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edendekker
Adept I

How to successfully install OpenCL on a R9 295X2 (AMD HAWAII) on any recommended Ubuntu X.XX?

Hi,
I recently purchased a second hand R9 295X2, and in the past two weeks i have experimented with installing drivers with different ubuntu releases but am unable to get a successful detection with clinfo. The closest i have to getting OpenCL to work was with the Mesa libraries but they are not fully functional and not compatible with ArrayFire see here Default ArrayFire examples throw "Segmentation fault (core dumped)" on AMD HAWAII  · Issue #1758 · a...

I am looking for the recommended way to successfully install OpenCL that works with a R9 295X2 (AMD HAWAII) on any recommended Ubuntu XX.XX distribution.

It would be fantastic if someone with the same GPU has got it to work.

If no one has gotten a R9 295X2 device to work on Ubuntu, i am tempted to join the dark side and test out installation in Windows.


I prefer an official installation to work, but i am open to hear about unofficial exotic installations.


In addition to the below attempts, i have gone through all my options as discussed here drivers - Ubuntu 14.04.5/16.04/16.10 and AMD graphics - Ask Ubuntu  But unfortunately for my specific GPU model, no option is functional and fits my needs for using OpenCL with ArrayFire along with temperature monitoring.

Please be aware that i have LVM installed and use snapshots to restore to vanila OS state between each attempt below.

Below lists my different attempts -

Attempt #1  - Official

Navigate to the AMD drivers site (Linux Download Center), and search for R9 295X2, the recommended OS is 64bit Ubuntu 15.04, with Crimson Proprietary Driver radeon-crimson-15.12-15.302-151217a-297685e.zip

Step 1- install recommended OS and install driver
Step 2- execute sudo clinfo
Outcome, clinfo only shows OpenCL for CPU, no GPU detected.

Step 3- install AMD APP SDK 3.0
Step 4- execute sudo clinfo
Outcome, clinfo only shows OpenCL for CPU, no GPU detected.

Step 5 - reboot server
Outcome, x windows hangs and cant log in.

Attempt #2 - Official

Navigate to the AMD drivers site (Linux Download Center), and search for R9 290X, the recommended OS is 64bit Ubuntu 16.04, with AMDGPU-PRO Driver amdgpu-pro-17.10-410326.tar.xz

Step 1- install recommended OS and install driver
Step 2- execute sudo clinfo
Outcome, clinfo only shows OpenCL for CPU, no GPU detected.

Step 3- install AMD APP SDK 3.0
Step 4- execute sudo clinfo
Outcome, clinfo only shows OpenCL for CPU, no GPU detected.

Step 5 - reboot server

Outcome, presented with login screen, but cant log in, i keep getting the same login screen after logging in. I also tried to chroot the OS and run clinfo, but that resulted in only the AMD CPU driver being detected, no GPU devices listed.

Attempt #3 - Official

Navigate to the AMD drivers site (Linux Download Center), and search for R9 295X2, the recommended OS is 64bit Ubuntu 14.04.2, with Crimson Proprietary Drivers fglrx_15.302-0ubuntu1_amd64_ub_14.01.deb, fglrx-core_15.302-0ubuntu1_amd64_ub_14.01.deb, fglrx-dev_15.302-0ubuntu1_amd64_ub_14.01.deb, fglrx-amdcccle_15.302-0ubuntu1_amd64_ub_14.01.deb

Step 1- install recommended OS and install drivers
Step 2- execute sudo clinfo
Outcome, clinfo only shows OpenCL for CPU, no GPU detected.

Step 3- install AMD APP SDK 3.0
Step 4- execute sudo clinfo
Outcome, clinfo only shows OpenCL for CPU, no GPU detected.

Step 5 - reboot server
Outcome, x windows hangs and cant log in.

Attempt #4 - UnOfficial

Open Source - Successfully install Mesa OpenCL via https://launchpad.net/~oibaf/+archive/ubuntu/graphics-drivers

e@host:~/Downloads/arrayfire_examples/build/benchmarks$ sudo clinfo
Number of platforms: 1
  Platform Profile: FULL_PROFILE
  Platform Version: OpenCL 1.1 Mesa 17.1.0-devel
  Platform Name: Clover
  Platform Vendor: Mesa

Number of devices: 2
  Device Type: CL_DEVICE_TYPE_GPU
  Name: AMD HAWAII (DRM 2.43.0 / 4.4.0-72-generic, LLVM 4.0.0)
  Device OpenCL C version: OpenCL C 1.1
  Driver version: 17.1.0-devel
  Version: OpenCL 1.1 Mesa 17.1.0-devel

  Device Type: CL_DEVICE_TYPE_GPU
  Name: AMD HAWAII (DRM 2.43.0 / 4.4.0-72-generic, LLVM 4.0.0)
  Device OpenCL C version: OpenCL C 1.1
  Driver version: 17.1.0-devel
  Version: OpenCL 1.1 Mesa 17.1.0-devel

Mesa OpenCL library is not full featured and does not work with ArrayFire as discussed here Default ArrayFire examples throw "Segmentation fault (core dumped)" on AMD HAWAII  · Issue #1758 · a...

Attempt #5 - UnOfficial

Successfully followed instructions here - Experimental OpenCL driver for Ubuntu 16.04

The unofficial patched fglrx core driver works with clinfo and arrayfire!
However, i am unable to monitor GPU temperature with psensor as GPUs are not detected in there.
I plan to fully utilise my GPUs so temperature monitoring is important to me.
Psensor is able to monitor temperature using Ubuntu's default open source drivers in Ubuntu 16.04,15.04,14.04.

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1 Solution

Hi,

It's good to hear that somehow you've managed to setup a working environment. I really appreciate your efforts.

Regarding your Attempt 2, currently AMDGPU PRO driver does not support R9 295x2 (please see the supported device list here: AMDGPU-PRO Driver for Linux Release Notes ). So, your Attempt 2 might not work right now.

Just for your information. You can post any driver related issue/query directly to this support forum:Drivers & Software 

Regards,

View solution in original post

4 Replies
dipak
Big Boss

Thanks for reporting this. I've couple of questions though.

  • When you were trying the "attempt 1, 2 and 3",  did you check "lspci" command (i.e. "lspci | grep AMD" ) to see whether the GPU devices were recognized or not in the PCI device list?
  • Is the issue specific to this 295x2 card or for any other GPU device also?

Btw. please try any older driver (say 15.7 or 14.12 from here Previous Drivers) to see if it works. Actually when I used a R9 295x2 card couple of years ago, it worked fine for me. Meanwhile, I'll check with the concerned team.

Regards,

I'm unsure if i specifically checked the lspci | grep AMD command for attempt 1,2 and 3 as it was between 1 - 2 weeks ago. But i remember executing it several times and sometimes it was there, sometimes not, depending on the type of attempt. I didn't, record the output as i was constantly restoring snapshots / chrooting and restoring drivers.

I have chrooted into my 16.04 partition which is a broken attempt #2, below is my output for lspci | grep AMD -

03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Vesuvius [Radeon R9 295X2]

03:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Device aac8

04:00.0 Display controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Vesuvius [Radeon R9 295X2]

In the past 6 days however, i managed to get attempt #1 working, below were my steps upon a newly restored snapshot of Ubuntu 15.04 -
Step #1 - leave bios to Internal > GFX and use onboard display

Step #2 - Navigate to "Software & Update" > "Additional Drivers"

Step #3 - Click "fglrx (proprietary)"

Step #4 - check sudo clinfo

Outcome clinfo hangs.

Step #5 - rebooot machine

Step #6 - change bios to GFX > Internal and use your R9 card for display

Step #7 - save and exit and reboot

Outcome display is in low resolution but it works.

Check setting > display and see available resolutions.

It is already in its highest resolution.

Step #8 - check sudo clinfo

Outcome, open cl now detects my R9 card!

Step #9 - check sudo dpkh -l fglrx*

Outcome, it is using fglrx 15.200

Step #10 - Navigate to the AMD drivers site (Linux Download Center), and search for R9 295X2, the recommended OS is 64bit Ubuntu 15.04, with Crimson Proprietary Driver radeon-crimson-15.12-15.302-151217a-297685e.zip

Step #11 - install drivers

Step #12- execute sudo clinfo
Outcome, clinfo hangs

Step #13 - reboot server
Outcome, i now have a clean display on optimum resolution

Step #14- execute sudo clinfo

Outcome, clinfo still detects two R9 GPU devices
Step #15 - execute sudo dpkg -l fglrx*

Outcome, it is using fglrx 15.302

In the future i would like the official installation of attempt #2 to work as this is with the amd pro drivers on Ubuntu 16.04. The drivers are being detected, but it seems they are not being loaded after being logged on. I am leaving that partition in a broken state until i can figure out how to fix it. For now i am happy with my install on Ubuntu 15.04.


If you can help me with getting Attempt #2 (AMDGPU PRO on Ubuntu 16.04) to work, i am happy to resolve this question and close it out.

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Hi,

It's good to hear that somehow you've managed to setup a working environment. I really appreciate your efforts.

Regarding your Attempt 2, currently AMDGPU PRO driver does not support R9 295x2 (please see the supported device list here: AMDGPU-PRO Driver for Linux Release Notes ). So, your Attempt 2 might not work right now.

Just for your information. You can post any driver related issue/query directly to this support forum:Drivers & Software 

Regards,

I was hoping to get the devices working on the open source driver as it supports lm-sensors which show each GPU chip with separate usage and temperature readings. This helps me with my data crunching optimisation ensuring that i am smashing and fully utilising all my hardware on a dual GPU device. The fglrx dirvers seem to unify the GPU card stats into one metric, so i have no way of knowing if i am also utilising the second GPU chip. -

e@host:$ sudo aticonfig --odgc --odgt

Default Adapter - Supported device 67B9

                            Core (MHz)    Memory (MHz)

           Current Clocks :    300           150

             Current Peak :    1018           1250

  Configurable Peak Range : [300-1500]     [150-2000]

                 GPU load :    0%

Default Adapter - Supported device 67B9

                  Sensor 0: Temperature - 39.00 C

I shall wait until AMD supports R9 295X2 on AMDGPU PRO.
Would you happen to know if there is a job on the pipeline for this?

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