AMD graphics card shows various problems

Andonome · 2019-05-04 15:22:31

Symptoms

The graphics card has two outputs - HDMI and DVI. Both are converted to SVGA for my monitors and boot fine to grub (both show the standard arch bootup screen). After turning on, the HDMI output turns black, but the monitor is still present and detectable by arandr as expected.

xrandr shows unexpected behaviour.

xrandr --auto

This will detect the second monitor and force its use the first time, then stop it being used (so only the DVI is in use), then loops like this each time.

Most importantly, the screen goes blank while playing videos or computer games. I can't find any pattern here, such as pixel density - it blanks on Adventure Time (not pixel-dense) and New and Tasty (rather pixel dense) but hasn't gone blank after testing the game War for the Overworld for a few minutes (rather pixel dense). Maybe "pixel dense" is the wrong phrase - I mean something like 'complex' or 'not easily compressible'.

System Info

lspci | grep VGA

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Lexa PRO [Radeon RX 550/550X] (rev c7)

# dmidecode -t 2

# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.7 present.

Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 15 bytes
Base Board Information
	Manufacturer: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
	Product Name: M5A99X EVO R2.0
	Version: Rev 1.xx
	Serial Number: 130713977900065
	Asset Tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
	Features:
		Board is a hosting board
		Board is replaceable
	Location In Chassis: To be filled by O.E.M.
	Chassis Handle: 0x0003
	Type: Motherboard
	Contained Object Handles: 0

xrandr

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1366 x 768, maximum 16384 x 16384
HDMI-A-0 connected primary (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   1366x768      59.79 +
   1920x1080     60.00    59.94  
   1280x720      60.00    59.94  
   1024x768      75.03    70.07    60.00  
   832x624       74.55  
   800x600       72.19    75.00    60.32  
   720x480       60.00    59.94  
   640x480       75.00    72.81    66.67    60.00    59.94  
   720x400       70.08  
DVI-D-0 connected 1366x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 410mm x 230mm
   1366x768      59.79*+
   1920x1080     60.00    59.94  
   1280x720      60.00    59.94  
   1024x768      75.03    70.07    60.00  
   832x624       74.55  
   800x600       72.19    75.00    60.32  
   720x480       60.00    59.94  
   640x480       75.00    72.81    66.67    60.00    59.94  
   720x400       70.08

Installed Packages

i3-gaps
xf86-video-amdgpu
xf86-video-ati
xf86-video-vesa
mesa

I'm on an i3-gaps desktop, but the problems present also with kde plasma.

The X setup is a vanilla setup using little more than the arch wiki article on X.

I've also edited /etc/mkinitcipio.conf to include

MODULES=(amdgpu)

, then performed:

#mkinitcipio -p linux

... and rebooted. I've tried "radeon" as the module instead of amdgpu.

Additional

I've used another drive to boot XCP-NG, a RHEL-based distro. This can virtualize Windows 2012 fine, but stalls when loading Ubuntu, Debian and OpenSuse, each of them just after the grub screen.

I've taken out the card to physically examine it and clean the computer's innards.

Last edited by Andonome (2019-05-04 15:35:06)

Lone_Wolf · 2019-05-05 21:01:26

you can remove xf86-video-ati , your card is to new for that driver.

Your motherboard appears to be an AM3+ type, are you running latest uefi firmware ?

Andonome · 2019-05-06 18:09:47

Lone_Wolf wrote:

you can remove xf86-video-ati , your card is to new for that driver.
Your motherboard appears to be an AM3+ type, are you running latest uefi firmware ?

I've booted the computer using a BIOS. I didn't know Graphics Cards depended upon a UEFI.

Is it worth my time reinstalling Arch with UEFI settings in the BIOS? Switching an existing installation sounds a little too likely to cause serious errors for a noob.

# ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

This returned nothing, so I used BIOS settings, but XCP-NG clearly uses UEFI, so it must be possible to use the UEFI.

Lone_Wolf · 2019-05-07 15:50:45

According to screenshots in the (english) user manual from [1], the motherboard uses uefi. Throughout the manual however they call it bios.

Archlinux iso can be booted by bios systems and uefi systems. It's very likely the asus motherboard used some kind of autodetection and decided to boot the iso in bios mode.

I've looked up the support pages for your motherboard at https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/M5 … Desk_BIOS/ .
Latest firmware version is 2501 from 2014/05/14 .
What is the firmware version your motherboard boots into for "bios setup"?

[1]https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/M5 … sk_Manual/

Last edited by Lone_Wolf (2019-05-07 15:51:13)

Andonome · 2019-05-09 17:05:10

Lone_Wolf wrote:

I've looked up the support pages for your motherboard at https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/M5 … Desk_BIOS/ .
Latest firmware version is 2501 from 2014/05/14 .
What is the firmware version your motherboard boots into for "bios setup"?

[1]https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/M5 … sk_Manual/

The BIOS version is 2501. Would it do any good to reinstall Arch with UEFI mode? Is this possible, even though /sys/firmware/efi/efivars didn't present upon starting the installation?

Lone_Wolf · 2019-05-11 11:06:43

re-installing may not be needed, as bios or uefi booting matters to bootloader setup only.
The kernel works with both, so once linux initramfs is started it doesn't matter much which was used.

Atm it's just a hunch booting uefi may solve /reduce the problems.

Try the following :

Insert the archlinux iso in the pc

When the system boots, use the <F8> key to get the bios boot select screen.
There's a short window where F8 has that effect, try pressing and holding F8 as soon as you see the keyboard leds flashing.

You should see a list with all bootable devices seen by the system.
That list hopefully shows archlinux iso uefi boot, select it.

Once the iso has booted, verify it's booted into uefi.
If so, Change Root to your installed archlinux .
Test some graphical stuff to see if things work better.

Arch Linux

#1 2019-05-04 15:22:31

AMD graphics card shows various problems

#2 2019-05-05 21:01:26

Re: AMD graphics card shows various problems

#3 2019-05-06 18:09:47

Re: AMD graphics card shows various problems

#4 2019-05-07 15:50:45

Re: AMD graphics card shows various problems

#5 2019-05-09 17:05:10

Re: AMD graphics card shows various problems

#6 2019-05-11 11:06:43

Re: AMD graphics card shows various problems

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