[i965gm] Closing and opening lid sometimes leads to screen ENDLESSLY BLINKING

There is a similar problem with those using 2.8.600 or lower version of the ATI drivers.

Is there some other bug report for it? Any fix coming up? Any more details will be appreciated.

I experienced two regressions about 1 week ago or so:

1) This screen blinking problem described herein

2) I can no longer run a compositing window manager.

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Could you please attach the resulting log file of: /usr/share/gnome-power-manager/gnome-power-bugreport &> gpm.log to the report? You might also want to take a look to the Debugging instructions located at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingGNOMEPowerManager for submit any other logs related to your problem.Thanks in advance.

Attaching gnome-power-bugreport output.

There was nothing useful in /var/log/{messages,syslog}. Xorg.log had endlessly repeating lines shown in my first message that started this bug. They repeated exactly when screen was blinking.

potato:root:/var/log ###hal-find-by-capability --capability "battery"
/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer_power_supply_battery_CMB1

potato:root:/var/log ###hal-find-by-capability --capability "battery" | xargs -n 1 hal-device
udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer_power_supply_battery_CMB1'
  linux.subsystem = 'power_supply' (string)
  info.capabilities = { 'battery' } (string list)
  info.subsystem = 'power_supply' (string)
  info.product = 'CP345705-01' (string)
  info.udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer_power_supply_battery_CMB1' (string)
  battery.type = 'primary' (string)
  battery.reporting.technology = 'Li-ion' (string)
  battery.technology = 'lithium-ion' (string)
  battery.model = 'CP345705-01' (string)
  battery.vendor = 'Fujitsu' (string)
  battery.voltage.design = 10800 (0x2a30) (int)
  battery.voltage.unit = 'mV' (string)
  battery.reporting.design = 5800 (0x16a8) (int)
  battery.reporting.unit = 'mAh' (string)
  battery.serial = '02A-Z080807001663Z' (string)
  battery.present = true (bool)
  battery.voltage.current = 12008 (0x2ee8) (int)
  battery.reporting.rate = 0 (0x0) (int)
  battery.is_rechargeable = true (bool)
  battery.rechargeable.is_charging = false (bool)
  battery.rechargeable.is_discharging = false (bool)
  battery.reporting.current = 5020 (0x139c) (int)
  battery.reporting.last_full = 5509 (0x1585) (int)
  battery.charge_level.current = 54216 (0xd3c8) (int)
  battery.charge_level.last_full = 59497 (0xe869) (int)
  battery.charge_level.design = 62640 (0xf4b0) (int)
  battery.charge_level.rate = 0 (0x0) (int)
  battery.charge_level.percentage = 91 (0x5b) (int)
  info.parent = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer' (string)
  linux.sysfs_path = '/sys/devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/CMB1' (string)
  info.category = 'battery' (string)
  linux.hotplug_type = 2 (0x2) (int)

potato:root:/var/log ###hal-find-by-capability --capability "battery" | xargs -t -n 1 hal-get-property --key battery.rechargeable.is_charging --udi
hal-get-property --key battery.rechargeable.is_charging --udi /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer_power_supply_battery_CMB1
false
POTATO::~==>gconftool --recursive-list /apps/gnome-power-manager
 /apps/gnome-power-manager/buttons:
  lid_battery = nothing
  hibernate = hibernate
  suspend = suspend
  lid_ac = blank
  power = shutdown
 /apps/gnome-power-manager/keyboard:
  brightness_battery = 50
  brightness_ac = 100
 /apps/gnome-power-manager/actions:
  low_ups = nothing
  sleep_type_ac = suspend
  event_when_closed_battery = true
  critical_ups = shutdown
  critical_battery = nothing
  sleep_type_battery = nothing
 /apps/gnome-power-manager/ambient:
  dim_policy = none
  correction_factor = 50
  correction_scale = 200
  poll_timeout = 60
  enable = true
 /apps/gnome-power-manager/thresholds:
  time_low = 1200
  time_critical = 300
  percentage_low = 10
  time_action = 120
  percentage_critical = 3
  percentage_action = 2
 /apps/gnome-power-manager/ui:
  show_context_menu = true
  show_actions_in_menu = true
  icon_policy = always
  enable_sound = true
 /apps/gnome-power-manager/lowpower:
  on_battery = true
  on_ups = tr...

It happened again yesterday. Some interesting things were happening in auth.log, with the same frequency as screen blinking. It is attached, with some cut and paste right here.

Jun 3 18:54:22 potato su[20984]: pam_unix(su:session): session closed for user ichudov
Jun 3 18:54:22 potato su[21029]: Successful su for ichudov by root
Jun 3 18:54:22 potato su[21029]: + ??? root:ichudov
Jun 3 18:54:22 potato su[21029]: pam_unix(su:session): session opened for user ichudov by (uid=0)
Jun 3 18:54:22 potato dbus-daemon: Rejected send message, 1 matched rules; type="method_call", sender=":1.59" (uid=1000 pid=5990 comm="/usr/lib/indicator-applet/indicator-applet --oaf-a") interface="org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties" member="Get" error name="(unset)" requested_reply=0 destination=":1.10682" (uid=0 pid=21029 comm="su ichudov -c xset dpms force on "))
Jun 3 18:54:23 potato su[21029]: pam_unix(su:session): session closed for user ichudov
Jun 3 18:54:23 potato su[21073]: Successful su for ichudov by root
Jun 3 18:54:23 potato su[21073]: + ??? root:ichudov
Jun 3 18:54:23 potato su[21073]: pam_unix(su:session): session opened for user ichudov by (uid=0)
Jun 3 18:54:23 potato dbus-daemon: Rejected send message, 1 matched rules; type="method_call", sender=":1.59" (uid=1000 pid=5990 comm="/usr/lib/indicator-applet/indicator-applet --oaf-a") interface="org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties" member="Get" error name="(unset)" requested_reply=0 destination=":1.10683" (uid=0 pid=21073 comm="su ichudov -c xset dpms force on "))
Jun 3 18:54:24 potato su[21073]: pam_unix(su:session): session closed for user ichudov
^C

Thanks for the response and the requested information. Which video driver are you using?

On Tue, Jun 09, 2009 at 08:44:09PM -0000, Scott Howard wrote:
> Thanks for the response and the requested information. Which video
> driver are you using?

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

I am using i915 driver, it would seem:

drm 96296 3 i915
agpgart 42696 3 drm,intel_agp

Thank you for providing the requested logs. I am also listing xserver-xorg-video-intel (Ubuntu) as affected, since bugs like these are commonly an xorg issue.

For xorg-related bugs we need the following in order to get anywhere:
- /var/log/Xorg.0.log (the one with the messages you mentioned in the bug description)
- the output of `lspci -vvnn`
- /etc/X11/xorg.conf (unless unchanged)
Could you please attach those files to this bug report?

lspci.txt

Xorg.conf is unchanged.

I do not have Xorg.0.log from that moment, but I will attach it when the problem recurs.

I do not believe that this Xorg.0.log is crucial, btw. But I will provide it at the first opportunity.

[This is an automatic notification.]

A new major version of the -intel driver is now available in Karmic.

This version includes a major reworking of the acceleration
architecture, which resolves a huge number of issues. We do not know
whether it resolves the issue you reported.

Would you mind testing Karmic Alpha-2 and seeing if it is still a
problem? CD ISO images are available here:

  http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/releases/karmic/

If the issue can still be reproduced on karmic, please report here with
your findings, and attach a fresh Xorg.0.log from your test, and we will
be able to forward the bug upstream.

Otherwise, if the bug no longer exists in Karmic, let us know that as
well.

In the off chance you encounter different bugs while attempting to test
Karmic, please report those as new bug reports.

On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 04:11:59AM -0000, Bryce Harrington wrote:
> Would you mind testing Karmic Alpha-2 and seeing if it is still a
> problem? CD ISO images are available here:

I cannot test Karmic, this is my parents PC and I cannot afford to
mess it up with an alpha release. They need it to use it, they have
grandkids that use it a lot etc.

I have a workaround for now, as I mentioned earlier.

Sorry.

Hmm, alright well without an Xorg.0.log from karmic we cannot begin troubleshooting on this problem, but beyond that, from the information provided so far it is sounding more like a gpm issue anyway.

Hi,

I have the very same problem with ubuntu karmic but only since the latest update. After the fresh install it was all fine. Please find my Xorg.0.log attached.

/schaze

Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
NonfreeKernelModules: tusbd
Package: gnome-power-manager 2.28.1-0ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-17.54-generic
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-17-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin audio cdrom dialout dip fax fuse lpadmin mythtv netdev plugdev sambashare tape vboxusers video

I ran a "apport-collect 368946" to provide you with some more information.

This is a really nasty bugger. I have been playing around with it for a while now but could not find any 'workaround' so far.

I reactivated CRTL + ALT + Backspace to kill X to see if it helps, but it does not. It even flickers in the Logon Screen.
So I tried to kill the gnome-power-manager process, that did it for the logon screen. But as soon as I logon in a gain a new gnome-power-manager process is started and the flickering starts again. Killing this new one does oddly not help any more, the screen keeps flickering and after a while I get an osd-notify that the configuration for CRT 58 could not be set properly and it keeps on flickering.

For me the flickering happens every time I close the lid. The only solution I found so far is rebooting the laptop.

I hope this helps in the investigation. Please let me know if you need any more information.

/schaze

This problem affects me as well, but it happens only when closing the lid, docking the notebook, and then opening the lid when docked. If I do not dock/undock the notebook, the problem does not occur no matter how many times I open or close the lid. The problem did also never occur when closing the lid while docked, then undocking and opening the lid while undocked

The problem started appearing with 9.04 (upgrade from 8.04) and the problem is still present in 9.10 (upgraded from 9.04).

In 9.04 I have found a workaround to the problem. When clicking any mouse button on the tray icon of Display preferences the blinking stopped. I had to click multiple times, because while blinking some events from the mouse are ignored (even movements). Besides that the blinking stopped, Gnome has lost the look&feel I have configured and it reverted back to the default gray configuration.

Somewhat later I found out that what actually happened was, that process gnome-settings-daemon was killed due to the click on that icon. Killing the process by hand then also helped to stop the blinking (e.g. Ctr+Alt+F1; login; killall gnome-settings-daemon).

The last time I checked this workaround was no loner working in 9.10, which leaves me no choice but to reboot when this occurs. This problem makes my notebook next to unusable at work, where I use the docking station.

It happened again, and I confirm that killing the gnome-settings-daemon helped also in 9.10.

In the previous post I wrote, that the killing is done by pressing the Ctrl+F1 to switch to console, then logging in and killing the daemon. It is however not possible to login (I completely forgot about this when writing the post yesterday). The machine reject the correct login/password combination. And it behaves very strange. After entering the login name, pasword and pressing 'Enter' it starts printing ^@ on the line below the 'Password:' prompt. After ^@ is printed 2 to 4 times it prints out 'Login incorrect:', display a prompt for the login name and continues to print another 20 ^@ characters. Afterwards it says: 'Login timed out after 60 seconds.'

I will try to run apport-collect from home, it does not work behind a proxy here.

Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: gnome-power-manager 2.28.1-0ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-16.53-generic
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-16-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin audio cdrom dialout dip disk floppy fuse lpadmin plugdev sambashare vboxusers video

Please find attached the Xorg.0.log

And a further observation: I went to System --> Preferences --> Appearance and the look & feel of the Gnome was returned back without me doing anything but starting this. gnome-settings-daemon was restarted by this action somehow. Blinking did not restart after the gnome-settings-daemon was started again. It is now even possible to login in a text console.

The notebook was suspended after killing gnome-settings-daemon and before the gnome-settings-daemon was started again.

Hi Team. This has also been driving me crazy, I have tried visual effects and nothing makes a difference. I first noticed this issue in 9.04 and currently have done a rebuild to 9.10, no change. I have also tried with RT kernal via Ubuntu Studio, no change do have a small HP laptop with integrated Intel graphics "compaq nc4200". Please advise what other information you require and how to obtain it. I am keen to help debug and get over this issue. Only way out I have found is a dirty shutdown and I feel really bad for the hardware when I force it..Regards..

Hi.
I have found out that a very simple workaround works for me: suspend and resume.
It is not so easy to trigger suspend while the screen is blinking. Therefore I have configured the machine to suspend when the power button is pressed. Thus my workaround in fact means pressing the power button, waiting a bit for the machine to suspend (it takes a bit longer while the screen is blinking), and then again pressing the power button to wake up the machine.

Hi Guys,

can you try this : https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/156824/comments/38

/schaze

I also experience the endless blinking, however, I use a desktop computer and no power manager. Blinking starts like random, I was unable to identify what kind of effect triggered it.