Confused on Steam Play and Proton? Be sure to check out our guide.
PC reboots while playing Steam games
Samoneil Jan 26, 2019
Hello all,

So I have the following issue in Ubuntu 18.10. In games (from Steam such as Cities Skylines, Dota 2), after some time the computer reboots. The reboots usually occur after at least 45 mins of playing or so, but sometimes they occur faster. Sometimes the reboots are persistent (computer reboots, I reenter the game, reboot occurs again shortly after) and sometimes they are not (reboot occurs, I reenter the game and no more issues). They do happen at least once a day though.

Things I tried:
- ran memtest for ~ 2 hours, no issues
- ran mprime (8 threads, tried both type 1 and type 3 tests, for about about ~ 2 hours), no issues
- ran some phoronix test suites (unigine, gui-toolskit), no issues
- ran a phoronix test for the GPU at the same time with mprime, still had no reboot. Maybe it's relevant to mention that test 2 and 3 of the unigpu phoronix test were just white blank screens.
- monitored temperatures while doing the above and both CPU and GPU stayed within temperature limits. CPU never went above 70C and GPU above 76C. When playing Dota (in 4k res) the GPU temp does get very close to 80. Never past 80 though
- upgrading to newer kernel (went from 4.19 to 4.20 via ukuu)
- changing PSU to better new one, did not work
- changing graphics card (from GTX 950 to RX570), did not work

Hardware:
Mobo: ASRock 970M Pro3
CPU: AMD FX-8350
GPU: RX-570 Asus Strix 4G
PSU: Corsair RM-750X
RAM: 16 GB @ 1600 MHz

Software:
OS: Ubuntu 18.10

Some commands and their output:

glxinfo -B 

name of display: :0
display: :0  screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
    Vendor: X.Org (0x1002)
    Device: Radeon RX 570 Series (POLARIS10, DRM 3.27.0, 4.20.0-042000-generic, LLVM 7.0.0) (0x67df)
    Version: 18.2.2
    Accelerated: yes
    Video memory: 4096MB
    Unified memory: no
    Preferred profile: core (0x1)
    Max core profile version: 4.5
    Max compat profile version: 4.4
    Max GLES1 profile version: 1.1
    Max GLES[23] profile version: 3.2
Memory info (GL_ATI_meminfo):
    VBO free memory - total: 3336 MB, largest block: 3336 MB
    VBO free aux. memory - total: 3949 MB, largest block: 3949 MB
    Texture free memory - total: 3336 MB, largest block: 3336 MB
    Texture free aux. memory - total: 3949 MB, largest block: 3949 MB
    Renderbuffer free memory - total: 3336 MB, largest block: 3336 MB
    Renderbuffer free aux. memory - total: 3949 MB, largest block: 3949 MB
Memory info (GL_NVX_gpu_memory_info):
    Dedicated video memory: 4096 MB
    Total available memory: 8192 MB
    Currently available dedicated video memory: 3336 MB
OpenGL vendor string: X.Org
OpenGL renderer string: Radeon RX 570 Series (POLARIS10, DRM 3.27.0, 4.20.0-042000-generic, LLVM 7.0.0)
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.5 (Core Profile) Mesa 18.2.2
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.50
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile

OpenGL version string: 4.4 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 18.2.2
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.40
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL profile mask: compatibility profile

OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 Mesa 18.2.2
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20


lshw -c video output:

  *-display                 
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Ellesmere [Radeon RX 470/480/570/570X/580/580X]
       vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: ef
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=amdgpu latency=0
       resources: irq:32 memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:d0000000-d01fffff ioport:e000(size=256) memory:fea00000-fea3ffff memory:c0000-dffff

I feel I'm running out of suggestions from forums. Anybody have any ideas?

Thanks
Samoneil Jan 26, 2019
Hi,

I upgraded to the kernel you suggested and also I added the Oibaf repository and upgraded the packages. I couldn't find the kernel command line in /etc/default/grub. My grub file at the moment is:

# 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_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
GRUB_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
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"


I tried adding the line you suggested, however I get the following error after running sudo update-grub:

/usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig: 12: /etc/default/grub: amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xfffd7fff: not found

Do you think you could detail where exactly I should add the line in the file (does it even matter precisely where I add the line?)

Also, as a check up, glxinfo gives:
name of display: :0
display: :0  screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
    Vendor: X.Org (0x1002)
    Device: Radeon RX 570 Series (POLARIS10, DRM 3.27.0, 5.0.0-050000rc3-generic, LLVM 7.0.1) (0x67df)
    Version: 19.0.0
    Accelerated: yes
    Video memory: 4096MB
    Unified memory: no
    Preferred profile: core (0x1)
    Max core profile version: 4.5
    Max compat profile version: 4.5
    Max GLES1 profile version: 1.1
    Max GLES[23] profile version: 3.2
Memory info (GL_ATI_meminfo):
    VBO free memory - total: 3164 MB, largest block: 3164 MB
    VBO free aux. memory - total: 4023 MB, largest block: 4023 MB
    Texture free memory - total: 3164 MB, largest block: 3164 MB
    Texture free aux. memory - total: 4023 MB, largest block: 4023 MB
    Renderbuffer free memory - total: 3164 MB, largest block: 3164 MB
    Renderbuffer free aux. memory - total: 4023 MB, largest block: 4023 MB
Memory info (GL_NVX_gpu_memory_info):
    Dedicated video memory: 4096 MB
    Total available memory: 8192 MB
    Currently available dedicated video memory: 3164 MB
OpenGL vendor string: X.Org
OpenGL renderer string: Radeon RX 570 Series (POLARIS10, DRM 3.27.0, 5.0.0-050000rc3-generic, LLVM 7.0.1)
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.5 (Core Profile) Mesa 19.0.0-devel (git-41ddf1d 2019-01-26 cosmic-oibaf-ppa)
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.50
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile

OpenGL version string: 4.5 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 19.0.0-devel (git-41ddf1d 2019-01-26 cosmic-oibaf-ppa)
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.50
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL profile mask: compatibility profile

OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 Mesa 19.0.0-devel (git-41ddf1d 2019-01-26 cosmic-oibaf-ppa)
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20


and uname -sr gives

Linux 5.0.0-050000rc3-generic

As a note, I started again Dota 2 after adding the repository and upgrading the kernel and before I even got in to a game it went into a reboot. After that it and had no issues anymore. Also tried Cities Skylines and the framerates seem to have gone down by about 10 fps.

Thanks
Ehvis Jan 27, 2019
Quoting: SamoneilI tried adding the line you suggested, however I get the following error after running sudo update-grub:

/usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig: 12: /etc/default/grub: amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xfffd7fff: not found

You should add the option to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT.
Samoneil Jan 27, 2019
So I added the line where Ehvis suggested, and it solved the error I was seeing. Also, I should clarify: I have a Fractal Design Meshify mini c case, with two intake fans and one exhaust fan at the back (2 of them came with the case and one Silent Wings 3). The intake fan that is aligned with the GPU is connected to the fan pins on the GPU. Also, I tried to route the cables as much as possible so the airflow is not restricted in the case. When I play Cities Skylines (full HD) the temperature of the GPU hovers around 60-65 degrees Celsius.

After adding the line, some more updates and a reboot I still have the same problem. This time it rebooted when I was in the asset modifier in Cities Skylines so I think that expels the idea of too high GPU temperatures?
Samoneil Jan 27, 2019
Been reading about the fact that my CPU and motherboard are not the best of matches. This seems to be due to the power phase of the motherboard mismatching with the power phase necessary for the CPU (CPU is running at stock frequency). Could this lead to overheating of the motherboard and hence cause the reboot?
Samoneil Jan 27, 2019
I did use the sudo update-grub command afterwards. I also have lm-sensors installed and am using the latest Bios. In terms of the frequency governor, I have tried running cpupower frequency-set -g performance as in the link, however I get the following error message:

You may need to install the following packages for this specific kernel:
    linux-tools-5.0.0-050000rc3-generic
    linux-cloud-tools-5.0.0-050000rc3-generic

  You may also want to install one of the following packages to keep up to date:
    linux-tools-generic
    linux-cloud-tools-generic


I have been unable to find the correct version in the repositories that I have on my machine. Neither have I been able to find them online. I also tried using the alternative command echo governor > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor That outputs -bash: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor: ambiguous redirect
I tried changing the files from each individual cpu folder manually. However, this did not persist after a reboot. What repository are you using for the linux-tools packages?
Samoneil Jan 27, 2019
I ran the command as root and the same output was shown. The package was already installed but there's supposedly a newer version necessary? Anyhow, thanks for your suggestions.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
Login / Register


Or login with...
Sign in with Steam Sign in with Google
Social logins require cookies to stay logged in.