XORG Idle Channel

[Hartley Jean-Aimee]

Description: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Release: 14.04

At random times, my screen will go black and print out a few lines similar to the following:

nouveau [Xorg[1234]] failed to idle channel

and then it will go back to the login screen.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+1ubuntu8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-29.53-generic 3.13.11.2
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-29-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.2
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Tue Jun 24 08:50:01 2014
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: trusty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 NVIDIA Corporation G98 [Quadro NVS 295] [10de:06fd] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: NVIDIA Corporation Device [10de:062e]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-06-04 (19 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Precision WorkStation T3500
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-29-generic root=UUID=f48dcc78-e487-4992-98e3-d772a10e1a71 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 01/21/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A10
dmi.board.name: 09KPNV
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 7
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA10:bd01/21/2011:svnDellInc.:pnPrecisionWorkStationT3500:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn09KPNV:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct7:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Precision WorkStation T3500
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.11+14.04.20140423-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.52-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.1.3-0ubuntu0.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.1.3-0ubuntu0.1
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 1:7.3.0-1ubuntu3.1
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 Jun 24 08:34:39 2014
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:
 Failed to load module "nvidia" (module does not exist, 0)
 Failed to load module "nvidia" (module does not exist, 0)
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.version: 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2
xserver.video_driver: nouveau

[Hartley Jean-Aimee (hartley-j)]

Can anyone provide some sort of assistance?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[marco.pallotta (marco-pallotta)]

I have this problem in 12.04 LTS too, after upgrading to HWE kernel and always happens when I launch virtualbox (downloaded from virtualbox site as the one packaged with ubuntu doesn't run anymore after the above upgrade).

My VGA controller is NVIDIA Corporation G72 [GeForce 7200 GS / 7300 SE]

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Hartley Jean-Aimee, as per http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/precision-t3500/drivers an update to your computer's buggy and outdated BIOS is available (A17). If you update to this following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BIOSUpdate does it change anything?

If it doesn't, could you please both specify what happened, and provide the output of the following terminal command:
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date

For more on BIOS updates and linux, please see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette .

Please note your current BIOS is already in the Bug Description, so posting this on the old BIOS would not be helpful. As well, you don't have to create a new bug report.

Once the BIOS is updated, and the information above is provided, then please mark this report Status New.

Thank you for your understanding.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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