Blue checkerboard pattern on both monitors and freeze

abu Hamza · 2026-03-24 19:22:59

Hi,
# My Problem:
Pretty much the title. I get a blue checkerboard pattern on both monitors randomly, ususally when idle, and everything freezes. I can't get into a new tty, I can't reboot, I can't do anything except hold the power button. This happened once after I installed EndeavourOS then didn't happen for many weeks, then it happened three times within a week. I then installed Arch, hoping it would solve the issue, but it kept happening, sometimes multiple times an hour.

# What I tried
2. I checked `journalctl` (with an AI because I'm not really experienced enough to interpret the output myself) and it appeared to not have logged any freezing at all.
1. I ran `glmark2` as a performance test and monitored temperature. Both temperature and test were fine.
3. I put `amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xffffffff` in my kernel boot parameters (`GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="loglevel=3 quiet amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xffffffff`). This seemed to solve the issue somewhat. It could be a fluke because the freeze happens too sporadically to be sure and I removed the featuremask again because ever since my wifi card became very unreliable, not working most of the time.
4. I tried (and failed to make the change persistent) to set `/sys/class/drm/card1/device/power_dpm_force_performance_level` to `manual` and `/sys/class/drm/card1/device/pp_dpm_mclk` to the 1000Mhz, the other two options being 300 and 1750Mhz. To make the change persistent I created a script at `/usr/local/bin/` with the content:
```
#!/bin/sh
echo manual > /sys/class/drm/card1/device/power_dpm_force_performance_level
sleep 5 # at boot dpm_force_perf_level gets set to manual fine, but pp_dpm_mclk doesn't get set to 1 (1000Mhz) so I thought sleeping gives the system time, I dunno
echo 1 > /sys/class/drm/card1/device/pp_dpm_mclk
```
and created a `udev` rule (`/etc/udev/rules.d/30-amdgpu-pm.rules`) that looked something like
```
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="drm", KERNEL=="card1", RUN+="/usr/local/bin/set_amdgpu_clock"
```
this didn't work, so I created `/etc/systemd/system/amdgpu-pm.service` with content
```
[Unit]
Description=Set AMD GPU memory clock
After=multi-user.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=sudo /usr/local/bin/set_amdgpu_clock

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```
and enabled it with `systemctl enable amdgpu-pm.service`.
I tried other things as well, including but not limited to adding a `exec-once /usr/local/bin/set_amdgpu_clock` to my hyprland config.
I also had the script in the form `echo 1 | sudo tee ...` but it also didn't work.
At boot, every time without fail the `power_dpm_force_performance_level` is set to manual but `pp_dpm_mclk` is set to `0` which is the lowest level.
Running my script `set_amdgpu_clock` manually as root does the trick, but since that's only the one session I can't confirm that this solves the original issue and even if it does, I would want to automate it.

# My specs, I hope I include everything important please tell me if something is missing:
OS: Arch Linux x86_64
WM: Hyprland 0.54.2 (Wayland)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (12) @ 3.20 GHz
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 570 Series [Discrete]

Last edited by abu Hamza (2026-03-24 19:43:07)

SillyBuddy_e · 2026-03-24 23:02:30

Hi there i have a question did u try other windows managers like i3 or even desktop environments like kde plasma or xfce4 (dont use wayland session)
if u didnt try those out but if u did i cant really help u out
and can u pls tell me about rams and they speeds cuz razen gen1 have some issues with rams speeds

Last edited by SillyBuddy_e (2026-03-24 23:04:23)

abu Hamza · 2026-03-25 08:52:01

Yea it first happened on KDE Plasma, and just kept happening with hyprland.
RAM are two 8-GB Sticks both at Speed 2133 MT/s and Type DDR4

SillyBuddy_e · 2026-03-25 22:55:18

i read some of ur trieds and i think it gpu related buy sadly ur cpu dont have integrated graphics
but if u have any gpus or cpu support integrated graphics like ryzen 3 2200G or ryzen 5 2400G that should fix problem
i prefer to send pics of blue checkboards patterns and maybe i or someone else will find solustion
and one more thing check ur gpu with other arch computer (if possible) and check for other cpu like ryzen gen 3 or 5 cuz gen 1 ryzen is kinda unstable

Last edited by SillyBuddy_e (2026-03-25 22:59:10)

seth · 2026-03-26 14:52:42

Sounds like a kernel panic resulting in a corrupted BSOD (one of them new fancy ones w/ QR code)

ususally when idle

x-ref, https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=312757
Try to limit c-states and increase the PBO offset, there's no guarantee that this is actually coming from the GPU.
Speaking of which, do you happen to have a spare one (different model) for a stability cross-test?

Arch Linux

#1 2026-03-24 19:22:59

Blue checkerboard pattern on both monitors and freeze

#2 2026-03-24 23:02:30

Re: Blue checkerboard pattern on both monitors and freeze

#3 2026-03-25 08:52:01

Re: Blue checkerboard pattern on both monitors and freeze

#4 2026-03-25 22:55:18

Re: Blue checkerboard pattern on both monitors and freeze

#5 2026-03-26 14:52:42

Re: Blue checkerboard pattern on both monitors and freeze

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