Arch Linux

jofagettis

Member

Registered: 2018-11-22

Posts: 11

[SOLVED] Problems with AMD and X

Hello everyone!
I've had arch linux running on my dell laptop for few months by now, and it works perfectly fine on it. But today I went and installed arch on my desktop computer, after an succesful installation I began installing i3-gaps, xserver, etc. and drivers for my GPU (AMD R9 390). The system works just fine when in tty, but when launching x, i3 starts with small white terminal window (haven't configured yet) in the top left corner of my screen and it basically freezes there. I can't do anything with keyboard and there is no cursor, so only way out is by holding the power button on my pc.

I've searched online for answers, and found few threads, but nothing has yet worked. I'm not sure if I'm searching with correct keywords or anything, so I decided to ask here for help.

Driver package I installed is xf86-video-ati based on this https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg#AMD. I tried the xf86-video-amdgpu, but it didn't work at all, I only got a black screen with that.

Also I've noticed some stuff when experimenting with different displays. I have dual monitor setup, with primary monitor being 4k and second 1080p. I've had different results when unplugging one at a time and starting up the pc. Sometimes there are multiple copies of the same terminal window on the screen in random positions, and sometimes just black screen. I've had few times my 1080p monitor say something in lines of "invalid video signal".
Here's picture of the screen: https://imgur.com/a/KYq70V5

I've found no errors on the xorg log file, there are only few warning about some fonts, but I don't think it would cause something like this.

Pc specs:
cpu: xeon e3-1231 v3 (no internal graphics)
gpu: amd r9 390
ram: 8gb

Here's lspci output on VGA:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Hawaii PRO [Radeon R9 290/390] (rev 80)

Last edited by jofagettis (2018-12-02 09:31:32)

2ManyDogs

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2012-01-15

Posts: 4,648

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with AMD and X

Are you running X as root? Don't do that. How are you starting X? If you are using 'startx' please post your .xinitrc file. Please also post your Xorg log. Use [ code ] tags or a pastebin client (not pastebin.com).

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2018-11-22 18:52:08)

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 19,106

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with AMD and X

Also the output of `dmesg` please.

jofagettis

Member

Registered: 2018-11-22

Posts: 11

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with AMD and X

I'm starting X with startx command.

Here's my .xinitrc file:

exec i3

Here's the log file:
https://ptpb.pw/ZKH0

jofagettis

Member

Registered: 2018-11-22

Posts: 11

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with AMD and X

Also the output of `dmesg` please.

Here:
https://ptpb.pw/_oum

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 19,106

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with AMD and X

I would suggest trying AMDGPU#Enable_Southern_Islands_(SI)_and_Sea_Islands_(CIK)_support as I believe that GPU is Sea Islands index5h2.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,697

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with AMD and X

Try adding "amdgpu.dc=0" to the kernel parameters: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Kernel_parameter
Also please fix your xinitrc, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xinit#xinitrc - see the second note.

Edit: whoops.
nb. that when enforcing amdgpu, you might switch from xf86-video-radeon to the modesetting driver, you might want to rule out that this is the actually relevant change.

Last edited by seth (2018-11-22 19:17:49)

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How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

digitalone

Member

Registered: 2011-08-19

Posts: 355

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with AMD and X

I got the same VGA family and DO NOT suggest to use amdgpu driver. Its support to Sea Island is experimental. I tried it and it works good to me except that GPU hardware decoding does not work in some situations. Uninstall xf86-video-amdgpu and just go with radeon driver, follow everything reported here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ATI

jofagettis

Member

Registered: 2018-11-22

Posts: 11

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with AMD and X

Hey again and sorry for not responding in a while!
I got it to work thanks to you guys! Basically it came all down not having read the wiki carefully enough

nannerpussy

Member

Registered: 2017-02-15

Posts: 96

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with AMD and X

I too have been using a SeaIslands gen Radeon GPU in my build and let me reiterate: do not use the amdgpu drivers. Install the plain old radeon package even if the GCN support chart for your chipset says it will support amdgpu. My Radeon HD7750 fell right smack on the bubble of being legacy'd by AMD and forced into the legacy catalyst drivers or being supported by amdgpu/radeon drivers, which was a pain in the ass when all the GCN 2.0 support stuff and mesa changed, but now it's been a rock and with the right kvm and kernal params like the ones mentioned above, it runs perfectly for being this old. Forcing amdgpu drivers got me nothing but pain and misery even though it was technically possible.

Edit: Oh, change the topic and add [SOLVED] if you can so mods know and future readers might find clues.

Last edited by nannerpussy (2018-12-02 00:32:41)

jofagettis

Member

Registered: 2018-11-22

Posts: 11

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with AMD and X

I too have been using a SeaIslands gen Radeon GPU in my build and let me reiterate: do not use the amdgpu drivers. Install the plain old radeon package even if the GCN support chart for your chipset says it will support amdgpu. My Radeon HD7750 fell right smack on the bubble of being legacy'd by AMD and forced into the legacy catalyst drivers or being supported by amdgpu/radeon drivers, which was a pain in the ass when all the GCN 2.0 support stuff and mesa changed, but now it's been a rock and with the right kvm and kernal params like the ones mentioned above, it runs perfectly for being this old. Forcing amdgpu drivers got me nothing but pain and misery even though it was technically possible.

I got the same VGA family and DO NOT suggest to use amdgpu driver. Its support to Sea Island is experimental. I tried it and it works good to me except that GPU hardware decoding does not work in some situations. Uninstall xf86-video-amdgpu and just go with radeon driver, follow everything reported here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ATI

Amdgpu seems to work by now, but if  any problems occur I might switch to that.

Edit: Oh, change the topic and add [SOLVED] if you can so mods know and future readers might find clues.

Ah, yes I forgot

Last edited by jofagettis (2018-12-02 09:35:28)