16.04 ; power off discrete graphics (ATI/AMD)

On 12.04 I used to utilize this procedure, to power off my ATI graphics and prevent my system from overheating, it worked fine. After installing 16.04, I've been trying everything I could find on the net, but no solution. My system runs extremely hot, causing the fans to run at max almost all the time. Can anybody come up with a little hack to shutdown that discrete ATI Radeon card?

thanks. M.Schoofs

System: HP Pavilion dv7-6190ed (FW F.18) [AMD/ATI] Whistler [Radeon HD 6730M/6770M/7690M XT]

Solution 1:

Following Neni's answer, I had kernel panic after sleep. I solved my problem by adding radeon.modeset=0 amdgpu.runpm=0 acpi_backlight=intel_backlight to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT

To edit file :

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Find line :

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

And replace with :

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash radeon.modeset=0 amdgpu.runpm=0 acpi_backlight=intel_backlight"

To regenerate config :

sudo update-grub

Reboot :

sudo reboot

What those options do :

• radeon.modeset=0 disables radeon driver
• amdgpu.runpm=0 disables the power management from amdgpu driver
• acpi_backlight=intel_backlight uses intel driver to control laptop screen backlight

Official bug report suggests as a workaround either manually install newer kernel (which you would have to manually update) or run those steps :

1. /etc/default/grub: Add amdgpu.runpm=0 to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
   Included above.

2. /etc/rc.local: Add the following command:

   echo OFF > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch

   This step caused my system to freeze on shutdown so I just skipped it.

3. /etc/X11/xorg.conf: Create the file if it doesn't exist, and add the following in order to get the backlight controls working (otherwise it would be misdetected):

   Section "Device"
       Identifier "Card0"
       Driver "intel"
       Option "Backlight" "intel_backlight"
   EndSection
   

   This step is replaced replaced above by acpi_backlight=intel_backlight

Solution 2:

Check graphic drivers which are in use (radeon/amdgpu should be listed):

lspci -nnk | grep -i vga -A3 | grep 'in use'

Note: If amdgpu is listed, replace radeon with amdgpu in the instructions below!

Open the following file:

gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Modify the following line by adding radeon.modeset=0:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash radeon.modeset=0"

Save and Exit

Back to Terminal:

sudo update-grub
sudo reboot

Check again which graphic drivers are in use (radeon/amdgpu should not be listed anymore):

lspci -nnk | grep -i vga -A3 | grep 'in use'

Now, your ATI/AMD graphic card is disabled and your computer works only with the Intel graphics. The fan speed should significantly decrease.