Baikal 5.4: no GPU acceleration with newer Mesa/distros

[PESH1Host]

Hello! I have l installed PS4 Linux (Arch Linux with KDE Plasma) on my PS4 (PS4 slim from 2019 with a Baikal B1 southbridge CUH2216b) but when i was using KDE Plasma it kept lagging and when i installed steam i ran Geometry Dash to see the performance it ran with 13FPS. I checked the renderer with glxinfo and it said LLVM pipe 21.1.6, 256 bits.I checked dmesg | grep -i amdgpu and at the end it kept saying :

"[ 1.543762] [drm:amdgpu_atombios_dp_link_train] *ERROR* clock recovery tried 5 times"

and i don't know what that means. Here is the full output:

[abc@ps4arch ~]$ dmesg | grep -i amdgpu [ 0.000000] Command line: panic=0 clocksource=tsc consoleblank=0 net.ifnames=0 radeon.dpm=0 amdgpu.dpm=0 drm.debug=0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 console=tty0 video=HDMI-A-1:1920x1080@60 [ 0.314018] Kernel command line: panic=0 clocksource=tsc consoleblank=0 net.ifnames=0 radeon.dpm=0 amdgpu.dpm=0 drm.debug=0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 console=tty0 video=HDMI-A-1:1920x1080@60 [ 0.784885] [drm] amdgpu kernel modesetting enabled. [ 0.784998] amdgpu 0000:00:01.0: remove_conflicting_pci_framebuffers: bar 0: 0xe0000000 -> 0xe3ffffff [ 0.785171] amdgpu 0000:00:01.0: remove_conflicting_pci_framebuffers: bar 2: 0xe4000000 -> 0xe47fffff [ 0.785343] amdgpu 0000:00:01.0: remove_conflicting_pci_framebuffers: bar 5: 0xe4800000 -> 0xe483ffff [ 0.785531] amdgpu 0000:00:01.0: vgaarb: deactivate vga console [ 0.936785] amdgpu 0000:00:01.0: remove_conflicting_pci_framebuffers: bar 0: 0xe0000000 -> 0xe3ffffff [ 0.936959] amdgpu 0000:00:01.0: remove_conflicting_pci_framebuffers: bar 2: 0xe4000000 -> 0xe47fffff [ 0.937130] amdgpu 0000:00:01.0: remove_conflicting_pci_framebuffers: bar 5: 0xe4800000 -> 0xe483ffff [ 0.937303] amdgpu 0000:00:01.0: vgaarb: deactivate vga console [ 0.937465] amdgpu 0000:00:01.0: can't find IRQ for PCI INT A; please try using pci=biosirq [ 0.975212] i2c-dev: adapter [AMDGPU i2c bit bus 0x90] registered as minor 1 [ 0.975220] i2c i2c-1: adapter [AMDGPU i2c bit bus 0x90] registered [ 1.230409] i2c-dev: adapter [AMDGPU i2c bit bus 0x91] registered as minor 2 [ 1.230416] i2c i2c-2: adapter [AMDGPU i2c bit bus 0x91] registered [ 1.486515] amdgpu 0000:00:01.0: VRAM: 1024M 0x0000000F00000000 - 0x0000000F3FFFFFFF (1024M used) [ 1.486697] amdgpu 0000:00:01.0: GART: 512M 0x0000000000000000 - 0x000000001FFFFFFF [ 1.487696] [drm] amdgpu: 1024M of VRAM memory ready [ 1.487806] [drm] amdgpu: 3072M of GTT memory ready. [ 1.491544] [drm] AMDGPU Display Connectors [ 1.523341] fbcon: amdgpudrmfb (fb0) is primary device [ 1.543762] [drm:amdgpu_atombios_dp_link_train] *ERROR* clock recovery tried 5 times [ 1.543765] [drm:amdgpu_atombios_dp_link_train] *ERROR* clock recovery failed [ 1.843993] amdgpu 0000:00:01.0: fb0: amdgpudrmfb frame buffer device [ 1.844329] [drm] Initialized amdgpu 3.35.0 20150101 for 0000:00:01.0 on minor 0 [ 51.089721] [drm:amdgpu_atombios_dp_link_train] *ERROR* clock recovery tried 5 times [ 51.089725] [drm:amdgpu_atombios_dp_link_train] *ERROR* clock recovery failed [ 85.204903] [drm:amdgpu_atombios_dp_link_train] *ERROR* clock recovery tried 5 times [ 85.204908] [drm:amdgpu_atombios_dp_link_train] *ERROR* clock recovery failed [ 85.479461] [drm:amdgpu_atombios_dp_link_train] *ERROR* clock recovery tried 5 times [ 85.479466] [drm:amdgpu_atombios_dp_link_train] *ERROR* clock recovery failed [abc@ps4arch ~]$ glxinfo | grep "renderer" GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer, GLX_MESA_gl_interop, GLX_MESA_query_renderer, GLX_MESA_gl_interop, GLX_MESA_query_renderer, GLX_SGIS_multisample, Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer): OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 21.1.6, 256 bits) [abc@ps4arch ~]$

Here are some images:

(sorry for the blurry camera i should get a new phone)

[feeRnt]

Hi. Thanks for creating the issue.

First of all, the clock recovery messages you see are very normal on older kernels. It was fixed only in 6.15 I think, so no need to worry there. It shouldn't affect performance.

But the output regarding the graphics renderer is strange. It suggests that a software renderer is being used instead of your GPU, which would explain the terrible game performance.

I'm not sure why that's happening, but that's usually in the domain of the distribution you are using.
Here is my OpenGL renderer info on 5.15.15 in a Phat Belize running an old Arch installation to compare:

$ glxinfo | grep "renderer"
   GLX_MESA_query_renderer, GLX_MESA_swap_control, GLX_NV_float_buffer, 
   GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer, GLX_MESA_query_renderer, GLX_MESA_swap_control, 
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
OpenGL renderer string: AMD Liverpool (PlayStation 4) (liverpool, LLVM 14.0.6, DRM 3.42, 5.15.15-obsidianx-3.6.0_zram)

I will ask around and see if there is any information about this happening elsewhere, but it might be worth inquiring with the distro maintainer!

[feeRnt]

Hey so I got the confirmation on the issue.

Since you're using a newer Arch distro on the older 5.4 kernel, the graphics packages bundled with the distribution (Mesa) don't work for your kernel. The Mesa bundled with Erkkl's distro is Mesa 25.3.5 I think, but the latest working Mesa for Kernel 5.4 is 25.1.x. This is due to changes in Mesa's use of libdrm I think, which they updated beyond that point to a version incompatible with kernel 5.4's. Note, 5.4 is the latest working Kernel for Baikals.

In that case your solution might just be to switch to some other distro tailored for Baikals. The PS4 Linux forums or their Discord may have more information on this. Hopefully some work is underway to get a modern distro supported with older Mesa and libdrm.

I updated the title to reflect the scope of the problem. Please share how it goes with some other distribution and unless you have something to add, we should close this issue as it's beyond its domain.

[PESH1Host]

Hello again! Thanks for the help. I searched for a distro that was made for an older version of mesa and i found Xubuntu 25.04 which has Mesa 25.0.5. I am currently downloading it so i will report back when i install it on my PS4.

[feeRnt]

Hey! Glad you found a good distro. I also wanted to share the link to an Arch release that someone made just the day of your issue, because they were having problems with graphics as well on their Baikal running 5.4.

It is a clean and updated Arch, but with older Mesa (25.1) and related libraries.
According to report it is working well and as intended, so if you're more of an Arch preferrer, feel free to take a look. Link, 2.03 GB:
https://mega.nz/file/JNkUgZLY#q-XwRcz81SLyMBE_-RIpbtRZIi2pGaH-8xCc6-uFXRI
user: ps4
pass: ps4

It's mostly finalized for now, but they plan on making some small improvements soon. I'll update the link in the case that is finished.

Edit; Updated the title & pinned the issue to make the problem more apparent.

[PESH1Host]

Hi! I had an issue with that distro that the itramfs if found for it did not boot (and the one for ubuntu based systems mega has took down) so I'm going to use psxitarch3 (yes it is old and CAUSE IT DOES NOT HAVE STUPID MEGA LINK THAT NEVER FULLY DECRYPTS AND I USE UP ALL MY BANDWITH JUST TO DECYPT IT!) and a multiboot itramfs which supports psxitarch 3.

[PESH1Host]

Hello again! I have successfully booted into psxitarch v3 the password is changeit (it took an embarrassingly long time to realize that that was the password and not the commentor saying to change it) BUT i opened steam and got to the store page when XFCE just crashed and i am right now restarting it. I am going to report when i get back into linux

[PESH1Host]

Hello! Can confirm - older mesa version fixed the issue, now according to glxinfo the renderer is "playstation 4"

and that relates to Geometry Dash - rock solid 60 on 1080p with high graphics preset. I am going to try portal 2 and i will make a guide in a comment below.

Edit: portal 2 runs as well as my gaming laptop (yea but my gaming laptop is 144hz so probably not as wall but close at that refresh rate) only some stutter from time to time

[PESH1Host]

How i got GPU acceleration on Baikal (maybe you can add this as a disclaimer or smtn in the readme for users that have the same issue which have the same issue as me cause i cant be the only one!)

Step 1. Downloads

First, you need to get these files:

• Distro: PSXITARCH v3
• itramfs:this one or this one
• Exploit: Vue after free
• kernel: this one is the best

Step 2. Formatting and install

make a 50mb fat32 partition and put the itramfs and the kernel in there, then make a ext4 partiton with the rest of the space and name it "psxitarch" and extract the kernel there

Step 3. Jailbraking!

Use this guide by MODDED WARFARE
How to Jailbreak the PS4 on 13.00 or lower

Step 4. Loading linux

go to psfree-enhanced.free.nf select linux and select baikal phat/slim or baikal pro
then you shoud see a screen like this

select any theme and english the select "external distribution" and select psxitarch

Note: if you get thrown to a rescue shell, type resume-boot

KABOOM

you have linux 🐧

(i guess until 6.15.4 we will have to use old distros 😢😔☹️ )

[feeRnt]

Hey, awesome to see your solution! This guide will be very useful to others going through the same thing, though most people might just be using the software rendering without even realizing unfortunately.

I will add a disclaimer or something of the sort in my readme, and I'm starting to add this issue's link in my newer 5.4 releases, since the latest release yesterday. Hopefully people will read them!

Also with the initramfs not detecting the distro I linked, it's probably the naming scheme or something. I guess your initramfs wants a distro named psxitarch.tar.xz or something, but that one is named ps4linux.tar.xz.

Anyways, yeah, until we get a 6.15 kernel, this is the way. I'll check if DionKill's guide mentions this or not.. It should be included if not.

[feeRnt]

Added a note about it and a link to this issue in the Readme; one in the latest Baikal release; and made a pull request for DionKill's guide. Should be easier to avoid this problem now..

Closing as out of scope.

[feeRnt]

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