![Over the last time, I've pretty regularly had Screen Freezes that appeared out of nowhere (maybe together with faster screen movement/resource usage, but not in a reproducible way).
It had the following characteristics:
1. The screen froze out of nowhere
2. Although the screen didn't show anything anymore, all input still worked (so typing went on, the mouse could still click on stuff, and so on)
3. Among them, locking my screen via GNOME's <KB>Super-l</KB> still worked
4. As soon as the error appeared once, it tended to appear again and again until a restart
5. After a restart, it was good for a while
6. It only appeared on my internal laptop screen, not on an external display
This is what it looked like (yep, bad video, I know 😬):
<video controls="controls" preload="auto">
<source src="amd-screen-errors.mp4" type="video/mp4"/>
</video>
All of the above mostly .. confused me.
- <ListMarker>2.</ListMarker> and <ListMarker>3.</ListMarker> strongly pointed into the direction of GNOME being the problem, and maybe my session crashing in a weird way
- <ListMarker>4.</ListMarker> and <ListMarker>5.</ListMarker> pointed into the direction of a resource exhaustion problem (but there wasn't higher resource usage at all), while
- <ListMarker>6.</ListMarker> pointed in the direction of it being a hardware/firmware problem, or at least towards it being hardware/firmware induced.
These findings left me relatively clueless, since they didn't really point towards anything specific (without also pointing away from it).
So I googled.
At first, I didn't really find anything, but then I came upon some other Framework users experiencing similar issues.
Among them was this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/framework/comments/1goh7hc/anyone_else_get_this_screen_flickering_issue/
Which pointed to an AMD power-saving technology that has pretty regular regression bugs.
So I tried that fix out (and first needed to learn how to enable Kernel Parameters on NixOS), and .. I didn't have any further screen freezes since then. (Well, only whole GNOME session crashes on Bluetooth Headphones / Unmute, but that's for another post)
This is the fix:
```nix title=hardware.nix
config.boot.kernelParams = [
# https://www.reddit.com/r/framework/comments/1goh7hc/anyone_else_get_this_screen_flickering_issue/
"amdgpu.dcdebugmask=0x410"
];
```
<References>
## Probably different
<ReferenceLink href="https://community.frame.work/t/screen-keeps-flickering-on-lower-brightness/70138/5">Screen keeps flickering on lower brightness - Framework Laptop 13 / Linux - Framework Community</ReferenceLink>
<ReferenceLink href="https://community.frame.work/t/flickering-when-using-firefox-under-kde-wayland-on-ryzen-ai-300/69599/3">Flickering when using Firefox under KDE Wayland on Ryzen AI 300 - #3 by trumee - Linux - Framework Community</ReferenceLink>
<ReferenceLink href="https://community.frame.work/t/framework-13-amd-7040-some-screen-flicker-still/75766">Framework 13 AMD 7040: some screen flicker still - Linux - Framework Community</ReferenceLink>
<ReferenceLink href="https://community.frame.work/t/responded-screen-issues-on-fedora/40772/7">[RESPONDED] Screen issues on Fedora - #7 by dimitris - Linux - Framework Community</ReferenceLink>
## Maybe related
<ReferenceLink href="https://community.frame.work/t/screen-flickers-after-logging-in-and-at-random-times/39192">Screen flickers after logging in and at random times - Framework Laptop 13 - Framework Community</ReferenceLink>
<ReferenceLink href="https://discourse.nixos.org/t/nixos-hard-locks-driving-my-crazy/72210/7">NixOS hard locks driving my crazy! - Help - NixOS Discourse</ReferenceLink>
## Resolved the issue
<ReferenceLink href="https://www.reddit.com/r/NixOS/comments/1hjruq1/graphics_corruption_on_kernel_6125_and_up/">Graphics corruption on kernel 6.12.5 and up : r/NixOS</ReferenceLink>
<ReferenceLink href="https://www.reddit.com/r/framework/comments/1goh7hc/anyone_else_get_this_screen_flickering_issue/">Anyone else get this screen flickering issue? : r/framework</ReferenceLink>
<ReferenceLink href="https://jonathanmfung.com/setting-kernel-parameters-in-nixos">Setting Kernel Parameters in NixOS</ReferenceLink>
<ReferenceLink href="https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/3827">Making sure you're not a bot!</ReferenceLink>
<ReferenceLink href="https://community.frame.work/t/solved-my-screen-flickers-sometimes/26270/2">[SOLVED] My screen flickers sometimes - #2 by Anachron - Linux - Framework Community</ReferenceLink>
</References>](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fzyhtjbjqeoj2pmjajl5ehou/bafkreicizkgjrd23ghmwl3dzqnzvjmxmrqyazgctowrncophzvuz3wik54)
Over the last time, I've pretty regularly had Screen Freezes that appeared out of nowhere (maybe together with faster screen movement/resource usage, but not in a reproducible way). It had the following characteristics: 1. The screen froze out of nowhere 2. Although the screen didn't show anything anymore, all input still worked (so typing went on, the mouse could still click on stuff, and so on) 3. Among them, locking my screen via GNOME's <KB>Super-l</KB> still worked 4. As soon as the error appeared once, it tended to appear again and again until a restart 5. After a restart, it was good for a while 6. It only appeared on my internal laptop screen, not on an external display This is what it looked like (yep, bad video, I know 😬): <video controls="controls" preload="auto"> <source src="amd-screen-errors.mp4" type="video/mp4"/> </video> All of the above mostly .. confused me. - <ListMarker>2.</ListMarker> and <ListMarker>3.</ListMarker> strongly pointed into the direction of GNOME being the problem, and maybe my session crashing in a weird way - <ListMarker>4.</ListMarker> and <ListMarker>5.</ListMarker> pointed into the direction of a resource exhaustion problem (but there wasn't higher resource usage at all), while - <ListMarker>6.</ListMarker> pointed in the direction of it being a hardware/firmware problem, or at least towards it being hardware/firmware induced. These findings left me relatively clueless, since they didn't really point towards anything specific (without also pointing away from it). So I googled. At first, I didn't really find anything, but then I came upon some other Framework users experiencing similar issues. Among them was this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/framework/comments/1goh7hc/anyone_else_get_this_screen_flickering_issue/ Which pointed to an AMD power-saving technology that has pretty regular regression bugs. So I tried that fix out (and first needed to learn how to enable Kernel Parameters on NixOS), and .. I didn't have any further screen freezes since then. (Well, only whole GNOME session crashes on Bluetooth Headphones / Unmute, but that's for another post) This is the fix: ```nix title=hardware.nix config.boot.kernelParams = [ # https://www.reddit.com/r/framework/comments/1goh7hc/anyone_else_get_this_screen_flickering_issue/ "amdgpu.dcdebugmask=0x410" ]; ``` <References> ## Probably different <ReferenceLink href="https://community.frame.work/t/screen-keeps-flickering-on-lower-brightness/70138/5">Screen keeps flickering on lower brightness - Framework Laptop 13 / Linux - Framework Community</ReferenceLink> <ReferenceLink href="https://community.frame.work/t/flickering-when-using-firefox-under-kde-wayland-on-ryzen-ai-300/69599/3">Flickering when using Firefox under KDE Wayland on Ryzen AI 300 - #3 by trumee - Linux - Framework Community</ReferenceLink> <ReferenceLink href="https://community.frame.work/t/framework-13-amd-7040-some-screen-flicker-still/75766">Framework 13 AMD 7040: some screen flicker still - Linux - Framework Community</ReferenceLink> <ReferenceLink href="https://community.frame.work/t/responded-screen-issues-on-fedora/40772/7">[RESPONDED] Screen issues on Fedora - #7 by dimitris - Linux - Framework Community</ReferenceLink> ## Maybe related <ReferenceLink href="https://community.frame.work/t/screen-flickers-after-logging-in-and-at-random-times/39192">Screen flickers after logging in and at random times - Framework Laptop 13 - Framework Community</ReferenceLink> <ReferenceLink href="https://discourse.nixos.org/t/nixos-hard-locks-driving-my-crazy/72210/7">NixOS hard locks driving my crazy! - Help - NixOS Discourse</ReferenceLink> ## Resolved the issue <ReferenceLink href="https://www.reddit.com/r/NixOS/comments/1hjruq1/graphics_corruption_on_kernel_6125_and_up/">Graphics corruption on kernel 6.12.5 and up : r/NixOS</ReferenceLink> <ReferenceLink href="https://www.reddit.com/r/framework/comments/1goh7hc/anyone_else_get_this_screen_flickering_issue/">Anyone else get this screen flickering issue? : r/framework</ReferenceLink> <ReferenceLink href="https://jonathanmfung.com/setting-kernel-parameters-in-nixos">Setting Kernel Parameters in NixOS</ReferenceLink> <ReferenceLink href="https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/3827">Making sure you're not a bot!</ReferenceLink> <ReferenceLink href="https://community.frame.work/t/solved-my-screen-flickers-sometimes/26270/2">[SOLVED] My screen flickers sometimes - #2 by Anachron - Linux - Framework Community</ReferenceLink> </References>
Hey, I wrote a new piece about another bug that has plagued me for a while :)
#GNOME #Linux #AMD #Framework #Framework16 #NixOS #KernelParameters
