1002:130f [GIgabyte G1.Sniper A88X-CF] Font corruption

[Florian Hars]

I see the occasional corrupted letters in 14.04 using AMD Radeon R7 graphics hardware with the radeon driver.

fglrx is uninstallable.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+1ubuntu8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: None
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Wed Apr 30 11:09:26 2014
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: trusty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kaveri [Radeon R7 200 Series] [1002:130f] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Device [1002:0123]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-04-14 (15 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Beta amd64 (20140326)
MachineType: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. To be filled by O.E.M.
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic.efi.signed root=/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 11/18/2013
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: F5
dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: G1.Sniper A88X-CF
dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.board.version: x.x
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrF5:bd11/18/2013:svnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnTobefilledbyO.E.M.:pvrTobefilledbyO.E.M.:rvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnG1.SniperA88X-CF:rvrx.x:cvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.product.version: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.11+14.04.20140409-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.52-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.1.0-4ubuntu5
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.1.0-4ubuntu5
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.8.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.3.0-1ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.910-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.10-1ubuntu2
xserver.bootTime: Tue Apr 29 09:17:41 2014
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.version: 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu1
xserver.video_driver: radeon

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Florian Hars, did this problem not occur in a release prior to Trusty?

[Florian Hars (hars)]

I never used anything else on that hardware. It did not happen with 13.04 on the intel graphics machine I used before, but that information does probably not help.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Florian Hars, regarding only the hardware noted in the bug description, does the AMD proprietary drivers provide a WORKAROUND following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/AMD ?

[Florian Hars (hars)]

Installing fglrx results in an unbootable system, even rebooting into failsafeX mode hangs completly after configuring the network. Luckily there has been a kernel update since the beta, so I could use the old grub entry to boot into failsafe mode and puge fglrx from there.

[Florian Hars (hars)]

I updated to the F7 BIOS, that doesn't fix the problem.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Florian Hars, for regression testing purposes, could you please test Precise via http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/12.04.0/ and advise to the results?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Florian Hars (hars)]

Just because nobody fixed it doesn't mean that it magically fixed itself.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Pending https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/1314551/comments/7 .

[Bartlomiej Ogryczak (b-ogryczak)]

I've had similar problems.

Regarding comment #7, 12.04 was not affected, I first saw the problem after upgraded to 13.10 (I didn't use 12.10 or 13.04 so can't say it they were affected). The problem persisted after upgrading to 14.04.

I've had the same problem affected both open source ATI and open source Nvidia drivers (on different machines). In both cases problem ceases to exist after installing proprietary drivers.

As mentioned in comment #5 just installing fglrx from Ubuntu repository borks the 14.04, I've installed proprietary drivers downloaded directly from AMD.com.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Bartlomiej Ogryczak, thank you for your comment. So your hardware and problem may be tracked, could you please file a new report with Ubuntu by executing the following in a terminal while booted into the default Ubuntu kernel (not a mainline one) via:
ubuntu-bug linux

For more on this, please read the official Ubuntu documentation:
Ubuntu Bug Control and Ubuntu Bug Squad: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/BestPractices#X.2BAC8-Reporting.Focus_on_One_Issue
Ubuntu Kernel Team: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/KernelTeamBugPolicies#Filing_Kernel_Bug_reports
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.

Thank you for your understanding.

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

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[TuroLate (turolate)]

In my case this happens with the open source Radeon driver on a Radeon HD 7950, but does not happen on a Radeon HD 5450.

The only affected application its Firefox, and only when I'm editing text on a web site on a "text editor" gadget.

In my case parts of the text dissapear, if I select the text using ctrl+a the text reappears, the dissapearace happens almost as soon as I begin to type.

[TuroLate (turolate)]

I forgot to mention that I have been observing this problem since 13.10, I currently run 14.04.

[madbiologist (me-again)]

I'm having this problem on a Radeon HD 7870 on 14.04.

It is supposedly fixed by a glyph cache fix in xserver 1.17. Unfortunately, the xserver in the upcoming Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" is still based on xserver 1.16.