I recently upgraded to Ubuntu 26.04 - got ahead of myself and didn’t check the support status first . Since the upgrade I’m noticing:
Graphics corruption (bands of flickering colour) in Gnome
Screens sometimes go dim, as if the charger isn’t connected
Ubuntu will make the power supply reconnected sound at random
Browsers on the second screen become graphically laggy, sometimes showing a previous tab when hovering over a page menu. Otherwise they go dim, as if a file dialog is open.
Tested with Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox
Seems worse after the laptop has gone to sleep and then resumed
Moving back to the built in screen resolves the issue
Other windows on the second screen may flicker at random (and once they start, this continues for some time), making them unusable
Moving back to the built in screen shows the window works fine
Issues with the second screen occur when:
Connected via a USB-C dock’s HDMI
Connected directly to the USB-C port on the back of the dedicated GPU (USB-C to HDMI cable)
When in a full screen game (e.g. “The Planet Crafter”), there is no flickering
Fans seem to spin up more than previously (Ubuntu 25.10)
Is anyone else encountering similar?
Which Linux distro are you using?
Ubuntu
Which release version?
26.04, up to date as of today (21st May 2026)
Thanks for the info. I hope your issues will get addressed soon.
I was also debating to upgrade to 26.04 because I have graphical glitches on white websites with 25.10. But I guess I’ll have to wait until it’s officially supported. (I’m on a Framework 13 with Ryzen AI 5 340)
This is an issue with the AMD graphics driver. If you use KDE, you can set Adaptive Sync to Always in the display settings as a workaround. I don’t think GNOME has such a setting…
And in general, I had a ton of random issues when I upgraded from 24 to 26. In particular, power profiles would randomly disappear which seemed to be related to all sorts of odd behavior.
I did a fresh install and find that everything is much more stable. The only other thing I did that could have changed anything was turning off AMD PSPP in the BIOS… (troubleshooting an issue with my dual M2 board)
Sorry for the delay, and thanks for your replies. I’ve been testing a few things.
As @knipp30 suggested, I’ve been trying the 6.17 kernel (6.17.0-29-generic) and that seems more stable graphically, but still a problem. The same symptoms appear, but less frequently.
AdaptiveSync / Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) is supported in Gnome 50 onwards an an official feature, so I’ve enabled that and will see if that has any effect. Thanks for the pointer @Andy_Coder .
Also @Andy_Coder , when you were experiencing your power profiles issues, did that include issues with the “power connect / disconnect” sound like I’m getting. Interestingly, on Friday I heard the sound when the laptop was not connected to power at all (the only cabled connection was a mouse).
AdaptiveSync / Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) is supported in Gnome 50 onwards an an official feature, so I’ve enabled that and will see if that has any effect
It’s certainly worth a shot, but to be specific, just turning it on there (or the Automatic setting in KDE) didn’t work for me. Only KDE’s “Always” did the truck
when you were experiencing your power profiles issues, did that include issues with the “power connect / disconnect” sound like I’m getting
No. I actually have experienced that before, and on other laptops, but not in this case with FW16+Ubuntu 26
Sorry for the delay, I’ve not been at home much so testing has been difficult.
Screen flickering
I think enabling VRR has helped, although the problem hasn’t gone away. I’ve tried both the 6 and 7 series of kernels.
Interestingly, watching a YouTube video full screen in Firefox doesn’t cause the flicker. Opening PhpStorm does cause the flicker as it’s loading. I know the latest PhpStorm runs Wayland native, so I wonder if that’s relevant.
I’ve not had chance to test with the second screen recently, due to not being at home.
Playing a full screen game via Steam (The Planet Crafter) does not have the flicker. That’s using the dedicated graphics card (AMD).
Power disconnect / reconnect sound
This has continued to happen, albeit less. Equally it may be less due to not using the laptop as much.
Current kernel
7.0.0-22-generic #22-Ubuntu
Once life returns to a bit more normality I’ll try doing some more testing.
The flickering sounds similarish to an issue I had with my FW16 on LMDE 7. It’s a known problem with certain AMD drivers and high-refresh-rate panels IIRC. I solved it by adding the boot parameter amdgpu.dcdebugmask=0x10 which disables AMD’s Panel Self Refresh.
Might not be the same thing because my flicker was less bands of color than it was half of the screen flickering either black or white, but maybe worth a shot.
. Since the upgrade I’m noticing: