Factsheet
/ 4 August 2025; 10 months ago (2025-08-04)
/ 4 August 2025; 10 months ago (2025-08-04)
The new way of doing this does not involve blacklisting any modules. You only have to send two parameters to the kernel:
For Caribbean Islands GPUs
radeon.cik_support=0 amdgpu.cik_support=1
For Sea Islands GPUs
radeon.si_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1
I personally like to add it as default, so I edit /etc/default/grub, and then I add the kernel parameters to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT, like this:
# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:
# info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="radeon.cik_support=0 amdgpu.cik_support=1 radeon.si_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"
# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console
# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480
# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true
# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"
# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"
Remember to run update-grub and reboot the system so the changes take effect.
I can confirm this works for a 390x running Ubuntu since 17.10. Also tried 18.04, 18.10, 19.04, 19.10, 20.04 since I keep using it as they get released. (I believe you can also do the same on 17.04)
Alternatively, if you want to enable the new Dynamic Power Management and Display Code experimental support, you need to also add the following lines
amdgpu.dc=1
amdgpu.dpm=1
For more information regarding DC code check this link: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AMDGPU#AMD_DC
From my personal experience with a 390x card, DC code was unstable and I had to disable it to get an stable kernel. I haven't retried to enable it in the last couple of months so I don't know if this bug in DC was fixed.
Blacklisting it did the trick. I'm now running AMDGPU, at least until pro becomes available. I'll list the steps as the answer in case anyone else comes looking for answers.
Blacklisting built in kernel modules is done at startup, so grub does the work. Edit
/ect/default/grub
with the editor of your choice and add
modprobe.blacklist=radeon
in to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT right next to anything that might already be there, such as quiet splash. Then, save the changes and update grub.
sudo update-grub2
Reboot and you should be using AMDGPU instead of radeon. I should stress making sure your card is compatible, else blacklisting your gfx module is likely to cause problems.
Activate AMDGPU for CI or SI generation
How do I use AMDGPU instead of radeon on ubuntu 18.10?
Does AMDGPU finally have support for Sea Islands?
FYI: since kernel 4.13, adding the amdgpu.si_support=1 or amdgpu.cik_support=1 kernel parameter is required for amdgpu to start
I run 4.13 with my RX 480 and it uses amdgpu by default, without adding any extra parameters. Output of lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 vga:
More on reddit.com01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Ellesmere [Radeon RX 470/480/570/580] [1002:67df] (rev c7) Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Radeon RX 480 [1462:3413] Kernel driver in use: amdgpu
I'm kinda new to linux, I have a8-6410 8gb ram and r5 apu(gpu) and am using ubuntu 18.10(dual booting along with windows, am using it primarily for using emulators since amd windows has crappy support for opengl) since I use it for emulation, it would be a shame not to be able to use vulkan. I cant get vulkan to work and get VK_initialization_error(thingy). I saw that many other discussions had something like add 'radeon.si_support=0 radeon.cik_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1 amdgpu.cik_support=1 modprobe.blacklist=radeon' to kernal. I tried to edit grub through nano in terminal buut I have absolutely no idea where I'm supposed to add it. Can someone please help me do this? Even though my gpu support vulkan in windows, does it support the same on ubuntu?
Edit: forget this, the main thing I'm trying to solve is that I get
==========
VULKANINFO
==========
Vulkan Instance Version: 1.1.82
/build/vulkan-tools-ZnxIl9/vulkan-tools-1.1.82.0+dfsg1/vulkaninfo/vulkaninfo.c:3339: failed with VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
when I use
vulkaninfo
How do I get over this?
Edit: its solved now. We have to add radeon.si_support=0 radeon.cik_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1 amdgpu.cik_support=1 modprobe.blacklist=radeon Line into /etc/default/grub's GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT right next to quiet splash but inside the quotes then do 'sudo update grub2' and reboot. Install vulkan driver and vulkan utils if you haven't to use vulkan from now on.
I didn't know this and it took some time to troubleshoot. Obviously applies if you're after SI or CIK support.
I run 4.13 with my RX 480 and it uses amdgpu by default, without adding any extra parameters. Output of lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 vga:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Ellesmere [Radeon RX 470/480/570/580] [1002:67df] (rev c7) Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Radeon RX 480 [1462:3413] Kernel driver in use: amdgpu
This might be why I have no X, thanks