protonscr

Steam client window not appearing on newly installed Ubuntu when using discrete GPU (AMD 7900XTX)

steamclosed Distro Family: Ubuntu
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#11634 · opened 2025-01-04 by loject · updated 2025-01-04 · 4 comments · github
Lloject 2025-01-04 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 1733265492
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Ubuntu 24.10 (freshly installed)
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: No
  • Have you checked for system updates?: Yes
  • GPU: AMD Radeon 7900XTX (discrete) / integrated GPU on Ryzen 7950X3D
  • Steam Logs:
    steam-logs.tar.gz

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

I have a fresh Ubuntu 24.10 installation with an AMD Ryzen 7950X3D CPU (which has an integrated GPU) and a discrete AMD Radeon 7900XTX. When I launch Steam from the applications menu on the discrete GPU, the system tray icon appears, but the main Steam window never shows up. However, if I launch Steam using the integrated GPU (via the “Launch using integrated graphics card” option), the client opens normally without any issues.

I have tried:

  • Using both Wayland and X11 sessions
  • Running Steam with flags such as --no-cef-sandbox or --disable-gpu-sandbox
  • Checking logs, which sometimes show “no bootstrapper found” or X Error of failed request: BadWindow
  • Reinstalling Steam from the official .deb

Nothing has resolved the issue for the discrete GPU. The exact same commands work fine if I specify integrated graphics or run it from the terminal with integrated graphics.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

  1. Install Ubuntu 24.10 (fresh system), install official Steam .deb.
  2. Have both integrated (Ryzen 7950X3D) and discrete (Radeon 7900XTX) GPUs available.
  3. Attempt to launch Steam from the applications menu on the discrete GPU.
  4. Observe that only the tray icon appears and the Steam window never shows.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. If more information is required, let me know.

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2025-01-04 github

Hello @loject, if you completely close Steam, then run steam from a terminal, does it behave? I suspect this is the same issue as #9383.

Lloject 2025-01-04 github

Hello @loject, if you completely close Steam, then run steam from a terminal, does it behave? I suspect this is the same issue as #9383.

Yeah, it's a similar problem to #9383

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2025-01-04 github

Thanks for checking, it would be better to add a note to the older issue report.

I suspect you have your display connected to the dGPU and the DE's integrated / discrete context menu options are actually swapped from what you'd expect. Steam -> Help -> System Information -> Video Card should have which GPU the Steam client is rendering itself with in the working case.

Closing in favor of #9383.

Lloject 2025-01-04 github

System Information shows Steam running on discrete GPU

Driver: AMD AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (radeonsi, navi31, LLVM 19.1.1, DRM 3.58, 6.11.0-13-generic)

Nothing extracted yet.