Failed to start xorg; is your gpu supported? - AMD RX480

1st Official Post

    Hi everyone,

    I am facing a problem with LibreELEC

    For starters I am dealing with an issue were Kodi (both v16.1, 17, 15, 14, 13 XBMC) refuses to work (does not start) in my new Windows pc with i7 and RX480 8GB.
    It works normally in my old desktop and my netbook.
    I have already raised help and asking support in the relevant Kodi forum without results so far.

    Kodi does not start (16.1 or 17) in new pc build

    A user there pointed me to the direction of LibreELEC which honestly I didn't knew but I thought of giving a try.

    I prepped the usb per instructions in your different guides.

    The LibreELEC works perfectly on a small netbook with Athlon II Neo K125 processor and an onboard ATI Radeon HD 4225. The audio circuit is IDT High definition audio codec.
    It works perfectly on the old desktop with Q6600 o/c, AMD Radeon HD6850 and Realtek audio.

    It does not work on my new pc wit i7 and RX480. It gives two errors while booting and stays in a boot loop:
    - failed to start samba defaults
    - failed to start xorg; is your gpu supported?

    After the second error it lists the system devices and goes in an infinite loop of xorg error, system devices, xorg error etc.

    In openelec forum for the same error they claim that is due to old graphics cards that are not supported anymore by the build

    http://openelec.tv/forum/110-update-open...-supported

    But how is that even possible if it runs flawlessly on a Radeon HD4225, on an HD6850 which are both older graphic cards and the former also only an onboard one and fails to recognize an RX480?

    Please for your help!

    Edited once, last by Strantford (February 5, 2017 at 8:59 AM).

    • Official Post
    Quote from Strantford


    But how is that even possible if it runs flawlessly on a Radeon HD4225, on an HD6850 which are both older graphic cards and the former also only an onboard one and fails to recognize an RX480?

    Computers are complex things, including their drivers for all types of devices. In other ways, the solution could be simple if the GPU manufacturers provided good quality support via drivers for Linux. And frankly, AMD has not been the best forthcoming company for years when it comes to (video) driver support in Linux. The best example for now is perhaps that even in the new Ubuntu releases there is no proper open-source video support for AMD RX cards. Drivers are kept in binary blobs, documentation on the inner workings are withheld, and all cannot be reverse-engineered that easily. The same goes partially for Nvidia cards as well, although their proprietary drivers are at least available and updated regularly for Linux. Intel graphics could became a problem too in the future, for different reasons.

    In short, AMD hasn't provided proper graphics drivers to the Linux community for the last 5-6 years now, and reverse-engineering is a b!tch. Also, your GPU is in a way still quite new. It takes a bit of time to come up with 100% open-source solutions. Which takes us to the fact that Kodi developers do not have unlimited financial resources for aquiring new hardware for their hobby. Developing Kodi without proper hardware is not easy to begin with, even more difficult when the basic resources (Linux drivers) are not available.

    I suggest you use Windows 10 and Kodi for now. AMD has proper video drivers for Windows. Them keeping Linux at bay is simply their corporate decision. Graphics cards are also not supported infinitely. Nvidia recently stopped Linux support for their GTX9xx series pretty quickly and put all focus on the GTX10xx cards.

    Thanks for your feedback

    Initially I thought it was a Linux "problem" because it said samba defaults failed to started, so I guessed that Linux as o/s failed to launch for some reason.

    So my understanding is that AMD new gpus will not be supported any time soon, either by libreELEC or Kodi. It is not a matter of drivers already installed in the Windows system. It is a matter that at hardware level your Linux build fails to see and communicate with RX480.
    Although there are cases and users with similar hardware or new gpus were Kodi works. Thus it is just a matter of simple great luck!

    There is nothing more I can do then. I am forgetting LibreELEC as an alternative implementation of Kodi.

    Since Windows is not an option for reasons I outlined in the Kodi forum, if I cannot make Kodi work in Windows, I will have to buy an android tv box as an alternative. It will be much cheaper in terms of money cost and opportunity cost to set up everything as most android tv boxes come ready to go.

    At least 6 boxes I have tested and setup for family and friends with s905 and s905x are working without an issue both in Kodi and in other activities (like browsing, youtube, light gaming etc.).
    2 were with Android 5.1 and the other 4 with Android 6. All 2/16 versions without lagging and enough space to cover your needs. And everything comes pre-installed and set up so no time to waste, plug and play.

    I just wanted to avoid a 2nd device since I have a pc but if the issue I am facing with pc version of Kodi cannot be solved, and since a live linux version does not work either, I will have to revert to something I know it works the moment you open its package with limited setup (network, time, subtitles).