No X on boot with external monitor connected

The attached gif tries to show the effect of moving a window across the screen. Not captured in the low-framerate gif is that the trails of the window are flickering and moving (compiz cpu usage is high when this happens). Hitting WIN+w to display windows and then drop back to the desktop clears the current trail. But that is not a reasonable workaround and does not address the basic issue that the livecd (or a fully installed desktop) does not boot to X with an external monitor attached.

A monitor attached to the Thinkpad x230 via the docking station DVI port is fine (boots to X and no crazy window trails). This is seen when attaching a monitor via DP on the dock or mDP from the laptop. I was using an mDP to HDMI cable or a DP to DualLink-DVI adapter to connect monitors when I found this issue. Multiple monitors were tried and all experienced the issue when connect to the monitor's HDMI port from the laptop's mDP port.

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1631519

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Still failing with http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/20161008/yakkety-desktop-amd64.iso (Yakkety Final)

I've tried this on my own Lenovo Thinkpad X230 (also a 2306CTO), and I can't reproduce the issue at all. I've tried both the dock's full-sized DP connector and miniDP on the laptop itself (undocked), both work with no issues at all, and no artifacts on the external screen (or the panel, for that matter).

I have no idea what causes this. Perhaps we're dealing with a monitor that claims to support some resolutions it doesn't really like? The monitor I use is a fairly good Dell P2210, but doesn't apparently confirm to EDID 1.3 (but still works correctly).

Could you please try with a different monitor or share more of the details of how you are using this, such as which resolution is picked?

I have tried two monitors of different brands and a random television. The
resolution selected is 1920x1080.

On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 7:19 PM, Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Could you please try with a different monitor or share more of the
> details of how you are using this, such as which resolution is picked?
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1631519
>
> Title:
> No X on boot with external monitor connected
>
> Status in xorg package in Ubuntu:
> Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> When booting from today's (201610907) daily yakkety livecd with an
> external display attached X does not start.
>
> If the external monitor is attached after X has started I can boot to
> the desktop using only using the laptop's LCD (ThinkPad x230, intel
> graphics). The attaching a 1920x1080 LCD via miniDP extends the
> desktop but windows moved around produce a trail of windows that
> persist even after the window is closed.
>
> This is a regression from Xenial.
>
> $ lsb_release -rd
> Description: Ubuntu Yakkety Yak (development branch)
> Release: 16.10
>
> $ apt-cache policy xorg
> xorg:
> Installed: 1:7.7+13ubuntu4
> Candidate: 1:7.7+13ubuntu4
> Version table:
> *** 1:7.7+13ubuntu4 500
> 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety/main amd64 Packages
> 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.10
> Package: xorg 1:7.7+13ubuntu4
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.8.0-19.21-generic 4.8.0-rc8
> Uname: Linux 4.8.0-19-generic x86_64
> .tmp.unity_support_test.0:
>
> ApportVersion: 2.20.3-0ubuntu7
> Architecture: amd64
> CasperVersion: 1.379
> CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/
> screen0/options/active_plugins'
> CompositorRunning: compiz
> CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
> CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
> CurrentDesktop: Unity
> Date: Fri Oct 7 20:23:46 2016
> DistUpgraded: Fresh install
> DistroCodename: yakkety
> DistroVariant: ubuntu
> ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
> GraphicsCard:
> Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller
> [8086:0166] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
> Subsystem: Lenovo 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller
> [17aa:21fa]
> LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 16.10 "Yakkety Yak" - Alpha amd64 (20161007)
> MachineType: LENOVO 2306CTO
> ProcEnviron:
> TERM=xterm-256color
> PATH=(custom, no user)
> XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
> LANG=en_US.UTF-8
> SHELL=/bin/bash
> ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz.efi
> file=/cdrom/preseed/username.seed boot=casper quiet splash ---
> SourcePackage: xorg
> UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
> dmi.bios.date: 10/25/2013
> dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
> dmi.bios.version: G2ET97WW (2.57 )
> dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
> dmi.board.name: 2306CTO
> dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
> dmi.board.version: Not Defined
> dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
> dmi.chassis.type: 10
> dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
> ...

These are working with 16.04 perfectly, I updated to 16.10 and had to restore from backups to get back to 16.10. Then I booted from the live-cd to capture this bug.

Scenarios:
 1. mDP to HDMI cable connected to a 1080p monitor (Dell E248Wfp); that is the simple example and they all fail with the same result.
 2. same Dell via DP2 on the doc using a DP to single-link DVI adapter (like http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042801&p_id=4827)
 3. DP2 on the doc connected to a Shimian LCD running at 2560x1440 connected via a Dell (BizLink) DisplayPort to DVI Dual Link Adapter (like https://www.amazon.com/Dell-BIZLINK-DisplayPort-Adapter-Powered/dp/B003XYBA72). But I didn't want to confuse the issue with that more niche bit of hardware.

Also, the bug was opened with the system running BIOS version 2.57:
  dmi.bios.version: G2ET97WW (2.57 )
I have upgraded to the latest version and recreated there as well:
  Version: G2ETA7WW (2.67 )

I managed to reproduce it once trying to move from the on-laptop miniDP connector to the dock's full-size DP connector -- then I had a black background (well, no backgound) and the window trails.

It looks to me like an issue in compiz, but it might really be X. In doubt, I'm not going to change this and let someone more knowledgeable than me investigate this further.

If anything needs to be attempted, my X230 doesn't ever run anything important (I use it for running installer tests, etc.), so I can do further testing (and reinstalls).

try killing nautilus, does it restore background sanity?

hmm no it doesn't. and this only happens with the desktop "extended", not in clone mode?

also, these are two separate bugs btw, and the blank desktop thing is in nautilus or compiz, the no-boot thing is probably kernel

On the boot issue, I also experience the problem that X doesn't start with external monitors plugged in. I'm running Kubuntu 16.10, upgraded from 16.04.

Kernel: 4.8.0-26

I have two external monitors connected to my laptop, one VGA, one HDMI. Whether or not I have the laptop lid open, if the external monitors are plugged in, X won't start. To get things going, I have to issue sudo service sddm start from a terminal. Then all is fine.

I think it is the same kind of problem I have in Bug #1635906.

Robert,

I have found a fix for my case. See if it helps you. The solution I used is described in comment #6 in the bug mentioned right above. I hope it helps.

Regards,
isotope.

I have tried isotope's fix of adding to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/ a file named 20-intel.conf with the following:

Section "Device"
   Identifier "Intel Graphics"
   Driver "intel"
EndSection

The fix works for me: X now starts on boot with my two external monitors plugged in.

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 16.10 (yakkety) reached end-of-life on July 20, 2017.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We appreciate that this bug may be old and you might not be interested in discussing it any more. But if you are then please upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version and re-test. If you then find the bug is still present in the newer Ubuntu version, please add a comment here telling us which new version it is in and change the bug status to Confirmed.