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I have a Radeon r9 390x graphics card running on my system running ubuntu 16.04. Searching the internet, I am unsure what is the situation with this graphics card. I do not know: * Which driver I should install * How to install it * Where to find the appropriate settings to support my display

both amdgpu and radeon driver seem to be preinstalled out of the box. There is no /etc/x11/xorg.conf file, even though the radeon driver seems to rely on it. The resolution of the display I can choose using system settings has a maximum of 1920x1080. My display is 2560x1440 (Dell u2713hm).

lspci |grep -E "VGA|3D" 

results in

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Hawaii XT [Radeon R9 290X] (rev 80)

So, basically the graphics card is already wrongly detected, even though this might be a minor problem because the 390x seems to be pretty similar to the 290x.

dpkg --get-selections |grep xserver

gives

x11-xserver-utils               install
xserver-common                  install
xserver-xorg                    install
xserver-xorg-core               install
xserver-xorg-input-all              install
xserver-xorg-input-evdev            install
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics            install
xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse          install
xserver-xorg-input-wacom            install
xserver-xorg-video-all              install
xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu           install
xserver-xorg-video-ati              install
xserver-xorg-video-fbdev            install
xserver-xorg-video-intel            install
xserver-xorg-video-nouveau          install
xserver-xorg-video-qxl              install
xserver-xorg-video-radeon           install
xserver-xorg-video-vesa             install
xserver-xorg-video-vmware           install

I tried to manually create /etc/X11/xorg.conf and pasting

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Configured Video Device"
    Driver      "radeon"
EndSection

into it. No changes of beaviour.

I do not know why the system does not allow me to choose a higher resolution than 1920x1080. I do not know how to check if my graphics card is installed - or "correctly" installed - and how to get the display's native resolution.

This is a completely fresh install - absolutely everything is fresh and comes from a standard install.

Display is connected via HDMI. This actually seemed to be the problem for the detection of the native resolution. When connected using DVI let me choose the max resolution directly.

Output of

dmesg | egrep 'drm|radeon' 

is

[    1.031044] [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810
[    1.053725] [drm] radeon kernel modesetting enabled.
[    1.058423] fb: switching to radeondrmfb from VESA VGA
[    1.058806] [drm] initializing kernel modesetting (HAWAII 0x1002:0x67B0 0x1043:0x04DB).
[    1.058812] [drm] register mmio base: 0xDFD00000
[    1.058813] [drm] register mmio size: 262144
[    1.058815] [drm] doorbell mmio base: 0xD0000000
[    1.058815] [drm] doorbell mmio size: 8388608
[    1.058842] radeon 0000:01:00.0: Invalid ROM contents
[    1.058984] radeon 0000:01:00.0: VRAM: 8192M 0x0000000000000000 - 0x00000001FFFFFFFF (8192M used)
[    1.058984] radeon 0000:01:00.0: GTT: 2048M 0x0000000200000000 - 0x000000027FFFFFFF
[    1.058985] [drm] Detected VRAM RAM=8192M, BAR=256M
[    1.058986] [drm] RAM width 512bits DDR
[    1.059189] [drm] radeon: 8192M of VRAM memory ready
[    1.059190] [drm] radeon: 2048M of GTT memory ready.
[    1.059195] [drm] Loading hawaii Microcode
[    1.059257] [drm] Internal thermal controller with fan control
[    1.059280] [drm] probing gen 2 caps for device 8086:1901 = 261ad03/e
[    1.079112] [drm] radeon: dpm initialized
[    1.081496] [drm] Found VCE firmware/feedback version 40.2.2 / 15!
[    1.081499] [drm] GART: num cpu pages 524288, num gpu pages 524288
[    1.082166] [drm] probing gen 2 caps for device 8086:1901 = 261ad03/e
[    1.082175] [drm] PCIE gen 3 link speeds already enabled
[    1.100283] [drm] PCIE GART of 2048M enabled (table at 0x0000000000324000).
[    1.100405] radeon 0000:01:00.0: WB enabled
[    1.100410] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 0 use gpu addr 0x0000000200000c00 and cpu addr 0xffff881025e8ac00
[    1.100410] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 1 use gpu addr 0x0000000200000c04 and cpu addr 0xffff881025e8ac04
[    1.100425] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 2 use gpu addr 0x0000000200000c08 and cpu addr 0xffff881025e8ac08
[    1.100426] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 3 use gpu addr 0x0000000200000c0c and cpu addr 0xffff881025e8ac0c
[    1.100427] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 4 use gpu addr 0x0000000200000c10 and cpu addr 0xffff881025e8ac10
[    1.100754] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 5 use gpu addr 0x0000000000076c98 and cpu addr 0xffffc90007036c98
[    1.100899] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 6 use gpu addr 0x0000000200000c18 and cpu addr 0xffff881025e8ac18
[    1.100900] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 7 use gpu addr 0x0000000200000c1c and cpu addr 0xffff881025e8ac1c
[    1.100901] [drm] Supports vblank timestamp caching Rev 2 (21.10.2013).
[    1.100901] [drm] Driver supports precise vblank timestamp query.
[    1.100938] radeon 0000:01:00.0: radeon: using MSI.
[    1.100986] [drm] radeon: irq initialized.
[    1.103495] [drm] ring test on 0 succeeded in 0 usecs
[    1.103587] [drm] ring test on 1 succeeded in 1 usecs
[    1.103600] [drm] ring test on 2 succeeded in 3 usecs
[    1.103786] [drm] ring test on 3 succeeded in 5 usecs
[    1.103792] [drm] ring test on 4 succeeded in 1 usecs
[    1.129632] [drm] ring test on 5 succeeded in 2 usecs
[    1.149483] [drm] UVD initialized successfully.
[    1.258681] [drm] ring test on 6 succeeded in 23 usecs
[    1.258691] [drm] ring test on 7 succeeded in 4 usecs
[    1.258692] [drm] VCE initialized successfully.
[    1.271892] [drm] ib test on ring 0 succeeded in 0 usecs
[    1.771575] [drm] ib test on ring 1 succeeded in 0 usecs
[    2.271470] [drm] ib test on ring 2 succeeded in 0 usecs
[    2.271630] [drm] ib test on ring 3 succeeded in 0 usecs
[    2.271787] [drm] ib test on ring 4 succeeded in 0 usecs
[    2.791365] [drm] ib test on ring 5 succeeded
[    2.812183] [drm] ib test on ring 6 succeeded
[    2.812986] [drm] ib test on ring 7 succeeded
[    2.814573] [drm] Radeon Display Connectors
[    2.814574] [drm] Connector 0:
[    2.814575] [drm]   DP-1
[    2.814576] [drm]   HPD2
[    2.814577] [drm]   DDC: 0x6530 0x6530 0x6534 0x6534 0x6538 0x6538 0x653c 0x653c
[    2.814578] [drm]   Encoders:
[    2.814579] [drm]     DFP1: INTERNAL_UNIPHY2
[    2.814579] [drm] Connector 1:
[    2.814580] [drm]   DP-2
[    2.814580] [drm]   HPD4
[    2.814582] [drm]   DDC: 0x6570 0x6570 0x6574 0x6574 0x6578 0x6578 0x657c 0x657c
[    2.814582] [drm]   Encoders:
[    2.814583] [drm]     DFP2: INTERNAL_UNIPHY
[    2.814583] [drm] Connector 2:
[    2.814584] [drm]   DP-3
[    2.814585] [drm]   HPD6
[    2.814586] [drm]   DDC: 0x6580 0x6580 0x6584 0x6584 0x6588 0x6588 0x658c 0x658c
[    2.814586] [drm]   Encoders:
[    2.814587] [drm]     DFP3: INTERNAL_UNIPHY
[    2.814588] [drm] Connector 3:
[    2.814588] [drm]   HDMI-A-1
[    2.814589] [drm]   HPD3
[    2.814590] [drm]   DDC: 0x6550 0x6550 0x6554 0x6554 0x6558 0x6558 0x655c 0x655c
[    2.814590] [drm]   Encoders:
[    2.814591] [drm]     DFP4: INTERNAL_UNIPHY2
[    2.814592] [drm] Connector 4:
[    2.814592] [drm]   DVI-D-1
[    2.814593] [drm]   HPD1
[    2.814594] [drm]   DDC: 0x6560 0x6560 0x6564 0x6564 0x6568 0x6568 0x656c 0x656c
[    2.814595] [drm]   Encoders:
[    2.814595] [drm]     DFP5: INTERNAL_UNIPHY1
[    2.917466] [drm] fb mappable at 0xC0727000
[    2.917467] [drm] vram apper at 0xC0000000
[    2.917468] [drm] size 8294400
[    2.917468] [drm] fb depth is 24
[    2.917469] [drm]    pitch is 7680
[    2.917573] fbcon: radeondrmfb (fb0) is primary device
[    2.917653] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fb0: radeondrmfb frame buffer device
[    2.930053] [drm] Initialized radeon 2.43.0 20080528 for 0000:01:00.0 on minor 0

I could add a resolution that works with HDMI using

cvt 2560 1440 30 

xrandr --newmode "2560x1440_30.00"  146.25  2560 2680 2944 3328  1440 1443 1448 1468 -hsync +vsync

and

xrandr --addmode HDMI-0 "2560x1440_30.00"

This resolution is ok for displaying webpages and programming, but watching movies is not smooth.

If anyone knows how to get the combination of this graphics card, this monitor and HDMI to work, please tell me (I am already using the DVI connection for a different computer that does not have HDMI, so I cannot just swap the connections).

The driver seems to be radeon and not amdgpu: The output of

lshw -class display | grep "driver"

is

configuration: driver=radeon latency=0

In addition, I would be interested to know how to test the speed of my graphics card using this (radeon?) driver.

However, I did not find a site on the internet that explains how to check which driver is being used or how to switch them. So I am uncertain which driver my system actually uses and how to switch them.

Any Help is appreciated.

3
  • How is your display connected to your monitor? Also please edit your answer to include the output of dmesg | egrep 'drm|radeon' May 22, 2016 at 19:26
  • Thanks Steve, that pointed me in a good direction. As mentioned above, the system directly displays the 2560x1440 resolution when using duallink-dvi. I could then figure out how to get to a 2560x1440 resolution with HDMI (though the resolution is only at 30 Hz and does not allow smooth video playback).
    – user142295
    May 26, 2016 at 18:27
  • Remove the xorg.conf file you created. It is not necessary. The driver you should be using is "amdgpu" and not "radeon."
    – dobey
    Jul 14, 2016 at 17:21

2 Answers 2

-1

I am currently in a no graphics limbo, this helps explain why: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/03/ubuntu-drops-amd-catalyst-fglrx-driver-16-04

If you had fglrx drivers and upgraded to Ubuntu 16.+ then had problems run the following commands:

sudo apt-get remove --purge xorg-driver-fglrx fglrx*
sudo apt-get remove --purge *fglrx*
sudo apt-get install --reinstall libgl1-mesa-glx:amd64 libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 xserver-xorg-core
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.old
sudo reboot 
-2

In 16.04 the AMD graphics card driver is AMDGPU. The list of supported cards is here. This says your card is fully supported.

You are using the AMDGPU driver already. If the result of lshw -c video is Radeon you are using AMDGPU.

The alternative proprietary driver is fglrx. It will be faster than AMDGPU (at least at the time of writing) so you may want to give it a try. Instructions for installing it are here. It will work under Ubuntu 16.04

Modern versions of Ubuntu don't use /etc/X11/xorg.conf so editing it will not effect anything.

If you are connecting to your monitor using a single link DVI cable, this will limit your resolution. A single link is only capable of supporting resolutions up to 1920 X 1200 at 60Hz. Buy a dual link DVI cable which supports resolutions up to 2560 X 1600 at 60Hz.

Versions of HDMI up to 1.3 are equivalent to a single link DVI cable so cant support the resolution you are trying to achieve.

One solution is to upgrade to a monitor with more than one DVI input or buy a 2 port DVI switch (and make sure it supports dual link DVI). An example of a simple switch that definitely supports dual link is the HQ 2 port DVI_I switch. Amazon UK link

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  • As mentioned in my edited question above, my system seems to be using the radeon driver. I do not know how to switch to amdgpu.
    – user142295
    May 26, 2016 at 18:28
  • As stated above, I do use a dual link DVI cable that does provide a resolution of 2560x1600 for a different machine. As my monitor only has one connection for a DVI cable, I am forced to use HDMI with this machine. Is there a way to use natively 2560x1600 at 60 HZ using the HDMI cable?
    – user142295
    Jun 25, 2016 at 14:31
  • From what I understand, I cannot run fglrx on 16.04. Is there a way to run fglrx on 16.04?
    – user142295
    Jun 25, 2016 at 16:21
  • Thanks for the tip with the dual-link switch! I might go for that. I actually have difficulties finding an affordable one. On Amazon, it is not clear to me which switch supports dual link (2560x1600@60Hz). Can you recommend an affordable dual-link switch?
    – user142295
    Jul 12, 2016 at 12:06
  • The "alternative proprietary driver" is not fglrx any more. It has been abandoned by AMD. The new driver is AMD GPU-Pro, and they have now made it available for 16.04 on their web site. However it is not required to make an R9 card work. It's only needed to enable certain features if you require them, such as Vulkan or OpenGL 4.5.
    – dobey
    Jul 14, 2016 at 17:14

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