[RS482] On brightness change, corrupted notification appears

[dn]

Binary package hint: xorg

In Karmic, whenever the screen brightness changes (manually via hotkeys or automatically after the laptop is left idle), a blank white square covers the upper left corner of the screen and then disappears. In Lucid (testing beta 1 livecd), instead of a white square, what looks like a corrupted notification window shows up.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Mar 21 11:27:41 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
DkmsStatus: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
GdmLog1: Error: command ['gksu', '-D', 'Apport', '--', 'cat', '/var/log/gdm/:0.log.1'] failed with exit code 1: cat: /var/log/gdm/:0.log.1: No such file or directory
GdmLog2: Error: command ['gksu', '-D', 'Apport', '--', 'cat', '/var/log/gdm/:0.log.2'] failed with exit code 1: cat: /var/log/gdm/:0.log.2: No such file or directory
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Beta amd64 (20100318)
Lsusb:
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:8187 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8187 Wireless Adapter
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05dc:a410 Lexar Media, Inc. JumpDrive 128MB/256MB
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: Gateway MT6457
Package: xorg 1:7.5+3ubuntu1
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true file=/cdrom/preseed/hostname.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash --
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-16.25-generic
SourcePackage: xorg
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-16-generic x86_64
dmi.bios.date: 11/01/2006
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies LTD
dmi.bios.version: 84.05
dmi.board.vendor: Gateway
dmi.board.version: 84.05
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gateway
dmi.chassis.version: Rev.1
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologiesLTD:bvr84.05:bd11/01/2006:svnGateway:pnMT6457:pvr3408447R:rvnGateway:rn:rvr84.05:cvnGateway:ct8:cvrRev.1:
dmi.product.name: MT6457
dmi.product.version: 3408447R
dmi.sys.vendor: Gateway
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: x86_64
 kernel: 2.6.32-16-generic

[lspci]
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc RS482 [Radeon Xpress 200M] [1002:5975]
     Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device [107b:0367]

[dn (nobled)]

(Should've installed mesa-utils before submitting)

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Could you include a photo of the screen when booting lucid that shows what the corrupted notification window looks like?

Depending on the corruption, it could simply be a bug in that particular client app rather than a general X bug. If you can identify similar corruption in other programs that would help in isolating the problem.

[dn (nobled)]

Looking again, it was actually just a corruption of the gnome panel, not a notification window.

I probably wasn't very clear before: this is happening *instead of* the normal 'brightness changed' notification, which doesn't show up at all.

Attached a photo of Lucid..

[dn (nobled)]

...And a picture of the same bug in Karmic. No gnome brightness applet shows up, just this.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hmm, well I can't tell if it's a driver or app bug, but we can send it upstream and see what they think.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Forwarding this bug from Ubuntu reporter dn:
http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/543489

[Problem]
When the brightness changes the gnome panel pops up a window (the brightness applet presumably) but the window shows only corruption (see attached images).

[Original Description]
In Karmic, whenever the screen brightness changes (manually via hotkeys or automatically after the laptop is left idle), a blank white square covers the upper left corner of the screen and then disappears. In Lucid (testing beta 1 livecd), instead of a white square, what looks like a corrupted notification window shows up.

Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Mar 21 11:27:41 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
DkmsStatus: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
GdmLog1: Error: command ['gksu', '-D', 'Apport', '--', 'cat', '/var/log/gdm/:0.log.1'] failed with exit code 1: cat: /var/log/gdm/:0.log.1: No such file or directory
GdmLog2: Error: command ['gksu', '-D', 'Apport', '--', 'cat', '/var/log/gdm/:0.log.2'] failed with exit code 1: cat: /var/log/gdm/:0.log.2: No such file or directory
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Beta amd64 (20100318)
Lsusb:
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:8187 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8187 Wireless Adapter
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05dc:a410 Lexar Media, Inc. JumpDrive 128MB/256MB
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: Gateway MT6457
Package: xorg 1:7.5+3ubuntu1
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true file=/cdrom/preseed/hostname.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash --
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-16.25-generic
SourcePackage: xorg
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-16-generic x86_64
dmi.bios.date: 11/01/2006
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies LTD
dmi.bios.version: 84.05
dmi.board.vendor: Gateway
dmi.board.version: 84.05
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gateway
dmi.chassis.version: Rev.1
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologiesLTD:bvr84.05:bd11/01/2006:svnGateway:pnMT6457:pvr3408447R:rvnGateway:rn:rvr84.05:cvnGateway:ct8:cvrRev.1:
dmi.product.name: MT6457
dmi.product.version: 3408447R
dmi.sys.vendor: Gateway
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system: codename: lucid
 architecture: x86_64
 kernel: 2.6.32-16-generic

[lspci]
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc RS482 [Radeon Xpress 200M] [1002:5975]
     Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device [107b:0367]

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Created an attachment (id=34568)
XorgLog.txt

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Created an attachment (id=34569)
xdpyinfo.txt

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Created an attachment (id=34570)
CurrentDmesg.txt

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Created an attachment (id=34571)
BootDmesg.txt

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Created an attachment (id=34572)
karmic-brightness3.png

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Created an attachment (id=34573)
lucid-brightness3.png

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

dn - I've forwarded this bug upstream to https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=27383 - please subscribe yourself to this bug, in case they need further information or wish you to test something. Thanks ahead of time!

[Michel Dänzer (michel-daenzer)]

Is the white square really a feature of the GNOME panel applet (or anything else in Ubuntu), not the BIOS?

If the former, does disabling compositing / RENDER acceleration / ... have any impact on the problem?

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 01:33:08AM -0700, <email address hidden> wrote:
> http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=27383
>
>
>
>
>
> --- Comment #7 from Michel Dänzer <email address hidden> 2010-03-31 01:33:06 PST ---
> Is the white square really a feature of the GNOME panel applet (or anything
> else in Ubuntu), not the BIOS?

If it was the bios, wouldn't it look the same in either karmic or lucid?
In the two screenshots for the two different releases, the corruption is
somewhat different.

> If the former, does disabling compositing / RENDER acceleration / ... have any
> impact on the problem?

I've asked the reporter to join the discussion here to give this test
feedback.

Thanks,
Bryce

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

dn, upstream has a question for you on the upstream bug. They wonder if what you're seeing is just something from your bios.

[Michel Dänzer (michel-daenzer)]

(In reply to comment #8)
> If it was the bios, wouldn't it look the same in either karmic or lucid?

*If* it's the BIOS, it's touching the GPU behind the backs of any of our drivers, and basically all bets are off.

> In the two screenshots for the two different releases, the corruption is
> somewhat different.

So do you know which component of Ubuntu is producing that notification, and what it's supposed to look like?

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hmm, well the only thing that normally displays in that space is the Applications menu, but the white box is far too small. The Ubuntu OSD's for volume, brightness, power management, etc. all display elsewhere on the screen.

dn, can you give some further insights into what this might be? Could it just be that your hardware's BIOS is buggy?

[dn (nobled)]

> If the former, does disabling compositing / RENDER acceleration / ... have any
> impact on the problem?
Original reporter here -- I did set "Visual Effects: None" to disable compositing, and it still happened just the same.

Are there any further tests I should try to see if it's the BIOS?

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

There is a quirk that is applicable to this hardware. I don't know if it would help in your case, but it might be worth testing. Use the 'pci=nomsi' kernel option and see if that makes the issue resolve. Let us know either way.

[Michel Dänzer (michel-daenzer)]

(In reply to comment #11)
> Are there any further tests I should try to see if it's the BIOS?

Some ideas:

* Does the popup appear in console?
* Is the popup captured in screenshots taken e.g. with the GNOME screenshot tool?
* Does the popup also appear in other operating systems?
* …

[dn (nobled)]

(In reply to comment #12)
> * Does the popup appear in console?
Yeah. (tested with Lucid beta1 with kernel modesetting on) Once I switched to a console and pressed the brightness-adjust hotkeys, it came up as a white square. When I switched back to the desktop, when it appeared it was a white square instead of the corruption that was there before I changed to a console.
> * Is the popup captured in screenshots taken e.g. with the GNOME screenshot
> tool?
No, nothing. (again, Lucid beta1, kms on)
> * Does the popup also appear in other operating systems?
I'm downloading a Fedora livecd image now.

[dn (nobled)]

I found a workaround: Just suspending and resuming, with KMS enabled. Tested with Lucid and Karmic.

After suspending and resuming, it starts showing the same notification as when running Windows (so... BIOS-related?): a blue rectangle in the upper left corner showing 'bars' (like a wireless signal) representing the current brightness level.

(The bug happens in the Fedora 12 LiveCD too, in the few seconds before it threw a "No root device found" error that stopped it from booting.)

[Michel Dänzer (michel-daenzer)]

So it's clearly a BIOS feature. It'll be hard to do anything about it without more information about how it works, maybe Alex knows something.

[agd5f (agd5f)]

(In reply to comment #15)
> So it's clearly a BIOS feature. It'll be hard to do anything about it without
> more information about how it works, maybe Alex knows something.

I'll ask the bios guys.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

dn, 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 xserver-xorg-video-ati 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