Ubuntu

[asus-k52j] System detects ghost VGA device (ubuntu-20.04] )

Asked by David

After installing ubuntu 20.04 from scratch, a phantom VGA device is detected at start. This leads the system to think that it has a more active screen than it actually has. This causes unwanted behaviors like:

* the laptop does not suspend properly when closing the main screen
* the resolution of the ghost screen is loaded causing a vertical strip of random noise on the main screen
* a non existent display "Unknown Display" is shown in gnome-control-center
* some apps like settings are opened open on the ghost monitor making them inaccessible

[OBSERVATION]: Before this, I had Ubuntu 18.04 installed which began to give me a recurring problem consisting of a black screen after login, as if the main screen was turned off (which now I think could be related to the same background problem). Being able to enter the system only through a console session

❯ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2390 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS connected primary 1366x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1366x768 60.02*+
   1280x720 59.97
   1152x768 59.95
   1024x768 59.95
   800x600 59.96
   848x480 59.94
   720x480 59.94
   640x480 59.94
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VGA-0 connected 1024x768+1366+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1024x768 60.00*
   800x600 60.32 56.25
   848x480 60.00
   640x480 59.94

❯ ls /sys/class/drm
    card0
    card0-VGA-1
    card0-HDMI-A-1
    card0-LVDS-1
    version
    renderD128
    ttm

NOTES:
 - VGA-0 in xrandr output is a ghost device
 - running 'xrandr --auto && xrandr --output VGA-0 --off' works as a temporary patch
 - adding GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="video=VGA-0:d" to /etc/default/grub, and update grub, DOES NOT solve the problem for me

I am wondering if the cause for this problem is known or if it is a reported bug. or if there is any definitive solution beyond turning off the monitor at startup

Thanks in advance

[basic system info]

❯ uname -a
Linux asus-K52JT 5.8.0-59-generic #66~20.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jun 17 11:14:10 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

❯ screenfetch
asus@asus-K52JT
OS: Ubuntu 20.04 focal
Kernel: x86_64 Linux 5.8.0-59-generic
Uptime: 29m
Packages: 2178
Shell: zsh 5.8
Resolution: 1366x768
DE: GNOME 3.36.5
WM: Mutter
WM Theme:
GTK Theme: Yaru-dark [GTK2/3]
Icon Theme: Papirus-Dark
Font: Ubuntu 11
Disk: 49G / 219G (24%)
CPU: Intel Core i7 Q 740 @ 8x 1.734GHz
GPU: AMD/ATI Robson CE [Radeon HD 6370M/7370M]
RAM: 3457MiB / 7885MiB

❯ sudo lshw -c video
  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Robson CE [Radeon HD 6370M/7370M]
       vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: 00
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=radeon latency=0
       resources: irq:38 memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:d0020000-d003ffff ioport:d000(size=256) memory:c0000-dffff

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Expired
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

Does the system have a make and model?

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

Ahh asus-k52j, my bad

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#3

If you try the proprietary driver, is it better?

Revision history for this message
David (destbreso) said (last edit ): 		#4

Hello, thanks for your time

Following your suggestion, I tried the proprietary drivers and the problem persists

[STEPS]
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
sudo apt update && sudo apt -y upgrade
reboot

[RESULT]

NOTE: the driver is still 'radeon'

❯ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2390 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS connected primary 1366x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1366x768 60.02*+
   1280x720 59.97
   1152x768 59.95
   1024x768 59.95
   800x600 59.96
   848x480 59.94
   720x480 59.94
   640x480 59.94
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VGA-0 connected 1024x768+1366+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1024x768 60.00*
   800x600 60.32 56.25
   848x480 60.00
   640x480 59.94

❯ sudo lshw -c video
  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Robson CE [Radeon HD 6370M/7370M]
       vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: 00
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=radeon latency=0
       resources: irq:38 memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:d0020000-d003ffff ioport:d000(size=256) memory:c0000-dffff

❯ dmesg | grep -i radeon
[ 4.809161] [drm] radeon kernel modesetting enabled.
[ 4.809332] fb0: switching to radeondrmfb from VESA VGA
[ 4.809768] radeon 0000:01:00.0: vgaarb: deactivate vga console
[ 4.811725] radeon 0000:01:00.0: VRAM: 1024M 0x0000000000000000 - 0x000000003FFFFFFF (1024M used)
[ 4.811729] radeon 0000:01:00.0: GTT: 1024M 0x0000000040000000 - 0x000000007FFFFFFF
[ 4.813445] [drm] radeon: 1024M of VRAM memory ready
[ 4.813446] [drm] radeon: 1024M of GTT memory ready.
[ 4.863566] [drm] radeon: dpm initialized
[ 4.869637] [drm] enabling PCIE gen 2 link speeds, disable with radeon.pcie_gen2=0
[ 4.882547] radeon 0000:01:00.0: WB enabled
[ 4.882554] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 0 use gpu addr 0x0000000040000c00 and cpu addr 0x00000000352db7c2
[ 4.882558] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 3 use gpu addr 0x0000000040000c0c and cpu addr 0x000000009e6d76f0
[ 4.884104] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 5 use gpu addr 0x000000000005c418 and cpu addr 0x000000003d7e608a
[ 4.884113] radeon 0000:01:00.0: radeon: MSI limited to 32-bit
[ 4.884174] radeon 0000:01:00.0: radeon: using MSI.
[ 4.884206] [drm] radeon: irq initialized.
[ 5.231441] [drm] Radeon Display Connectors
[ 5.630454] fbcon: radeondrmfb (fb0) is primary device
[ 5.630691] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fb0: radeondrmfb frame buffer device
[ 5.662715] [drm] Initialized radeon 2.50.0 20080528 for 0000:01:00.0 on minor 0

Revision history for this message
David (destbreso) said (last edit ): 		#5

After the previous steps the proprietary driver is not in use. `lshw -c video` output shows` driver = radeon` and what I expect is (I think) is: `driver = amdgpu`

Q1) Did I make a mistake while installing the driver?,.... or Is my system to old?

Q2) If not, what is the correct way to force the use of the proprietary driver?

Note:
I found a similar problem in a reported bug (#1296020), but related with Nvidia system.
Could this be a new related bug, or maybe a regression?

Revision history for this message
David (destbreso) said : 		#6

[WORKING PATCH]

adding GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="video=VGA-1:d" to /etc/default/grub, and update grub solve the problem for me (it's disconnect my ghost monitor, but still exist)

❯ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1366 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS connected primary 1366x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1366x768 60.02*+
   1280x720 59.97
   1152x768 59.95
   1024x768 59.95
   800x600 59.96
   848x480 59.94
   720x480 59.94
   640x480 59.94
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VGA-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

NOTE: I had initially tried with "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="video=VGA-0:d" and did not work.
I tried with "VGA-0" based on xrandr's output. So I try again based on my `/sys /class /drm` files

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said : 		#7

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.