Activate radeon rx 6700 xt in multi-monitor after replacing nvidea card

Hardware Support
#25

I've spent the last 2 days playing software tag with this issue by rebuilding the system and trying numerous things. At this point in time I can say the following has been proven:

  1. neither Zorin or AMD have an answer that will allow my Radeon RX 6700 XT card to work with Zorin Linux except in the most basic single monitor mode.

  2. This is true of Zorin 15.2, Ultimate, Zorin 15.3 Ultimate, Zorin 16 Beta - tested on totally new clean builds and builds with all of the updates available.

  3. The AMD Radeon drivers version 21.10-1247438 will NOT load on any of the above Zorin systems.

  4. The AMD Radeon drivers version 21.10-1244864 will load on all of the Zorin and it WILL allow the graphics card to operate to it's full capacity and work the 4 monitors I have on the system with either of the 2 tweaks below and the caveat below.

Tweak 1: As advised in the thread change the /etc/os-relase file where it says the system is 'zorin' to 'ubuntu' and save the file.

Tweak 2: Open the amdgpu-install file in the directory and change the name 'ubuntu' to 'zorin' where it runs the check for the system software name and save the file.

Caveat: The above will allow drivers to run and load numerous library files which then allows the system to use the card to it's fullest capabilities. However, one of the library files changed means that once you turn the system off or reboot it it you have rebuild the system as when it gets to the password page and you enter the password it automatically goes back to the 'enter the password' page and continuously repeats the process.

If Zorin identified the relevant libraries used by this driver and incorporated them in their build then the issue should be resolved. However, as things stand right now the Radeon 6700 XT cards are not compatible with Zorin Linux at all

#26

If you use the Grub Parameter nomodeset, will it prevent this as the init must run prior to loading the graphics drivers?

#27

will try it in a couple of days time as I'll be away at meetings tomorrow and it's after midnight here. I have messaged both Radeon and Zorin on this issue. I did buy Zorin 15 Ultimate so I am allowed to ask them for help.

1 Like
#28

I agree. Please be patient as the Zorin Group (Developers) consists of Two People and they are currently finalizing the release of Zorin OS 16.

Take your time and move at your most comfortable pace; We will all be here to offer as much help as we can.

This is a particularly frustrating issue, as that card is quite new. It does mean that there is another trick up our sleeves, though. When you have time, we can try installing an unsigned Mainline 5.10+ kernel. As this is a fresh and frustrating install- we do not need to worry about that installation going south.

#29

I intend to take as long as my eyes hold out, but being reduced to the one small monitor after using the 40 in ones for so long is a real issue for me. However, considering how good the sales of the 6700 xt are going, I suspect this issue will soon be affecting a lot more people than just me and is something they need to look at and fix soon.

1 Like
#30

I got a reply from the Zorin developers which stated:

quote:
The following guide may help you to install the proprietary AMD graphics card drivers in Zorin OS 15:

  1. Install the latest software updates by going to the Zorin menu > search & open "Software Updater"
  2. Download the Ubuntu 18.04.5 HWE version of the AMD driver from here
  3. Open the file browser and navigate to the "Downloads" folder
  4. Right-click on the amdgpu-pro .tar.xz file and select "Extract Here"
  5. Open the newly-extracted folder and double click on the "amdgpu-install" file to "Display" it
  6. Press Ctrl+F to search for "ubuntu" and replace the "ubuntu" text with "zorin" (without quotes)
  7. Save the file and close the text editor app
  8. In the file browser, right-click on an empty place in the folder and click "Open in Terminal"
  9. Enter this command to install the drivers: ./amdgpu-pro-install -y

After the installation is complete, please restart your computer to apply the changes.
end quote

As this is something I had done before my post about the tweaks and the caveat, I already know this will send me into a loop during the login and wont let me enter the system. I've told them about this result and what happens and am hoping they can come back with something that works.

Right now I'm giving consideration in going over to the dark side and installing Windows 10 on a spare hard drive just so I can get the full use of the system. That's something I'm not happy about doing.

#31

Before you go that extreme, have you ever considered test run Zorin 16 Live USB to see the compatibility with your GPU?

#32

I wonder if the oibaf drivers will do a better job than the Proprietary or the x-swat (You may need to remove amdgpu-pro-20.40-1147287-ubuntu-18.04 before doing this...);

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

Or, since the AMD drivers call on vulkan:

sudo apt install -y libvulkan1 mesa-vulkan-drivers vulkan-utils

#33

I did try Zorin 16 and it didn't work as it gave me the same login loop as Zorin 15.3 did. For now I am using the absolutely worst and most horrid GUI I've every seen and the most intrusive piece of garbage I know of in existence - but it does allow me to use all 4 monitors. I'll wait a few weeks to see if Zorin comes up with a fix that actually works then I can dump this garbage called Ubuntu 20.04. - - it's designed SOLELY to be used on touchscreen like a modern phone and is horrid to use with a mouse on a desktop. On top of that, before I can start making changes to the software on the system I HAVE to create a UBUNTU 1 account and SNAP account otherwise I get nothing in the software lists. _Yes, I'm NOT happy with being forced to do things like that.

Just when I thought a software system couldn't get any worse, the Ubuntu developers manage to make it worse. For every damn removal or addition of software while work within their Software program I have to enter my Root password - even to remove useless ■■■■■■ games I don't want.

Ubuntu USED to be good and I liked it, but they messed up badly in the last 5 years, I now learn. I never thought I'd see a Linux system that made me think Windows was better, but this version of Ubuntu is doing a a good job in convincing me to break out Win 10.

Ugh - I can't take any more of trying to customise this - I'd rather have a Troll than a Gnome - going to try Kubuntu.

#34

Did the oibaf drivers not work?

I agree with you 100% on each of these points.

I cannot stand Gnome. I will not use it and I will not theme it. I started out on Zorin Core (gnome) and struggled constantly. When I switched to Zorin Lite(XFCE4), suddenly I had control over my own computer, again.

I also installed Cinnamon (who dislike Canonicals shenanigans as much as we do and disabled Snap) desktop on Zorin and it runs like a dream.

#35

When I try something I swap another SSD into the system and was involved in doing that for the try with Ubuntu before you made your post. I just tried the Vulkan approach on a clean Zorin 15.3 rebuild and it didn't work. Going to try Kubuntu and if that doesn't work for me I'll go over to the dark side for several weeks then try Ubuntu 16 once it reaches the release stage.

1 Like
#36

As of 6:00 a.m. 29 July 2021 Australian time I now have this issue resolved. During the night I did the following.

I downloaded the latest ISO of Zorin 16 today and the latest AMD Ubuntu font file: amdgpu-pro-21.20-1271047-ubuntu-20.04.

I installed Zorin 16 and did all of the updates then copied the amdgpu file to the system and unpacked it. Then I:

  • opened the amdgpu-pro-install file

  • went to line 146 of the code as the check os release function starts at 141 to amend it from ubuntu|linuxmint|debian) to Zorin|ubuntu|linuxmint|debian)

  • then I ran the install command as stated in the file at it worked perfectly.

NB: In the first attempt I replaced 'ubuntu' with 'zorin' and later had login issues, but by adding 'zorin' and a 'pipe' in front of 'ubuntu' it worked - I don't know why that makes a difference, but it did.

I now have my new rx 6700 card working all 4 monitors.

My thanks to everyone who provided advice and especially to the Zorin development team who gave me the final advice and updates that worked.

3 Likes
#37

I am glad to hear that you managed to solve the issue.
If you could tick the box :ballot_box_with_check: to mark the thread as solved, it will help the future visitor for this site who might have the same issue as you had.

#38

@Aravisian
The OP seems to forget to mark this thread as solved.
Could you please do it?

1 Like
#39

I thought I had, I could only see one box to check and I clicked on that, If there is another box I'm supposed to mark, please tell me where it is as I can only see the one which I've already clicked on many hours ago.

edit to add: I notice a notation of 'solution' at the bottom of many of the posts that wasn't there before. I hope this is what was needed.

#40

The page not have taken the selection at the time... I selected what looked like the Solution at the time asked at the request earlier. If I got it wrong, I believe you should be able to select "Solution" on the correct post without difficulty.

I don't know about you, but I have days where I click something four times before the thing being clicked finally agrees that it was indeed clicked and responds accordingly.

#41

It also helps if you're familiar enough with the system to know where to look for what needs to be done next. I see it's now marked, and I'm not sure who is responsible for that, but I thank them if it was not by my actions before.

I'm glad it's fixed, despite me having to spend all day every day on it for a few days. I did find some of the issues that arose to be quite interesting, but damned annoying at the time.

#42

This is one of the reasons I participate on this forum as I do; The frustrating problems, even if not directly my own, lead me to learning more.

#43

The weirdest oddity was the change to the amdgpu-pro-install script. On a new build of Zorin 16 the first attempted change corrupted the login script in some way, but a different change allowed everything to work properly. In both cases the driver installed, but the first try wouldn't allow me to log in after a restart, but the 2nd change did work properly. Yet the difference was so minor I can't see why there was a difference in the effect.

line 142 within the code to check the OS release was:

case "$ID" in
ubuntu linuxmint debian)

the one below failed to allow login after restart

case "$ID" in
zorin linuxmint debian)

while this version works perfectly

case "$ID" in
zorin ubuntu linuxmint

logically the last two should give them same result, but they don't and I can't think of any reason for it. That's more frustrating than the more than a dozen system rebuilds I did while troubleshooting this.

#44

Total agreement. Usually, when this happens to me in .css, I find that I had a ";" missing in a line somewhere up above or something similar.