SOLVED: firmware-amd-graphics won't install on 20.2 Xfce

[pccobbler]

I have a new laptop with AMD graphics. Linux Mint Xfce won't run properly. On Devuan 4.0, I had to install firmware-amd-graphics. However, when I tried to install it on a new installation of Linux Mint Xfce 12.2, I saw the following error message:

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sudo apt install firmware-amd-graphics
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Package firmware-amd-graphics is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package 'firmware-amd-graphics' has no installation candidate

I can download & install the .deb from Debian for it, but which one should I grab? Devuan 4.0 is based on Debian Bullseye, so is that the right one for 12.2? Linux Mint 12.2 is based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, but what is that based on?


P.S. I have Devuan Cinnamon installed on the internal NVMe SSD and Linux Mint Xfce installed on an external SSD connected via USB 3.0. I think the relevant line from lspci is: 04:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Picasso (rev c2).

[SMG]

I can download & install the .deb from Debian for it, but which one should I grab? Devuan 4.0 is based on Debian Bullseye, so is that the right one for 12.2? Linux Mint 12.2 is based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, but what is that based on?

I do not understand why you think you need to install firmware. Picasso is not the latest graphics so the firmware your system needs should be already installed. By the way, Linux Mint 12.2 is very, very old. Linux Mint 20.2 is what is based on Ubuntu 20.04.

Please give us information about your install by entering this command in a terminal: inxi -Fxxxrz
Click </> from the mini toolbar above the textbox where you type your reply and then place your cursor between the code markers and paste the results of the command between the code markers [code]Results[/code]. This will let us know how Mint sees your hardware.

[karlchen]

Cannot remember that there ever has been a Linux Mint 12.2. - I remember LM 13 Maya, though. It was the first Mint with 5 years of LTS.
The first Mint release to get minor release upgrades, however, was LM 17. There was 17, 17.1, 17.2 and 17.3.

[pccobbler]

Sorry, it's 20.2. Fumblefingers.

@SMG "I do not understand why you think you need to install firmware."

It has to do with the fact that on Devuan I had to install the latest Realtek .deb to obtain wireless connectivity and firmware-amd-graphics to eliminate video errors. On openSUSE, I gave up, because the posted packages did not install, though they were community ones because there are no official ones. I had an LMDE v4 system on an external SSD which would not function (wireless did not work, I don't remember about graphics), but I was told previously that it will not support this hardware until v5.

Wireless connectivity works now, though I think I installed the Realtek .deb. I did not see major graphics errors just now, though some error messages flew by on boot.

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inxi -Fxxxrz
System:    Kernel: 5.4.0-91-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.20 
           info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: HP product: HP Laptop 17-ca1xxx v: N/A serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 
           serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: HP model: 85B3 v: 91.49 serial: <filter> UEFI [Legacy]: AMI v: F.61 date: 03/31/2021 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 41.3 Wh condition: 41.3/41.3 Wh (100%) volts: 13.0/11.3 
           model: Hewlett-Packard Primary type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Full 
           Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse serial: <filter> 
           charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: Discharging 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: AMD Ryzen 5 3500U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
           arch: Zen+ rev: 1 L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 33538 
           Speed: 1223 MHz min/max: 1400/2100 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1256 2: 1230 3: 1307 
           4: 1258 5: 1225 6: 1226 7: 1225 8: 1227 
Graphics:  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Picasso vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: amdgpu v: kernel 
           bus ID: 04:00.0 chip ID: 1002:15d8 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: amdgpu,ati unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa 
           resolution: 1600x900~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon Vega 8 Graphics (RAVEN DRM 3.35.0 5.4.0-91-generic LLVM 12.0.0) 
           v: 4.6 Mesa 21.0.3 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 04:00.1 chip ID: 1002:15de 
           Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Raven/Raven2/FireFlight/Renoir Audio Processor 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: N/A bus ID: 04:00.5 chip ID: 1022:15e2 
           Device-3: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 17h HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
           driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 04:00.6 chip ID: 1022:15e3 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-91-generic 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169 
           v: kernel port: f000 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168 
           IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
           driver: rtl8821ce v: v5.5.2.1_35598.20191029 port: e000 bus ID: 03:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:c821 
           IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 603.43 GiB used: 12.08 GiB (2.0%) 
           ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 PRO 512GB size: 476.94 GiB speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 
           serial: <filter> rev: 1B2QEXP7 scheme: MBR 
           ID-2: /dev/sda type: USB vendor: Toshiba model: THNSNJ128GCSU size: 119.24 GiB serial: <filter> 
           scheme: MBR 
           ID-3: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Sony model: Storage Media size: 7.25 GiB serial: <filter> rev: PMAP 
           scheme: MBR 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 113.19 GiB used: 7.47 GiB (6.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 3.66 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 44.8 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 0 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
           1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com uma main upstream import backport
           2: deb http://mirror.cs.pitt.edu/ubuntu/archive focal main restricted universe multiverse
           3: deb http://mirror.cs.pitt.edu/ubuntu/archive focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           4: deb http://mirror.cs.pitt.edu/ubuntu/archive focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
           6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Info:      Processes: 266 Uptime: 3m Memory: 9.71 GiB used: 1.18 GiB (12.1%) Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 
           Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 running in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.0.38

[karlchen]

Hello, pccobbler.

Not every firmware package, which exists as a separate package on Debian (and derivatives like Devuan), exists on Ubuntu based systems as well.
Here on Mint 19.3 I do not see any package named firmware-amd-graphics in the list of available software packages.
I would not be amazed if the same applied to Mint 20.2 still.

Regards,
Karl

[pccobbler]

@karlchen

I must admit, I am mightily confused by the relationship of Debian to Ubuntu, as the latter repackages many things.

I am going to mark this as solved due to user error. Thanks to SMG and karlchen for their assistance.

[SMG]

I did not see major graphics errors just now, though some error messages flew by on boot.

I do not see any graphics drivers problems. Everything is installed. AMD graphics install automatically from the kernel.

Graphics:
Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Picasso vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: amdgpu v: kernel
bus ID: 04:00.0 chip ID: 1002:15d8
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: amdgpu,ati unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa
resolution: 1600x900~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon Vega 8 Graphics (RAVEN DRM 3.35.0 5.4.0-91-generic LLVM 12.0.0)
v: 4.6 Mesa 21.0.3 direct render: Yes

Additionally, when firmware is needed for graphics (or other hardware), there is a linux-firmware package which often includes the necessary firmware. Once in a while there might be additional firmware needed if the hardware is very new, but your system is Ryzen 3000 series and the very new is Ryzen 5000 series.

Normally, we strongly recommend those with Ryzen 3000 series to upgrade the kernel from the 5.4 LTS to something newer because more functionality for those CPUs is available in newer kernels. Additionally, this would also install newer graphics drivers if they are available for your computer's Vega 8 graphics.

However, it appears you installed a vendor-specific Realtek driver and it may not work with newer kernels. Your Ethernet driver installed from the kernel.

Network: Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169
v: kernel port: f000 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168
IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: rtl8821ce v: v5.5.2.1_35598.20191029 port: e000 bus ID: 03:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:c821
IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>

I just checked the inxi output of someone who installed the 5.13 kernel for their Ryzen 5000 series issue and I see they do not have the vendor driver installed for their RTL8821CE.

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Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: ASUSTeK driver: rtw_8821ce v: N/A port: e000 bus ID: 08:00.0 
  chip ID: 10ec:c821 

You may not have needed to install that driver, but I do not normally troubleshoot wireless issue and can not comment on the possible difference between what the other person installed and what you installed.

If you find out the driver you installed can work with newer kernels, here are instructions for upgrading to the 5.13 kernel:

• Open Update Manager.
• Select View > Linux Kernels and click Continue.
• Make sure 5.13 is selected on the left panel and then click the top-most option on the right panel. An "Install" button will appear.
• Install the kernel and then reboot for it to become active.

[pccobbler]

@SMG

Ouch, I never dreamed the Realtek .deb would cause trouble with newer kernels. After 20.3 is released, I think I will secure-erase the SSD and install 20.3 Xfce which will solve the problem completely.

[SMG]

@SMG

Ouch, I never dreamed the Realtek .deb would cause trouble with newer kernels.

I do not know the specifics of that particular driver. It might be fine with newer kernels.

If you are feeling adventurous, you could upgrade the kernel and find out.

It's a relatively simple change to be able to revert back to an older kernel if the newer one causes problems. To do so, you would boot to the grub menu and select Advanced Options and then select the older kernel to continue booting. After booted, you would go to Update Manager to remove the newer kernel.