[SOLVED] MSI laptop using Ubuntu 22.04, Intermittent monitor problems

m3110w · 10-26-2022, 09:13 PM

I'm running Linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Gnome Wayland on an MSI Bravo 15 Ryzen 7 4800H 15.6" 40GB A4DDR-212IN laptop. I purchased it new about 15 months ago. I just did a software update and reboot and the problem is still there.

In the past week or so the screen has been intermittently acting up. See here

https://youtu.be/ehUqmKF0tMM to see exactly what's going on.

Anyone seen anything like this? Any ideas what's going on and how to fix it? How can I run diagnostic tests on my graphics/screen stack?

PS: Next time the problem happens, I'll switch to X11 and see what that does. (UPDATE, the problem persists after I switch to X11.)

Update, I plugged in an external HDMI monitor and the problem was not happening on the external monitor. Does this narrow down where the problem is?

Up until now the laptop display has been fine.

Let me know if I should move this to another forum.

rokytnji · 10-28-2022, 07:45 AM

Ubuntu has inxi in it. Open your terminal and post in back using the go advanced reply option inserting the inxi readout in code tags by using the hashmark # supplied in the taskbar. The reason I ask this is we need ti see the driver and graphics info along with your computer specs.

Code:

inxi -Fxz

Quote:

Used external monitor and now problem is gone

To me. That sounds like bad news. Ribbon cable contacts on LCD monitor on laptop are/sound like, corroded connections and may need reseating and retaping up.,,

Inverter might be on it's way out. Though usually., Inverter is just for laptop brightness. There are so many laptop brands kinda hard to say on yours with me a many 1000 miles away from the problem.

So yeah. Probably the ribbon cable where it goes into zif connectors. Either way. Hardware problem probably instead of software problem going by your description.
Just out of curiosity. Did you medsum check your ubuntu iso before installing it?

Edit: To explain what I mean a little better since the laptop is so new.
Laptops don't like hitting the floor . This fact is usually left out when one experiences graphics problems and works just fine with a external monitor.

m3110w · 10-28-2022, 10:25 AM

[QUOTE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji

Ubuntu has inxi in it. Open your terminal and post in back using the go advanced reply option inserting the inxi readout in code tags by using the hashmark # supplied in the taskbar. The reason I ask this is we need ti see the driver and graphics info along with your computer specs.

Code:

inxi -Fxz

Here it is. See anything interesting?

Code:

advait@advait-Bravo-15-A4DDR:~$ inxi -Fxz
System:
  Kernel: 5.15.0-52-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.2.0
    Desktop: GNOME 42.4 Distro: Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Micro-Star product: Bravo 15 A4DDR v: REV:1.0
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Micro-Star model: MS-16WK v: REV:1.0 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: E16WKAMS.110 date: 10/29/2020
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 51.8 Wh (97.9%) condition: 52.9/51.3 Wh (103.0%)
    volts: 12.8 min: 11.4 model: MSI Corp. MS-16WK status: Full
CPU:
  Info: 8-core model: AMD Ryzen 7 4800H with Radeon Graphics bits: 64
    type: MT MCP arch: Zen 2 rev: 1 cache: L1: 512 KiB L2: 4 MiB L3: 8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1404 high: 1528 min/max: 1400/2900 boost: enabled
    cores: 1: 1528 2: 1397 3: 1397 4: 1397 5: 1397 6: 1396 7: 1390 8: 1396
    9: 1397 10: 1397 11: 1397 12: 1397 13: 1397 14: 1397 15: 1397 16: 1398
    bogomips: 92621
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 14 [Radeon RX 5500/5500M / Pro 5500M]
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.0
  Device-2: AMD Renoir vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: amdgpu v: kernel
    bus-ID: 08:00.0
  Device-3: Chicony USB 2.0 Webcam Device type: USB driver: uvcvideo
    bus-ID: 1-4:2
  Display: wayland server: X.Org v: 1.22.1.1 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.1
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: X: loaded: amdgpu,ati
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,radeon,vesa gpu: amdgpu
    resolution: 1920x1080~144Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD RENOIR (LLVM 13.0.1 DRM 3.42 5.15.0-52-generic)
    v: 4.6 Mesa 22.0.5 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 10 HDMI Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.1
  Device-2: AMD Raven/Raven2/FireFlight/Renoir Audio Processor
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: N/A bus-ID: 08:00.5
  Device-3: AMD Family 17h HD Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 08:00.6
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-52-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 04:00.0
  IF: wlp4s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: f000 bus-ID: 05:00.0
  IF: enp5s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
    bus-ID: 3-3:2
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down
    bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes
    address: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 7.74 TiB used: 4.1 TiB (52.9%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Seagate model: FireCuda 520 SSD ZP2000GM30002
    size: 1.82 TiB temp: 33.9 C
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 vendor: Kingston model: OM8PCP3512F-AI1
    size: 476.94 GiB temp: 33.9 C
  ID-3: /dev/sda type: USB model: USB Hard Drive size: 1.82 TiB
  ID-4: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Lenovo model: USB Hard Drive
    size: 1.82 TiB
  ID-5: /dev/sdc type: USB vendor: Seagate model: BUP Slim size: 1.82 TiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.79 TiB used: 1.35 TiB (75.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 4 KiB (0.0%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 62.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
  GPU: device: amdgpu temp: 43.0 C fan: 65535 device: amdgpu temp: 41.0 C
Info:
  Processes: 449 Uptime: 2h 50m Memory: 38.58 GiB used: 6.43 GiB (16.7%)
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.3.0 Packages: 2951 Shell: Bash
  v: 5.1.16 inxi: 3.3.13
advait@advait-Bravo-15-A4DDR:~$

m3110w · 10-28-2022, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji

To me. That sounds like bad news. Ribbon cable contacts on LCD monitor on laptop are/sound like, corroded connections and may need reseating and retaping up.,,

So yeah. Probably the ribbon cable where it goes into zif connectors. Either way. Hardware problem probably instead of software problem going by your description

Yeah, I think you're right. Cable issues. I'll take it to the shop soon.

PS: Never dropped this laptop. I'm pretty careful.

rokytnji · 10-28-2022, 02:31 PM

Code:

Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 14 [Radeon RX 5500/5500M / Pro 5500M]
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.0
  Device-2: AMD Renoir vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: amdgpu v: kernel
    bus-ID: 08:00.0
  Device-3: Chicony USB 2.0 Webcam Device type: USB driver: uvcvideo
    bus-ID: 1-4:2
  Display: wayland server: X.Org v: 1.22.1.1 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.1
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: X: loaded: amdgpu,ati
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,radeon,vesa gpu: amdgpu
    resolution: 1920x1080~144Hz

Looks OK to me. amdgpu is doing the heavy lifting across all devices. Yeah. See what the shop says. Hope you still have a warranty.

m3110w · 10-28-2022, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji

Code:

Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 14 [Radeon RX 5500/5500M / Pro 5500M]
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.0
  Device-2: AMD Renoir vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: amdgpu v: kernel
    bus-ID: 08:00.0
  Device-3: Chicony USB 2.0 Webcam Device type: USB driver: uvcvideo
    bus-ID: 1-4:2
  Display: wayland server: X.Org v: 1.22.1.1 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.1
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: X: loaded: amdgpu,ati
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,radeon,vesa gpu: amdgpu
    resolution: 1920x1080~144Hz

Looks OK to me. amdgpu is doing the heavy lifting across all devices. Yeah. See what the shop says. Hope you still have a warranty.

Thanks for your help! Really appreciated. Warranty is over but no worries, where I live good laptop repair is not expensive.

mrmazda · 10-28-2022, 11:34 PM

Find out whether it happens in Xorg too, because if it doesn't, it's not the hardware.

Don't be surprised if the shop finds nothing wrong. That video resembles corruption I've seen with various GPUs on various distros, often called tearing. Various combinations of hardware and software have bugs, and this is one of the types that gets past software developers' own testing, particularly the driver writers it seems.

Disabling compositing may make the problem disappear, but it can come with a feature loss cost.

You could try using the modesetting DIX display driver instead of the amdgpu DDX display driver. Simply uninstall xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu and reboot. If it helps, you're done if you want to be. If not, reinstall it or not, but communicate the issue to the developers of the amdgpu DDX driver for possible assistance. But, don't do this until you have determined whether it happens with Xorg too.

m3110w · 10-29-2022, 04:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

Find out whether it happens in Xorg too, because if it doesn't, it's not the hardware.

Don't be surprised if the shop finds nothing wrong. That video resembles corruption I've seen with various GPUs on various distros, often called tearing. Various combinations of hardware and software have bugs, and this is one of the types that gets past software developers' own testing, particularly the driver writers it seems.

Disabling compositing may make the problem disappear, but it can come with a feature loss cost.

You could try using the modesetting DIX display driver instead of the amdgpu DDX display driver. Simply uninstall xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu and reboot. If it helps, you're done if you want to be. If not, reinstall it or not, but communicate the issue to the developers of the amdgpu DDX driver for possible assistance. But, don't do this until you have determined whether it happens with Xorg too.

Yes, the same problem is there when I switch to Xorg. Should I now try your "uninstall xserver" idea? I'll google it, but if you have the command to "uninstall xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu" please send it to me.

When I uninstall xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu, will that create any problems with my system?

If I'm reading you correctly, if I uninstall xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu and reboot, then the DIX display driver will automatically kick in and start working? I got that right?

Is it possible to switch back to xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu if needed?

PS: The flickering persists even when I go into the BIOS screens.

PS: I submitted the issue to the freedesktop devs.

rokytnji · 10-31-2022, 02:10 PM

Quote:

xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu

You can find it in your synaptic package manager.

Quote:

When I uninstall xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu, will that create any problems with my system?

Probably get a text screen to log into and startx will probably fail. Need some type xserver-xorg-video-xxxxx to get to a desktop.

Quote:

PS: The flickering persists even when I go into the BIOS screens.

That tells me ribbon cable or inverter. LCD rarely goes bad. They crack. But work.

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ns-antix-2131/

Just a old blog I did. Shows how I fix things.

Quote:

If I'm reading you correctly, if I uninstall xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu and reboot, then the DIX display driver will automatically kick in and start working? I got that right?

Can't answer that. Maybe mrmazda can. He did mention a reinstall if things did not work out.

rokytnji · 10-31-2022, 02:22 PM

If you try it and get a command line text boot up. Log in.

Then to reinstall the amd driver.

Code:

sudo apt-update

Let it finish.

Code:

sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu

Let it finish.

I don't run a systemd distro but see if this works for shutdown.

Code:

sudo shutdown -h now

If it works. Power back up and see if it brought everything back to the way it was.

mrmazda · 10-31-2022, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m3110w

Yes, the same problem is there when I switch to Xorg. Should I now try your "uninstall xserver" idea? I'll google it, but if you have the command to "uninstall xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu" please send it to me.

Installing and removing software is pretty basic for any operating system. Ubuntu gives you choices. Some you type in a terminal. Others are found in the main menu where you find applications to run. Ubuntu has one named Synaptic, but it might be called software manager or install & remove software or something else. sudo apt purge xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu is one you could type in a terminal.

Quote:

When I uninstall xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu, will that create any problems with my system?

We aren't psychics here. It shouldn't, but we aren't guarantors. All its removal does is switch to a different type of display driver that happens to be a newer technology, and the default, which is why it gets automatically switched to if an optional driver like xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu is removed.

Quote:

If I'm reading you correctly, if I uninstall xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu and reboot, then the DIX display driver will automatically kick in and start working? I got that right?

Exactly.

Quote:

Is it possible to switch back to xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu if needed?

Yes, as I wrote already. sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu is just one way that will work even if X would not even start. You could use apt-get or aptitude instead of apt, or, if X is running, use the package manager application in your main menu.

Quote:

PS: The flickering persists even when I go into the BIOS screens.

This strongly suggest the problem has nothing to do with any software.

Quote:

PS: I submitted the issue to the freedesktop devs.

If you did so by creating a new issue in their tracker, please provide its URI here.

m3110w · 11-01-2022, 11:05 AM

#mrmazda
Quote: [[PS: The flickering persists even when I go into the BIOS screens.]]

"This strongly suggest the problem has nothing to do with any software."

This feels like the most likely situation. I'll take the lappy to a repair shop. Thanks!