I have been getting this stupid error for about 6 months. I have no idea when it was introduced or by who and in what context.
Jan 23 07:16:27 noo /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[3702]: (WW) AMDGPU(0): flip queue failed: Cannot allocate memory
Jan 23 07:16:27 noo /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[3702]: (WW) AMDGPU(0): Page flip failed: Cannot allocate memory
Jan 23 07:16:27 noo /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[3702]: (EE) AMDGPU(0): present flip failed
Jan 23 07:16:27 noo kernel: amdgpu 0000:04:00.0: amdgpu: 00000000c68ffdd8 pin failed
Jan 23 07:16:27 noo kernel: [drm:dm_plane_helper_prepare_fb [amdgpu]] *ERROR* Failed to pin framebuffer with error -12
Jan 23 07:16:27 noo /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[3702]: (WW) AMDGPU(0): flip queue failed: Cannot allocate memory
Jan 23 07:16:27 noo /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[3702]: (WW) AMDGPU(0): Page flip failed: Cannot allocate memory
Jan 23 07:16:27 noo /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session[3702]: (EE) AMDGPU(0): present flip failed
Jan 23 07:16:27 noo kernel: amdgpu 0000:04:00.0: amdgpu: 00000000c68ffdd8 pin failed
Jan 23 07:16:27 noo kernel: [drm:dm_plane_helper_prepare_fb [amdgpu]] *ERROR* Failed to pin framebuffer with error -12
Here’s what I know:
This is my third release of POPOS on these identical 2 systems (primary and backup). The last and current version is POPOS-22.04 and is likely built on a similar version of Ubuntu. I seriously doubt that System76, as good as they are, have the expertise to write video drivers… they only just made claim to the ability to configure and write desktop apps. Video drivers are not just next level they are mega-alpha. I should know.
I should know
I’m not going to post my dmesg here. The machine is a MinisForum HX90.
At the time when I purchased the two identical machines and upgraded the RAM to 64GB with an NVME and dual SSD drives
it was the top of the line from MF. And like I said it worked great.
Getting some of the technical details has been a challenge but the key bobs are essentially:
Turns out that the video is a Radeon RX Vega 8. Honestly I do not know what that means anymore. I’ve been out
of the video hardware and driver tech for 30 years. I used to debug video drivers for IBM’s operating systems.
This morning I tried switching from the primary to the backup system and as soon as I installed the Chrome browser the errors started to pop… saturating the CPU in Xorg rendering the system useless. It quieted down after a while and I was finally able to regain control but not get anything done.
SUCCESS ???
Rewind the time it took for me to get to this point in this writing minus a last ditch google check and I just decided… why no disable video hardware acceleration and see what happens.
vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/
... paste this contents
Section "Extensions"
Option "GLX" "Disable"
EndSection
reboot
I tried restarting Xorg directly with a pkill Xorg but that was not sufficient. It required a reboot.
So I did that, tailed the logs, and installed Chrome again and started it up. HAZAH!!!
Sure there were some GLX not present warnings but no memory errors.
At this moment both systems have been shutdown. I’m about to reverse their location in the lab so I can get back to work… time for a reboot. … waiting …
It’s a FAIL
In the end both systems are generating the error message. There is simply nothing I can do to make it work. I even tried upgrading to the amdgpu-pro version and that failed to install and quite frankly put my system in a scarey place. Now I need to recover on top of that.
I wish this sort of thing was unique to POPOS but it’s not. I’ve had the same issue with Windows and OSX in the past. Less so on OSX because they own the hardware but the proplem has been the same in other verticals like 3rd party apps that suddenly stop working because APIs change. Let’s face it hardware compatibility has been the hardest part of the Open PC architecture model for over 40 years. And it’s the potential niche that ChromeOS, Android and iOS try to solve… and fall short.