1002:6741 [Dell Vostro 3550] Display resolution keeps switching with external monitor connected

Further notes - this laptop is listed as "Certified" on the Ubuntu site here - but it appears other users with the same hardware experience the same issue:

References:
http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/hardware/201012-6933:201012-6938
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11552309#post11552309

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/907381/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

[This is an automated message. I apologize if it reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

Tagging suggested package

You have a hybrid gfx setup, have you disabled the ATI chip from bios (if possible)?

It's not possible to disable the ATI chip in the BIOS as far as I can tell.

I've amended the status back to new as this is not an incomplete report as far as I'm aware. Info has been provided as requested...

If there's further information required, happy to provide it.

After some notes on another bug, I've upgraded to the latest packages in proposed, but I'm still seeing this behaviour.

List of current packages attached.

Couple of further bits of info. I've ruled out connector issues by trying the same monitor with HDMI>DVI rather than VGA output, same issue.

I'd also note that the exact same laptop and monitor work flawlessly when booted into Windows 7 so that should rule out any other hardware related issues.

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

I also have this problem, this issue appear in all linux distribution (I checked mint,ubuntu,arch). I also try changed video driver, but I still have this problem. (catalyst, intel).

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11387749#post11387749 another user from forum ubuntu with this problem (also on vostro 3550)

happens to me too, on a Samsung R530 with just Intel graphics. Normally it is a random revert to mirrored displays shortly after getting it set up how I want it. After it does this once it then does dual monitor pretty well. Display is normally connected over HDMI but I am fairly sure I have seen this on VGA too.

On 12.04 with a Radeon HD 6400M, the kernel boot option "radeon.modeset=0" seems to solve the issue (almost).

Add this to /etc/default/grub:

  GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="radeon.modeset=0"

Then run:

  sudo update-grub

This solves the continuous switching in the first few minutes after login. However, it still happens once a week (?) that the settings automatically go from extended desktop to mirrored at 1024x768 once or twice per session long after login. There's still a bug in there somewhere...

Does anybody else find that, after the mode spontaneously changes, opening the Displays settings causes it to change back, sometimes?

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

Lee Willis, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p xorg-server REPLACE-WITH-BUG-NUMBER

Please note, given that the information from the prior release is already available, doing this on a release prior to the development one would not be helpful.

Thank you for your understanding.

Helpful bug reporting tips:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs

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Hi Christopher,

This problem still occurs on Saucy (13.10) daily. I booted my laptop using the lastest dev live CD as well, and it still exhibits the same problem - apport info attached - apologies it looks like it's posted twice.

Hi Christopher,

Thanks for taking the time to look at this. I've updated the BIOS as requested.

$ sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date
A11
08/03/2012

However I still see the display resolution switches after this (On Saucy). I note that I still receive the dmesg warnings

[ 16.074915] [drm] Wrong MCH_SSKPD value: 0x16040307
[ 16.074917] [drm] This can cause pipe underruns and display issues.
[ 16.074918] [drm] Please upgrade your BIOS to fix this.

I can re-run the apport-collect if that's helpful?

I'll try with the dev release live CD later today and report back.

[Expired for xorg-server (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

Not sure why this was flagged as Incomplete. Please let me know if you require further information.

I am confirming this issue. My laptop is DELL Vostro 3550. BIOS A11. I am using ZorinOS since version 6, now I have installed version 7. I still have this issue. I am finding though that the issue is worse by far if I use AMD GPU than if I use Intel GPU. I switch between them with AMD CCC, however the issue is present even if I never install AMD drivers and just use Intel GPU out-of-the box with ZorinOS.
So, if I use AMD GPU my monitors keep switching between resolutions, mirroring switches on and off very frequently - like more times every minute. If I use Intel GPU I can go a day without spontaneous switching of resolutions and/or mirroring displays, sometimes it happens like 2 or 3 times per day.

Goran Obal, thank you for your comment. So your hardware and problem may be tracked, could you please file a new report by executing the following in a terminal with Ubuntu (not ZorinOS):
ubuntu-bug xorg

Please ensure you have xdiagnose installed, and that you click the Yes button for attaching additional debugging information.

For more on this, please see the official Ubuntu documentation:
Ubuntu X.Org Team, Ubuntu Bug Control, and Ubuntu Bug Squad: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/BestPractices#X.2BAC8-Reporting.Focus_on_One_Issue
Ubuntu Community: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette

When opening up the new report, please feel free to subscribe me to it.

Please note, not filing a new report will delay your problem being addressed as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your understanding.

Lee Willis, if you test the fglrx drivers, does this change anything following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/AMD ?

OK, I've installed ubuntu 13.04 since that's the version that ZorinOS 7 is built on (raring) and I ran the command ubuntu-bug xorg.
I've subscribed you, Christopher M. Penalver (penalvch) to that bug report.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/1293425

Hi Christoper,

I've tried the following options from the page you linked to:

  * fglrx-installer from the repository (Login screen fine, but logging in produces a black page with only white cursor showing)
  * fglrx-installer-updates (Login screen fine, but logging in produces a black page with only white cursor showing)
  * Manually installing Catalyst 13.4 - display corrupted massively - unusable
  * Manually installing Catalyst 13.4, special case for Intel/AMD hybrid graphics - display corrupted massively - unusable

Note: None of these were usable enough to determine if display resolution switching was happening.

Lee Willis, I was having the very same issue with fglrx - corrupted display, barely usabe, clicking didn't work, even after barely possible to target what you wanted to click, etc.
However, I came to this fix that works - run Terminal with keyboard CTRL+ALT+T and do sudo su and then xrandr --output VGA1 --auto --right-of LVDS1 --output VGA1 --auto --scale 1.0001x1.0001
After that, everything becomes usable again. However, this does NOT fix the issue with random switching of resolutions/monitors/mirroring! That is still present.
Now, I am testing with Ubuntu 14.04 for my bug report and will provide feedback when I have used it for long enough.

Oh, Christopher M. Penalver, I have seen your info that this laptop had new BIOS released - the A12 and I flashed it today. I still had the exact same problem on Ubuntu 13.10 (saucy) and as I said, I will report (in my bug report) how version 14.04 goes...

It just happened on 14.04 - my internal laptop monitor got disabled and now I am writing with only external monitor enabled...

Confirmed - no change in the problem after updating to the latest BIOS - resolution switches still occur.

$ sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date
A12
02/18/2014

Lee Willis, could you please try my possible workaround https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/1293425 and report if you find the same results?

Lee Willis, have you had time to test if disabling Video Bus (2×) and Dell WMI hotkeys with xinput disable is working for you?
I haven't had a single incident for a whole week since I use that.

Hi Goran,

Sorry for the delay replying. I've had a couple of chances to test and I too haven't seen any display switches with those inputs disabled. I will say though that I've only had chance to perform short tests (A couple of hours), so not sure it's conclusive, but certainly positive - thanks.

I'll report more as I run a longer test.

Some good news - I've now been running for 3 days solid with the xinput's disabled and have had absolutely NO resolution switches.

So - where does this leave this bug - does that narrow down the actual issue? Is there something else I can do to generate further diagnostic information?

Lee Willis - that's very nice to hear!

Yeah, it would be interesting to know the actual issue, so I would also like the developers to further investigate it. If it were purely hardware error, the switching would occur in Windows (7 in my test case) too, but it doesn't.

However, I am very glad that workaround solves the problem, so Vostro 3550 users can enjoy linux!

Lee Willis / Goran Obal, just to clarify the WORKAROUND, do you have to xinput disable all three of the following, or could you do 1-2 of them and it still works:
    ↳ Video Bus id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Dell WMI hotkeys id=17 [slave keyboard (3)]

I have found that Dell WMI hotkeys id=17 [slave keyboard (3)] doesn't need disabling. Even more, if disabled, login fails when no external monitor is connected.

I will try if disabling only id=8/id=7 is enogh for workaround and I'll report back.

So far, it seems that disabling JUST id=8 works fine. If both are enabled, the original problems remain (as expected). If I only disable id=7, problems are the same.

I will test this a few more days to confirm further. It would be very good if Lee Willis can reproduce this and confirm also.

I can confirm that disabling JUST 8 also stops the random resolution changing.