Akitio Node/Radeon does not detect display [for Xorg sessions]

[mixxit]

I have an XPS 13 9360 which has no hdmi/output etc. I can connect either an Akitio Node with a radeon inside or a thunderbolt HP dock which has DisplayLink adapters inside it

Sadly displaylink does not seem to work so I cannot use my HP Dock

And the akitio node is detected by thunderbolt in settings and i can authorize it but no displays are detected

So when i am sat at my desk i have to stare at my tiny laptop screen

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v6/7th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 08)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation UHD Graphics 620 (rev 07)
00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Thermal Subsystem (rev 08)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 21)
00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Thermal subsystem (rev 21)
00:15.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #0 (rev 21)
00:15.1 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #1 (rev 21)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP CSME HECI #1 (rev 21)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev f1)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #3 (rev f1)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1)
00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #9 (rev f1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point LPC Controller/eSPI Controller (rev 21)
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PMC (rev 21)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio (rev 21)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SMBus (rev 21)
01:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS525A PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
02:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 32)
03:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] (rev 02)
04:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] (rev 02)
04:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] (rev 02)
04:02.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] (rev 02)
04:04.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] (rev 02)
05:00.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 NHI (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] (rev 02)
3a:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation DSL6340 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Alpine Ridge 2C 2015]
3b:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation DSL6340 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Alpine Ridge 2C 2015]
3c:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Ellesmere [Radeon RX 470/480/570/570X/580/580X/590] (rev c7)
3c:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Ellesmere HDMI Audio [Radeon RX 470/480 / 570/580/590]
6e:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: SK hynix Device 1527

[ahkok]

Likely not a bug but a feature we have not enabled. Without us actually having this hardware, it will be difficult to make this work. Since we don't know what feature is missing, we need more information.

[mixxit]

sure what do you need me to provide?

[mrkz]

@ahkok after some chatting with @mixxit on IRC turns out BIOS setting was really restrictive for Thunderbolt devices, after changing BIOS setting, screens could be accessed and used.

Those only work on Wayland though (xrandr --listmonitors only shows 1 monitor [built-in display]), so changing it as a bug now

[mixxit]

Hi @ahkok

With the help of @mrkz and doctorhu[m] in the IRC channel they informed me that with EGPU like the Akitio node it might be necessary to make some BIOS changes for Thunderbolt Security

I currently have an XPS 13 9360 and the BIOS settings where:

So i changed it to

So i made these changes and booted back into Clearlinux and to my suprise on the login screen all of my monitors activated!

However, after logging in, the monitors disabled themselves and it went back to my laptop monitor

After further discussion with @mrkz he requested I try wayland on the login screen

So i selected GNOME and it went to my desktop and all screens were working

As requested I have also attached my Xorg.0.log file

Xorg.0.log

I hope this helps solve the issue

[ahkok]

Can we close this issue then?

[mixxit]

I guess whilever wayland is not the default desktop then the bug is still going to be there for anyone with this configuration (Xorg)

I dont know what Ubuntu do but i think they dont use wayland as default? The issue does not occur there so maybe they have some setting that would help fix it?

Thanks

[mrkz]

@ahkok I think there's an issue within Xorg when using this setup, so real bug (as using a Wayland session is just a workaround).

Having said that, It would be a bit tricky/hard to follow-up given the lack of hardware.

[mixxit]

Does Ubuntu use Xorg by default? As it works perfectly fine there so Im not sure whatever configuration they have clearlinux should probably use?