Unity animations very slow with 3D capable graphics Intel 945

[Colin Law]

With up to date Saucy, Unity animations are very slow. For example, hovering over launcher the app tooltip takes three seconds to appear fully and is drawn as a series of images each more opaque that the previous. Normal operation within an app is ok as is window movement and switching between windows using the mouse. To draw the shutdown dialog takes many seconds however.
I can't see anything unusual in .xsession-errors, syslog or Xorg.0.log
The result is that the machine is virtually unusable.

lspci shows graphics as
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p shows:
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) 945GM x86/MMX/SSE2
OpenGL version string: 2.1 Mesa 9.2.0

Not software rendered: yes
Not blacklisted: yes
GLX fbconfig: yes
GLX texture from pixmap: yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes
GL vertex program: yes
GL fragment program: yes
GL vertex buffer object: yes
GL framebuffer object: yes
GL version is 1.4+: yes

Unity 3D supported: yes

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: unity 7.1.0+13.10.20130920-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-8.15-generic 3.11.1
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-8-generic i686
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.12.4-0ubuntu1
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
Date: Tue Sep 24 16:20:46 2013
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: saucy
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27a2] (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems Device [1179:ff10]
   Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems Device [1179:ff10]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-07-02 (84 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Alpha i386 (20130701)
MachineType: TOSHIBA Satellite A100
MarkForUpload: True
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-8-generic root=UUID=781a6ebb-dfe2-4e11-aa51-685ec625f95b ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 10/23/2006
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies LTD
dmi.bios.version: 2.10
dmi.board.name: MPAD-MSAE Customer Reference Boards
dmi.board.vendor: Intel Corporation
dmi.board.version: Not Applicable
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 1
dmi.chassis.vendor: No Enclosure
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologiesLTD:bvr2.10:bd10/23/2006:svnTOSHIBA:pnSatelliteA100:pvrPSAA8E-17V049EN:rvnIntelCorporation:rnMPAD-MSAECustomerReferenceBoards:rvrNotApplicable:cvnNoEnclosure:ct1:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: Satellite A100
dmi.product.version: PSAA8E-17V049EN
dmi.sys.vendor: TOSHIBA
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.10+13.10.20130920-0ubuntu1
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.46-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 9.2-1ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 9.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.14.2.901-2ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.3-0ubuntu3.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.2.0-0ubuntu6
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.21.14-4ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.9-2ubuntu1
xserver.bootTime: Tue Sep 24 16:19:46 2013
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 51200
 vendor LPL
xserver.version: 2:1.14.2.901-2ubuntu4

[Christopher Townsend (townsend)]

Hi Colin,

I wonder if this is the same bug as bug #1222602 which is Mesa 9.2 issue. Could you please try the workaround in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mesa/+bug/1222602/comments/6 and report your results?

Thanks!

[Colin Law (colin-law)]

It does sound identical, however applying the workaround in #6 there causes the login to fail. It just returns to the login prompt. I pasted the string in from the comment so it should not be a typo. Can I look somewhere to see why it is failing?

[Christopher Townsend (townsend)]

Sounds like X may be failing. After failure, could you switch to a VT and copy the latest ~/.xsession-errors and then attach it to this bug. Hopefully, that will a clue.

[Stephen M. Webb (bregma)]

You might also need to examine the logs in /var/log/lightdm and/or ~/.cache/upstart to figure out why it's failing.

[Colin Law (colin-law)]

Log files attached. I can see some errors, but nothing that looks all that helpful. Hopefully they make some sense to someone who understands the system.

[Colin Law (colin-law)]

Trying again with log files, this time make sure to pick them up from the failing machine, not the one I am ssh'ing into it from :)

[Christopher Townsend (townsend)]

Hi Colin,

Yeah, .xsession-errors is not very helpful - only looks like the upstart jobs are being killed. Could you attach /var/log/lightdm and ~/.cache/upstart logs too as Stephen suggested?

Thanks!

[Colin Law (colin-law)]

Several of the logs end with an error similar to the one in gnome-session.log - Resource temporarily unavailable on X server :0
I can't see one that gives an indication of what has gone wrong.

[Colin Law (colin-law)]

Should I attach the rest? I can't see how to attach more than one at a time which is bit of a pain.

[Christopher Townsend (townsend)]

The "Resource temporarily unavailable" is due to X exiting/dying for whatever reason which causes gtk-window-decorator to error out like that. I see nothing in the logs that clue in why X is going away.

For sanity's sake, let's try reverting the MESA_GL_VERSION_OVERRIDE and see if it will come back again, albeit with poor performance.

[Colin Law (colin-law)]

I now discover that the X fail is nothing to do with MESA_GL_VERSION_OVERRIDE, but must be due to something else entirely. It sometimes fails whether that setting is present or not. Unfortunately yesterday the fail came and went as I set or removed the override, but today it sometimes fails in either case. I will separately investigate that problem.
Back on this bug I can now confirm that the workaround works, so I will mark this as a dup of bug #1222602 and add a comment there.
Thanks all for the help.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[dejan (dejan-m)]

As workaround for this problem i use this:
1. Create .xprofile file inside home folder
2. Add this: export UNITY_LOW_GFX_MODE=1
3. Logoff/Logon

[Colin Law (colin-law)]

@dejan, you should comment on bug #1222602 as this bug is a dup of that. There is a workaround in comment #6 of that bug which works for me.