[19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

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TallStranger

[19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by TallStranger »

Hi,

I just got a Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 14 with Ryzen 5-4500. Installed Mint-19.3 and it is running almost perfectly.

The "almost" is no Fingerprint reader and I am OK with that. But it shows a message at every start saying "You are running without video acceleration, high CPU usage etc. Load Driver Manager"

I click the "Load Driver manager" and it goes off to check, downloads some things then says, "No special drivers needed."

Next reboot, same again.

What do I need to do to fix this? I looked in the BIOS-setup and nothing about Video Acceleration there.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 3 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
twerq
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Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by twerq »

TallStranger wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:56 am What do I need to do to fix this?
Based on info from lenovo.com. Tech specs for this hardware list only MS Windows 10 as compatible operating system. So Lenovo Flex 5 doesn't linux compatible officially.
And since this is a bleeding edge hardware there are no drivers for it written by linux community, GPU built-in CPU particularly. It's the story.

You should convince Lenovo to produce Ryzen 5 4500U GPU driver for linux.
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OveS
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Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by OveS »

I would recommend installing kernel 5.4 and then fresh graphics drivers from https://launchpad.net/~oibaf/+archive/u ... cs-drivers
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TallStranger

Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by TallStranger »

twerq wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 11:14 am And since this is a bleeding edge hardware there are no drivers for it written by linux community, GPU built-in CPU particularly. It's the story.
You should convince Lenovo to produce Ryzen 5 4500U GPU driver for linux.
Thanks I had another issue I was working on and as a result of that, I suspect this is not bleeding edge hardware. :D
It would also not find external monitors and I had found this viewtopic.php?p=1766042#p1766042

I did the "... 'acpi/tables ..." thing and the latest was Windows 2015. I just tried that and no change. Still not finding the external monitors either. Windows 2015 looks more like weeding-edge. :)

The thing is, that everything works perfectly if I boot to win-10 and I don't get the 2015 thing.
Could that mean Lenovo would have older drivers?

What about the 2018 that worked in the [solved} posting I linked above?

This is well out of my knowledge-zone so I may be asking stupid questions, but I would really like getting this to work.
TallStranger

Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by TallStranger »

OveS wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 11:31 am I would recommend installing kernel 5.4 and then fresh graphics drivers from https://launchpad.net/~oibaf/+archive/u ... cs-drivers
Thanks, I am reluctant to add a PPA from an unknown source. If it isn't included with the Software Sources list it makes me wonder why.
twerq
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Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by twerq »

TallStranger wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 11:50 am Thanks, I am reluctant to add a PPA from an unknown source.
Well, my googling led me to amd.com community. Based on their info Lenovo Flex 5 hardware supported by Linux 5.7. You can get it from Ubuntu Mainline Kernel PPA
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Last edited by twerq on Tue Jul 07, 2020 7:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
TallStranger

Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by TallStranger »

twerq wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 12:36 pm Well, my googling led me to amd.com community. Based on their info Lenovo Flex 5 hardware supported by Linux 5.7.
Great, thank you. A little out of my depth with installing the 5.7 kernel, but will give it a try. I have made a windows recovery drive so at worst I can rebuild with that if I mess things up to entertainingly. :)

I will start with amd.com, but have to say, I didn't think of looking there after searching a lot.
twerq
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Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by twerq »

TallStranger wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 3:22 pm Great, thank you. A little out of my depth with installing the 5.7 kernel, but will give it a try. I have made a windows recovery drive so at worst I can rebuild with that if I mess things up to entertainingly. :)
You're welcome. Would be great of you to share the progress in this thread.
TallStranger wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 3:22 pm I didn't think of looking there after searching a lot.
The power of community :)
Hoser Rob
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Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by Hoser Rob »

twerq wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 11:14 am
TallStranger wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:56 am What do I need to do to fix this?
Based on info from lenovo.com. Tech specs for this hardware list only MS Windows 10 as compatible operating system. So Lenovo Flex 5 doesn't linux compatible officially.
And since this is a bleeding edge hardware there are no drivers for it written by linux community, GPU built-in CPU particularly. It's the story.

You should convince Lenovo to produce Ryzen 5 4500U GPU driver for linux.
Utterly clueless.

Install Mint 20 and the newest kernel fromUpdate Manager.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong - H. L. Mencken
twerq
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Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by twerq »

Hoser Rob wrote: Tue Jul 07, 2020 8:20 am Utterly clueless.
Sorry for not meeting your expectations :(
I'm just trying to help.
TallStranger

Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by TallStranger »

So here is progress so far.

As suggested, Mint 20 installed and updated Kernel
No screen with Suspend return
Message "no accelerated video" message on startup.
No external monitor

Ubuntu 20 installed plus update Kernel to 5.4.40.
No screen with Suspend return
Message "no accelerated video" message on startup.
No external monitor

Manjaro 20 installed and bingo **everything** works as expected.

Now I need to do some research to see if I can trust Manjaro the way I have trusted Mint up to 19.3.

ETA: Will try updating Mint-20 Kernel to 5.7 before abandoning it completely.Since Manjaro can do it all, why not Mint?
Last edited by TallStranger on Tue Jul 07, 2020 12:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
mr_raider
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Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by mr_raider »

TallStranger wrote: Tue Jul 07, 2020 10:07 am So here is progress so far.

As suggested, Mint 20 installed and updated Kernel
No screen with Suspend return
Message "no accelerated video" message on startup.
No external monitor

Ubuntu 20 installed plus update Kernel, same as above and no-screen, no external monitor.
No screen with Suspend return
No external monitor

Manjaro 20 installed and bingo **everything** works as expected.

Now I need to do some research to see if I can trust Manjaro the way I have trusted Mint up to 19.3.
Your problem is fairly clear. You need a newer version of mesa and a newer kernel. Manjaro uses kernel 5.6 and Mesa 20.2. AMD did not add those drivers until kernel 5.5 I believe.

Those additions can be made to Mint or any Ubuntu based systems, but it involves adding external repositories. I myself run an updated Mesa (but not the kind PPA) and kernel 5.7 because I have an AMD Navi card.

Alternatively stick with Manjaro. Its a hugely popular distro with lots of community support. But understand that the "Ubuntu way" of doing Linux is very different from Manjaro.
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TallStranger

Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by TallStranger »

mr_raider wrote: Tue Jul 07, 2020 12:08 pm Your problem is fairly clear. You need a newer version of mesa and a newer kernel. Manjaro uses kernel 5.6 and Mesa 20.2. AMD did not add those drivers until kernel 5.5 I believe.
Thanks our posts crossed, well, my ETA to the previous post about attempting a Kernel upgrade before jumping ship.

After spending some time with Manjaro, I'd like to come back to Mint, but I need that second monitor and Suspend fully operational.

Can you give any guidance on how to upgrade the Kernel? I will do some research as it is well outside of my knowledge base.
mr_raider
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Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by mr_raider »

According to phoronix:

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= ... 500u&num=1

You need kernel 5.6 or 5.7.

From a clean install of Mint 20 we will start by upgrading Mesa to the lastest stable version. Mesa provides the OpenGL renderer necessary for games and desktop acceleration;

We will use the kisak PPA:

https://launchpad.net/~kisak/+archive/ubuntu/kisak-mesa

In a terminal type:

Code: Select all

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kisak/kisak-mesa

sudo apt update

sudo apt full-upgrade
Then reboot.

Now we will add the 5.7 kernel. It can be done manually or via an automated tool. This is the automated procedure:

Code: Select all

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cappelikan/ppa

sudo apt update

sudo apt install mainline
Run the mainline program which we installed, and select and install the most recent 5.7 kernel.

Reboot. Make sure you boot the 5.7 kernel. You can check your kernel vesrion with

Code: Select all

uname -a
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TallStranger

Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by TallStranger »

mr_raider wrote: Tue Jul 07, 2020 12:24 pm Run the mainline program which we installed, and select and install the most recent 5.7 kernel.
Thanks for going into that detail. I ran

Code: Select all

mainline --install-latest
It found and downloaded a bunch of files and installed 5.7.1

On reboot it failed at Grub with "Error vmliuz has invalid signature" so I rolled back to 5.4.40 just to get it to boot again.
TallStranger

Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by TallStranger »

Just installed 5.6.17, same thing linuz error.
Then it says, "you need to load the kernel first" and takes me back to the list of kernels.
Back to 5.4.40 to boot.
mr_raider
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Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by mr_raider »

De-activate secure boot.
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TallStranger

Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by TallStranger »

mr_raider wrote: Tue Jul 07, 2020 2:05 pm De-activate secure boot.
Thanks for your persistence, but same again with that disabled. linuz error and back to list of kernels. Tried also 5.6.whatever, also same.

I used the download link for AMD drivers, but the install script crashes at the end with "Unable to install pin file."
https://www.amd.com/en/support/graphics ... rx-vega-56

I will try Ubuntu 20 as I really do not want to have to learn Arch-systems with Manjaro. Dang pity as it was all working right out of the box. I might reinstall it and see what kernel it was using. Might not bother either, looking like I send this back for an Acer. Have not yet given up on the Lenovo yet, but getting close. :)
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Re: [19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by mr_raider »

TallStranger wrote: Tue Jul 07, 2020 4:55 pm
mr_raider wrote: Tue Jul 07, 2020 2:05 pm De-activate secure boot.
Thanks for your persistence, but same again with that disabled. linuz error and back to list of kernels. Tried also 5.6.whatever, also same.

I used the download link for AMD drivers, but the install script crashes at the end with "Unable to install pin file."
https://www.amd.com/en/support/graphics ... rx-vega-56

I will try Ubuntu 20 as I really do not want to have to learn Arch-systems with Manjaro. Dang pity as it was all working right out of the box. I might reinstall it and see what kernel it was using. Might not bother either, looking like I send this back for an Acer. Have not yet given up on the Lenovo yet, but getting close. :)
Your problem is not the Acer or Lenovo. It's the 4500u/4700u. The GPU drivers are not avilable in early kernels.

You have 2 choices; go with Manjaro, or troubleshoot it. There are people successfully booting the newer kernels in Mint 20. I'll try it in a VM and see what happens.
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TallStranger

[SOLVED]-[19.3] Lenovo Flex 5 no video acceleration

Post by TallStranger »

Persistence pays.
Fresh install of Mint 20, stay with Kernel 5.4 and Secure Boot as it all works OK.

Download the AMD Radeon™ Software for Linux® Driver for Ubuntu 20.04 driver from here
https://www.amd.com/en/support/graphics ... rx-vega-56
Currently it is this amdgpu-pro-20.20-1089974-ubuntu-20.04.tar.xz
..but use whatever you download in the following code-block
Save it to "Downloads"
Open the CLI and navigate to Downloads

Code: Select all

  cd ~/Downloads
  tar -Jxvf amdgpu-pro-20.20-1089974-ubuntu-20.04.tar.xz
  cd ~/Downloads/amdgpu-pro-20.20-1089974-ubuntu-20.04
  ./amdgpu-pro-install
  
wait ...

If you have Secure Boot enabled as I did, then you will be asked for a temporary password.
Click within the message about this and use the Tab key to navigate to the "<OK>" button
and hit Enter (ahh, the good old days of DOS buttons, but I digress)
Enter a password. Tab to <OK> then hit Enter.
Confirm a password. Tab to <OK> then hit Enter.
Let it finish and reboot.

During the boot you will get a full blue screen and a small menu box.
Select the second option something about MOK (Machine Owner Key)
Do NOT select the first option "Continue" as you will never see this menu again.
You will have to UNinstall the entire thing and install it all again.
Yup, good thing AMD are better at making CPUs, but again, I digress.
I can't remember the exact options but follow that through using logical options to enter in the password from above.
I say "logical" but it is about the worst menu system I have ever seen. But, I digress yet again.
Anyway, the light at the end of the tunnel is looming and it is not a train.
Log into Mint and go make things happen with the Settings options.
Sleep/Suspend works as expected, lid and power button
External monitors are also as expected although a little sparse on options, as in none. But there I go again digressing.

Phew!
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