Public bug reported:
What I expected to happen:
The amdgpu kernel driver should bind to my AMD Thames GPU, providing
Vulkan support and better OpenGL performance, as it does for other GCN 1.0
discrete GPUs since Linux 6.19
I am reporting that my AMD Thames GPU consistently defaults to the legacy
radeon driver instead of amdgpu, despite kernel 7.0 supporting GCN 1.0
discrete GPUs.
Hardware:
- Model: HP EliteBook 8470w
- GPU: AMD Thames [Radeon HD 7550M/7570M/7650M]
- PCI ID: 1002:6841
- Subsystem ID: 103c:1789
- Generation: Southern Islands (GCN 1.0)
- BIOS: 68ICF Ver. F.45
Software:
- OS: Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS
- Kernel: 7.0.0-42-generic
- Mesa: 25.2.8
- Session: X11 (GNOME 46)
- Windowing System: X11
What happened instead:
The system defaults to the legacy radeon driver on every boot. The amdgpu
module loads but its reference count remains 0. In dmesg, amdgpu only
outputs CPU topology lines and never attempts GPU initialization:
Problem:
On a clean boot, lspci -nnk shows "Kernel driver in use: radeon".
The amdgpu module loads but its reference count remains 0. In dmesg,
amdgpu only outputs CPU topology lines and never attempts GPU
initialization:
amdgpu: Virtual CRAT table created for CPU
amdgpu: Topology: Add CPU node
Attempted Fixes (Unsuccessful):
I tried forcing amdgpu with the following kernel parameters:
radeon.si_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1 amdgpu.exp_hw_support=1
Result: radeon is disabled, but amdgpu still does not bind. The system
falls back to software rendering (llvmpipe). Removing the blacklist and
keeping only the si_support parameters restores radeon, but amdgpu still
refuses to claim the device.
Expected Behaviour:
amdgpu should bind to this GCN 1.0 GPU, as it does for other Southern
Islands hardware since kernel 6.19.
Context:
There is a similar bug for Lenovo Mullins/Kabini APUs (LP #2164686)
where subsystem ID 17aa:369a was missing from the amdgpu-preferred list
and caused the same fallback behaviour. I suspect 103c:1789 is missing
from the same list for this HP model.
Steps to reproduce:
1. Boot Ubuntu 24.04.5 with kernel 7.0.0-42-generic on this hardware.
2. Run: lspci -nnk | grep -A3 VGA
3. Observe: "Kernel driver in use: radeo
Additional Notes:
- The system has been tested across multiple kernel versions in the 7.0
series (7.0.0-28 through 7.0.0-42) with identical results.
- I am currently using X11 because Wayland with the radeon driver causes
significant performance degradation on this hardware.
- External monitor support and hardware video decoding (UVD) work
correctly under radeon.
Hardware:
- Model: HP EliteBook 8470w
- GPU: AMD Thames [Radeon HD 7550M/7570M/7650M]
- PCI ID: 1002:6841
- Subsystem ID: 103c:1789
- Generation: Southern Islands (GCN 1.0)
- BIOS: 68ICF Ver. F.45
Software:
- OS: Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS
- Kernel: 7.0.0-42-generic
- Mesa: 25.2.8
- Session: X11 (GNOME 46)
Attempted fixes (unsuccessful):
Tried forcing amdgpu with kernel parameters:
radeon.si_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1 amdgpu.exp_hw_support=1
Result: radeon is disabled, amdgpu still does not bind, and the system
falls back to software rendering (llvmpipe). Removing the parameters
restores radeon, but amdgpu still refuses to claim the device.
Additional context:
There is a similar bug for Lenovo Mullins/Kabini APUs (LP #2164686)
where subsystem ID 17aa:369a was missing from the amdgpu-preferred list
and caused the same fallback behaviour. I suspect 103c:1789 is missing
from the same list for this HP model.
** Affects: linux (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2173617
Title:
amdgpu does not bind to AMD Thames GPU on HP EliteBook 8470w
(1002:6841, subsystem 103c:1789)
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