screen flickers with S3 ViRGE/DX (chip 86C375)

[Márton Németh]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-video-s3virge

I booted ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso in live CD mode on a desktop computer with a S3 ViRGE/DX (chip 86C375) graphic card. Every time I move the mouse or there is a change on the screen there is a horizontal flicker at random places. When there is no change on the screen the picture is good.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
MediaBuild: Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" - Release i386 (20090420.1)
Package: xserver-xorg-video-s3virge 1:1.10.2-1
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=hu_HU.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-video-s3virge
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-11-generic i686

[Márton Németh (nm127-freemail)]

# lspci -v
02:01.0 VGA compatible controller: S3 Inc. ViRGE/DX or /GX (rev 01)
 Subsystem: S3 Inc. ViRGE/DX or /GX
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 20
 Memory at e4000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64M]
 [virtual] Expansion ROM at 30000000 [disabled] [size=64K]
 Kernel driver in use: s3fb
 Kernel modules: s3fb

[Márton Németh (nm127-freemail)]

WORKAROUND:
I changed the X11 driver in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf to "vesa" driver:

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Configured Video Device"
        Driver "vesa"
EndSection

Now the screen does not flicker anymore but the display is slow (for example scrolling a window).

[Márton Németh (nm127-freemail)]

I tried to disable hardware acceleration in /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Configured Video Device"
        Driver "s3virge"
        Option "NoAccel" "true"
EndSection

The flicker is still there. Additionally the X server crashes within a minute every time:

Backtrace:
0: /usr/X11R6/bin/X(xorg_backtrace+0x3b) [0x813518b]
1: /usr/X11R6/bin/X(xf86SigHandler+0x55) [0x80c7be5]
2: [0xb8044400]
3: /usr/lib/libpixman-1.so.0 [0xb7fa4724]
4: /usr/lib/libpixman-1.so.0 [0xb7fa9350]
5: /usr/lib/libpixman-1.so.0(pixman_image_composite+0x761) [0xb7fa8f71]
6: /usr/lib/xorg/modules//libfb.so(fbComposite+0x1b2) [0xb7915632]
7: /usr/X11R6/bin/X [0x818030a]
8: /usr/X11R6/bin/X(CompositePicture+0x19a) [0x817255a]
9: /usr/X11R6/bin/X [0x8178405]
10: /usr/X11R6/bin/X [0x8175125]
11: /usr/X11R6/bin/X(Dispatch+0x33f) [0x808d57f]
12: /usr/X11R6/bin/X(main+0x3bd) [0x80722ed]
13: /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xe5) [0xb7c19775]
14: /usr/X11R6/bin/X [0x80717a1]
Saw signal 11. Server aborting.

[Márton Németh (nm127-freemail)]

Next try: disable XVideo:

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Configured Video Device"
        Driver "s3virge"
        Option "XVideo" "off"
EndSection

Result: the screen still flickers.

[Márton Németh (nm127-freemail)]

Try ShadowFB on: the screen still flickers.

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Configured Video Device"
        Driver "s3virge"
        Option "ShadowFB" "on"
EndSection

And the X server crashes within a minute:

Backtrace:
0: /usr/X11R6/bin/X(xorg_backtrace+0x3b) [0x813518b]
1: /usr/X11R6/bin/X(xf86SigHandler+0x55) [0x80c7be5]
2: [0xb8094400]
3: /usr/lib/libpixman-1.so.0 [0xb7ff4724]
4: /usr/lib/libpixman-1.so.0 [0xb7ff9350]
5: /usr/lib/libpixman-1.so.0(pixman_image_composite+0x761) [0xb7ff8f71]
6: /usr/lib/xorg/modules//libfb.so(fbComposite+0x1b2) [0xb7965632]
7: /usr/X11R6/bin/X [0x818030a]
8: /usr/lib/xorg/modules//libshadowfb.so [0xb78f6af2]
9: /usr/X11R6/bin/X(CompositePicture+0x19a) [0x817255a]
10: /usr/X11R6/bin/X [0x8178405]
11: /usr/X11R6/bin/X [0x8175125]
12: /usr/X11R6/bin/X(Dispatch+0x33f) [0x808d57f]
13: /usr/X11R6/bin/X(main+0x3bd) [0x80722ed]
14: /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xe5) [0xb7c69775]
15: /usr/X11R6/bin/X [0x80717a1]
Saw signal 11. Server aborting.

[Márton Németh (nm127-freemail)]

With Option "fifo_conservative" the screen flickers.

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Configured Video Device"
        Driver "s3virge"
        Option "fifo_conservative"
EndSection

[Márton Németh (nm127-freemail)]

With Option "mx_cr3a_fix" "off" the screen flickers:

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Configured Video Device"
        Driver "s3virge"
        Option "mx_cr3a_fix" "off"
EndSection

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi nm127-freemail,

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue for you? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? (ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/)

If it remains an issue, could you also attach a new /var/log/Xorg.0.log?
Thanks in advance.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.