[M6] broken compiz / graphics stack / ati drivers (128MB)

[Raqua]

I am using Ubuntu 9.10. I upgraded from 9.04 version, but this problem is present also while running liveCD.
Machine is Thinkpad X31. Graphic card is Ati radeon mobility m6 ly.

Desktop effects are not working. While on, screen does not get repainted after change, menus are painted only after I hoover mouse cursor over them etc.. It is completelly unusable.

After turning desktop effect off, system seems to be acting ok except for a notifications, which are rendered bad and can not be read.

I will attach files necessary to debug.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Sun Nov 8 20:50:12 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/yelp
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
Package: yelp 2.28.0-0ubuntu2
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
SourcePackage: yelp
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic i686

[Raqua (raquacontact)]

Sorry about the yelp in reports, there is no problem with that one, just did not know how to trigger bug report for my problem.

[Raqua (raquacontact)]

With effects set to none, it looks like this, only the notification is broken.

[Raqua (raquacontact)]

Effects set to normal.

[Philip Muškovac (yofel)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug did not have a package associated with it, which is important for ensuring that it gets looked at by the proper developers. You can learn more about finding the right package at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. I have classified this bug as a bug in xserver-xorg-video-ati.

When reporting bugs in the future please use apport, either via the appropriate application's "Help -> Report a Problem" menu or using 'ubuntu-bug' and the name of the package affected. You can learn more about this functionality at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[Cedders (cedric-gn)]

I think this is a duplicate of (parts 1 and 3 of) bug 421842 - your notifications look just like the ones reported there, in Gnome and KDE. What does System Monitor look like with effects off? Here's an example: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/31041978/Screenshot-System%20Monitor-tartan2.png

Quote "screen corruption with the system monitor, compiz, and notifications but also with Gnometris. Don't those applications all use Cairo or is it coincidental?" I found these problems are not present with xf86-video-ati-6.12.4, but are in the HEAD version of xf86. Someone else found a workaround (at the expense of performance) in xorg.conf:

   Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"

[Raqua (raquacontact)]

You are right, I have the same symptoms, including system monitor corruption.
I found out, that this configuration works quite acceptable for me, almost ok. See attached config.

[Randall Ross (randall)]

My experience is that enabling EXA in xorg.conf fixes only the notification issue. It does not fix the lack of Desktop Effects.

EXA on: notifications work, no desktop effects possible (session locks up, complete freeze)

EXA off: notifications unreadable, desktop effects can be turned on but unusable due to screen artifacts, redraw issues, flashing.

[jtniehof (jtniehof)]

Although the hardware is not identical, this looks to me like a duplicate of bug #429251 (see also bug #426582).