10de:0405 Display suddenly becomes a mess, rendering whole system unusable

[Teo]

I have a laptop and use an external display connected to it, and I often switch screen using "disper -s" and "disper -S". This issue happened little after (but _not_ immediately after) switching screen with disper -S.

The screen suddenly became a total flockering mess with white dots, stripes, repeated or distorted pieces of graphics, flickerings, and all sort of frenetically changing garbage all over the screen.

"Behind" this mess, the system appeared to keep working (I could open and close programs, if I could almost see what I was doing).

Logging out didn't fix the issue; restarting did.

I had never ever observed this in 12.04 and until now.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: nvidia-current 304.51.really.304.43-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-22.34-generic 3.5.7.2
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-22-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module 304.43 Sun Aug 19 20:20:21 PDT 2012
 GCC version: gcc version 4.7.2 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.7.2-2ubuntu1)
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu10
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,composite,opengl,decor,vpswitch,mousepoll,compiztoolbox,snap,commands,place,resize,session,regex,grid,wall,move,gnomecompat,imgpng,animation,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,workarounds,scale,expo,ezoom,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Sat Jan 26 15:55:31 2013
DistUpgraded: 2013-01-13 11:55:33,566 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: quantal
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 nvidia-current, 304.43, 3.2.0-36-generic, i686: installedError! Could not locate dkms.conf file.
 File: does not exist.

 nvidia-current, 304.43, 3.5.0-22-generic, i686: installed
GraphicsCard:
 NVIDIA Corporation G84 [GeForce 9500M GS] [10de:0405] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:15d2]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2010-06-23 (948 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. M51Sn
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-22-generic root=UUID=173acbf5-26a0-49e3-8d2b-f1c142582cbf ro quiet splash
SourcePackage: nvidia-graphics-drivers
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to quantal on 2013-01-13 (13 days ago)
XorgLogOld:

dmi.bios.date: 12/24/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 303
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: M51Sn
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr303:bd12/24/2007:svnASUSTeKComputerInc.:pnM51Sn:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:rnM51Sn:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: M51Sn
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
modified.conffile..etc.OpenCL.vendors.nvidia.icd: libnvidia-opencl.so.1
mtime.conffile..etc.OpenCL.vendors.nvidia.icd: 2012-07-12T19:55:31
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.8.6-0ubuntu1
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.39-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 9.0-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 9.0-0ubuntu1
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.13.0-0ubuntu6.1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.3-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.99.99~git20120913.8637f772-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.20.9-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.2-0ubuntu3

[Walter Ribeiro (wribeirojr)]

This bug appears to be related to bug 568492, probably it is a duplicate.

[Teo (teo1978)]

You must be kidding

[Teo (teo1978)]

How can this possibly be a duplicate of that one?!?

[penalvch (penalvch)]

matteo sisti sette, thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. We were wondering if this is still an issue for you? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD 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 linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Thank you for your understanding.

Helpful bug reporting tips:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs

[bugbot (bugbot)]

We're closing this bug since there has not been a response from the original reporter. However, the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. If you're not the original reporter, we'd prefer you file a new bug report.

Some tips:

  * Report X.org bugs via the command: `ubuntu-bug xorg`

  * Test against the latest development Ubuntu. http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/
    Bugs marked as affecting the development version tend to get priority attention.

  * The `xdiagnose` utility has functionality for enabling debugging and
    analyzing a few common X problems.

  * Tag your bugs with the Ubuntu versions you have reproduced the issue in.

  * See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Reporting for tips on writing good bug reports.