External screen turns grey or green after some random time.

[Theodore Vasiloudis]

As in the title the external screen attached to my laptop through Displayport suddenly turns grey and I have to unplug/replug it in order to get the environment to appear again.

This bug started appearing after installing the latest updates (2015-04-14) that included linux-headers-3.13.0-49-generic:amd64.

I have in the past installed the Intel Linux Graphics drivers which apparently are now causing some problems with 14.04 so the problem could also be caused by that.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+1ubuntu8.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-49.83-generic 3.13.11-ckt17
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-49-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.8
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: Wed Apr 15 14:17:51 2015
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: trusty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GpuHangFrequency: Several times a day
GpuHangReproducibility: Seems to happen randomly
GpuHangStarted: Today
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0a16] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2214]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-08-19 (238 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140722.2)
MachineType: LENOVO 20AL00BYMS
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-49-generic root=UUID=58f7be01-3efd-41f5-adbb-d0a430268da1 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
Title: Xorg freeze
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 01/09/2015
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: GIET79WW (2.29 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 20AL00BYMS
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: SDK0E50510 PRO
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrGIET79WW(2.29):bd01/09/2015:svnLENOVO:pn20AL00BYMS:pvrThinkPadX240:rvnLENOVO:rn20AL00BYMS:rvrSDK0E50510PRO:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 20AL00BYMS
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad X240
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.11.3+14.04.20150122-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.56-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.3.0-0ubuntu2intel1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.3.0-0ubuntu2intel1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2.7
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 2:2.99.911-0intel1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.10-1ubuntu2
xserver.bootTime: Wed Apr 15 10:59:44 2015
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 41106
 vendor DEL
xserver.version: 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2.7

[Theodore Vasiloudis (theodoros-vasiloudis)]

Here's something that popped up in my system log, don't know if it's related:

Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627427] ------------[ cut here ]------------
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627468] WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 76 at /var/lib/dkms/i915-3.16-3.13/1/build/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_dp.c:3124 intel_dp_link_down+0x1a3/0x210 [i915]()
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627470] Modules linked in: xt_addrtype xt_conntrack ipt_MASQUERADE iptable_nat nf_conntrack_ipv4 nf_defrag_ipv4 nf_nat_ipv4 nf_nat nf_conntrack iptable_filter ip_tables x_tables bridge stp llc aufs ctr ccm dm_crypt hid_generic arc4 rfcomm bnep intel_rapl x86_pkg_temp_thermal intel_powerclamp coretemp kvm_intel dm_multipath scsi_dh kvm crct10dif_pclmul crc32_pclmul ghash_clmulni_intel uvcvideo videobuf2_vmalloc videobuf2_memops aesni_intel aes_x86_64 lrw gf128mul glue_helper ablk_helper cryptd cdc_mbim cdc_wdm videobuf2_core binfmt_misc videodev usbhid iwlmvm cdc_acm cdc_ncm usbnet mac80211 mii hid snd_seq_midi joydev btusb snd_seq_midi_event thinkpad_acpi serio_raw nvram snd_rawmidi rtsx_pci_ms snd_hda_codec_realtek bluetooth snd_hda_codec_hdmi memstick iwlwifi cfg80211 lpc_ich snd_hda_intel snd_hda_codec shpchp mei_me snd_hwdep mei snd_pcm snd_seq snd_seq_device snd_page_alloc snd_timer snd soundcore parport_pc intel_smartconnect mac_hid ppdev lp parport rtsx_pci_sdmmc e1000e psmouse ptp rtsx_pci ahci i915(OX) i2c_algo_bit pps_core libahci drm_kms_helper(OX) drm(OX) wmi video(OX)
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627530] CPU: 3 PID: 76 Comm: kworker/3:1 Tainted: G W OX 3.13.0-49-generic #83-Ubuntu
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627532] Hardware name: LENOVO 20AL00BYMS/20AL00BYMS, BIOS GIET79WW (2.29 ) 01/09/2015
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627547] Workqueue: events i915_hotplug_work_func [i915]
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627549] 0000000000000009 ffff88020df77c98 ffffffff81721b36 0000000000000000
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627553] ffff88020df77cd0 ffffffff810677dd ffff88020d430000 ffff88020d403800
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627556] 0000000081000006 0000000000000001 ffff880212fd60d8 ffff88020df77ce0
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627559] Call Trace:
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627565] [<ffffffff81721b36>] dump_stack+0x45/0x56
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627569] [<ffffffff810677dd>] warn_slowpath_common+0x7d/0xa0
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627572] [<ffffffff810678ba>] warn_slowpath_null+0x1a/0x20
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627590] [<ffffffffa00f7593>] intel_dp_link_down+0x1a3/0x210 [i915]
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627606] [<ffffffffa00fc945>] intel_dp_complete_link_train+0x105/0x360 [i915]
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627622] [<ffffffffa00fd1b8>] intel_dp_check_link_status+0xb8/0x1a0 [i915]
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627638] [<ffffffffa00f4198>] intel_ddi_hot_plug+0x28/0x30 [i915]
Apr 15 16:02:45 hidden-username kernel: [18175.627652] [<ffffffffa00bcc4c>] i915_hot...

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Theodore Vasiloudis, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. As per http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkpad-x-series-laptops/thinkpad-x240 an update to your computer's buggy and outdated BIOS is available (2.30). 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.

[Theodore Vasiloudis (theodoros-vasiloudis)]

Turns out it was a faulty screen, closing this.