) and the Radeon drivers. I tried setting `kldload radeonkms` but that led to a black screen. After reading this blog post (http://niltwill.heliohost.org/writings/freebsd-desktop.html) I was able to get it working very briefly; `xvinfo` showed that it was installed. But it stopped working when I rebooted, and also it kept flickering when it was working. Anybody know what Radeon works in 10.2? Thanks!

PS. Any idea when we can expect Haswell support? I don't mind waiting a month for a new 10.2 STABLE release, but I won't wait for a year... Don't make me go back to Linux guys...


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## sidetone (Aug 23, 2015)

Don't compile it into the kernel, and don't `kldload` it, not even drm or kms through startup. Let it load on it's own from the compiled modules that come with kernel compilation. Tested cards https://wiki.freebsd.org/Graphics#Tested_hardware_matrix . Haswell is predicted to be tested in September https://wiki.freebsd.org/Graphics/Update i915 GPU driver to Linux 3.8


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## GautamGoel (Aug 23, 2015)

Not quite sure what you mean, "let it load on it's own". I can assure you, it wasn't automatically loading. To put it another way, when I typed `startx` on my default install, I got a black screen.


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## wblock@ (Aug 23, 2015)

The configuration in that link is interesting, and touches on a lot of things that need to be better documented.

The example manually loads the i915 kernel module from rc.local.  Many people who do that find it causes problems.  The same goes for other video kernel drivers.  They will load automatically, so do not `kldload` them by yourself.

The example also does not install the full xorg.  There are lots of variations on that, but unless you are an expert and very low on disk space, just install x11/xorg.  Otherwise, things that expect a complete xorg can mysteriously not work.

Finally, test X without an xorg.conf.


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## GautamGoel (Aug 23, 2015)

I think what you two mean is that I should installed xorg from ports, not packages, so that it must compile and recognize my system. Is that correct?


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## wblock@ (Aug 23, 2015)

No, ports versus packages should make no difference.


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## sidetone (Aug 23, 2015)

Whenever a piece of hardware is put in, FreeBSD will automatically load it. Don't load it yourself, by `kldload`, through the kernel, or by configuring it on startup, because this software isn't always reliable as the one that autoloads. For instance run `kldstat` to see if it loaded. Then if you try loading these exact modules manually, it won't work.


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## GautamGoel (Aug 24, 2015)

Maybe I should say intel = "NO" or something - perhaps it's detecting the radeon but loading the Intel, which doesn't support my Haswell chip...


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## acheron (Aug 24, 2015)

Can you provide the informations mentionned here https://wiki.freebsd.org/Graphics#Reporting


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