I've been working with Linux for a while, but I'm hitting a wall trying to get both Bazzite and Cachyos to play nice on my almost-new Omen 17 with an AMD Ryzen 7 AI 350 and a 5060 GPU. I've set it up for dual boot with Windows to keep things separate. I managed to install both distros and have also worked with Ubuntu and Mint on other computers without any issues. The Bazzite installation reached the splash screen, but it just wouldn't boot into the live environment. Safe graphics mode worked, but after installation, the kernel got messed up. Cachyos loaded with the right resolution, but everything was so tiny that I could barely read anything. After a restart, it wouldn't let me boot back into Cachyos and I could only get into Windows by forcing the BIOS to recognize the Windows drive. Am I just messing things up, or could this be a hardware issue?
2 Answers
You're definitely not dumb! It sounds like you're dealing with a graphics driver issue here. The tiny text and resolution problems indicate it's probably using the wrong settings for your display. For your Ryzen 7 AI 350 with integrated graphics, you might want to try passing some kernel parameters like 'nomodeset' or 'amdgpu.si_support=1' at boot. That should help you get into the system correctly, and then you can install the proper drivers once you're in.
Don't worry, it's a common issue. Just to clarify, your system uses UEFI instead of traditional BIOS. When you're in the settings, look for CSM (Compatibility Support Module) and make sure it's disabled, as that might be causing you to boot incorrectly. Also, it can sometimes be labeled as BIOS in the menus, which can be confusing.
Thanks, I didn't realize that! I did disable secure boot but I'll check for CSM next time.