AMD radeon rx7600s glitches on asus TUF A16

General system Kernel, boot, graphics & hardware
1

I’ve seen other people online report similar issues over the last couple months, all of them using asus TUF A16 (2023) with either ryzen 7 7735 or 7435 and radeon rx 7600s GPU.

The problem:
when you move mouse cursor

  • top rows of pixels glitch out and you a see a checkerboard pattern,
  • screen is stuttering

“fixes” I or others had found:

  • change display refresh rate: 165Hz → 60Hz → 165Hz. Works only sometimes and isn’t persistent.
  • EDIT: cycling refresh rate is persistent but only on X11. X11 is also able to run SuperTuxKart
  • change adaptive sync to always. Works but you get unexpected freezing that forces you to reboot. Also causes a freeze when you toggle night light
  • changing display resolution to 1680x1050. Seems to stop stuttering and glitching but doesn’t fix underlying issues: running supertuxkart freezes your screen and disables keyboard input.

other things to note:

  • there’s no glitching when running glmark2 or when your cursor is withing firefox windows bounds.
  • no problems on windows 10 or 11
  • running kubuntu, fedora, Pop OS, Endevour OS KDE, makes no difference, Slackware 15 install doesn’t recognize the keyboard.
  • Running linux 6.12, 6.6 (LTS) or Zen makes no difference
  • installing lib32-mesa etc. doesn’t fix the issues

I’ve been trying different things since I bought this laptop. I can’t return it anymore because I’ve had it for 16 days, and I don’t really want to. Searching for laptops is such a pain, and this one seems to be the one of the few that I didn’t hate and were within my budget. I thought about running windows for ~year til support for this GPU on linux catches up, but it’s too annoying to do. Most of my workflow relies on bash, coreutils, ssh, linux native tools, integration of sftp into file manager etc. on windows I’d be glued to WSL or a VM to get anything done.

$ inxi -FGa
System:
  Host: tufa Kernel: 6.12.4-arch1-1 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 14.2.1 clocksource: tsc avail: acpi_pm
    parameters: initrd=\bf295d3ee260443ab310741674dd20ec\6.12.4-arch1-1\initrd
    nvme_load=YES nowatchdog rw
    root=UUID=984b9028-9253-4d6d-be12-d35fd783f8eb
    resume=UUID=96b19852-1ab3-48ca-9a6c-f86bc6c7f40e rw
    root=UUID=984b9028-9253-4d6d-be12-d35fd783f8eb
    resume=UUID=96b19852-1ab3-48ca-9a6c-f86bc6c7f40e
    systemd.machine_id=bf295d3ee260443ab310741674dd20ec
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.2.4 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.9.0
    wm: kwin_wayland vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: EndeavourOS base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: ASUS TUF Gaming A16 FA617NSR_FA617NSR
    v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: FA617NSR v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
    uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: FA617NSR.306
    date: 05/03/2024
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 53.4 Wh (60.1%) condition: 88.9/90.0 Wh (98.8%)
    volts: 15.8 min: 15.9 model: AS3GWYF3KC GA50358 type: Unknown serial: 5667
    status: not charging
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+ gen: 3
    level: v3 note: check built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm) family: 0x19 (25)
    model-id: 0x44 (68) stepping: 1 microcode: 0xA404107
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 1 cores: 8 threads: 16 tpc: 2
    smt: enabled cache: L1: 512 KiB desc: d-8x32 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 4 MiB
    desc: 8x512 KiB L3: 16 MiB desc: 1x16 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2985 min/max: 400/4553 boost: enabled scaling:
    driver: amd-pstate-epp governor: performance cores: 1: 2985 2: 2985 3: 2985
    4: 2985 5: 2985 6: 2985 7: 2985 8: 2985 9: 2985 10: 2985 11: 2985 12: 2985
    13: 2985 14: 2985 15: 2985 16: 2985 bogomips: 99040
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow mitigation: Safe RET
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW;
    STIBP: always-on; RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not
    affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 33 [Radeon RX 7600/7600
    XT/7600M XT/7600S/7700S / PRO W7600] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: amdgpu
    v: kernel arch: RDNA-3 code: Navi-33 built: 2023+ pcie: gen: 4
    speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 8 ports: active: eDP-1
    empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1,Writeback-1 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:7480
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: IMC Networks USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam driver: uvcvideo type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 3-3:2 chip-ID: 13d3:56a2
    class-ID: 0e02 serial: 0x0001
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.14 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.4
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
    unloaded: modesetting,radeon alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: radeonsi
    gpu: amdgpu display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 res: 1527x955 size: N/A modes: N/A
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi
    device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: kms_swrast surfaceless: drv: radeonsi
    wayland: drv: radeonsi x11: drv: radeonsi
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 24.3.1-arch1.3
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon RX 7600S (radeonsi
    navi33 LLVM 18.1.8 DRM 3.59 6.12.4-arch1-1) device-ID: 1002:7480
    memory: 7.81 GiB unified: no display-ID: :1.0
  API: Vulkan Message: No Vulkan data available.
Audio:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 31 HDMI/DP Audio
    vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 8 bus-ID: 03:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab30 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] ACP/ACP3X/ACP6x Audio Coprocessor
    vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_pci_acp6x v: kernel alternate: snd_pci_acp3x,
    snd_rn_pci_acp3x, snd_pci_acp5x, snd_acp_pci, snd_rpl_pci_acp6x,
    snd_pci_ps, snd_sof_amd_renoir, snd_sof_amd_rembrandt,
    snd_sof_amd_vangogh, snd_sof_amd_acp63, snd_sof_amd_acp70 pcie: gen: 4
    speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 07:00.5 chip-ID: 1022:15e2 class-ID: 0480
  Device-3: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 17h/19h/1ah HD Audio
    vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 16 bus-ID: 07:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.12.4-arch1-1 status: kernel-api
    tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.7 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 port: e000 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eno1 state: down mac: 10:7c:61:71:ce:3c
  Device-2: MEDIATEK MT7921 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter
    vendor: AzureWave driver: mt7921e v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 06:00.0 chip-ID: 14c3:7961 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 1c:ce:51:4e:77:71
  Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: IMC Networks Wireless_Device driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
    rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 5-1:2 chip-ID: 13d3:3563
    class-ID: e001 serial: 000000000
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down bt-service: disabled
    rfk-block: hardware: no software: no address: N/A
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 775.03 GiB used: 196.93 GiB (25.4%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Western Digital model: WD PC
    SN740 SDDPNQD-512G-1002 size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: 24015Q807557
    fw-rev: 73101000 temp: 58.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Hitachi model: HTS545032B9A300
    size: 298.09 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B type: USB
    rev: 3.0 spd: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-1x1 tech: HDD rpm: 5400
    serial: 110123PBP303162ALWAL fw-rev: 0209 scheme: MBR
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 80 GiB size: 78.19 GiB (97.74%) used: 11.6 GiB (14.8%)
    fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /home raw-size: 379.88 GiB size: 372.85 GiB (98.15%)
    used: 83.47 GiB (22.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 16 GiB used: 1.45 GiB (9.0%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 maj-min: 259:4
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 60.6 C mobo: 49.8 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 49.0 C
    mem: 58.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 2900 gpu: amdgpu fan: 0
Info:
  Memory: total: 16 GiB note: est. available: 15.36 GiB used: 5.75 GiB (37.4%)
  Processes: 373 Power: uptime: 49m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: s2idle
    wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot, suspend, test_resume
    image: 6.14 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil, power-profiles-daemon,
    upowerd Init: systemd v: 257 default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1136 libs: 294 tools: yay Compilers:
    clang: 18.1.8 gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.37 running-in: konsole
    inxi: 3.3.36
1 Like
2

Can you provide links?

3

Does this happen on both Wayland and X11?

4

https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/comments/1ctnyj1/asus_tuf_a16_fa617_linux_flickering/
https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=400080

5

The glitches and stuttering are the same. Fixes/remedies are different. Wayland seems more unstable, where refresh rate cycling, async settings, night light, taking a screenshot, SuperTuxKart are bugged out.

I’ve switched to X11 KDE for now, and it seems once you cycle refresh rates everything works until the next reboot. For some reason you have to change refresh rates in KDE sys setting GUI menu, guys on the linux mint forum found out you can set up a script that runs every time you log in

#!/bin/bash

xrandr -s 60
xrandr -s 165

but it doesn’t fix the issues on EOS

6

I’ve created two reports on this same issue. Just for the information of readers: the post you referred to has a solution: I switched to xfce4 and the amount of bugs reduced. BUT later I realized the issues didn’t actually disappear. In my case the issue has no solution yet.

Some people on the Internet say that Asus TUF A16 is just not compatible with Linux in some weird way and I’m prone to believe this claim now, to be honest.

My second forum post has a number of suggestions on how to fix these issues, but trying them all only to realize none of them helped so far simply drives me crazy. But feel free to try them out nonetheless. At some point I became sure that the drivers are the issue, which seems to be not true, so we started trying different ways. Here’s the link, there were updates not so long ago:

7

The information from this link gave me some insight regarding the kernel support of our GPU. However, according to this page, it should’ve been supported since kernel 5.16, while I’m currently on 6.12.4, and the issues have been persistent since day 0, which sounds like this is not the case either. The problem haven’t gone away with new updates so far.

8

I know, but it’s a remedy/sidestep rather than a solution (just as you say). In my case combination of KDE Plasma X11 and refresh rate cycling right after login fixes the issue, so far I had no issues with: web browsing, taking screenshots, night light, SuperTuxKart and Heroes of Might and Magic 3 HD via wine. So for now this seems to be the best you can do.

What kind of issues persist in your case? Is it gaming or some specific software?

I’ll be testing Witcher 3, M&B Warband, Witcher 2, Skyrim, Lego Marvel and Empire Total War during xmas. We’ll see whether there are any persistend glitches in those. I’m especially curious about Witcher 3 as I wasn’t able to run it on windows 11 (black screen and never ending loading screen).

Supposedly rx7000 series and RDNA3 GPUs in general should be supported by linux kernel since around 6.6. It could be interesting to see whether there are any other laptops with rx7600s (besides TUFs) having similar problems. The problem might actually be with the motherboard.

9

Sometimes the whole system crashes while I browse the web (currently FIrefox but I haven’t noticed any improvements if using any other browser), but it’s extremely frequent while using Telegram desktop in particular. I encounter a major freeze and the checkerboard pattern is visible, just like you mentioned. In this case only REISUB helps.

When I used KDE Plasma X11 I also encountered minor tweaks with blinking of something that reminds analogue noise even while simply managing files via file manager etc. This particular issue is not that frequent with Xfce4, which is the reason why I thought I fixed my problem, but it still happens every now and then.

There is not that much issues with gaming, I finished S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 recently, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance previously, just to name a few. The above-mentioned minor tweaks become more frequent when the system is loaded with such tasks, but chances are much greater to get a full system crash while using Telegram, and less likely, but still happen while browsing.

Last time a checked the crash logs, the last message before checkerboard-related crash reboot was this:

[   193.019] (WW) AMDGPU(0): flip queue failed: Invalid argument
[   193.019] (WW) AMDGPU(0): Page flip failed: Invalid argument
10

I had also odd glitches with integrated AMD GPU. They happened especially on Wayland but there was minor glitching on X11 too. I got so frustrated that I changed BIOS settings so that only my Nvidia is on use. Granted, it eats more battery, but after all on gaming laptop that is the case also in using integrated.

11

TUF A16 is a fully AMD laptop, and version with ryzen 7 7435 doesn’t have iGPU, it’s always running on dGPU

12

Like it’s said above, this is AMD CPU and AMD GPU set, and personally I, when tried switching fully to dGPU, had the issue described in a Reddit post that the OP shared. The cursor movement became stuttering and there was that white line at the top of the screen.

Honestly, the amount of these issues makes you think that you’re insane or I don’t know. How is that this is completely fine laptop for usage with Windows, and it turns out to be so broken on Linux? Should I wear a tinfoil hat and start thinking that there are some Microsoft-promoted technical flaws that prevent users from installing Linux on this very laptop? Am I just stupid? I was hunting for a laptop with Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPU so that I don’t have to deal with that Nvidia-related stuff only to realize that I have never encountered such complications with Nvidia GPU. No matter how annoying those issues might’ve been, I always managed to find a workaround unlike in this case.

1 Like
13

I know.

I was talking about problem I had with my laptop that has both integrated AMD GPU and Nvidia GPU. I never claimed that your computer was in question on the answer I wrote, I was simply chiming in and letting you know that I had issues with AMD as well.

1 Like
14

I think many linux users thought a full AMD laptop is going to be great.

I’m going to try running asus-linux kernel, I think it’s supposed to address keyboard issues and alike, but you never know

15

Gonna try this one too. Keep us updated if you get anything interesting.