Linux Mint AMD Driver graphics artifacts and crashes

[Alir]

I have an MSI R9 390 GPU.

 

I really love Linux Mint, especially Cinammon and MATE. Run it perfectly fine on my i3 laptop (with integrated graphics). However on my desktop, I cannot get it to work.

 

Problem: When I boot to the desktop, shortly after, the screen starts showing artifacts. Shortly thereafter, my PC will just get unresponsive. This is pretty frustrating. I'm pretty sure Mint used to run on 17.2 - this problem always arose when trying to install Ubuntu on my desktop, hence I never installed it.

I do have Windows and the GPU there works fine. So I'm pretty sure this is just a driver problem.

 

Does anyone know of a solution?

 

I haven't been able to find any solutions via DuckDuckGo.

 

Note: I can confirm this problem exists on KDE and XFCE, not MATE and Cinammon. I am about to test them, though I will post back if this problem persists or doesn't.

 

if anyone has any information on this, that would be appreciated!

[spartaman64]

are you using the open source one or the proprietary one

[Alir]

1 minute ago, spartaman64 said:

are you using the open source one or the proprietary one

Open source.

 

On KDE, I tried to switch to the proprietary but the live cd froze before then. And on XFCE, when I tried switching, it went to a fullscreen terminal displaying a bunch of errors saying my PC is unresponsive for so and so seconds.

[Alir]

Oh and in case it is relevant, my pc is running at 2560x1080 resolution. Aspect ratio 21:9

[dewman45]

Trying installing windows 7 if you can, just to see if it uses it as a basic display adapter. It sounds as if it's your gpu is dying or having severe, which is strange for a fairly recent gpu. I have the 390 and I have run linux mint before and it was fine. I would definitely try to figure out if it's the current implementation of linux or your gpu.

[Alir]

First boot of MATE (normal mode), it was running fine. No artifacts. Started playing around with the themes/appearance of the PC. No artifacts or freezes.

 

I rebooted, and I am now seeing artifacts. It's not 'as' bad though.

 

No freeze yet.

 

Went to Driver Manager: the error came up: "Failed to download repository information" - the same under XFCE also - but it still allows me to change the driver.

I have changed to a proprietary one "fglrx-updates". No freezes, but the artifacts suddenly got worse. And then they were gone. It's usable but I don't think I will be able to work on here distraction free if this keeps happening.

 

Changed to "fglrx". It worked. No bash screen with errors and such.

 

EDIT: Some artifacts are indeed showing up now.

 

Will try compatibility mode...

[lx_srs]

4 minutes ago, dewman45 said:

Trying installing windows 7 if you can, just to see if it uses it as a basic display adapter. It sounds as if it's your gpu is dying or having severe, which is strange for a fairly recent gpu. I have the 390 and I have run linux mint before and it was fine. I would definitely try to figure out if it's the current implementation of linux or your gpu.

It honestly just sounds like a driver problem.  Support for AMD products on Linux is notoriously bad.

[Alir]

5 minutes ago, dewman45 said:

Trying installing windows 7 if you can, just to see if it uses it as a basic display adapter. It sounds as if it's your gpu is dying or having severe, which is strange for a fairly recent gpu. I have the 390 and I have run linux mint before and it was fine. I would definitely try to figure out if it's the current implementation of linux or your gpu.

I don't have 7. I have 8.1 and hence 10. Neither have such problems. Though I had this same problem I think with a Sapphire R9 390, which I returned.

 

Which desktop environment do you use? And is it 17.3?

[Alir]

I think it's worth pointing out again that this has happened to me before on Ubuntu. It definitely is a driver problem and I blame Linux/AMD.

[Alir]

I don't expect Linux to run 4k games, I just need to code. Artifact and crash free.

[Alir]

Still some artifacts on compatibility mode.

 

Moving onto Cinammon.

 

The artifacts aren't rendering the computer unusable on MATE. But suffice it to say I don't trust it to remain stable.

[Alir]

20 minutes ago, dewman45 said:

Trying installing windows 7 if you can, just to see if it uses it as a basic display adapter. It sounds as if it's your gpu is dying or having severe, which is strange for a fairly recent gpu. I have the 390 and I have run linux mint before and it was fine. I would definitely try to figure out if it's the current implementation of linux or your gpu.

 

Also, which 390 do you have? What is the brand? And is it definitely not a 390x?

[Alir]

Cinammon hasn't showed any artifacts yet.

 

This is really weird...

 

All 4 environments should be using the same drivers!

 

Will try compatibility mode...

 

[Alir]

Compatibility mode:

Getting artifacts, And PC froze temporarily. They're showing on the wallpaper.

When I place a window over them, they go away.

 

Compatibility mode isn't very compatible. Will re-boot the live cd.

[Alir]

Seem to be getting a better experience with Cinammon and MATE. Though I'm still getting artifacts and at times, the screen goes black. And then goes back to normal - minus some artifacts.

 

But both seem to be working.

 

I will try installing MATE and update everything, then see if it runs without artifacts. Will post back the results.

 

{Linux gaming will never take off if the drivers remain like this}

[Alir]

7 hours ago, Name Taken said:

Default open source driver is xf86-video-ati which does not have proper support for the new AMD 300 series and is meant for older cards while the new xf86-video-amdgpu driver is being developed as a replacement for Catalyst in Ubuntu 16.04.

Update: MATE didn't work at all. Keeps freezing before I can install. Got Cinammon working fine and updated the driver with the one on AMDs website. Gotta say, Windows driver updates are significantly easier.

 

Could you tell me more about "xf86-video-amdgpu"?