Notifications are blank boxes

[Paul Broadhead]

Binary package hint: xorg

Desktop notifications and the system monitor applet window are blank or just contain an apparently random grid of lines. This is on a Thinkpad X31 laptop with ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M6 LY graphics, Desktop effects are off.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Fri Oct 2 21:55:14 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Lsusb:
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 002: ID 046d:c03d Logitech, Inc. M-BT96a Pilot Optical Mouse
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType: IBM 26722G3
Package: xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu5
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
 Socket 1:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
 Socket 1:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-11-generic root=UUID=3149ed65-d4e2-4337-8076-7ebba56dd82b ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-11.38-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 xserver-xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu5
 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.6.0~git20090817.7c422387-0ubuntu6
 libdrm2 2.4.13-1ubuntu1
 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.8.1-1ubuntu2
 xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.99+git20090825.fc74e119-0ubuntu2
SourcePackage: xorg
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-11-generic i686
XorgConf: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'
dmi.bios.date: 01/23/2005
dmi.bios.vendor: IBM
dmi.bios.version: 1QET94WW (3.00d)
dmi.board.name: 26722G3
dmi.board.vendor: IBM
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: IBM
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1QET94WW(3.00d):bd01/23/2005:svnIBM:pn26722G3:pvrThinkPadX31:rvnIBM:rn26722G3:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 26722G3
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad X31
dmi.sys.vendor: IBM
fglrx: Not loaded
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 architecture: i686kernel: 2.6.31-11-generic

[lspci]
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M6 LY [1002:4c59]
     Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:052f]

[Paul Broadhead (pjbroad)]

After today's updates, I can switch on medium level desktop effects. With effects on, menus and application windows randomly leave graphic artefacts on the screen (lines, boxes, text e.t.c), however notifications and the monitor window are now visible. The artefacts make keeping desktop effects on impossible, with them turned off again, the notifications and the monitor window problem returns.

[Matt Price (matt-price)]

i'm having a similar problem, also in karmic with a thinkpad x31. Because i'm also suffering from very very slow speeds under gnome, i'm running openbox instead. can i modify xorg.conf somehow to deal with this problem? or are there other solutions? thanks,

matt

[[e-mail] (andrew-drup)]

This is an accurate description of what I see:
  "Desktop notifications and the system monitor applet window are blank or just contain an apparently random grid of lines."

My computer is the same as yours:
  "This is on a Thinkpad X31 laptop with ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M6 LY graphics, Desktop effects are off."

[[e-mail] (andrew-drup)]

I just found this thread which may be about the same problem:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/416001

I tried creating an xorg.conf and adding this line to the device section:
Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"

It did fix the problem, but as stated on the other thread, it killed the performance.

[Grant Bowman (grantbow)]

The bug 416001 seems related to me as well. It was reported upstream at https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23668

[Paul Broadhead (pjbroad)]

OK, I've marked this as a duplicate of bug 416001. Even though this bug pre-dates the other, the other is more advanced in its resolution.

[Paul Broadhead (pjbroad)]

Darn, I wish you could edit messages. The other bug of course is actually much older. Ops.