Xubuntu 14.04 screen flickers (VGA: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07))

[sowdust]

Hi all,

after a fresh install of Xubuntu 14.04 LTS the screen flickers continuously.
The VGA is :: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)

The problem didn't take place on earlier versions of Xubuntu (or at least it wasn't as visible since I didn't notice it)

Now it is very disturbing and tiring for the eye.
It is much more visible with brighter screen and seems more visible immediately after log in, but it might be because after a while the eye gets used to it.

It might be worth noting that I do not have any option to change the refresh rate from 59.1Hz

[Chris Wilson (ickle)]

Is the screen intensity fluctuating or do parts of the image on the screen change sporadically?

[Ward Edwards (ward-6)]

I am having the same issue. One workaround I have found is that if I change the resolution to 800x600, hit apply and then revert to original settings, the flicker goes away. When booting it starts as soon as the splash screen starts. If i915.modeset=0 is set in grub it eliminates it but disables the ability to change screen brightness.

[daamien (damien-taadeem)]

I am having the same issue.

My graphic card is RS690M [Radeon Xpress 1200/1250/1270]

The workaruond for me waas to add "nomodeset" in the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT option of the /etc/defaut/grub file. Like this :

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"

Then launch update-grub and reboot

This makes the flickering go away but it disable the ability to change the screen resolution

[Woody (woody3-j)]

I am also having the same issue, I know that it is not hardware as I have a dual boot with ubuntu 14.04, and it has no flicker. The flicker is full screen randomly untimed.

[Woody (woody3-j)]

I have not updated my ubuntu system I would think that the latest xubuntu update is the issue.

[Woody (woody3-j)]

I tried Daamien's solution, but it did not work for me, I have a Toshiba Satelite P205D-S7438, Athlon X2, ATI Radeon, Still using Ubuntu un-updated untill it's fixed. Any other work around suggestions?
Thanks

[sowdust (sowdust)]

After updating to Xubuntu 14.10 the problem has gone and the screen now is displaying a very fine image

[sowdust (sowdust)]

Forget my last message: the problem did seem gone at first, but is clearly not.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[David (executive)]

Same problem here, Toshiba P205D-S7802, with an RS690M [Radeon Xpress 1200/1250/1270] graphics card, Ubuntu 14.04. The flicker affects the whole screen, with the blank screen lasting some 50-200 ms (rough guess), happening randomly with a frequency of around 1 blank every 2-6 seconds. Quite annoying.

[David (executive)]

My grub config looks like this

[David (executive)]

Changing

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash video"

to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"

in /etc/default/grub removes the flicker, but also the ability to change display resolution (that is now set to 1152x864, lower than the physical screen res).

[David (executive)]

For those having this problem with Radeon cards (I'm not sure if the title of this bug thread actually matches the hardware mentioned in several of the comments), manually installing kernel 3.18.1-031801 made the flickering disappear in my hardware (Toshiba Satellite P205D-S7802 with a RS690M [Radeon Xpress 1200/1250/1270] graphics card).

[penalvch (penalvch)]

sowdust, thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please execute the following command, as it will automatically gather debugging information, in a terminal:
apport-collect -p xorg 1326048

Please ensure you have the package xdiagnose installed, and that you click the Yes button for attaching additional debugging information.

When reporting bugs in the future please use apport by using 'ubuntu-bug' and the name of the package affected. You can learn more about this functionality at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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