RX 580 Forced Into Software Rendering Mode

[Simmonz]

I just recently picked up an RX 580 and have been having an issue. If I install any kernel that is 4.11, 4.12 or 4.13 it is forced into software rendering mode after restarting. If I stick to any kernel 4.10 or lower it is fine. Obviously I would prefer to use a newer kernel. Could anybody tell me how to fix this ? I have never run into this issue before. System specs in my sig.

 

[BulletDust]

Did you update from Mint 17 to 18 or was 18 a clean install?

Mint 18 switched from initd to systemd, perhaps that's causing issues with device files? Have you tried running a 'clean' Mint 18 install using a live CD? This appears to be quite a common problem with Cinnamon.

 

[Simmonz]

Did you update from Mint 17 to 18 or was 18 a clean install?

Mint 18 switched from initd to systemd, perhaps that's causing issues with device files? Have you tried running a 'clean' Mint 18 install using a live CD? This appears to be quite a common problem with Cinnamon.

It was a clean install of Mint. I have since done another fresh install using a Live CD and same issue. What's weird is my old R9 270 worked just fine with kernel 4.11 all through 4.13.2. Is there a terminal command to try to force it out of software rendering ?

 

[BulletDust]

It was a clean install of Mint. I have since done another fresh install using a Live CD and same issue. What's weird is my old R9 270 worked just fine with kernel 4.11 all through 4.13.2. Is there a terminal command to try to force it out of software rendering ?

Honestly, I don't think any terminal command is going to help you as I believe the problem may be with the drivers and there's a regression from 4.11 onwards with your RX 580 (which is basically a beefed up version of the 4xx series). What happens if you boot a live CD of another distro? Just to get an overview of the situation as we can't change the WM under Mint Cinnamon.

 

[ChadD]

Honestly, I don't think any terminal command is going to help you as I believe the problem may be with the drivers and there's a regression from 4.11 onwards with your RX 580 (which is basically a beefed up version of the 4xx series). What happens if you boot a live CD of another distro? Just to get an overview of the situation as we can't change the WM under Mint Cinnamon.

https://antergos.com/

Has a solid live iso running gnome desktop... and its a Arch based distro. The most current live iso is running kernel 4.12.8.

If you try that and have the same issue it sounds like it would be a kernel driver reversion. It seems odd though as those cards are popular enough that you would think it would be on the radar and people would be talking about it.

 

[Simmonz]

https://antergos.com/

Has a solid live iso running gnome desktop... and its a Arch based distro. The most current live iso is running kernel 4.12.8.

If you try that and have the same issue it sounds like it would be a kernel driver reversion. It seems odd though as those cards are popular enough that you would think it would be on the radar and people would be talking about it.

You beat me to it. The Live CD of Mint hadn't given me issues but it also shipped with kernel 4.8 so that's not surprising. I gave Antergos a try and it gave me no issues while shipping with kernel 4.12.8. So now I have a decisioon to make. I enjoy Antergos as an OS but the couple games I have tried on it crashed on launch and I had to find fixes for them. It seems to be ok for Steam games but my issues were on games from GOG which I have many. So I can either stick with Mint which is a better supported OS for games but run outdated kernels or I can run up to date kernels but worry about game compatibility. Do you use Antergos as a daily driver Chad ? Just wondering if games are a big issue for you if you do. I literally only tried 2 games on it so not much experience to go on.

 

[ChadD]

You beat me to it. The Live CD of Mint hadn't given me issues but it also shipped with kernel 4.8 so that's not surprising. I gave Antergos a try and it gave me no issues while shipping with kernel 4.12.8. So now I have a decisioon to make. I enjoy Antergos as an OS but the couple games I have tried on it crashed on launch and I had to find fixes for them. It seems to be ok for Steam games but my issues were on games from GOG which I have many. So I can either stick with Mint which is a better supported OS for games but run outdated kernels or I can run up to date kernels but worry about game compatibility. Do you use Antergos as a daily driver Chad ? Just wondering if games are a big issue for you if you do. I literally only tried 2 games on it so not much experience to go on.

Yes I run Antergos as a daily driver. Antergos is pretty much just Arch Linux. Antergos is mostly just a slick installer for Arch. Archs normal install involves a lot of command line partitioning ect. They don't make a fancy GUI installer. Antergos adds one repository which has pre setting profiles for most of the desktops and a few icon packs ect. EVERYTHING else comes direct from the arch repo, and you can turn the AUR on as well.

I have had very few issues with games on Antergos. However when you do have issues... don't search X game + Antergos looking for the answer just search X + Arch. Cause really your running arch, much more so then Mint being Ubuntu.

I have played a lot of games on it and never really had a lot of issues.
Civ 5 required me to use a custom launch option;
LD_PRELOAD='/usr/$LIB/libgcc_s.so.1 /usr/$LIB/libxcb.so.1 /usr/$LIB/libgpg-error.so ./libcxxrt.so /usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.6' %command%
I know that looks a bit crazy but its just preloading a few libs... when I ran into the issue of Civ5 not launching one quick search found me a solution in 2 seconds. The solution came from the arch forum. They are in general good about helping out with issues, and they are as busy as any other major Linux dstro so the chances of your issue already having being discussed are pretty high. Some of the people that post there will be short... in that I mean they will post a solution but not always explain things well as they will assume you have a good idea what is going on. In general though the arch community is pretty great, and the distro is growing in popularity. Manjaro / Antergos are always in the top 5 on distro watch and pure arch never drops all that low.

Arch is rolling so things get updated in general pretty fast. (arch still holds off on somethings for a bit... in general major changes like a new version of gnome ect will take 2-3 weeks) So yes some games expecting ancient Ubuntu libs can be an issue. The arch guys do test and hold some stuff back a bit... even though its rolling but they hold things back a few weeks at most not much longer. IMO in general the updates make things more reliable not less... but I know that is contrary to the way most people view it. When it comes to games I find native Linux games in general work no issues at all... the issues in general seem to come from the games that have been ported. Games from Aspyr / Feral ... the issues I have experienced or heard about though are almost always solvable pretty simply with a solution like the Civ5 lib preload.

I have nothing against Ubuntu and Mint... but Arch is my fav distro, and Antergos is imo the best way to setup arch. Arch can be good to install if you want to learn a bit more about the nitty gritty of Linux... but really if you already have a good handle on how Linux works why mess around, when Antergos is a 10 min install to a fully operational arch.

Another distro to consider as well is Manjaro. Its also arch based, unlike Antergos they take a bit more control of their distro. Manjaro doesn't just use the standard Arch repos. They tend to hold up some updates for longer periods of testing. Its still arch based though and I imagine you wouldn't have issues with the GPU, it is possible that Manjaro has a few less issues with games in general in my experience as they push a few of their own fixes. I have ran both and for myself I prefer Antergos cleaner arch setup, Manjaro has their own ideas and make a few changes like the default scheduler being BFQ ect.

I am rambling a bit... imo Arch is the best linux base around, and Antergos and Manjaro are both fantastic user friendly distros. Antergos will give you a cleaner arch. Having said that perhaps if games are your main focus Manjaro may perhaps be more to your liking. Its a bit less rolling but that isn't a bad thing for gamers... and the manjaro devs tend to game a bit which is good. (I don't remember having to use a lib preload for Civ5 under Manjaro) Manjaro also has the best Kernel installer in the game... you can setup multiple kernels with Manjaro and they have a simple GUI based click install for them. So you can always keep a LTS kernel around as a backup... booting either kernel from grub. Antergos operates just like arch they push kernels pretty often but in general wait 3-4 weeks before switching lines. Which is why Antergos is on 4.12 and not 4.13... the current Antergos / Arch standard kernel is 4.12.13 they will likely push 4.13 around the 2-3 version, 4.13.3 or so. If you are planning to use other precompiled kernels in the Arch repos or the AUR like hardened or zen kernels I would go with Antergos.

Anyway consider Antergos but check out Manjaro as well... both have advantages. IMO they are 2 of the best distros out there right now.

 

[Simmonz]

Yes I run Antergos as a daily driver. Antergos is pretty much just Arch Linux. Antergos is mostly just a slick installer for Arch. Archs normal install involves a lot of command line partitioning ect. They don't make a fancy GUI installer. Antergos adds one repository which has pre setting profiles for most of the desktops and a few icon packs ect. EVERYTHING else comes direct from the arch repo, and you can turn the AUR on as well.

I have had very few issues with games on Antergos. However when you do have issues... don't search X game + Antergos looking for the answer just search X + Arch. Cause really your running arch, much more so then Mint being Ubuntu.

I have played a lot of games on it and never really had a lot of issues.
Civ 5 required me to use a custom launch option;
LD_PRELOAD='/usr/$LIB/libgcc_s.so.1 /usr/$LIB/libxcb.so.1 /usr/$LIB/libgpg-error.so ./libcxxrt.so /usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.6' %command%
I know that looks a bit crazy but its just preloading a few libs... when I ran into the issue of Civ5 not launching one quick search found me a solution in 2 seconds. The solution came from the arch forum. They are in general good about helping out with issues, and they are as busy as any other major Linux dstro so the chances of your issue already having being discussed are pretty high. Some of the people that post there will be short... in that I mean they will post a solution but not always explain things well as they will assume you have a good idea what is going on. In general though the arch community is pretty great, and the distro is growing in popularity. Manjaro / Antergos are always in the top 5 on distro watch and pure arch never drops all that low.

Arch is rolling so things get updated in general pretty fast. (arch still holds off on somethings for a bit... in general major changes like a new version of gnome ect will take 2-3 weeks) So yes some games expecting ancient Ubuntu libs can be an issue. The arch guys do test and hold some stuff back a bit... even though its rolling but they hold things back a few weeks at most not much longer. IMO in general the updates make things more reliable not less... but I know that is contrary to the way most people view it. When it comes to games I find native Linux games in general work no issues at all... the issues in general seem to come from the games that have been ported. Games from Aspyr / Feral ... the issues I have experienced or heard about though are almost always solvable pretty simply with a solution like the Civ5 lib preload.

I have nothing against Ubuntu and Mint... but Arch is my fav distro, and Antergos is imo the best way to setup arch. Arch can be good to install if you want to learn a bit more about the nitty gritty of Linux... but really if you already have a good handle on how Linux works why mess around, when Antergos is a 10 min install to a fully operational arch.

Another distro to consider as well is Manjaro. Its also arch based, unlike Antergos they take a bit more control of their distro. Manjaro doesn't just use the standard Arch repos. They tend to hold up some updates for longer periods of testing. Its still arch based though and I imagine you wouldn't have issues with the GPU, it is possible that Manjaro has a few less issues with games in general in my experience as they push a few of their own fixes. I have ran both and for myself I prefer Antergos cleaner arch setup, Manjaro has their own ideas and make a few changes like the default scheduler being BFQ ect.

I am rambling a bit... imo Arch is the best linux base around, and Antergos and Manjaro are both fantastic user friendly distros. Antergos will give you a cleaner arch. Having said that perhaps if games are your main focus Manjaro may perhaps be more to your liking. Its a bit less rolling but that isn't a bad thing for gamers... and the manjaro devs tend to game a bit which is good. (I don't remember having to use a lib preload for Civ5 under Manjaro) Manjaro also has the best Kernel installer in the game... you can setup multiple kernels with Manjaro and they have a simple GUI based click install for them. So you can always keep a LTS kernel around as a backup... booting either kernel from grub. Antergos operates just like arch they push kernels pretty often but in general wait 3-4 weeks before switching lines. Which is why Antergos is on 4.12 and not 4.13... the current Antergos / Arch standard kernel is 4.12.13 they will likely push 4.13 around the 2-3 version, 4.13.3 or so. If you are planning to use other precompiled kernels in the Arch repos or the AUR like hardened or zen kernels I would go with Antergos.

Anyway consider Antergos but check out Manjaro as well... both have advantages. IMO they are 2 of the best distros out there right now.

So I tried three more rolling release distros: Manjaro, openSUSE Tumbleweed and Antergos. Antergos gave me three different error codes during install on three separate install attempts, openSUSE wouldn't boot after install and at first Manjaro was working great. Manjaro Cinnamon was a great experience that met all of my needs until I tried gaming. Steam wouldn't launch after install and the few GOG games I tried would install but not launch. Now the Arch Wiki was quickly able to pinpoint what my issues should be but their fixes didn't solve my issues. Furthermore after trying to reinstall Manjaro to do further tests (had wiped the drive to try out openSUSE and Antergos) it wouldn't install on further attempts. Wouldn't get to the live CD screen where I could try to install it. So for my rolling release desires it seems Solus Mate will come closest to meeting my needs since it gave me no issues with Steam or GOG games on the ones I tried.

 

[BulletDust]

[cough] Ubuntu MATE [cough]....

 

[ChadD]

So I tried three more rolling release distros: Manjaro, openSUSE Tumbleweed and Antergos. Antergos gave me three different error codes during install on three separate install attempts, openSUSE wouldn't boot after install and at first Manjaro was working great. Manjaro Cinnamon was a great experience that met all of my needs until I tried gaming. Steam wouldn't launch after install and the few GOG games I tried would install but not launch. Now the Arch Wiki was quickly able to pinpoint what my issues should be but their fixes didn't solve my issues. Furthermore after trying to reinstall Manjaro to do further tests (had wiped the drive to try out openSUSE and Antergos) it wouldn't install on further attempts. Wouldn't get to the live CD screen where I could try to install it. So for my rolling release desires it seems Solus Mate will come closest to meeting my needs since it gave me no issues with Steam or GOG games on the ones I tried.

Fair and odd... if manjaro and antergos where both giving you the same sorts of errors that makes sense both being arch based. But SUSE also had issues. Its interesting sorry you had so many issues. In my experience both manjaro and antergos in general install pretty painlessly on most systems. Considering its interesting that out of all those you tried solus worked fine. Well let us know how your experiments go... its always good to get first hand feedback. If you remember as well what where the errors you where getting with the arch installs just out of curiousity ?

 

[BulletDust]

Fair and odd... if manjaro and antergos where both giving you the same sorts of errors that makes sense both being arch based. But SUSE also had issues. Its interesting sorry you had so many issues. In my experience both manjaro and antergos in general install pretty painlessly on most systems. Considering its interesting that out of all those you tried solus worked fine. Well let us know how your experiments go... its always good to get first hand feedback. If you remember as well what where the errors you where getting with the arch installs just out of curiousity ?

GPU issue perhaps?

Have you tried the GPU in a known good system Simmonz?

 

[Simmonz]

GPU issue perhaps?

Have you tried the GPU in a known good system Simmonz?

On this same system I can run Windows 7, Solus Mate, Solus Budgie, Linux Mint 18.2 (so long as I stick with kernel 4.10.17 or older) without issues. I'm sure that if I spent enough time to try to get to the bottom of the issues I could but it's easier to just use a distro that is working for me. Been on Solus Mate for the last few days and while I find Budgie more pleasing to the eye the Mate version has a feature I like too much to give up: the ability to double click a .sh file and choose to run from Terminal. I am a lazy man and Budgie was making me open up Terminal too much for my liking.

Fair and odd... if manjaro and antergos where both giving you the same sorts of errors that makes sense both being arch based. But SUSE also had issues. Its interesting sorry you had so many issues. In my experience both manjaro and antergos in general install pretty painlessly on most systems. Considering its interesting that out of all those you tried solus worked fine. Well let us know how your experiments go... its always good to get first hand feedback. If you remember as well what where the errors you where getting with the arch installs just out of curiousity ?

I took a picture of the Antergos error codes but must have deleted them. I will give it another go at some point and write them down if I get them again.