[SOLVED] Radeon card disappeared as graphics device

[nevinson]

While troubleshooting in another post , it was discovered that my Radeon graphics card disappeared as a graphic device, but the related drivers are still there.

Is there a way to know if this device is still usable?

I upgraded to Linux Mint 20 from Linux Mint 19.3, about a month ago (in case the problem has something to do with the upgrade).

My system information:

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System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-42-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 4.6.7 wm: muffin 4.6.3 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20 Ulyana base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Inspiron 5570 v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Dell model: 09NFWR v: A00 serial: <filter> UEFI: Dell v: 1.2.3 
  date: 05/15/2019 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 11.7 Wh condition: 32.8/42.0 Wh (78%) volts: 11.1/11.4 
  model: Samsung SDI DELL CYMGM83 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> 
  status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-8250U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake rev: A L2 cache: 6144 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 28800 
  Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 400/3400 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 
  3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:5917 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: amdgpu,ati,modesetting 
  unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.0.8 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Dell 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:9d71 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-42-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: Dell 
  driver: r8169 v: kernel port: d000 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8136 
  IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: Dell driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel port: d000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  chip ID: 168c:0042 
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  Device-3: Qualcomm Atheros type: USB driver: btusb bus ID: 1-7:4 
  chip ID: 0cf3:e009 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.82 TiB used: 57.12 GiB (3.1%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST2000LM007-1R8174 size: 1.82 TiB 
  speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> rev: SDM2 scheme: GPT 
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci 
  v: 3.0 port: f060 bus ID: 00:17.0 chip ID: 8086.282a rev: 21 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 36.94 GiB used: 14.18 GiB (38.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda7 
  ID-2: /home size: 242.84 GiB used: 42.86 GiB (17.7%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/sda9 
  ID-3: swap-1 size: 7.45 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda8 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 50.0 C mobo: 42.0 C sodimm: 43.0 C gpu: amdgpu 
  temp: 25 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://mirrors.evowise.com/linuxmint/packages ulyana main upstream import backport
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu 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
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/slack.list 
  1: deb https://packagecloud.io/slacktechnologies/slack/debian/ jessie main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list 
  1: deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] http://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main
Info:
  Processes: 268 Uptime: 1h 57m Memory: 7.67 GiB used: 2.30 GiB (30.0%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 7/9 
  Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 

Thanks.

[deepakdeshp]

Boot from live usb 19.3 version and see if the card is detected, it will show if the disappeared card is due to the upgrade

[nevinson]

Thank, deepakdeshp

I did what you suggested and this is the output of inxi -G, from Mint 19.3 live usb :

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Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 driver: i915 v: kernel 
  Device-2: AMD Topaz XT [Radeon R7 M260/M265 / M340/M360 / M440/M445] 
  driver: amdgpu v: kernel 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: amdgpu,ati,modesetting 
  unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Kabylake GT2) 
  v: 4.5 Mesa 19.0.8 

Indeed, the card appeared as second device in 19.3, so the problem is due to the upgrade I guess.
Is there a way to make it work on Mint 20? Or should I just go back to Mint 19?

[deepakdeshp]

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uname -r

will give running kernel.
Install the 19 kernel in Mint 20. Reboot to it from advanced options in grub and test.

[deepakdeshp]

Is Rahein card better than Intel card?

[MrEen]

Hi nevinson,

My first suspicion would be a kernel command line parameter or blacklist file causing this.

Let's see the output of cat /etc/default/grub | grep GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT and ls -l /etc/modprobe.d

[nevinson]

Thank you both for your replies.

Let's see the output of cat /etc/default/grub | grep GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT and ls -l /etc/modprobe.d

This was the output:

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GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" 

and

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total 44
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2507 Jul 31  2015 alsa-base.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  154 Nov 25  2019 amd64-microcode-blacklist.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  325 Jan 28  2018 blacklist-ath_pci.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1518 Mar 12 10:15 blacklist.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  210 Jan 28  2018 blacklist-firewire.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  677 Apr  9 00:03 blacklist-framebuffer.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  156 Jul 31  2015 blacklist-modem.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   41 Apr 25 19:09 blacklist-oss.conf -> /lib/linux-sound-base/noOSS.modprobe.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  583 Jan 28  2018 blacklist-rare-network.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  127 Feb  7  2017 dkms.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  154 Dec  2  2019 intel-microcode-blacklist.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  347 Jan 28  2018 iwlwifi.conf

[MrEen]

Those are all typical files in that directory, so it looks like nothing there to be concerned about. And no changes to the kernel command line as well.

It's probably going to take someone smarter than myself to solve this, but let's see the output of dmesg | grep Radeon

[antikythera]

Have you at some point disabled the radeon GPU in BIOS while troubleshooting your other problems?

[SMG]

this is the output of inxi -G, from Mint 19.3 live usb :

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Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 driver: i915 v: kernel 
  Device-2: AMD Topaz XT [Radeon R7 M260/M265 / M340/M360 / M440/M445] 
  driver: amdgpu v: kernel 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: amdgpu,ati,modesetting 
  unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Kabylake GT2) 
  v: 4.5 Mesa 19.0.8 

Indeed, the card appeared as second device in 19.3, so the problem is due to the upgrade I guess.

Do you recall doing anything special during your installation of LM19 to make sure the AMD graphics would display properly? Perhaps make any changes to grub?

[nevinson]

Hi everyone,

Have you at some point disabled the radeon GPU in BIOS while troubleshooting your other problems?

Do you recall doing anything special during your installation of LM19 to make sure the AMD graphics would display properly? Perhaps make any changes to grub?

Not really...I didn't do anything like that.
When I installed LM 19 it was the first time I installed Linux, so I did nothing more than the normal installation.

What DID happen, is that while troubleshooting I made a mess with UEFI (record of what happened here). After I finally managed to boot into Linux, I rebooted from advanced options and loaded previous kernels to test deepakdeshp's suggestion.
After doing that several times with different kernels, with no positive results (no Radeon card on inxi -G output), the startup was so slow that I thought I had mess up again, so I restored the last snapshot (prior to UEFI problem). So, theoretically, things are the same as before all that.

Also, I ran dmesg | grep Radeon but there was no output at all.

[SMG]

What does sudo lshw -c video return?

[SMG]

I think I found the Specs for your Inspiron 5570 which indicates it has an Intel GPU.

According to an answer on question about Dedicated graphics card not detected in brand new Inspiron, "The AMD GPU is not a dedicated, separate GPU - it's a coprocessor. It feeds all data to the Intel GPU as it passed to the screen. So -- the Intel GPU will ALWAYS show active to windows and most utilities."

If you go into your Window install what types of graphics drivers are showing as installed? Intel? Radeon? Some combination of the two?

[nevinson]

Yes, both devices show drivers installed in Windows.

[SMG]

Do both devices show when you run this in LM20?

What does sudo lshw -c video return?

[nevinson]

Yes, this is the output:

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  *-display                 
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: UHD Graphics 620
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 07
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pciexpress msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:128 memory:d1000000-d1ffffff memory:b0000000-bfffffff ioport:f000(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff
  *-display
       description: Display controller
       product: Topaz XT [Radeon R7 M260/M265 / M340/M360 / M440/M445 / 530/535 / 620/625 Mobile]
       vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: c1
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm pciexpress msi bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=amdgpu latency=0
       resources: irq:129 memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:d0000000-d01fffff ioport:e000(size=256) memory:d0200000-d023ffff memory:d0240000-d025ffff

Thanks

[roblm]

Try using this method. Use this command to create an xorg.conf file:
sudo touch /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Open the file for editing: xed admin:///etc/X11/xorg.conf

Add these lines:

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Section "Device"
   Identifier   "amdgpu"
   Driver   "amdgpu"   			
   BusID  "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Log out and back in. If there is a problem getting back to the desktop, then press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to enter virtual console tty1. Use this command to remove the xorg.conf file and reboot:
sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf; reboot

[nevinson]

Thank you, roblm.

Didn't work After I logged out, I couldn't go back to desktop. I deleted the file and reboot.

[roblm]

Try using this xorg.conf file:

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Section "Device"
   Identifier   "intel"
   Driver   "modesetting"   			
   BusID  "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier   "amdgpu"
   Driver   "amdgpu"   			
   BusID  "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection 

[nevinson]

Thanks,

I was able to return to the desktop with the new xorg.conf file.
There is still no Radeon card in the inxi-G output. In fact, I would say that the command took a lot longer to execute than it used to. Is that normal?

Unless I should check somewhere else, I'm not sure I can say that it worked