August 14th, 2017 
CryptoBadger Update 8/27: Reports are coming in that this issue has been resolved with the latest AMD drivers (17.30-465504).
Reader Zelda brought this advisory from AMD to my attention: it describes some serious issues with Ubuntu 16.04.3 and the latest (17.x) versions of AMD’s GPU drivers. Some of you have written in recently describing black screens after installing AMD’s drivers when following my Linux mining guide, and it looks like this is the culprit.
If you’re running into issues while trying to get your Linux-based rig up and running, make sure that you stick with 16.04.2 for now. I recommend Xubuntu 16.04.2 in my guide, and that’s safe to use—just skip the “sudo apt-get dist-upgrade” command at the end of step 3 to avoid updating to 16.04.3.
If you already have a Linux rig running AMD GPUs in operation, make sure that you hold off on OS/security updates until after this issue has been resolved! If you’ve already upgraded and are now experiencing problems, you can try downgrading your AMDGPU-PRO driver to version 16.x, although I haven’t been able to confirm that non-17.x drivers will definitely work on 16.04.3 without issues (edit 8/22: at least one reader has tested and reported that 16.x drivers result in the same black screen issues with 16.04.3).
Hopefully AMD and Canonical can work out a fix quickly.
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What about using ssh ? I read it was causing gpu’s to drop and then nothing can be done except restarting the pc… I have this issue and so far have to mine using win10 but only get 8 gpu’s(using h110 btc pro) anyone uses this board successfully running linux?
Nevermind what I said I think it is not related…
But I can tell you that in a new install now, even though you don’t select the options to auto update, if you are connected to the internet it will automatically install kernel 4.10. When you reboot there are 2 compile error and the reports can’t be sent most likely because somehow it is recognize as not being a ubuntu driver package…! I had that error for which I took pictures if you need…
Still I rebooted using advanced options and choose 4.08 generic kernel, didn’t have the errors so rebooted once more normally on 4.10 and the errors were gone. It’s been mining for 25 minutes now.
Good to note this! Should be very helpful to new miners. Your guide is one of the best I have found on the internet. Thank you.
Tried version 16 drivers with the ubuntu 16.04.3 release. Still gets black screen
Ah, good to know. I’ll make a note in the post – thanks for letting us know!
Been trying to install 16.04.2 but when loading the iso file, the screen does not go to the desktop. Instead the bootup screen freezes. Some crazy stuff going on with these distros. Tried xbuntu and mintlinux as well. Same thing.
Just to confirm from experience, if you set up your rig to run headless (access only via ssh or vnc), mining will work fine, even though directly connected monitors don’t work. Headless is the way to go anyway, since you probably don’t want to waste electricity powering a screen. 🙂
They released a new driver which compatible with 16.04.3.
Updating right now and try to install the new driver and see what happens.
Will report the result later
I like to confirm that the driver is working amdgpu-pro-17.30-465504 on a Ubuntu 16.04.3 system running R9 390s and RX 570s with Claymores Dual miner 9.8
You gotta be kidding!?!
Do you know if it also works with R9 290’s?
The finally brought back the R9’s into AMDGPU Pro!
Wow!
Now only thing missing is the Blockchain driver to be released!
Just a follow up. Same issue with 16.04.3 Once amdgpu-pro installed I get the login loop. So I uninstalled it then re-installed with the amdgpu-pro-install –compute. It works but I have no fan control in Claymore, or any gpu control. My fans will run about 42% @ 70c (so I added a big box fan to help lol) Secondly Ubuntu sees my 390 card as a 290. Not sure if this has anything to do with it or problem with Claymore. Going to try and install AMDOverdriveCtrl.
Thanks for testing and providing us with an update – added the info you provided to the post.
Breze I have tried new driver (amdgpu-pro-17.30-465504) on Ubuntu 17.04 to no avail (login loop) or black screen. I can mine remotely through shh, but have no control over my fans. Will try all this on 16.04.3 and see what happens. BTW I would like to know which version you installed. Desktop/Server/32/64 bit?
I have been successfully logging in by uninstalling amdgpu-pro and reinstalling it partially. Downloading extracting driver then ./amdgpu-pro-install –compute It works I can mine but I still have no control over my fans R9 390x. Motherboard is the H110 Pro BTC+
If you check AMDs support page they state the driver should also work with R9 290s but I can’t prove because I have only R9 390s
http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/AMDGPU-PRO-Driver-for-Linux-Release-Notes.aspx
AMD Cards available: 6
GPU #0: Ellesmere, 4050 MB available, 32 compute units
GPU #0 recognized as Radeon RX 470/570
GPU #1: Ellesmere, 4050 MB available, 32 compute units
GPU #1 recognized as Radeon RX 470/570
GPU #2: Ellesmere, 4050 MB available, 32 compute units
GPU #2 recognized as Radeon RX 470/570
GPU #3: Ellesmere, 4050 MB available, 32 compute units
GPU #3 recognized as Radeon RX 470/570
GPU #4: Hawaii, 8139 MB available, 40 compute units
GPU #4 recognized as Radeon 390
GPU #5: Hawaii, 8139 MB available, 40 compute units
GPU #5 recognized as Radeon 390
Nice, thanks for the info!!
Nice.. I second that! Thanks for the info!!
I can also confirm that amdgpu-pro 17.30-465504 works with Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS. Mining continues, and now with GUI interface with monitor, keyboard and mouse access (not just ssh/vnc headless).
One catch: When first installed using:
./amdgpu-pro-install –y
a login loop occurred on the console, with a black screen returning you back to the login. Some searching around suggested this was caused by a conflict between the GPU drivers and the native console on my motherboard. I reinstalled using this command:
./amdgpu-pro-install –px
which eliminated the login loop and provided the desired result. I believe this might not support console access via the GPU cards, but that’s fine as they’re supposed to be busy mining anyway.
If the –px option doesn’t work, you might also try:
./amdgpu-pro-install –compute
No need on my rig, but I’ve read that it worked when –px did not.
Source:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/880523/cant-login-after-installing-amdgpu-pro-16-60
Thanks for all who provided info on this issue. Hope my comments can pay the help forward to someone else. Happy mining!
Zelda,
I am going to be a real knob here, but I want to make sure I understand correctly. I too have a headless miner I can only SSH into, but I would access to the GUI so I can copy my geth wallet keyfiles and export them to MIST.
From Step 4 of the Guide:
cd ~/Downloads
wget –referer=http://support.amd.com https://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/ubuntu/amdgpu-pro-17.10-414273.tar.xz
tar -Jxvf amdgpu-pro-17.10-414273.tar.xz
cd amdgpu-pro-17.10-414273
./amdgpu-pro-install -y
Will I need to again execute these exact same commands on my miner, but substituting amdgpu-pro 17.30-465504 and ./amdgpu-pro-install –px (or -compute)in the appropriate places>
Do I need to first update to Ubuntu 16.04.3? If perform an update command will my miner load the latest version?
I just want to be cautious and not lose the coins I have mined to this Geth account. My new coins are now going to Mist.
Thank You!
I didn’t have much luck (sorry new to Linux) with
cd ~/Downloads
wget –referer=http://support.amd.com https://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/ubuntu/amdgpu-pro-17.10-414273.tar.xz
tar -Jxvf amdgpu-pro-17.10-414273.tar.xz
cd amdgpu-pro-17.10-414273
./amdgpu-pro-install -y
I used a different method.
I went to amddownloads and manually selected my driver for my r9 390x
http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/AMDGPU-PRO-Driver-for-Linux-Release-Notes.aspx (AMDGPU-Pro Driver Version 17.30 for Ubuntu 16.04.3)
I then extracted it, opened terminal and changed directory to wherever it was saved (desktop in my case). To do this you can go into terminal and type ‘cd’ with a space and drag amdgpu folder into it, click enter. Once proper directory in terminal is established I ran ‘./amdgpu-pro-install –compute’ command
after that
sudo usermod -a -G video $LOGNAME
sudo reboot
I believe this worked for me in 16.04.2 as well.
Good luck
Robert,
To start let me say, I’ve only been at this for a couple of months. I’m happy to share what I (think I) know, with the caveat that I could be wrong, as I discover repeatedly. 🙂
First and most importantly, before you do anything else, make sure you save your keystore file(s) in a safe place, or better yet, multiple places. These files, combined with the password you used to create them, are essential to access your coins. If you have ssh access, you can scp (secure copy) them to your local machine, like this:
scp -r -i yoursshkey yourusername@yourrigipaddress:/your/home/path/.ethereum/keystore .
Leave out -i yoursshkey if your using a password, and you’ll get prompted, just like ssh. That last dot is important; it indicates to copy TO the local directory from which your issuing the scp command. Once you have them locally, make several copies, onsite, offsite, USB stick, whatever. Just don’t record them with your password.
Okay, now that your keystore files are safe, on to your other questions.
In theory, it seems like the AMD drivers could be kept up-to-date using the usual Ubuntu apt update rituals. But in practice, I’ve found it to be rather flakey. I expect the engineers at AMD are more at home in a Windows environment, so they speak somewhat halting and imperfect Ubuntu. Thus anytime I need to mess with it, I do the following:
1. Power down the rig and disconnect the risers to the GPUs.
2. Boot up the rig, login, and manually delete the old or suspect AMD GPU drivers, by issuing the command amdgpu-pro-uninstall
3. sudo apt update; sudo apt upgrade; sudo apt autoremove for the full Ubuntu cleanse This will also bring you up to 16.04.3, if you’re not there already.
4. Reboot
5. Login and install using the ./amdgpu-pro-install -compute command from the uncompressed AMD GPU driver file you want to use. (I’m on amdgpu-pro 17.30-465504.)
6. Power down and reconnect the risers to the GPUs.
7. Power up and hopefully your miner_launcher.sh will have you mining in no time.
This seems like a bother because it is. The AMD drivers are not that Ubuntu friendly. And the claymore software seems to take lots of low-level actions to enhance speed, perhaps at the expense of stability. But this ritual seems to be the most reliable way of keeping clean.
Always assume your mining rig could self-destruct at any time. Don’t keep any files only there if you would need them to rebuild. And keep notes on how to rebuild so you don’t have to repeat all the blind alleys you encountered on the first journey.
Good luck and happy mining!
Zelda,
You kindness in going to such detail to help is greatly appreciated, especially on the scp command structure. Once I have the keystore files backed up I will give this a shot.
Thank you again for your detailed help. I am grateful!
Not sure how relevant this is, but I recently had my two R9 390x’s being ignored by AMDGPU. They were trying to load nonexistent radeon drivers.
My solution was to add “amdgpu.cik_support=1 amdgpu.si_support=1” to my kernel boot parameters.
This will force AMDGPU-pro to handle older hardware.
You *might* have to blacklist radeon still if it accidentally exists on your system somewhere.
Hope this helps someone!