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Currently I am having to log into fresh install of Ubuntu with 'nomodeset' otherwise it black screens or the monitor loses signal. I have tried to follow this: "https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-the-latest-amd-radeon-drivers-on-ubuntu-18-04-bionic-beaver-linux" as well as installing the AMD drivers from their website and both have the same effect.

I am using two monitors, one is hdmi (monitor) to display port (GPU) and the other HDMI. Both plugged into the GPU not the motherboard.

GPU: r9 390

CPU: i5-4690k

When I boot without 'nodemodeset' it picks up both monitors and at the correct resolution, but black screens after login. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

*Secondly in my graphics config when Ubuntu actually booted with my r9 390 it said the driver = radeon, but if I'm using ppa:oibaf should this not = amdgpu? How do I force it to use the amdgpu drivers?

----------------------------------------------------------Final Edit------------------------------------------------------------

It seems I have managed to fix my issue, see my answer below

ck367
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3 Answers3

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I think I have fixed my issue, I believe the issue was that it would use either radeon's driver which was unstable (black screen) or fallback to llvmpipe drivers, in short I had to blacklist radeon and force amdgpu drivers.

I have managed to reboot 4 times without nomodeset with no issue occurring. I can now also customise my resolution/refresh rate, and both monitors are supported and functional. In the case of someone else finding this post through a search engine here are the steps I took that worked for me on my r9 390.

then

sudo apt update && sudo apt -y upgrade
  • Add this to /etc/x11/xorg.conf or /etc/xorg.conf -

Section "Device" 

      Identifier "AMDGPU"     
      Driver "amdgpu"     
      Option "AccelMethod" "glamor"    
      Option "DRI" "3"

EndSection

I did 1&2 following this - "https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-the-latest-amd-radeon-drivers-on-ubuntu-18-04-bionic-beaver-linux"

  • Add this to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf -

blacklist radeon

then

sudo update-initramfs -u
  • Add this to /etc/default/grub -

GRUB_GFXMODE=1920x1080x32

radeon.cik_support=0 radeon.si_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1 amdgpu.cik_support=1 amdgpu.dc=1 amdgpu.dpm=1

then

sudo update-grub

Found step 4 from here -

"How to set Display Resolution while having to use "NOMODESET" on boot"

&

"https://community.amd.com/thread/220560"

This is what worked for me at the time of this post running Ubuntu 18.04. Black listing radeon may cause some issues if you do not have a driver installed, in my case black listing it caused Ubuntu to fall back to the llvmpipe drivers, so I had to add some lines to the grub file to use amdgpu as it was not automatically being used.

ck367
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  • Hi. I followed this and after doing everything you have mentioned I am getting error saying ACPI Error – Sandeep Jun 23 '19 at 11:43
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well, this is the problem with AMD cards you dont have to again and again and nomodeset just edit the grub file add the nomodeset , save and "sudo update-grub".

This was also the problem with Nvidia cards back in ubuntu 16.04 but now it runs without nomodeset. On linux mint it adds nomodeset on installing drivers.

Jatin-CBS
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  • Yes I have done this, but the problem is I do not think it is using the drivers and 'nomodeset' locks my resolution to 1280x720 which makes the screen quite small. – ck367 May 31 '18 at 09:44
  • Grub also has an option of screen resolution try changing that to your screen and then it should work fine. – Jatin-CBS May 31 '18 at 09:49
  • hey i think this thing got your solution https://askubuntu.com/questions/761149/how-to-set-display-resolution-while-having-to-use-nomodeset-on-boot?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=google_rich_qa&utm_campaign=google_rich_qa – Jatin-CBS May 31 '18 at 09:50
  • I guess that should work, but I would have to use 1 monitor. My black screen does not seem to go away even if I wait. I will try to use some of the grub settings. – ck367 May 31 '18 at 10:30
  • Great You are able to fix it.. i thought of blacklisting but that sometimes is just a bit too risky all of the GUI is gone and left with no choice XD – Jatin-CBS Jun 01 '18 at 18:33
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I see you have the same GPU and CPU as I have. If you have any further problems, I would strongly advise you to add radeon.dpm=0 in your GPU options which disables the dynamic power management of the GPU. This solved black screen crashes for me.

BeastOfCaerbannog
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User
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