Error inserting mgag200 when booting an EFI System with Matrox VGA

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 4 (SLES 11 SP4)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 3 (SLES 11 SP3)

Situation

The following message is found (with dmesg)when booting an EFI system with Matrox G200 graphic device:

FATAL: Error inserting mgag200 (/lib/modules/3.0.101-63-default/kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/mgag200/mgag200.ko): 
Invalid argument

Resolution

This behaviour is intentional; there is no need to worry about.

On SLE11-SP3 and SP4, the Kernel graphics Mode Setting (KMS) for Matrox G200, AST and Cirrus graphic devices are enabled only in Secure Boot mode. Although these kernel driver modules are loaded automatically at boot, they won't be enabled and give some kernel warning message. The graphics on these devices itself is supported well via X11 User Mode Setting driver (UMS), and it's even more stable and functional than KMS for SLE11 code base. But, in secure boot, due to its device locking for security reason, UMS driver cannot get the direct access to the hardware; thus, KMS mode is applied for secure boot instead.

If the decision is made to use KMS instead of UMS in non-secure boot mode, pass modeset=1 option to each kernel driver (mgag200, ast or cirrus, respectively). e.g. for Matrox, pass mgag200.modeset=1 boot option.

Additional Information

This issue does obviously show up, not only for Matrox, but also for AST and Cirrus graphic cards.

Disclaimer

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