3.16 kernel and AMD Radeon module

English Install/Boot/Login
1

I am running openSUSE 13.1 x64 with XFCE on my desktop PC with an ATI Radeon HD 8470 video card. Over the weekend, I upgraded to openSUSE 13.2rc1. After the upgrade, my video was messed up. Sometimes, it would look right, except that approximately 30% of the screen on the right side ran over to the left side of my display. It was too much to correct for with my display’s controls. Sometimes I would start my machine and the screen would turn solid, light blue and then do nothing.

I tried installing the driver posted on AMD’s website, and I couldn’t get any picture at all with it. After removing that driver and lowering my resolution from 1920x1080 to 1450x1050, I got correct-looking video.

It turns out that the Radeon module is blacklisted in many versions of the 3.16 kernel, including the one used in RC1. I assumed that there would be posts all over this board about it, but I didn’t see any in the first three pages. I just wanted to make sure that someone was aware of the issue.

BTW, after I moved to Tumbleweed, my kernel was updated to 3.17, and my video came back looking great at 1920x1080. I wound up re-installing 13.1 and restoring my data as I want to stay with the “traditional” releases of openSUSE. I am stuck on 13.1 until this is resolved.

Thanks

2

The fglrx driver doesn’t work with kernel 3.16 (it only supports upto 3.15)
This problem is fixed in the openSUSE packages, they contain a patch to work with 3.16 and 3.17:
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AMD_fglrx

But they apparently still don’t work with the newer Xorg in 13.2:
http://lizards.opensuse.org/2014/10/11/proprietary-amdati-catalyst-fglrx-14-9-14-301-1001-1-rpm-released/

openSUSE Factory / 13.2
Dear fellow, unfortunately an still open bug at AMD is not yet resolved to make FGLRX working under newer xorg version.
There’s also a re-organization of how xorg files will be placed in the file system. Once both of them will be fixed Sebastian will produce a newer script.
If those appear soon we perhaps will see rpm fglrx for 13.2.

Well, 13.2 is not released yet.
And it wouldn’t be the first time that the proprietary drivers are not available at release day…

It turns out that the Radeon module is blacklisted in many versions of the 3.16 kernel, including the one used in RC1.

???
Where is it blacklisted?
Hint: radeonfb (which is indeed blacklisted, on 13.1 and earlier already as well) is not the same as “the Radeon module”.

BTW, after I moved to Tumbleweed, my kernel was updated to 3.17, and my video came back looking great at 1920x1080. I wound up re-installing 13.1 and restoring my data as I want to stay with the “traditional” releases of openSUSE. I am stuck on 13.1 until this is resolved.

You probably should file a bug report, so your problem can be fixed for the 3.16 kernel (which will be part of 13.2) as well.
http://bugzilla.opensuse.org/ (same username/password as here)

3

On Tue, 21 Oct 2014 08:06:09 GMT
wolfi323 <wolfi323@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
> wnewnum;2670428 Wrote:
> > I tried installing the driver posted on AMD’s website, and I
> > couldn’t get any picture at all with it. After removing that
> > driver and lowering my resolution from 1920x1080 to 1450x1050, I
> > got correct-looking video.
> The fglrx driver doesn’t work with kernel 3.16 (it only supports upto
> 3.15)
> This problem is fixed in the openSUSE packages, they contain a patch
> to work with 3.16 and 3.17:
> https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AMD_fglrx
>
> But they apparently still don’t work with the newer Xorg in 13.2:
> http://tinyurl.com/nj98tv3
> > openSUSE Factory / 13.2
> > Dear fellow, unfortunately an still open bug at AMD is not yet
> > resolved to make FGLRX working under newer xorg version.
> > There’s also a re-organization of how xorg files will be placedin
> > the file system. Once both of them will be fixed Sebastian will
> > produce a newer script.
> > If those appear soon we perhaps will see rpm fglrx for 13.2.
> >
> >
> Well, 13.2 is not released yet.
> And it wouldn’t be the first time that the proprietary drivers are not
> available at release day…
>
> > It turns out that the Radeon module is blacklisted in many versions
> > of the 3.16 kernel, including the one used in RC1.
> ???
> Where is it blacklisted?
> Hint: radeonfb (which is indeed blacklisted, on 13.1 and earlier
> already as well) is not the same as “the Radeon module”.
>
> >
> > BTW, after I moved to Tumbleweed, my kernel was updated to 3.17,
> > and my video came back looking great at 1920x1080. I wound up
> > re-installing 13.1 and restoring my data as I want to stay with the
> > “traditional” releases of openSUSE. I am stuck on 13.1 until this
> > is resolved.
> You probably should file a bug report, so your problem can be fixed
> for the 3.16 kernel (which will be part of 13.2) as well.
> http://bugzilla.opensuse.org/ (same username/password as here)
>
>

The problem looks the same as I’ve already reported - for openSUSE
12.3 and re-opened for 13.2 when the bug re-surfaced after being fixed
for 13.0 and 13.1.
http://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=803026

The problem isn’t the driver as far as I can see but is related to
GRUB2. This screws up subsequent displays unless the GRUB2 resolution
is set to 800x600. Another cure is to disable the graphics menu for
GRUB2. In the latest version of 13.2,
http://download.opensuse.org/factory/iso/openSUSE-Factory-DVD-x86_64-Snapshot20141011-Media.iso ,
the GRUB2 display is in text in spite of graphics display being set and
so that bypasses the problem.

When this bug first appeared, in 12.3, we still had GRUB available and
so that could be used without it causing any trouble.

I have two other root partitions on my machine and can boot the
offending 13.2 system from one of those that has a 13.1 system without
witnessing the problem. When I set up two identical 13.2 systems, the
distortion occurred when I booted the system from its own GRUB2 display
but was not a problem when I booted from the other 13.2 GRUB2 menu.

Darned if I know what GRUB2 is passing along the chain to screw
subsequent displays. Not only is the KDE logon screen shifted but so is
the text display on the screen that appears after the GRUB2 menu.

–
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks.
openSUSE 13.2-RC1 (64-bit); KDE 4.14.1; AMD Phenom II X2 550 Processor;
Kernel: 3.16.3; Video: nVidia GeForce 210 (using nouveau driver);
Sound: ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

4

And why would it work with Kernel 3.17 then?
Have you tried Kernel 3.17 yet?

I’m not at all sure that the OP has the same problem as you.

In the latest version of 13.2,
http://download.opensuse.org/factory/iso/openSUSE-Factory-DVD-x86_64-Snapshot20141011-Media.iso ,
the GRUB2 display is in text in spite of graphics display being set and
so that bypasses the problem.

That’s Factory, not 13.2.

5

On Tue, 21 Oct 2014 10:46:04 GMT
wolfi323 <wolfi323@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
> Cloddy;2670442 Wrote:
> > The problem looks the same as I’ve already reported - for openSUSE
> > 12.3 and re-opened for 13.2 when the bug re-surfaced after being
> > fixed for 13.0 and 13.1.
> > http://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=803026
> >
> > The problem isn’t the driver as far as I can see but is related to
> > GRUB2.
> And why would it work with Kernel 3.17 then?
> Have you tried Kernel 3.17 yet?

Yes, but it was the Factory version noted below which has no GRUB2
graphics and so proved nothing. I’ll probably have to re-burn
RC-1, install that, then install 3.17 kernel and see if that makes any
difference.

> I’m not at all sure that the OP has the same problem as you.

The symptoms are identical to what I had with 12.3 and now with 13.2.
That may just be coincidence of course. Could be worth the OP trying
13.2-RC1 with the 3.16 kernel and GRUB2 graphics turned off, though.

> > In the latest version of 13.2,
> > http://tinyurl.com/nwja7s3 ,
> > the GRUB2 display is in text in spite of graphics display being set
> > and so that bypasses the problem.
> That’s Factory, not 13.2.

So Factory has been branched off from 13.2 already? Or should that be
vice versa? I should probably have expected it, either way.

–
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks.
openSUSE 13.2-RC1 (64-bit); KDE 4.14.1; AMD Phenom II X2 550 Processor;
Kernel: 3.16.3; Video: nVidia GeForce 210 (using nouveau driver);
Sound: ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

6

JFYI, that Factory version does have GRUB2 graphics, at least in my VirtualBox installation.

But apparently something goes wrong when installing from the LiveCDs: (although you did link to the full DVD)
http://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=897847

According to the bug report, reinstalling the package grub2-branding-openSUSE should “fix” the graphical menu.

sudo zypper in -f grub2-branding-openSUSE

Maybe just running "sudo /usr/sbin/grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg " or entering YaST->System->Boot Loader and pressing OK would do as well.

So Factory has been branched off from 13.2 already? Or should that be
vice versa? I should probably have expected it, either way.

Of course, we’re past RC1 and 13.2 is going to be released in 9 days.

Actually it has been branched off Factory two months ago already (or something like that).
Most submits (especially bug fixes) to Factory still get forwarded to 13.2 as well, but not all. This gets decided on a case-by-case basis.
E.g. Factory already has kernel 3.17.1 (not yet in the last snapshot from Oct. 11th though), whereas 13.2 will ship with 3.16.

7

On Tue, 21 Oct 2014 12:53:20 GMT
Graham P Davis <cloddy@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

> On Tue, 21 Oct 2014 10:46:04 GMT
> wolfi323 <wolfi323@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>
> >
> > Cloddy;2670442 Wrote:
> > > The problem looks the same as I’ve already reported - for openSUSE
> > > 12.3 and re-opened for 13.2 when the bug re-surfaced after being
> > > fixed for 13.0 and 13.1.
> > > http://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=803026
> > >
> > > The problem isn’t the driver as far as I can see but is related to
> > > GRUB2.
> > And why would it work with Kernel 3.17 then?
> > Have you tried Kernel 3.17 yet?
>
> Yes, but it was the Factory version noted below which has no GRUB2
> graphics and so proved nothing. I’ll probably have to re-burn
> RC-1, install that, then install 3.17 kernel and see if that makes any
> difference.

Checked that and found I was mistaken. I knew I’d used 3.17 but it was
with 13.1. Sorry.

I’ve now tried kernel 3.17.1 with 13.2-RC1 and the problem goes away.
Switching back to 3.16.3 induces the side-slip though not quite the same
as before but I’m guessing this is because I’m having to go through
the secondary GRUB2 menu.

I then changed the console resolution for GRUB2 to 800x600 and rebooted
and, as I expected, the side-slip had gone.

I tried making 3.16.3 the default so as to avoid the GRUB2 sub-menu but
just got a green screen of death in place of the KDE logon panel and had
to use the power button to reboot. This is another quite common
variation of this bug.

>
> > I’m not at all sure that the OP has the same problem as you.
>
> The symptoms are identical to what I had with 12.3 and now with 13.2.
> That may just be coincidence of course. Could be worth the OP trying
> 13.2-RC1 with the 3.16 kernel and GRUB2 graphics turned off, though.
>

It is the same problem. It seems to be a weird result of the combination
of the GRUB2-beta used in 13.2 and kernel 3.16.3. I’ve used 13.1 on the
same machine with kernels 3.16.3 and 3.17.0 and not had any trouble
with either.

–
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks.
openSUSE 13.2-RC1 (64-bit); KDE 4.14.1; AMD Phenom II X2 550 Processor;
Kernel: 3.16.3; Video: nVidia GeForce 210 (using nouveau driver);
Sound: ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

8

Well, you have a solution to your problem now: use Kernel 3.17 on 13.2… :wink:

I seem to have misunderstood your problem a little. I thought you already had problems at the grub2 menu (when using a graphical theme). At this point the kernel is not used at all so a different kernel cannot make a difference really, that’s why I thought you must have a different problem.

Apparently something has changed in 3.17 regarding the graphics initialization, so the problem went away, I’d say.
You probably should mention this in the bug report, maybe it’s possible to find out what fixed this and backport it to 3.16 (if not done already).

9

On Tue, 21 Oct 2014 16:06:01 GMT
wolfi323 <wolfi323@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
> Cloddy;2670492 Wrote:
> > It is the same problem. It seems to be a weird result of the
> > combination of the GRUB2-beta used in 13.2 and kernel 3.16.3. I’ve
> > used 13.1 on the same machine with kernels 3.16.3 and 3.17.0 and
> > not had any trouble with either.
> Well, you have a solution to your problem now: use Kernel 3.17 on
> 13.2… :wink:
>
> I seem to have misunderstood your problem a little. I thought you
> already had problems at the grub2 menu (when using a graphical theme).
> At this point the kernel is not used at all so a different kernel
> cannot make a difference really, that’s why I thought you must have a
> different problem.

Sorry for not making it clear. It’s certainly a difficult problem to
get the hang of.

I still don’t understand what can be passed on from GRUB2 to affect the
subsequent displays. Changing the resolution of GRUB2 affects the later
displays in different ways. The default resolution will shift the screen
2/3 of the way to the right, another will shift it halfway, another will
also cause the logon process to freeze whilst the KDE symbol is visible
but blurred. In all of these, the GRUB2 screen displays as it should do.
Even if “nomodeset” is used, there are still variable display problems
though they are not so great.

>
> Apparently something has changed in 3.17 regarding the graphics
> initialization, so the problem went away, I’d say.
> You probably should mention this in the bug report, maybe it’s
> possible to find out what fixed this and backport it to 3.16 (if not
> done already).
>

Yes, I’ll add something but I’ll also try to verify that kernel 3.16.3
is OK in 13.1. I’m pretty sure it is but I’d like to see if I can
prove it to myself at least. At my age, I’m not so trusting of my
memory as I once was. :wink: I’ve tried altering the 13.1 GRUB2 settings
but I still keep picking up the 13.2 GRUB2 menu so I may have to
re-install 13.1.

–
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks.
openSUSE 13.2-RC1 (64-bit); KDE 4.14.1; AMD Phenom II X2 550 Processor;
Kernel: 3.16.3; Video: nVidia GeForce 210 (using nouveau driver);
Sound: ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

10

On Tue, 21 Oct 2014 16:06:01 GMT
wolfi323 <wolfi323@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

> Well, you have a solution to your problem now: use Kernel 3.17 on
> 13.2… :wink:

Or 3.16.4. That version of the kernel also works.

It seems that whatever GRUB2 is passing down the line to affect
subsequent graphics displays, it has always been doing it, at least
since 12.3. It’s just that there has to be a kernel bug for it to cause
trouble. Also, the kernel bug seemingly has no impact without GRUB2 in
default resolution. It seems it takes two to tango.

I’ve updated http://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=803026. If
you or the OP can add, correct or clarify anything, feel free.

Thanks.

–
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks.
openSUSE 13.2-RC1 (64-bit); KDE 4.14.1; AMD Phenom II X2 550 Processor;
Kernel: 3.16.3; Video: nVidia GeForce 210 (using nouveau driver);
Sound: ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

11

Well, even better.
So this should hopefully work in 13.2 final which will ship with 3.16.4.

It seems that whatever GRUB2 is passing down the line to affect
subsequent graphics displays, it has always been doing it, at least
since 12.3. It’s just that there has to be a kernel bug for it to cause
trouble. Also, the kernel bug seemingly has no impact without GRUB2 in
default resolution. It seems it takes two to tango.

To me it seems like the kernel driver was not initializing all things correctly that it should.
Probably no problem directly after turning on or resetting the system, but apparently grub2 leaves things in a state that later on confuses the kernel driver.
IOW, the kernel driver relied on certain things being at their default settings when the system is turned on, but grub2 changed them.

But that problem is definitely largely chipset-dependant.
I’ve never seen anything like this on my Radeon system, and not many other people either I’d guess (at least I haven’t heard any complaints).

I’ve updated 803026 – Radeon graphics fault: Display shifted third of way to the right. If
you or the OP can add, correct or clarify anything, feel free.

As I never saw this problem myself, I doubt I can add anything useful.

But as it seems, the issue should be fixed anyway now. (and hopefully doesn’t return again :wink: )