Dennis HilkLinux diagnosticsDE

AMD graphics

AMD Tahiti / Southern Islands

An older AMD graphics family whose Linux binding can depend on the Southern Islands driver-selection policy.

Editorial source review: Share public profileOpen in the identification tool
On this page
  1. Overview & identity
  2. Driver & binding
  3. Firmware
  4. Read-only diagnostics
  5. Limitations & related issues
  6. References

Overview & identity

The curated pair 1002:6798 is explicitly mapped to CHIP_TAHITI in the reviewed amdgpu table. That establishes a Tahiti-family function, not the cooler, video outputs or retail card variant. On a machine with several adapters, keep the PCI address with the ID so that an integrated adapter is not mistaken for this discrete GPU.

Curated identifiers
pci 1002:6798

A numeric match establishes a candidate family within the reviewed evidence. Marketing names, board variants, subsystem conditions and successful operation remain separate questions.

Driver & binding

Both radeon and amdgpu have Southern Islands selection controls. The source table is an amdgpu candidate, while the running kernel may bind radeon according to its build and parameter policy. Record the existing driver and parameter values before discussing Vulkan or changing an application; seeing the amdgpu module in a report does not establish that it owns this function.

  • amdgpu — kernel driver/module candidate
  • radeon — kernel driver/module candidate

Detected, bound, operational: learn the difference

Firmware

Host-loaded firmware required

The reviewed amdgpu engine declares the listed images. They are examples for this family, not a complete package manifest. Use the exact firmware request from the running kernel to identify a missing file; a file merely existing on disk does not establish successful loading.

Checked examples or filename branches, not a complete installation list:

  • amdgpu/tahiti_pfp.bin
  • amdgpu/tahiti_me.bin

Inspect firmware packaging on your distribution

Read-only diagnostics

Run one displayed command at a time. Replace uppercase placeholders with the affected device, interface or module from your own output. Commands are never executed here. Read-only output can still contain private identifiers.

Read the numeric PCI identity and binding

lspci -nnk -s BDF

Replace BDF with the address of the Tahiti / Southern Islands display function. No sudo is normally required for this summary. The numeric vendor/device pair is the evidence for identity; “Kernel driver in use” is evidence of the current binding. A “Kernel modules” list is only a list of candidates.

Confirm the owner of this PCI function

readlink /sys/bus/pci/devices/BDF/driver

Use the full domain:bus:slot.function address in BDF, for example the form shown by lspci -D. This read-only symlink normally needs no elevated privileges. Its last component names the bound driver. An absent link can also mean an unbound, removed or guest-assigned function; it does not prove that no Linux driver exists.

Read initialization and failure context

journalctl -k -b --no-pager

Read the first amdgpu initialization or engine-failure messages, including the requested firmware filename and any recovery that follows. This reads the current boot only. Correlate the PCI address and timestamps before connecting a message to this GPU. Journal access depends on local group permissions; a permission error is not a hardware result.

Read the existing family-selection policy

cat /sys/module/amdgpu/parameters/si_support /sys/module/radeon/parameters/si_support

This reads the selected family controls if their modules expose them. Missing files may mean a driver was not built or loaded. Values are evidence of existing policy, not an instruction to change it; the PCI driver link still decides the present owner. Reading these documented parameters normally needs no sudo.

Limitations & related issues

The listed amdgpu firmware names apply to the amdgpu path. A radeon-bound system has its own firmware requests, so a filename from this page is not automatically its missing file. This profile does not promise a particular graphics API, minimum kernel or acceleration result.

These guides are linked for relevant observations, not as known defects of every device in this family.

Choose a hardware diagnostic workflow · Inspect a log excerpt in Fix Lab

References

Source review records a checked implementation or document, not a reproduced hardware test. Version-specific tables do not establish a minimum kernel or guaranteed operation.