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Driver or hardware problem? AMD Ryzen 2400G APU system

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  • Driver or hardware problem? AMD Ryzen 2400G APU system

    tl;dr version: weird video artefacts when using mplayer/vlc with GL driver, not with xv driver, but who accepts tearing in 2020...

    System:
    Motherboard: Socket AM4 Gigabyte AB350N-Gaming-Wifi, latest BIOS w/ latest Agesa, 32GB RAM
    CPU: AMD Ryzen APU 2400G
    Silverstone thin case
    Noctua low profile HSF combo
    Full HD Monitor with HDMI to DVI converter or DP to DVI converter, 720p Sanyo PLV-Z4 HDMI to HDMI connection

    OS: Mageia, quite updated, kernel 5.7.19-desktop-3.mga7

    Story:
    This system was used as a headless server for almost 3 years (my remote desktop in a vnc session, music playback desktop in another vnc session with mpd for local music plus internet radio, plus cantata plus optionally firefox with youtube, fileserver, backup to remote file server, ...), now it's additionally used for the home cinema.
    It had been running with 250 days uptime, no problems. (When I just built it, in Feb 2018, it had max uptime of several hours. After the second BIOS update, it got uptimes of several days, running without any graphics; it was only after the third or fourth BIOS update where it would run stable, by then it was rock solid. Lots of people had that experience with early Raven Ridge systems. I never used the graphics though, until now.)
    After moving it to the other corner, there were some issues to get it to talk to the projector, it wouldn't always get the EDID info, I swapped monitors/connections, ctrl-alt-Fn for cli, ctrl-alt-backspace to restart the X server, etc.
    I learnt a lot more than I wanted to know about pulseaudio and systemd in the process, plus bluetooth sink to play from smartphones,...

    Playing video, there is a slight tearing effect, which can only be clearly discerned in scenes with strong contrast plus movement.
    I use mplayer, so I checked and found it used the xv driver for video.
    On the system where the projector used to be connected, I found it had always been using the gl driver. No tearing, no artefacts, fault-free so to speak.

    That one works fine for video playback without any tearing, but with time (minutes, not seconds, also not hours), it will develop hideous artefacts.
    I went through the various drivers, xv, gl, gl nomanyglyphs/nomanyfmts, x11, xshm, vdpau (installed the extra driver for that one), except for the xv driver all have weird artefacts to a greater or lesser degree.

    Artefacts: outside the video window, the text on the Konsole may be garbled, there's all kinds of messed up stuff on GUI parts of VLC, etc.

    The xv driver is okay except for the tearing effects.
    The gl driver has the least problematic artefacts, but is unusable all the same.

    GL video playback problem


    Since I can grab the effects in screenshots, it's clear that it's not due to the cable connection.

    Another thing: hplip had 2 cores (out of 8 logical cores) pegged at 100% for hours, and the cpu temp monitor was close to/around 100°C.
    I found at the next boot that the fan had also stopped, no idea how long it had been dysfunctional...
    (I never got the fan speed readout to work with lm-sensors, do get the temps...)
    I deinstalled hplip, have no HP printers, don't know why that was installed...

    So the questions are:
    anything else I can try? Has anyone else experienced this type of issues?
    I installed and tried the extra VDPAU drivers, are there other drivers that may be worthwhile? Other settings?
    Though I think it's safe to rule out the cable connection, could it be a buffer in the chipset?
    If it's hardware related, I'm wondering if my APU is borked or if is the motherboard/chipset...

  • #2
    As they say, "the plot thickens"...

    I received my new projector, FHD/pseudo 4k (Epson TW9400), and strangely the gl driver has way fewer intermittent problems (saw some artefacts after maybe 20 to 30 minutes of playback) on 4k 2160p resolution (on hdmi) compared to the old projector (Sanyo plv-z4) at 720p resolution (hdmi) or on the monitor (dvi from dp or hdmi port) (artefacts would show up every few minutes).
    It even seems like 720p is worse than 1080p...
    It's really mysterious.

    Also, the motherboard is officially stated to support 4k@60Hz only on the DP port, just 4k@30Hz on the HDMI port, but I clearly get 4k@60Hz on the HDMI port. Yay Linux, I guess!

    Comment


    • #3
      Do you get these same artifacts on dp? If not, maybe you have an issue with your hdmi port. You could always use a dp to hdmi if your dp is working properly.

      Comment


      • #4
        It's on both ports, but only clearly with lower resolutions. At 720p it's worse than at FHD/1080p, and it's practically absent at 2160p/4k. I do see some video errors sometimes (Konsole messed up) which typically clear up when scrolling or switching to another virtual desktop or so.
        Funky thing: in case of such video errors, taking a screenshot kills the X-server beyond recovery, it will freeze but not be killable...

        Comment


        • #5
          What do you see when you launch the mcc --> hardware --> Set up the graphical server --> Graphics card. ? Is it the correct hardware selected? Many times the automatic detection can fail and require you select manually the correct hardware. lspcidrake -v should list the gpu you may have to look around at the listed hardware to see how the device identifies itself but it should be in the list somewhere. I've had some really terrible graphical glitches due to incorrect hardware detection in Mandrake/Mandriva/Megeia.

          Also, you could try a live distro and see if you have the same issues.

          Comment


          • #6
            Thanks for the reply!
            I just had a quick look (I've been looking in xorg.n.log for investigating this as well) and sure enough, amdgpu gets properly detected.

            A live distro is an option but since we have no radio in the living room, and I'll have to fetch the 1920x1200 monitor again, it's cumbersome and needs planning (don't like to waste lamp hours on the projector...)...

            Comment


            • #7
              I had posted an idea here, but I wasn't able to find the package available. But perhaps the couldron will have better support for your APU. Not sure where you are located by here are some repos for the couldron. http://mirrors.mageia.org/

              Comment


              • #8
                My APU uses the standardised AMDGPU driver. I'll have a look if the closed source driver from AMD is an option.

                Comment


                • #9
                  After updating yesterday I noticed that kernel 5.10 is available and has been installed on my system. Not sure if it will make any difference for you system. But perhaps?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I'll have a look, I got the new fan and will replace on the weekend, and I'll also boot the 5.10 kernel then.

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