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eternalnoobage 17 Jun, 2023 @ 7:33pm
Update causes segfault with steamwebhelper when using AMD GPU
The new Steam update is causing a segfault with steamwebhelper whenever I launch Steam using my dedicated AMD Radeon 5700 GPU. I am using Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS, with the distribution-provided amdgpu drivers associated with the 5.4.0-152-generic kernel.

Launching Steam via the command line shows the typical output, but when I look at /var/log/syslog I see the following errors:

Jun 17 22:01:34 eternalnoobage kernel: [] Composite Threa[42950]: segfault at 0 ip 0000000000000000 sp 00007f2a582386e8 error 14 in steamwebhelper[400000+10000] Jun 17 22:01:34 eternalnoobage kernel: [] Code: Bad RIP value.

These error messages occur repeatedly as Steam tries over and over to launch the client interface. Essentially Steam opens a client window briefly, but it crashes immediately. It seems that steamwebhelper is not working with my current drivers.

It is the case that I can launch Steam with my integrated GPU, but the performance of this device is lousy, so this is not a workaround. I have tried installing the drivers provided by AMD from their website[www.amd.com], but this actually made things worse, as I could not even log into Steam with either GPU.

I also tried launching a game directly, through the console:
steam_amd steam://rungameid/1245620 -console -no-browser
This led to the same problems as before.

I may go ahead and update my OS to Ubuntu 22.04, with the hopes that the corresponding amdgpu drivers will work with this version of Steam.

If anyone has any tips or suggestions please let me know.
Last edited by eternalnoobage; 17 Jun, 2023 @ 7:51pm
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Showing 1-9 of 9 comments
xdshot 17 Jun, 2023 @ 8:50pm 
Disable GPU acceleration
#1
Xenophobe 18 Jun, 2023 @ 7:01am 
I would recommend updating the OS.
#2
eternalnoobage 24 Jun, 2023 @ 4:31pm 
Originally posted by xdshot:
Disable GPU acceleration

Thanks for this suggestion. I tried disabling GPU accelerated rendering in web views but this did not fix the issue. Granted, I changed this setting when running Steam with the integrated GPU, not the dedicated AMD GPU, so I am not 100% certain if these settings are applied when I launch Steam with the latter.

There doesn't seem to be a way to launch Steam through the command line with an option to disable GPU acceleration for web views.
#3
eternalnoobage 3 Jul, 2023 @ 4:54pm 
Originally posted by Xenophobe:
I would recommend updating the OS.

I finally gotten around to upgrading Ubuntu to Jammy Jellyfish, but unfortunately I cannot launch steamwebhelper using steam_amd. The error is essentially the same as before:

Jul 3 19:26:03 eternalnoobage kernel: [11211.015111] Composite Threa[42871]: segfault at 0 ip 0000000000000000 sp 00007fcc33ba5648 error 14 in steamwebhelper[400000+10000] Jul 3 19:26:03 eternalnoobage kernel: [11211.015139] Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at RIP 0xffffffffffffffd6.

Luckily, I can run games directly now, without launching the web browser. The command is same as before:

steam_amd steam://rungameid/1245620 -console -no-browser

It seems that Elden Ring performs better now too.
Last edited by eternalnoobage; 3 Jul, 2023 @ 4:56pm
#4
eternalnoobage 4 Jul, 2023 @ 7:45am 
I forgot that I created the alias steam_amd; this is the command:

alias steam_amd='DRI_PRIME=1 steam'
#5
NaCl Doot Doot 13 Sep, 2023 @ 3:51am 
Do you still encounter this issue?
I just run into it myself. I'm also running an AMD GPU (RX 6700) but only recently started also utilizing integrated graphics in my AMD CPU. Since then Steam is in a crash loop. The message on crash is similar to the one you posted.
kernel: Composite Threa[83284]: segfault at 0 ip 0000000000000000 sp 00007fd3fb4e6708 error 14 in steamwebhelper[400000+10000] likely on CPU 1 (core 1, socket 0) kernel: Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at 0xffffffffffffffd6.
#6
Moik 17 Oct, 2023 @ 9:07am 
Sounds a bit like something I fixed recently. Can't remember how though.

Previously I used start steam automatically on login. Then I switched to starting manually with the Steam icon and I suddenly got the crash-loop.

The fix was somewhere in the steam.desktop settings. I think there were two properties that needed to changed.. Sorry I can't be more specific, but it might be a clue.
#7
eternalnoobage 27 Oct, 2023 @ 11:57am 
Originally posted by NaCl Doot Doot:
Do you still encounter this issue?
I just run into it myself. I'm also running an AMD GPU (RX 6700) but only recently started also utilizing integrated graphics in my AMD CPU. Since then Steam is in a crash loop. The message on crash is similar to the one you posted.
kernel: Composite Threa[83284]: segfault at 0 ip 0000000000000000 sp 00007fd3fb4e6708 error 14 in steamwebhelper[400000+10000] likely on CPU 1 (core 1, socket 0) kernel: Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at 0xffffffffffffffd6.

Sorry for the late response, but I haven t been encountering this issue anymore, which I am attributing to recent Steam updates. At least, I can run Steam in a sort-of-normal manner.

FWIW, I am launching Steam using the desktop icon set on my dock, but I right-click the icon to make sure that Steam is launched using my integrated graphics card, not my discrete AMD GPU. I can now launch games through the Steam application like normal, with the games using my AMD GPU. I confirm this by using nvtop[github.com].

Regarding what Moik said, I looked up the steam.desktop settings, found in /usr/share/applications/, and noticed this entry:

PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true X-KDE-RunOnDiscreteGpu=true

My settings are forcing Steam to use my discrete AMD GPU, which still has problems it seems, so I have been specifying it to use the integrated graphics card manually.

I m using Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS, Steam version 1698260427.
#8
NaCl Doot Doot 29 Oct, 2023 @ 6:19pm 
Thanks for replying and sharing your solution eternalnoobage! I will have to try it out.
Thanks Moik for your input as well!

It does seem to make sense based on what I experienced. The crash loop turned out to be related directly to the fact that I was using dedicated and integrated graphics. If I boot without connecting anything to the integrated GPU, then everything works fine on just the dedicated GPU.

I will test your solution at a later date and post here the results if I remember to do so. Hopefully it will help people with this issue to find this thread and the solution.
#9
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Date Posted: 17 Jun, 2023 @ 7:33pm
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