Unusual problem with IOMMU on Ubuntu 18.04 using a Ryzen 5 3600 processor
Unusual problem with IOMMU on Ubuntu 18.04 using a Ryzen 5 3600 processor
I recently assembled a desktop (MSI B450m VHD Max, Ryzen 5 3600 and RTX 2060 with basic specs). I configured it for dual booting. I have one NVMe drive running both Windows 10 and Ubuntu 18.04 (Linux Kernel 4.15), plus a second 4TB HDD for data, split into two partitions: 2TB NTFs just for Windows and another 2TB EXT4. I experienced some odd instability in my Ubuntu installation. After fixing it, I was wondering if anyone could shed light on this? Specifically, during large downloads (around 80GB), the 2TB EXT4 partition would repeatedly remount as read-only after encountering IOMMU errors. I verified the drive with multiple tools and everything appeared intact, no bad sectors found. Checking dmesg revealed a pattern of IOMMU-related messages culminating in attempts to write unrecognized data. Disabling IOMMU in my GRUB configuration seemed to resolve the issue temporarily. Are others familiar with this problem? Updating the Linux kernel might be a viable solution, but I was hoping for the next LTS release to include updates.
Upgrading to a more recent distribution, such as Ubuntu 20.04, should resolve the issue. 18.04 is significantly outdated compared to your hardware and may lead to problems.
I was thinking about heading to 20.04 soon. I expected a prompt from the Software Updater at some point, so I delayed it but might go now.
You have the option to apply changes directly. Ensure your data is backed up before moving forward. I’ll inform you about the available release and guide you through updating to the latest version.
Currently 20.04 isn't marked as an LTS version ready for upgrade (it won't be until July), which means it isn't automatically shown there. However, I can update that. Luckily I'm prepared with backups. A fresh installation has completed, moving all data from the backup drive. Simple to restart if needed.
Really? That command functioned perfectly for me on Ubuntu during the latest release... but after five years, things could have shifted.
It would make sense if I moved from version 19 to 20, but I prefer LTS releases for my current machine, so I’m beginning at 18.04. The path from 18.04 to 20.04 won’t be officially released until July, right after the 20.04.1 update. I’m not sure if this kind of delay is typical when upgrading from LTS versions—I haven’t experienced enough new hardware to notice. I recall the transition from 16 to 18 took roughly a month.
I spent a lot of time working on old laptops until I managed this one about two weeks ago. I upgraded from 20.04 to 19.1 and it solved most of my problems. Now I have some new issues with my WiFi card, but I adjusted the grub bootloader settings to fix it so everything is finally working properly (hope it goes well!).