path: root/guides/setups/hardware.org

* Where to buy
Some untested resources to buy laptops or desktops:

- https://starlabs.systems
- https://www.tuxedocomputers.com

FSF's [[https://h-node.org/][h-node]] rates hardware according to its compatibility with free
software.
* LDLC PC Zenifier-SSD
** assembly woes
Lots of impedance mismatches between "documentation" and actual
hardware:
- CPU cooler (fan) has spring screws; diagrams show retention clips.
  Had to dig into the [[https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/cpu-7][AMD knowledge base]] to find that some
  motherboards come with "speculative" clips, which must be unscrewed
  and removed in order to install the spring-screw cooler.
- Diagrams say to add thermal paste, but the fan already comes with a
  pre-applied layer.
- Documentation shows RAM clips for both ends of the sticks; the
  motherboard seems to only have clips for one end.
- =SYS_FAN1= header has 4 pins; front fan plug has 3 holes.  The
  Internet[[https://old.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/4139k8/3_pin_sys_fan2_vs_4_pin_sys_fan1/][[1]​]][[https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/sys_fan1-and-sys_fan2.3195778/][[2]​]] says it's fine.
- Motherboard has [[https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B550M-A-PRO/Specification]["8 mounting holes"]] but covers only 6 of the case's
  standoffs; none of the diagrams in the case's manual match the
  format of the motherboard.
- The diagram for inserting the power supply unit leaves a lot to the
  imagination.
- The [[https://www.snia.org/forums/cmsi/knowledge/formfactors#U2][SSD dimension nomenclature]] is weird as hell.  The SSD's user
  manual seems to imply that I have a 2.5″ model, but my measuring
  tape says the drive is 2.75″×3.875″ (diagonal 4.625″).
- The link to the LDLC guide for mounting the SSD is dead; the page is
  [[https://web.archive.org/web/20170901191800/http://www.ldlc.com/guides/AL00000817/comment-installer-un-ssd-dans-un-pc/][archived]], and merely contains a link to a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1dHVb6VuWU][video]].  No matter though,
  since it does not describe how to mount the drive on a 2.5″ bay.
- The case user manual says to use specific screws for the SSD drive;
  the SSD comes with its own set of screws.  Are they meant for the
  3.5″ adapter?  🤷

For novices, some steps range from "not very reassuring" to "downright
hostile":
- The amount of force needed to connect the CPU fan's first two
  diagonal screws is terrifying.
- The fan's case is asymmetric: one side has a small bump featuring
  the maker's brand.  If one does not attention when mounting the fan,
  there is a 50% chance that this bump will get in the way of a RAM
  stick.
- No instruction on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAWNzd-gc3Q&t=74s][how to force that I/O shield in]].
- No instruction on how to snap the motherboard into the I/O shield.
- Holy =$DEITY= that power supply unit has a *lot* of cables.  And of
  course I enthusiastically passed most of the small-headed ones
  through the designated case hole, and had to pass them back out
  because there was no room left to pass the 20-pin ATX connector.
- Power supply user manual was taped to the bubble wrap, so part of
  the "warnings" section got torn off.
** maintenance
*** Front panel
The case's manual has a terse illustration with two arrows to pull the
front panel "away and up" from the rest of the case.

Here too, the amount of force required to do that is terrifying.
Notice how [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUD0HyzVpLg][our friend here]] cuts abruptly at 8:17; that's because the
levels of violence required to tear that panel off are too graphic for
YouTube.
*** Front fan
Remember that fan from earlier, the one with only 3 holes for the
motherboard's 4 pins?  Turns out

1. that last "optional" pin is supposed to allow speed control;
   without it, the fan always spins at full speed;
2. the fan itself (ZA1225ASL) is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd6gDY7LPlU][complete and utter crap]]: it cannot be
   disassembled, so no cleaning off the dirt, no greasing.

So the thing is loud, it always spins at full speed, and if one day it
decides to become even louder than usual, you're SOL.
*** Motherboard
**** Firmware updates
Quoth ~fwupdmgr get-devices~:

#+begin_example
WARNING: UEFI capsule updates not available or enabled in firmware setup
See https://github.com/fwupd/fwupd/wiki/PluginFlag:capsules-unsupported for more information.
#+end_example

Quoth the wiki:

#+begin_quote
Most typically entering the firmware setup screen and enabling capsule
updates will cause this warning to disappear, and also make firmware
updates possible. The relevant option may be poorly labelled, for
example "allow Windows UEFI updates".
#+end_quote

Not seeing any such option in the boot menu.

#+begin_quote
It is possible, but unlikely, that flashing the latest vendor BIOS,
using either Windows or a LiveCD, will add support for [the thing that
correlates with capsule updates being enabled].
#+end_quote

Well then.  [[https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B550M-A-PRO/support#bios][Vendor says]] "put this on a stick; reboot; ask the menu to
flash from the stick".  Putting some feelers out first:

#+begin_quote
If you execute a UEFI update, this update might delete the existing
UEFI boot entries

— [[https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#Installation][ArchWiki]], 2024
#+end_quote

#+begin_quote
Like others in this forum, I too suffered from a reformatted EFI
partition following a BIOS update on my desktop pc.  I had no idea
that the MSI BIOS team doesn’t care about Linux installs, so to my
surprise, following the update, my system booted straight to windows.

[…]

Ultimately, I completely wiped and recreated the EFI partition with
gparted (fat32), changed the structure to GPT with gdisk, and then
mounted that partition in the /mnt/efi location, and then proceeded to
generate a new fstab with genfstab.  After arch-chroot’ing into my
endeavoros install, I ran bootctl install (which complained about boot
loader not setting esp information) and then reinstall-kernels.  I
updated the loader.conf with the correct default boot ID, and set the
recommended options.  That got me back into my system after quite a
bit of trial and error.

— [[https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/endeavoros-efi-partition-wiped-by-msi-bios-update/54740][EndeavorOS forums]], May 2024
#+end_quote

#+begin_quote
when updating the bios, it cleared all my settings.  Apparently, this
includes clearing the list of boot loaders, which it set back to the
default of just Windows.  Sadly this bios does not provide the tools
to add boot entries as, apparently, some do.  To fix it, I managed to
boot to a Linux live USB and add the missing entry using the efiboomgr
command line tool.

— [[https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/updating-to-bios-7a32v1q1-wont-see-linux-uefi-boot.388109/][MSI AMD forums]], August 2023
#+end_quote

Welp.

OT1H, I could dedicate a couple of week-ends learning the joys and
wonders of efibootmgr, gdisk & friends.  OTOH I sort of like keeping
my desktop station… not bricked?

Pity, because otherwise I've had smooth and incident-free firmware
updates on other stations with ~fwupdmgr~ 🤷
*** SSD
**** Failure
On November 19 2024, LDLC's off-brand SSD died on me.  RIP.
Re-installed Tumbleweed on the replacement (Kingston SA400S3) on
November 28.  Since then…
***** Performance loss
Getting uncannily reproducible frame drops (60 ↘ 40±10, movement
visibly choppy) in Hades Ⅱ when moving toward effects/particles-heavy
areas.  No idea WTF, those areas ran fine before.

- "High" graphics setting at native 1920×1080 resolution.
  - Tried "Low" graphics, lowered resolution, disabled vsync: symptoms
    persist.
- Not forcing any "compatibility tool" version, assuming this yields
  "Proton Experimental".
  - Tried a couple of old Proton versions: symptoms persist.
- Reinstalled game & nuked everything under
  - =~/.cache/mesa_shader_cache*=
  - =~/.cache/radv_builtin_shaders*=
  - =~/.config/unity3d=
  - =~/.local/share/Steam=
  - =~/.local/share/vulkan/=
  - =~/.steam*=
  in case "stale shaders" were to blame or something.
- Tumbleweed/Plasma/Wayland session.
  - Tried X11: symptoms persist.
- Reducing noise with =balooctl6 suspend=, =swapoff -a= (RAM nowhere
  near exhausted).

Well then.
****** CPU frequency scaling?
Started by noticing that the Plasma "Power Management" tray widget
says "Power Profile" is "Not available".  Not 100% sure whether that
was the case with the old installation; maybe I had had something
configured or installed to enable this?

Internet says "install and enable power-profiles-daemon", except
that's on:

#+begin_example
$ systemctl status power-profiles-daemon.service
● power-profiles-daemon.service - Power Profiles daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/power-profiles-daemon.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sun 2024-12-01 11:46:32 CET; 45min ago
 Invocation: b2545a02bc9642b7aeb5f370e8b50e7c
   Main PID: 2289 (power-profiles-)
      Tasks: 4 (limit: 18320)
        CPU: 52ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/power-profiles-daemon.service
             └─2289 /usr/libexec/power-profiles-daemon
#+end_example

But:

#+begin_example
$ powerprofilesctl
,* balanced:
    PlatformDriver:     placeholder

  power-saver:
    PlatformDriver:     placeholder
#+end_example

Internet says I am missing the right scaling driver, and seems very
keen on enabling =amd_pstate=, which I do not seem to have available:

#+begin_example
$ cpupower frequency-info
analyzing CPU 5:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 5
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 5
  maximum transition latency:  Cannot determine or is not supported.
  hardware limits: 1.40 GHz - 3.70 GHz
  available frequency steps:  3.70 GHz, 1.70 GHz, 1.40 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand performance schedutil
  current policy: frequency should be within 1.40 GHz and 3.70 GHz.
                  The governor "schedutil" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
  current CPU frequency: 3.30 GHz (asserted by call to kernel)
  boost state support:
    Supported: yes
    Active: no

$ zcat /proc/config.gz | grep -i pstate
CONFIG_X86_INTEL_PSTATE=y
CONFIG_X86_AMD_PSTATE=y
CONFIG_X86_AMD_PSTATE_DEFAULT_MODE=3
# CONFIG_X86_AMD_PSTATE_UT is not set
#+end_example

=/proc/config.gz= suggests the kernel configuration supports it, but
=cpupower= does not seem to know about it.  =dmesg= offers:

#+begin_example
$ sudo dmesg -H
[…] amd_pstate: the _CPC object is not present in SBIOS or ACPI disabled
#+end_example

Though:

#+begin_example
$ lscpu | grep -i cppc
Flags:                                […] cppc […]
#+end_example

So ACPI problem?  Lots of posts mentioning =amd_= parameters on the
kernel command-line but AFAIU those are stale with newer kernels (6.11
here) which automatically (attempt to) load the =amd_pstate= driver.

Went through the UEFI menu and found nothing related to ACPI or
[[https://forum.level1techs.com/t/amd-p-state-driver/197885/24][X2APIC]].  Skeptical UEFI settings anyway, since I did not change them
between the old and new installations.

/Some time later/

Probably not ACPI, =dmesg= is choke full of ACPI noise.  OTOH, using
some diagnosis methods from [[https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=218171][this kernel bug report]]:

#+begin_example
$ find /sys/devices -name '*cppc*'
🦗
#+end_example

(=acpidump ; acpixtract ; iasl ; grep -i cpc *.dsl= also yields 🦗,
but =iasl= complains about "unresolved" "control methods", so 🤷)

/Some time later/

[[https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/CPU_frequency_scaling#amd_pstate][ArchWiki]] does say "Change /Enable CPPC/ […] from /Auto/ to /Enabled/".
My UEFI menu tucks that under /Overclocking → Advanced CPU
Configuration → AMD CBS → CPPC CTRL/.  That change *does* convince
Linux to enable =amd_pstate=; going over the previous tests in reverse
order:

#+begin_example
$ [… acpidump && acpixtract && iasl … ] && grep -i cpc *.dsl
ssdt1.dsl:        Name (_CPC, Package (0x17)  // _CPC: Continuous Performance Control
[… repeats 12 times …]

$ find /sys/devices -name '*cppc*' -o -name '*pstate*' | tr -s '[:digit:]' N | sort -u
/sys/devices/system/cpu/amd_pstate
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policyN/amd_pstate_highest_perf
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policyN/amd_pstate_hw_prefcore
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policyN/amd_pstate_lowest_nonlinear_freq
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policyN/amd_pstate_max_freq
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policyN/amd_pstate_prefcore_ranking
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpuN/acpi_cppc

$ sudo dmesg -H
[… ominous silence about amd_pstate …]

$ cpupower frequency-info
analyzing CPU 1:
  driver: amd-pstate-epp
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 1
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 1
  maximum transition latency:  Cannot determine or is not supported.
  hardware limits: 400 MHz - 4.31 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: performance powersave
  current policy: frequency should be within 2.38 GHz and 4.31 GHz.
                  The governor "powersave" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
  current CPU frequency: 3.57 GHz (asserted by call to kernel)
  boost state support:
    Supported: yes
    Active: yes
    AMD PSTATE Highest Performance: 255. Maximum Frequency: 4.31 GHz.
    AMD PSTATE Nominal Performance: 219. Nominal Frequency: 3.70 GHz.
    AMD PSTATE Lowest Non-linear Performance: 141. Lowest Non-linear Frequency: 2.38 GHz.
    AMD PSTATE Lowest Performance: 24. Lowest Frequency: 400 MHz.

$ powerprofilesctl
  performance:
    CpuDriver:	amd_pstate
    Degraded:   no

,* balanced:
    CpuDriver:	amd_pstate
    PlatformDriver:	placeholder

  power-saver:
    CpuDriver:	amd_pstate
    PlatformDriver:	placeholder
#+end_example

And lo, the 🍃↔🚀 slider appears in the Power Management tray widget.

Nervous about entering the "Overclocking" UEFI zone tho, and concerned
about these "Maximum frequencies".

/And does it even help with the game?/

🥁

No.  No it does not; no discernible difference in FPS nor vibes.

Will assume this new baseline cannot hurt - OT1H "overclocking" is
scary, OTOH Linux now has a finer handle on the CPU and hopefully will
not overwork it to death?
****** Sᴇᴠᴇʀᴀʟ Wᴇᴇᴋꜱ Lᴀᴛᴇʀ
- [[https://www.gamingonlinux.com/forum/topic/5475/page=1/][ridge reports]] "bad frame pacing on ADMGPU",
  - when vsync is turned off: a non-factor in my testing,
  - lots of useful information in that thread tho and
    interesting-sounding pointers,
  - [[https://www.gamingonlinux.com/forum/topic/5475/page=2/#r42519][Shmerl]] says:
    - games can cause stutter by underloading the GPU, causing it to
      drop out of "high performance mode",
      - (=amdgpu_top= and =radeontop= do confirm that lag spikes
        correlate with GPU usage drop)
    - see [[https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/1500][drm/amd#1500]]:
      - /lots/ of sysfs noodling there; unfortunately, none of the
        suggested settings for =power_dpm_force_performance_level= &
        =pp_power_profile_mode= change the symptoms.

- In [[https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/3618#note_2689087][this drm/amd#3618 thread]], @agd5f suggests "6.11 stable kernels"
  include a fix for the issue at hand there and a further rework "was
  submitted to 6.13"; @mattipulkkinen reports happy results with
  6.13-rc2 (FTR, symptoms persist here with 6.12.8).

- Piggybacked onto [[https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/-/issues/11300][mesa/mesa#11300]]:
  - common: Hades Ⅱ, iGPU, recent kernel & Mesa, Proton Experimental,
  - differences: Fedora, GNOME, X11,
  - noteworthy: good performance on Windows,
  - suggestion by @Venemo: downgrade & bisect Mesa;
    - tempting, though scared of bricking graphical sessions and/or
      ending up with a frankensystem (intalling binaries under a
      prefix is probably easy, but then keeping track of config tweaks
      and cache artifacts sounds fraught).

- In [[https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/upower/power-profiles-daemon/-/issues/164][upower/power-profiles-daemon#164]], @Nyan reports problematic iGPU
  capping; not convinced this is applicable though, given the reported
  symptoms (video playback is fine here).

- Seen reports of Variable Refresh Rate causing problems:
  - searched high and low to understand why VRR appears nowhere in
    Plasma settings, despite the start menu turning up "Display
    Configuration" when searching for "VRR",
  - mystery solved by ~kscreen-doctor -o~: =Vrr: incapable= 🤷

- [[https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/what-fixed-stuttering-and-random-framerate-spikes-in-games-for-me.327264/][aska33j proclaims]] that /disabling CPPC/ "fixed stuttering and random
  framerate spikes in games for [them]" so…  roundtrip to UEFI,
  disabling that.  The =amd_pstate= warning is back; the "Power
  Profile" slider is no longer accessible in the systray widget; no
  discernible effect in-game anyway.

- Looking at Steam forums, [[https://steamcommunity.com/app/1145350/discussions/1/596260472619121965/][some folks]] do report FPS drops /shortly
  after the update/:
  #+begin_quote
  it started fine after the major update, now suddenly im stuck with 40~50 fps with micro sutters
  — December 6 2024
  #+end_quote

- After AMD drivers & Mesa, figured I could look at vkd3d's issue
  tracker.  [[https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/issues/4436][doitsujin/dxvk#4436]] and
  [[ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#11446]] looked somewhat promising:
  reports of lag on "KDE Tumbleweed Wayland", reported not long before
  my symptoms began (November 2024)); alas, ~LD_PRELOAD=~ does not
  help.
  -
    #+begin_quote
    Alternatively, remove the offending line in =/usr/share/drirc.d/00-radv-defaults.conf=
    #+end_quote

    /discovers [[https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/-/blob/main/src/util/00-radv-defaults.conf][=/usr/share/drirc.d/=]]/

    Computers were a mistake.

- Peeked at [[https://github.com/HansKristian-Work/vkd3d-proton/blob/master/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.md][vkd3d-proton's issue template]] and idly ran with
  ~PROTON_LOG=1~.  Over the course of 30 seconds or so, the log file
  gets flooded with 3MB's worth of =trace:unwind:dump_unwind_info= 🤨
****** This is insane
Selected subset of moving parts; "testability" considering ease of
clean reverts:

| Part         | Testability                                                                         |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Linux kernel | 🫣 [[https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:InstallNewerKernel][some distro documentation]]; afraid of side-effects                                |
| AMD drivers  | 🤷 no clue; maybe inextricable from kernel?                                         |
| Mesa         | 😬 easy to recompile; hard to control transient state in cache & config folders     |
| Steam        | 🫥 under Steam's control                                                            |
| Wine         | 🫥 under Steam's control                                                            |
| Proton       | 👌 as long as I stick to versions under Steam's control; have not considered GE yet |
| vkd3d-proton | 🫥 under Steam's control                                                            |
| Hades Ⅱ     | 🫥 under Steam's control                                                            |

That's looking at software packages as individual blackboxes;
config-wise, worth noting:

| Part       | Testability       |
|------------+-------------------|
| AMD pstate | 😬 UEFI roundtrip |
| sysfs      | OK                |

Let's throw in:

| Part          | Testability                       |
|---------------+-----------------------------------|
| Mobo firmware | 🔥 reports of nuked boot settings |