[fglrx] Scrambled mouse pointer and parts of screen in big desktop mode

[Matej Kenda]

Binary package hint: xorg-driver-fglrx

I am using laptop and standalone LCD monitor in big screen mode.

The functionality works, however there are small annoying distortions of the mouse pointer and bottom left corners on both monitors.

The distortions are not static; they change as the display on the screen changes.

I have to use driver fglrx, because ATI Radeon Mobility X1600 is not yet supported by xorg ATI drivers.

$ uname -a
Linux mk 2.6.20-14-generic #2 SMP Thu Apr 12 22:53:19 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

$ cat /var/lib/acpi-support/*-*
68YVD Ver. F.0F
Hewlett-Packard
HP Compaq nw8440 (RH415EA#ABB)
F.0F

$ lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M56P [Radeon Mobility X1600]

$ fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Mobility Radeon X1600
OpenGL version string: 2.0.6334 (8.34.8)

ProblemType: Crash
Architecture: i386
Date: Fri Apr 13 09:37:11 2007
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 7.04
ExecutablePath: /usr/share/python-support/kde-guidance/displayconfig-restore.py
InterpreterPath: /usr/bin/python2.5
Package: kde-guidance 0.8.0-0ubuntu4
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcCmdline: /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/displayconfig-restore
ProcCwd: /home/matejk
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
Signal: 11
SourcePackage: kde-guidance
StacktraceTop:
 ?? () from /usr/lib/libXrandr.so.2
 ?? ()
 ?? ()
 ?? ()
 ?? () from /usr/lib/libX11.so.6
Uname: Linux mk 2.6.20-14-generic #2 SMP Thu Apr 12 22:53:19 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux
UserGroups: adm admin audio cdrom dialout dip floppy lpadmin netdev plugdev powerdev scanner video

[Matej Kenda (matejken)]

I am not sure how the files above got attached, because I have started to report the bug from scratch. They are irrelevant for this problem as well as the automatically added text starting with:

ProblemType: Crash
 Architecture: i386
 Date: Fri Apr 13 09:37:11 2007
...

[Matej Kenda (matejken)]

Photograph of the distortion in the bottom right corner. Taken by the mobile phone.

[Matej Kenda (matejken)]

Might be related to Bug #44461 (Dual-head mode is not correctly displayed).

[Matej Kenda (matejken)]

I have found articles in the AMD (ATI) knowledge base regarding similar problems:

  737-23189: FireGL X3-256 : Corrupted display with SAMSUNG SyncMaster 305Ton 2560x1600 through Dual Link DVI port
    https://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=23189

  Quad Buffer Stereo causes 2D graphics corruption in XFree86
    https://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=219

[Matej Kenda (matejken)]

I have browsed the ATI Bugzilla and it is very probable that the problem is caused by the option PairMode.

http://ati.cchtml.com/

[Andrey Petrov (shazow)]

I am having the same problems, experienced on two different machines, both with ATI cards.

Current machine: Running Kubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04

$ uname -a
Linux andrey-linux 2.6.20-15-generic #2 SMP Sun Apr 15 06:17:24 UTC 2007 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ cat /var/lib/acpi-support/*-*
ASUS A8V-E SE ACPI BIOS Revision 1010
System manufacturer
System Product Name
System Version

$ lspci | grep VGA
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV370 [Sapphire X550 Silent]

$ fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: RADEON X300/X550/X1050 Series
OpenGL version string: 2.0.6334 (8.34.8)

I might be crazy, but it only seems to happen while I'm in KDE. When I switch to gnome, the two strips (which are on the bottom-right of each monitor) aren't there. Or maybe I just don't spend enough time under gnome for them to appear... But in KDE, they're there as soon as I log in.

<a href="http://pastebin.ca/477100">/etc/X11/xorg.conf</a>

...

The other machine was running dual monitors as well, with an ATI Radeon 9600xt on an Asus A8N-E motherboard, if I recall correctly. Also on Kubuntu. I used to have Gentoo which had a similar problem of the mouse cursor turning into a giant square distortion block (similar to the fixed strips), but the strips were absent (but my memory is foggy).

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hi Matej,

I see you nomiated this for Gutsy but didn't see any comments that went with this. I just want to confirm that this issue still does exist in the 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon release. Please let us know. Thanks.

[Matej Kenda (matejken)]

Hi Leann,

I have upgraded to Gutsy, however I am currently not using dual head configuration.

I'll try to get an additional monitor to reproduce the issue in a week or two.

[Henrik Nilsen Omma (henrik)]

This will not be fixed for feisty, closing 2.6.20 task.

This bug was nominated for Gutsy but does currently not qualify for a 7.10 stable release update (SRU) and the nomination is therefore declined. According the the SRU policy, the fix should already be deployed and tested in the current development version before an update to the stable releases will be considered. With 7.10 now released, that policy applies to this bug. See: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates .

The bug is not being closed as work will continue on fixing it for the next release, Hardy Heron (8.04). The Hardy kernel was recently uploaded for testing. We'd really appreciate it if you could try testing with this newer kernel and verify if this issue still exists. Unfortunately, the Hardy Heron Alpha1 LiveCD was released with the older 2.6.22 kernel. You'll have to manually install the newer Hardy Heron kernel in order to test. This should not be the case for Alpha2. However, here are the instructions to install (if you choose to do so):

1) edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list and add the following line:

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy main restricted

2) sudo apt-get update
3) sudo apt-get install linux-image-2.6.24-1-generic
4) reboot and select the new kernel from the grub menu

After you've tested, please feel free to revert back - ie boot into the old kernel, sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.24-1-generic, and remove the line from /etc/apt/sources.list . Please update this report with your results. Thanks in advance!

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Hardy Heron Alpha2 release will be coming out soon (around Dec 20). It will have an updated version of the kernel. It would be great if you could test with this new release and verify if this issue still exists. I'll be sure to update this report when Alpha2 is available. Thanks!

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hardy Heron Alpha2 was recently released. It contains an updated version of the kernel. You can download and try the new Hardy Heron Alpha2 release from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hardy/alpha-2/ . You should be able to then test the new kernel via the LiveCD. If you can, please verify if this bug still exists or not and report back your results. General information regarding the release can also be found here: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/hardy/alpha2 . Thanks!

[Pizuz (florian-fahr)]

This bug is indeed a driver-related issue and has been addressed by the newly released Catalyst 8-1 for Linux (as written in https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/catalyst_81_linux.html):

"Corruption will no longer be noticed in the lower right corner of the display or on the mouse pointer after the system is running for a long period of time"

Please include this new driver in Hardy.

[Pizuz (florian-fahr)]

By the way, this issue seems to be caused by various things (in Gutsy, too).

I managed to produce it by changing the screen resolution and/or just working with my computer for a while. The change resolution approach almost always worked with past drivers.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package linux-restricted-modules-2.6.24 - 2.6.24.6-4.13

---------------
linux-restricted-modules-2.6.24 (2.6.24.6-4.13) hardy; urgency=low

  [ Timo Aaltonen ]
  * nvidia: Update to 169.09
    - Fixed a problem causing the fan on some GPUs to always run
      at full speed. (LP: #184914)
    - Fixed a bug that caused the X driver to crash if the X.Org
      GLX extension module was loaded intead of NVIDIA's.
    - Improved the X driver's awareness of the current notebook
      docking status.
    - Fixed brightness control on HP Compaq notebooks.
    - Fixed a bug in the Linux/i2c algorithm driver implementation
      that prevented core transfer types from succeeding.
  * fglrx: Update to 8-01 (LP: #177829, #148345)
    - Corruption will no longer be noticed in the lower right corner
      of the display or on the mouse pointer after the system is
      running for a long period of time. (LP: #106148)
    - Connecting a display device that supports 1680x1050 to a system
      running Linux will no longer result in a maximum display resolution
      of 1280x1024 only being available.
    - Custom mode lines in xorg.conf will no longer be ignored by the
      fglrx driver.
    - Suspending to RAM or DISK on kernel version 2.6.23 or later no
      longer fails. (LP: #121653)
  * nvidia/nvidia-glx-config: Remove, not needed anymore and only confuses
    people and breaks keyboard setups (LP: #152486)
  * control.stub.in: Add fglrx-amdcccle dummy package for easy transition
    from packages generated by the ATI installer.
  * fglrx-control:
    - Remove fireglcontrol*.desktop, and install amdcccle*.desktop from
      the extracted installer instead.
    - Install amdcccle in this package, not the driver.
    - Conflicts/Replaces xorg-driver-fglrx <= $previousversion.
  * fglrx.xsession: Obsolete by now, removed.
  * Drop obsolete build-dependencies: libxxf86misc-dev, libxtst-dev,
    libxxf86vm-dev, libxinerama-dev, libstdc++5, libqt-mt-dev.

  [ Johan Kiviniemi ]
  * nvidia_supported: New version to support the latest NVIDIA
    release. (LP: #182237)

 -- Timo Aaltonen <email address hidden> Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:41:54 +0200

[Connor Imes (ckimes)]

I am closing this bug for linux-restricted-modules-2.6.22 (Ubuntu) since it is fixed in linux-restricted-modules-2.6.24 (Ubuntu)
Thank you.