[Dell Alienware Alpha R2] Mouse cursor flickering on primary monitor after second monitor HDMI connected to Startech USB32HD4K

[Wei Cai]

Alienware Alpha R2

Primary monitor is connected to Nvidia GTX 960
Secondary monitor is connected to Startech USB32HD4K (Displaylink Ubuntu Driver version 1.4.210, http://www.displaylink.com/downloads/ubuntu)

If only one monitor is connected via Nvidia GTX 960, it is totally normal.

If the second monitor is also connected via Startech USB32HD4K, mouse cursor flickers frequently and can even disappear on the PRIMARY monitor (the one that is connected to Nvidia GTX 960). On the second monitor, everything is fine.

WORKAROUND: In the GUI go to All Settings > Screen Display > for the primary monitor change Rotation from Normal to any of the following:
Clockwise
Anti-clockwise
180 degrees

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+13ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.10.0-38.42~16.04.1-generic 4.10.17
Uname: Linux 4.10.0-38-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity_support_test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.10
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: Tue Nov 14 23:59:01 2017
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: xenial
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus: evdi, 1.4.210, 4.10.0-38-generic, x86_64: installed
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 NVIDIA Corporation Device [10de:1406] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:072b]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-11-14 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170215.2)
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 002: ID 17e9:4301 DisplayLink
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 8087:0a2b Intel Corp.
 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: Alienware ASM201
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_AU:en
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.10.0-38-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=7029fd1a-5743-4bca-b8f7-369a509fac07 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 07/07/2017
dmi.bios.vendor: Alienware
dmi.bios.version: 1.0.8
dmi.board.name: 0GWM1Y
dmi.board.vendor: Alienware
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Alienware
dmi.chassis.version: 00
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAlienware:bvr1.0.8:bd07/07/2017:svnAlienware:pnASM201:pvr1.0.8:rvnAlienware:rn0GWM1Y:rvrA00:cvnAlienware:ct3:cvr00:
dmi.product.name: ASM201
dmi.product.version: 1.0.8
dmi.sys.vendor: Alienware
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160823-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.76-1~ubuntu16.04.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 17.0.7-0ubuntu0.16.04.2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 17.0.7-0ubuntu0.16.04.2
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core N/A
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau N/A
xserver.bootTime: Tue Nov 14 23:55:35 2017
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)
 modeset(G0): glamor initialization failed
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.version: 2:1.19.3-1ubuntu1~16.04.4
xserver.video_driver: nouveau

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Wei Cai, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better.

In order for DisplayLink to review this issue, could you please cross post this to them following their instructions from:
http://support.displaylink.com/knowledgebase/articles/757047-how-can-i-report-ubuntu-issues-to-displaylink

Please provide the URL of the post to them once submitted for tracking.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Wei Cai, please don't mark this a duplicate of another report, as it doesn't have any debugging information to solve the issue.

Despite this, could you please advise to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/1732195/comments/2 ?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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