Can't change dev.i915.perf_stream_paranoid to 0

When installing a Wine-Game through Lutris i got this error message:

MESA-INTEL: warning: Performance support disabled, consider sysctl dev.i915.perf_stream_paranoid=0

I traced the problem and troubleshooted a bit and found that the dev.i915.perf_stream_paranoid needed to be set to 0. I found a post about this problem in the forum:

echo dev.i915.perf_stream_paranoid=0 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.d/99-i915psp.conf
systemctl status systemd-sysctl.service

I used these commands but it didnt work judging by the following result:

 ā— systemd-sysctl.service - Apply Kernel Variables
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-sysctl.service; static)
     Active: active (exited) since Thu 2021-05-13 18:10:34 CEST; 8min ago
       Docs: man:systemd-sysctl.service(8)
             man:sysctl.d(5)
    Process: 374 ExecStart=/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysctl (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 374 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd[1]: Starting Apply Kernel Variables...
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd-sysctl[374]: Not setting net/ipv4/conf/all/rp_filter (explicit setting exists).
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd-sysctl[374]: Not setting net/ipv4/conf/default/rp_filter (explicit setting exists>
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd-sysctl[374]: Not setting net/ipv4/conf/all/accept_source_route (explicit setting >
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd-sysctl[374]: Not setting net/ipv4/conf/default/accept_source_route (explicit sett>
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd-sysctl[374]: Not setting net/ipv4/conf/all/promote_secondaries (explicit setting >
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd-sysctl[374]: Not setting net/ipv4/conf/default/promote_secondaries (explicit sett>
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd-sysctl[374]: Couldn't write '0' to 'dev/i915/perf_stream_paranoid', ignoring: No >
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd[1]: Finished Apply Kernel Variables.
lines 1-17/17 (END)...skipping...
ā— systemd-sysctl.service - Apply Kernel Variables
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-sysctl.service; static)
     Active: active (exited) since Thu 2021-05-13 18:10:34 CEST; 8min ago
       Docs: man:systemd-sysctl.service(8)
             man:sysctl.d(5)
    Process: 374 ExecStart=/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysctl (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 374 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd[1]: Starting Apply Kernel Variables...
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd-sysctl[374]: Not setting net/ipv4/conf/all/rp_filter (explicit setting exists).
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd-sysctl[374]: Not setting net/ipv4/conf/default/rp_filter (explicit setting exists).
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd-sysctl[374]: Not setting net/ipv4/conf/all/accept_source_route (explicit setting exists).
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd-sysctl[374]: Not setting net/ipv4/conf/default/accept_source_route (explicit setting exists).
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd-sysctl[374]: Not setting net/ipv4/conf/all/promote_secondaries (explicit setting exists).
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd-sysctl[374]: Not setting net/ipv4/conf/default/promote_secondaries (explicit setting exists).
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd-sysctl[374]: Couldn't write '0' to 'dev/i915/perf_stream_paranoid', ignoring: No such file or directory
May 13 18:10:34 gerome-pc systemd[1]: Finished Apply Kernel Variables.

Can anybody help?

This looks familiar!

Take a look at: /etc/sysctl.d/ is being ignored

Hi I too was having problem with
MESA-INTEL: warning: Performance support disabled, consider sysctl dev.i915.perf_stream_paranoid=0
and I was able to fix it though tty terminal which is brought up with key combo: ctrl+atl+f4 (login using your username and password press enter each time you enter your username and password) and running
sudo consider sysctl dev.i915.perf_stream_paranoid=0.

Then to go back to your usual display use key combo: ctrl+atl+f2.
To check if it worked you can run sysctl -n dev.i915.perf_stream_paranoid

Hopefully this fixes the problem for you too! :smiley:

For some reason it wouldnā€™t work from the software terminal.

I was only able to do it with info from reddit and ubuntu forum

1 Like

Thatā€™s great, but what does consider sysctl dev.i915.perf_stream_paranoid=0 actually mean and do? Can someone shed any light on this?

consider is not a command ā€¦ I do not know why that was written - it is not suggested in any of the links either.

It is suggested in both the error message and the post before mine. sysctl is a command; maybe consider is a wrapper like sudo or having & at the end of the command line. Would like to know what it actually does though.

No it isnt suggested in the error message. it is saying
"think about sysctl dev.i915.perf_stream_paranoid=0"

At least ā€¦ that is what I think - again I find no other reference to such use besides that single post.

consider is a typo. He didnā€™t notice when copy pasting command.
sudo sysctl dev.i915.perf_stream_paranoid=0 is the right command.

1 Like

Yes ā€˜considerā€™ is a typo

Even though this thread is marked as ā€œsolvedā€, it really isnā€™t, since I could not fix the issue by reading the replies and looking at the linked thread. But good news, Iā€™ve managed to fix the issue permanently.

The actual problem here, is that during boot time the parameter dev.i915.perf_stream_paranoid=0 is not being ignored, it is just failing to execute because the i915 kernel driver isnā€™t loaded yet when the sysctl options are being executed.

The fix here, is to add the i915 driver to the initrd so that it gets loaded early, before the actual boot process starts.

To do this, open the file /etc/mkinitcpio.conf in your favourite text editor, and make sure the i915 module is added to the MODULES array. I also have an nVidia card in my laptop, so Iā€™ve loaded those modules too (since this occasionally causes gdm to crash because it is also missing the video card drivers when it starts). My MODULES line looks like this:

MODULES=(i915 nvidia nvidia_drm nvidia_uvm nvidia_modeset)

If you do not need the nVidia drivers, do not add them as this makes no sense. If you have any other modules in there, leave them there too.

Re-generate your initrds with the command (as root):

mkinitcpio -P

Now, if you donā€™t already have it, add the sysctl parameter in a file under directory /etc/sysctl.d (I have chosen to do it in /etc/sysctl.d/i915.conf) with the following contents:

dev.i915.perf_stream_paranoid=0

Now reboot your system. Since the i915 driver is loaded early, the parameter will be set at boot time and your browsers will no longer complain about the performance penalty.

4 Likes

I alwasy forget that people dont necessarily have early kms configuredā€¦

But ā€¦ I also wonder if it would still be required if the option was applied to /etc/default/grub ā€¦