Graphics corruption (framebuffer offset) in i915 on 4.4.0

[John]

Appeared after upgrading to 16.04 LTS. Mostly happens with switching channels in a full-screen irssi window by using Alt and the number keys (or the top row of the keyboard).

Entire screen flickers between normal view, and a semi-arbitary offset view (with the entire screen offset by about 50-100 pixel, wrapping to the other side). Minor irritation to begin with.

Eventually lead to the entire screen blanking save for a solid yellow/green line (about 5-10 px wide) on the left, occasionally (~1s) flicking back to the correct contents.

Rebooting into 4.2.0 (left over from before the upgrade) appears to have fixed the issue.

Hardware: Toshiba Portege z20t
- "VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics [8086:161e] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])"

Relevant packages (assuming that they weren't captured):
- linux-image-4.4.0-21-generic
- linux-image-extra-4.4.0-21-generic
- (working version is 4.2.0-35)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: linux-image-extra-4.4.0-21-generic 4.4.0-21.37
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.2.0-35.40-generic 4.2.8-ckt5
Uname: Linux 4.2.0-35-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: tpg 2401 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: tpg 2401 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Tue Apr 26 17:08:04 2016
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=ab95a533-52f3-4458-96dc-9119684b0ed6
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-06-19 (312 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20150218.1)
MachineType: TOSHIBA PORTEGE Z20t-B
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.2.0-35-generic root=UUID=b6cc139d-95e4-48f1-a3a8-284dbdb3b6fa ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-4.2.0-35-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-4.2.0-35-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.157
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2016-04-25 (1 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 01/06/2015
dmi.bios.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.bios.version: Version 1.60
dmi.board.asset.tag: 0000000000
dmi.board.name: PORTEGE Z20t-B
dmi.board.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.board.version: Version A0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 0000000000
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.chassis.version: Version 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnTOSHIBA:bvrVersion1.60:bd01/06/2015:svnTOSHIBA:pnPORTEGEZ20t-B:pvrPT15BA-00500Y:rvnTOSHIBA:rnPORTEGEZ20t-B:rvrVersionA0:cvnTOSHIBA:ct10:cvrVersion1.0:
dmi.product.name: PORTEGE Z20t-B
dmi.product.version: PT15BA-00500Y
dmi.sys.vendor: TOSHIBA

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v4.6 kernel[0].

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.6-rc6-wily/

[John (acessdev)]

This appears to have been fixed in 4.4.0-22 (no sign of the original symptoms after rebooting)

[John (acessdev)]

Update: There is very rare display flicker, but very usable.

[John (acessdev)]

After about an hour and a half of uptime, the flickering has returned (caused by using alt-number to switch windows in irssi). Moving the mouse cursor seems to reduce the flickering such that the screen can be read.

[John (acessdev)]

Switching to a terminal and running `dpkg -i` on the new kernel stopped the flicker while the command ran. Will reboot into 4.6from the above link.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

John, as per http://www.mytoshiba.com.au/support/computers/portege/z20t/pt15ba-00500y/download an update to your computer's buggy, insecure, and outdated BIOS is available (2.10). If you update to this following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BIOSUpdate does it change anything?

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.

Also, you don't have to create a new bug report.

Once the BIOS is updated, if the problem is still reproducible:
1) Please provide the output of the following terminal command (not perform an apport-collect):
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date
2) Please make a comment specifically advising on if there was an improvement or not.
3) Please mark this report Status Confirmed.

If it's not reproducible, please mark this as Invalid.

Thank you for your understanding.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[DooMMasteR (winrootkit-w)]

Hmm this issue still exists on Ubuntu 19.10 for me :-(

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This change was made by a bot.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

DooMMasteR (winrootkit-w), in order to provide necessary debugging information please file a new report via a terminal:
ubuntu-bug linux

Please feel free to subscribe me to it.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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