Severe screen flicker on Unity when terminal maximized

Bug #1653323 reported by Damon Lynch
8
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
xorg (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

The screen experiences severe flicker when using Nvidia 375.26 on a GTX 1070 in 16.10, Unity Desktop -- but only when the terminal is in the top left of the screen or maximized, and is full of text.

I made a video illustrating the problem: http://damonlynch.net/share/Ubuntu1610screen-flicker.mp4

Driver is from the "graphics-drivers" PPA.

At this point I don't know if it's a hardware problem or software problem -- I've never seen anything like it before. I've ruled out the DisplayPort cable as a problem, because it exhibits the same problem with two different cables.

The LCD is a Dell UP3017.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.10
Package: xorg 1:7.7+13ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.8.0-32.34-generic 4.8.11
Uname: Linux 4.8.0-32-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm nvidia_modeset nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0000.01.00.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0000:01:00.0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 375.26 Thu Dec 8 18:36:43 PST 2016
 GCC version: gcc version 6.2.0 20161005 (Ubuntu 6.2.0-5ubuntu12)
.proc.driver.nvidia.warnings.fbdev:
 Your system is not currently configured to drive a VGA console
 on the primary VGA device. The NVIDIA Linux graphics driver
 requires the use of a text-mode VGA console. Use of other console
 drivers including, but not limited to, vesafb, may result in
 corruption and stability problems, and is not supported.
.tmp.unity_support_test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.20.3-0ubuntu8.2
Architecture: amd64
BootLog: /dev/sda6: clean, 340580/915712 files, 2047147/3661865 blocks
CompizPlugins: [core,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,vpswitch,snap,mousepoll,resize,place,move,wall,grid,regex,imgpng,session,gnomecompat,animation,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,workarounds,scale,expo,ezoom,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Fri Dec 30 23:05:25 2016
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: yakkety
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 bbswitch, 0.8, 4.8.0-30-generic, x86_64: installed
 bbswitch, 0.8, 4.8.0-32-generic, x86_64: installed
 nvidia-375, 375.26, 4.8.0-30-generic, x86_64: installed
 nvidia-375, 375.26, 4.8.0-32-generic, x86_64: installed
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, if not too technical
GraphicsCard:
 Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd HD Graphics 530 [1458:d000]
 NVIDIA Corporation GP104 [GeForce GTX 1070] [10de:1b81] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd GP104 [GeForce GTX 1070] [1458:3701]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-10-09 (82 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.10 "Yakkety Yak" - Alpha amd64 (20161008)
MachineType: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. Z170X-UD3
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.8.0-32-generic root=UUID=b2cca22d-b1af-498e-84e2-4f06fd41880d ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 03/01/2016
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: F6
dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: Z170X-UD3-CF
dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.board.version: x.x
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrF6:bd03/01/2016:svnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnZ170X-UD3:pvrTobefilledbyO.E.M.:rvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnZ170X-UD3-CF:rvrx.x:cvnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: Z170X-UD3
dmi.product.version: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.13.0+16.10.20160818.2-0ubuntu2
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.70-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 12.0.3-1ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 12.0.3-1ubuntu2
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers-* N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.18.4-1ubuntu6.1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.10.2-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.7.1-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20160706-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.12-2
xserver.bootTime: Fri Dec 30 18:46:35 2016
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:
 modeset(G0): eglInitialize() failed
 modeset(G0): glamor initialization failed
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:

xserver.version: 2:1.18.4-1ubuntu6.1

Revision history for this message
Damon Lynch (dlynch3) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Damon Lynch (dlynch3) wrote :

Taking a full-screen screenshot of the problematic view (i.e. with a maximized terminal window full of text), and then viewing the screenshot at full screen, is displayed fine.

Revision history for this message
Damon Lynch (dlynch3) wrote :

Running the mainline kernel 4.10-rc2 and the nouveau driver on 17.04 means the bug does not appear; it does appear with the Nvidia 375 driver in the regular 17.04 kernel. The 4.10-rc2 kernel is significant because in the 4.9 and earlier kernels, the mouse cursor does not move from the top left corner of the screen.

Revision history for this message
Damon Lynch (dlynch3) wrote :

I just tried the nouveau driver in 4.9.0-11-generic. Now while it didn't flicker, what it did do was exhibit the very start of the problem, which manifests as subtle vertical bars in the top panel's dark brown bar. So it may not be an Nvidia problem, but a kernel problem, that may have been fixed in 4.10.

Revision history for this message
Damon Lynch (dlynch3) wrote :

Appears to be fixed as of 4.10.0-19-generic. I'm relieved!

Changed in xorg (Ubuntu):
status: New → Fix Released
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