[Acer Chromebook 11 C730] Chromium and Chrome flickering

[Jacob Doherty]

Chromium and Chrome 55.0.2883.87 flickering.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+13ubuntu3
Uname: Linux 3.10.18 x86_64
.tmp.unity_support_test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4
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
Date: Sat Dec 31 11:19:59 2016
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: xenial
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display [8086:0f31] (rev 0e) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display [8086:0f31]
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8087:07dc Intel Corp.
 Bus 001 Device 007: ID 04f2:b490 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:c534 Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: GOOGLE Gnawty
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_NZ.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: cros_secure console= loglevel=7 init=/sbin/init cros_secure oops=panic panic=-1 root=/dev/dm-0 rootwait ro dm_verity.error_behavior=3 dm_verity.max_bios=-1 dm_verity.dev_wait=1 dm="1 vroot none ro 1,0 2539520 verity payload=PARTUUID=f32d8bfa-395b-d240-bbf7-eb409533babd/PARTNROFF=1 hashtree=PARTUUID=f32d8bfa-395b-d240-bbf7-eb409533babd/PARTNROFF=1 hashstart=2539520 alg=sha1 root_hexdigest=5fb151de5f21d1172e6c0f68e3f1f582c083a5cd salt=4ce7adaeb24ff98d94fb9bff36a65ac39b743a9ecca5390ad010972810c5697a" noinitrd vt.global_cursor_default=0 kern_guid=f32d8bfa-395b-d240-bbf7-eb409533babd add_efi_memmap boot=local noresume noswap i915.modeset=1 tpm_tis.force=1 tpm_tis.interrupts=0 nmi_watchdog=panic,lapic
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 08/16/2015
dmi.bios.vendor: coreboot
dmi.bios.version: Google_Gnawty.5216.239.34
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: GOOGLE
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvncoreboot:bvrGoogle_Gnawty.5216.239.34:bd08/16/2015:svnGOOGLE:pnGnawty:pvr1.0:cvnGOOGLE:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Gnawty
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: GOOGLE
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160823-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.67-1ubuntu0.16.04.2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 11.2.0-1ubuntu2.2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 11.2.0-1ubuntu2.2
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.18.4-0ubuntu0.2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.10.1-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20160325-1ubuntu1.2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau N/A

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Jacob Doherty, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better.

1) To see if this is already resolved, could you please test http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ and advise to the results?

2) To clarify, does the following provide a WORKAROUND:
sudo apt-get purge xserver-xorg-video-intel
sudo rm /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf (for those who created this file before)
reboot

3) Does using UXA instead of SNA provide a WORKAROUND?

4) Did this issue not occur in a previous release of Ubuntu, or Chromium/Chrome?

5) Could you please provide the full computer model as noted on the sticker of the computer itself (not from the Bug Description, or the result of a terminal command)?

6) If you undo all of the non-default kernel parameters you are using, does this influence this issue?

[Jacob Doherty (theflatnz)]

Hi Christopher,

Thanks for taking a look into this issue - I've completed some troubleshooting based on your suggestions and have some more information that I hope is useful.

I'm running a Chromebook using crouton to run Ubuntu in a chroot.

1. Unfortunately I'm not able to install anything other than a stable LTS on the hardware that exhibits the issue.

2. Removing the xserver-xorg-video-intel package and the conf file appears to have either resolved the issue or decreased it to the point where it is not currently noticeable. I've been running it for a day or so - will update if the issue occurs again.

3. Using UXA appeared to decrease the frequency of the issue similar to the above - however overall performance did suffer with rendering of pages slower, and I believe worse performance in Unity.

4. The issue has occurred across all the Chrome releases I've installed on this hardware (around the last two months) and occurs with the latest stable Chrome release as well.
It was present with both xenial 16.04 and 16.04.1 releases.

5. It's an Acer Chromebook 11 - C730

6. Due to running on a Chromebook I'm not able to recompile the kernel - however the issue has occurred across multiple stable ChromeOS releases (from the last two months since this hardware has been running).

[Jacob Doherty (theflatnz)]

Just to clarify, the bug is only reproducible within the chroot running Ubuntu and the stable linux version of Chrome (not on the native ChromeOS).

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Jacob Doherty, to clarify, https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/1653295/comments/3 :
>"1. Unfortunately I'm not able to install anything other than a stable LTS on the hardware that exhibits the issue."

Could you please advise to what technical issue prevents one from installing something else specifically?

To advise, not testing the latest release of Ubuntu largely makes this report a show stopper for developers to address this.

Despite this, one may test to this in a live environment via http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

[spike speigel (frail-knight)]

Could this be a dup of https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/1586539 ??

[Jacob Doherty (theflatnz)]

Yes it definitely is the same issue as described in that bug - I feel Christopher above requested that a new issue was created to track the specific hardware separately.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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