# Is my graphic card to be replace by RMA ?

## lhuge

Hi,

Since I've bought a new PC (by spare parts) a few months ago, I've suffered of regular kernel panics.

I've check the memory (Kingston HyperX Fury : memtest86), changed my CPU (AMD Ryzen 5 : RMA).

I've recompiled the whole system using less optimized parameters (using CFLAGS="-O2 -march=znver1..." instead of -march=znver1)

Now I suspect the graphic card (Sapphire Radeon RX 550 PULSE).

The reasons why I suspect it is :

 - as VLC got segmentation faults (showing VDPAU segfault in console and segfault error 4 in libdrm_amdgpu.so.1.0.0 in logs) when I was jumping during the film, it disappeared when deactivating hardware-accelerated decoding ;

 - from times to times, when it is not ...^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@..., /var/log/kern.log shows dozens of amdgpu GPU fault detected.

Otherwise, the motherboard is a MSI B350 TOMAHAWK.

Do you think I should change my graphic card ?

Is there any other way to study before ?

Thanks in advance,

Laurent

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## Ant P.

I have an RX550 and don't see those kind of errors in dmesg, nor segfaults with video decoding (though it does have visual problems in mpv). Is anything else wrong with it? What are the temperatures like?

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## 1clue

I'm going to ask a couple "is it plugged in" questions.

Are all the cards in the system seated correctly?

Do all the cards have a screw holding them in?

Are your wires routed so that air flow is not impeded in the case?

Are there any wires stretched to their limit to get from A to B?

When you flip your case upside down is there a rattling sound?  (look for loose screws or inadequately fastened hardware)

Are all the wires attached to your video card?

Does the fan on the video card spin when the system gets warm?

I've been bitten by a lot of those. The wires and fastenings don't necessarily need to be directly attached to the video card. Sometimes errors cascade and you only see the end result.

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## Jaglover

8. Is external power plugged in? If it requires it, that is.

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## krinn

 *Jaglover wrote:*   

> 8. Is external power plugged in? If it requires it, that is.

 

I would add that too

9. Is power supply enough to feed all components? (videocards are power sucker)

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## lhuge

Hi,

Sorry for the delay, but I've tried to answer all your detailed question (and thanks for them).

So there is :

1. Yes, I've checked it

2. Yes, also

3. I think so, there are very few cables

4. No. But do you mean all cables, because I've attached some of them (to help the air flow) and it can be possible one or two are stretched ; do you think I should release all of them ?

5. It's quite heavy (I've tried to shake it) but everything seems fastened

6.There are no wire attached to the video card. I fact I can't understand the question.

7. The fan spin as soon as the system starts. At this time, it is running 956RPM and the card is 35°C. It looks normal

8. No. I've search a long time when I've installed my PC, but it's not required (PCIe 16x)

9. Yeah. I've got a Be Quiet 500W, and the 2 calculators I've found on Internet show about 300W of consumption.

Do you have any advice ?

Thanks,

Laurent

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## C5ace

Get a low cost (<$20) VGA card. If that works, RMA your Sapphire Radeon RX 550 PULSE card.

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## lhuge

Uh weel...

So you don't have any way to decide whether it is the card or not.

At that rate, I would rather RMA my card : whether the replacement works and it's over, or it doesn't and I'm again on the way. I just wanted to be sure.

Is there a way to get sure about the card failure ?

Thanks,

Laurent

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## krinn

 *lhuge wrote:*   

> Is there a way to get sure about the card failure ?

 

Most videocards problem are coming from dead fan or memory trouble, and most visible case of a dead videocard are artefacts draw on the screen, like random pixel or blinking parts ; or a totally black screen (even in bios post).

So, no, without these symptoms, all you could say is that your card is crashing when playing videos with hardware accel enable.

What you could do is first looking if the card also crash when a bit stress (some benchmark), or just using another video player with accel enable/disable.

Try another system (livecd) with an accel enable player (ok maybe a livedvd then).

You are free of course to rma any parts you feel are bad, but rma a working product is not something anyone will be happy against, amd could repackage the card to a brand new one (but they won't be happy to have spent time just to see your card is working), but for a reseller your "working" card will be a pure lost, he couldn't rma something that works, and couldn't sell it as brand new.

Because of this, you should always make sure to rma a broken product, try another card from a friend and/or try that card on a friend computer. If you cannot do that (yeah nerd have no friends  :Very Happy:  ) than ask reseller if he could for a "tiny" fee diagnose the card for you.

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## 1clue

 *lhuge wrote:*   

> Hi,
> 
> ...
> 
> 6.There are no wire attached to the video card. I fact I can't understand the question.
> ...

 

Many more expensive video cards draw more power than the slot can provide. They have one or more extra power plugs on the card, and you need to attach cables from your power supply to these in order for all the features to work.

If I remember correctly my plugs on the board are 4-pin square orientation. You may need to buy an adapter to get it to hook up to your power supply, or the adapter(s) may come with the card.

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## Jaglover

I was looking at the picture, it seems there is no power connector - I may be wrong. In any case, 16x PCIe can supply 65 W, but it is on the limit. Consumer electronics do not work well when pushed to the limit.

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## lhuge

Ok, krinn, I understand your purpose.

And I confirm there is no wired power supply to the card (that was what I expected first, and eventually understand there's no)...

I'll try a live USB test (since I've got near hand).

I'll tell you...

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## Ant P.

I really doubt this has anything to do with power; this is what my RX550 looks like while I'm pushing it moderately hard (1344p60 video on one screen, 3D on another):

```
GFX Clocks and Power:

        1500 MHz (MCLK)

        463 MHz (SCLK)

        5.102 W (VDDC)

        4.65 W (VDDCI)

        12.149 W (max GPU)

        12.39 W (average GPU)

GPU Temperature: 48 C

GPU Load: 100 %
```

Less than 20W, that's basically nothing.

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## lhuge

Hi,

There's a little summary of my progress.

As asked, I've test a live USB to see if it is linked to hardware. I've been used a Ubuntu for installing Gentoo, so I've used it again (ubuntu-18.04-desktop-amd64).

And it works  :Laughing:  ! VLC with the same file, jumping back and forth multiple times doesn't present a failure.

So the card seems to works ; and I've to find what parameter to change not to go to segfault.

I've thought that may be a kernel configuration.

So I've upgrade my kernel to 4.16.8 (my former was 4.14.6, and the Ubuntu is 4.15.0). I must precise I've always used my own kernel builds ; and use Gentoo AMD Ryzen and Radeon RX 560 configuration help pages to configure them.

I tried to approach as near as possible to graphics parameters of the Ubuntu's. The main evolutions are the add of

RETPOLINE

PCI_QUIRKS

DRM_AMDGPU_SI, DRM_AMDGPU_CIK and DRM_AMDGPU_USERPTR

DRM_AMD_DC, DRM_AMD_DC_PRE_VEGA and CHASH

HSA_AMD

FB_TILEBLITTING

and suppression of FB_DDC, FB_BACKLIGHT, FB_RADEON

But it hasn't solved my problem : VLC still segfault   :Crying or Very sad: 

What could I see then ? Continue to change my kernel (but what direction) ? Or search in libraries ?

Laurent

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## Jaglover

Are you using vdpau in Ubuntu, too?

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## lhuge

Hi,

Back from a trip...

Jaglover, yes, I've used vdpau also : "avcodec decoder: Using G3DVL VDPAU Driver Shared Library version 1.0 for hardware decoding".

Moreover, after searching how to force MPlayer to use vdpau (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MPlayer#Enabling_VDPAU), I've made a test with my Gentoo, and it works too O_o !

So, how can it works with MPlayer but not with VLC ? They use the same libraries, aren't they ?

And how can I find that different problem that lead from time to time to system fail... ?

Thanks,

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