[SOLVED] Screen tearing on AMD Radeon R3 Graphics using Radeon drivers

ciaran · 2017-07-29 14:38:54

Ever since I installed bunsenlabs I've been experiencing bad screen tearing on my system. I've had similar problems on other distros I've used in the past (Antergos, Ubuntu) however the ways I fixed it on other distros doesn't seem to work here.

I've tried using the "tearfree" option in my xorg configuration (at first I tried with /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-radeon.conf then later tried the same using /etx/X11/xorg.conf) to no avail. I've also tried using the fixes linked in this thread and this video which also didn't work (for some reason setting the backend to glx just meant that Compton didn't work).

When I run the command

lspci -knn|grep -iA2 'vga\|3d'

My output is:

00:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Mullins [Radeon R3 Graphics] [1002:9850]
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:22c2]
Kernel driver in use: radeon

Am I missing out on something or is there nothing I can do? Thanks in advance and I apologize if I'm missing out on something obvious.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2017-08-01 20:22:12)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-07-29 21:04:48

ciaran wrote:

I've tried using the "tearfree" option in my xorg configuration (at first I tried with /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-radeon.conf then later tried the same using /etx/X11/xorg.conf) to no avail.

Please post the exact content of the files, we cannot tell if any mistakes were made otherwise.

Either of the file names you have mentioned will work, read `man xorg.conf` for more on this.

Did you check Xorg.0.log to see if the file was parsed?

I've also tried using the fixes linked in this thread and this video

Please post the exact options that you have tried and also explain exactly how you applied these options.

Please also confirm the compton version currently installed (`apt-cache policy compton`).

This one should work:

compton -b --backend glx --vsync opengl-mswc

didn't work (for some reason setting the backend to glx just meant that Compton didn't work).

Please explain exactly what you mean by "didn't work" and please also post any relevant error messages (~/.xsession-errors).

webodan · 2017-07-29 21:41:00

I have an R7 250X and I also experience tearing when I'm scrolling text down in chrome.

ciaran · 2017-08-01 20:00:47

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Please post the exact content of the files, we cannot tell if any mistakes were made otherwise.

Here is a copy of my 20-radeon.conf file.

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Either of the file names you have mentioned will work, read `man xorg.conf` for more on this.
Did you check Xorg.0.log to see if the file was parsed?

A copy of my Xorg.0.log can be found here. I updated the xserver-xorg-video-radeon package to 17.8.0-1~bpo8+1 in order to enable tearfree.

Please also confirm the compton version currently installed (`apt-cache policy compton`).

A copy of the output of apt-cache policy compton can be found here. (tl;dr version 0.1~beta-2-1 is installed).

My compton.conf can be found here. I'm still getting screen tearing with and without compositing enabled. The problems (openbox freezing until compton was killed) I was facing were as a result of my compton configuration at the time.

ciaran · 2017-08-01 20:16:27

I'm about to sound stupid for this (mostly because I am) but upon further testing it seems that the screen tearing is now currently only in Chrome.

Moral of the story: use firefox/pale moon.

But seriously, thanks for the help Head_On_A_Stick!

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-08-01 20:19:43

Try turning on EnablePageFlip in 20-radeon.conf, this should allow compton to vsync with the GLX backend under the radeon driver.

More tips here:

https://github.com/chjj/compton/wiki/vsync-guide

You could also try upgrading to the newer compton version that we have in the BunsenLabs jessie-backports repository:

sudo apt install -t jessie-backports compton

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-08-01 20:21:55

I have changed the thread tag to [SOLVED]

We don't really use [CLOSED] here.

#1 2017-07-29 14:38:54

[SOLVED] Screen tearing on AMD Radeon R3 Graphics using Radeon drivers

#2 2017-07-29 21:04:48

Re: [SOLVED] Screen tearing on AMD Radeon R3 Graphics using Radeon drivers

#3 2017-07-29 21:41:00

Re: [SOLVED] Screen tearing on AMD Radeon R3 Graphics using Radeon drivers

#4 2017-08-01 20:00:47

Re: [SOLVED] Screen tearing on AMD Radeon R3 Graphics using Radeon drivers

#5 2017-08-01 20:16:27

Re: [SOLVED] Screen tearing on AMD Radeon R3 Graphics using Radeon drivers

#6 2017-08-01 20:19:43

Re: [SOLVED] Screen tearing on AMD Radeon R3 Graphics using Radeon drivers

#7 2017-08-01 20:21:55

Re: [SOLVED] Screen tearing on AMD Radeon R3 Graphics using Radeon drivers

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