Debian 10.3: X does not start

[Ken Moffat]

On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 11:33:21AM +0200, Klaus Jantzen wrote:
> On 3/27/20 9:39 PM, Alex Deucher wrote:
> > On Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 4:31 PM Klaus Jantzen <k.d.jantzen at mailbox.org> wrote:
> > > On 3/25/20 7:25 PM, IL Ka wrote:
> 
> Going through the "AtiHowTo" as suggested by IL Ka I made sure that all the
> packages are installed and I modified the xorg.conf as indicated there.
> 
> With "inxi -G" I get
> 
> Graphics:  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Picasso driver: N/A
>            Display: tty server: X.org 1.20.4 driver: ati,radeon,vesa
> unloaded: fbdev,modesetting tty: 128x48
>            Message: Advanced graphics data unavailable in console for root.
> 

I'm writing this reply on a machine using a Picasso (3400G in my
case).  The driver needs to be amdgpu, which is what you were
originally using, not ati/radeon

> Xorg.0.log is now
> 
> =====
> [     7.234]
> X.Org X Server 1.20.4
> X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
> [     7.234] Build Operating System: Linux 4.9.0-8-amd64 x86_64 Debian
> [     7.234] Current Operating System: Linux PC5 4.19.0-8-amd64 #1 SMP
> Debian 4.19.98-1 (2020-01-26) x86_64

> 
> Looking at the list of the drivers for the AMD/ATI Radeon chipsets I get a
> slight suspicion that the graphic chipset of the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G is not
> supported by Debia/Xorg as I don't find any driver for the Picasso chipset.
> 

It's not supported by upstream 4.19.0, and I suspect new hardware
like this has not been added to later stable 4.19 kernels (new
hardware is outside the remit of stable).

When I got this machine I used SystemRescueCD to bring it up.  That
was running some version of 4.19 and it tried to load the ati
driver, although it did not support the chipset.  When I removed the
ati driver to try to force it to use amdgpu the version of amdgpu on
the rescue image appeared to be too old, i.e. it did not know about
Picasso (or perhaps the kernel was the real problem).

In my case I downloaded a newer kernel (early 5.0 onwards associate
Picasso with amdgpu).  So, I recommend that you use a 5.4 (i.e.
stable series) or later kernel and ensure you have all the picasso
firmware in amdgpu (I don't use an initrd, so I have all 11
picasso*.bin files in /lib/firmware/amdgpu and my kernel has
CONFIG_DRM_AMDGPU as a module so it initally boots using (from
memory) to 80x25, then during the boot the screen blanks and
eventually with comes back with much smaller text - I use
CONFIG_FONT_SUN12x22=y to get text which is easier to read on a
1920x1080 screen.

I don't use debian, but I guess you could try using the kernel,
amdgpu and latest amdgpu firmware from debian testing (firmware will
be in nonfree I suppose). 

ĸen
-- 
When alle is ſayed and all is done, ye must chooſe your faces wisely,
for soon enouff ye will be playing with fyre."
  The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Prophecy 5004