Thunderbird menus and windows are blank when Compiz effects are on

[Randall Ross]

Latest Thunderbird (3.0.4) for Lucid Lynx (Beta, all updates to 04/14/2010.)
Installed Version: thunderbird 3.0.4+nobinonly-0ubuntu1

Thunderbird windows don't redraw. "Hints", the text that should appear when hovering over messages does not appear. Menus don't fill properly when pulled down, just a blank square where menu items should be.

This occurs when Visual Effects (compiz) set to "Normal" or "Extra". Thunderbird is the only app affected from what I can tell.

Thanks in advance,
Randall
~ in Vancouver

[mlacons (mark-monroecrossing)]

I'll second this problem.
Differences: I'm using Kubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx.
Turning off desktop effects DOES solve the problem.

Edit->Preferences didn't render. Sub-menus don't render. Message pane doesn't render. Everything is really slow.
System is completely up to date as of May 3rd.

[Kurt Sauder (sauderk)]

I'm also experiencing this problem, Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx install with Thunderbird 3.0.4.

[Randall Ross (randall)]

Turning off "Desktop Effects" is a workaround, though not an acceptable one. All other applications are behaving as expected.

[Bernd Schlapsi (bernd-sch)]

Yes I turned off "Desktop Effects" and it worked now.
But if you download Thunderbird from www.mozilla.com it works with the enabled "Desktop Effects". There must be something wrong with the package in Ubuntu

[Randall Ross (randall)]

This bug also exists in
thunderbird 3.0.5~hg20100506r4837+nobinonly-0ubuntu1~umd1
from ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa software source

[ben (drache-deactivatedaccount)]

I've subscribed here, but I'm quite sure this isn't caused by thunderbird …

I've had got the same transparency in debian since libcairo2 1.8.2-* has gone into sid. … First I fixed it by installing libcairo2 from squeeze but this isn't an option any more, because it is now in squeeze too.

Not quite sure if this is the right place …

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=580664

[Okatech (falko-goetz)]

I do have the same problem, the workaround is to install thunderbird directly form ubunzilla

[Micah Gersten (micahg)]

@drache

Is it only thunderbird or other apps as well with the Radeon chipset and cairo 1.8.10?

@Okatech

Not really a workaround as that's a different piece of software.

[Randall Ross (randall)]

On my system, the only affected app is Thunderbird.

[markofealing (mark-ferns16)]

I've got a Dell Latitude C640 with a ATI Radeon Mobility M7 LW [Radeon Mobility 7500] graphics chip-set.

I can confirm that using Compiz "Desktop Effects" renders Thunderbird unusable i.e. dialogue boxes empty, missing toolbar, no right click! Turning off Compiz "Desktop Effects" restores full Thunderbird functionality. However, this is not an acceptable solution.

All other applications including Firefox work okay.

[ben (drache-deactivatedaccount)]

@Micah Gersten

In Lucid thunderbird is affected only. But in debian sid (same Laptop) iceweasel and icedove show the same behaviour… So I've installed the current fx from mozilla, which works properly (without any problemes).

I've no idea about the differences between mozilla fx and iceweasel except that the current iceweasel-version is still 3.5-*.

[ben (drache-deactivatedaccount)]

Forgot to mention that (swiftdove version 2.0.0.22) in debian sid also works properly – so something happened between this version 2.0.0.22 and 3.0.4 what causes the problems and seems to be fixed in the officiall mozilla-releases…

[Mike Yee (yeem-com)]

I've been managing to keep Compiz and still use Thunderbird by disabling kernel modesetting in GRUB. This doesn't seem like an ideal solution but will work for now. Hope this helps someone. I'm using ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M7 LW [Radeon Mobility 7500]

[Benjamin Kiene (bkcyberfreak)]

Hello, I can confirm, this bug also affects me on an clean install of Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) and afaik just with Thunderbird.
Have an IBM Thinkpad T42 with ATI M7/Mobility 7500. Switching off compositing (via metacity --replace) works for me but is not acceptable.

A solution and update would be really appreciated. With best regards an in hope of a fast solution, BK.

[Micah Gersten (micahg)]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Could you please test Seamonkey from the Lucid repository to see if it
also is experiencing the same issues?

On 05/16/2010 10:31 AM, drache wrote:
> @Micah Gersten
>
> In Lucid thunderbird is affected only. But in debian sid (same Laptop)
> iceweasel and icedove show the same behaviour… So I've installed the
> current fx from mozilla, which works properly (without any problemes).
>
> I've no idea about the differences between mozilla fx and iceweasel
> except that the current iceweasel-version is still 3.5-*.
>
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BAcAnjbQXXIkwZTsZEmqE3QwFeYTVNLu
=Jepr
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[Randall Ross (randall)]

@Micah:
Confirmed. The same thing happens with Seamonkey on Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid)

[Okatech (falko-goetz)]

I can confirm that only thunderbird ist affected on my system (IBM X31 with Radeon mobility 7500) with a clean new installation of ubuntu 10.04

@Micah Gersten

But Thunderbird from ubuntuzilla is still Thunderbird. That is what i want to use.

[Micah Gersten (micahg)]

You can use whatever you want, but we don't support anything from
Ubuntuzilla. I will endeavor to find a solution for the version of
Thunderbird in the Ubuntu repositories.

On 05/23/2010 05:39 AM, Okatech wrote:
> @Micah Gersten
>
> But Thunderbird from ubuntuzilla is still Thunderbird. That is what i
> want to use.

[ben (drache-deactivatedaccount)]

@ Micah Gersten

Same here … I would confirm this for Seamonkey, too… So I'm absolutely sure that this isn't a thunderbird bug, but seems to be caused by libcairo or the OSS radeon :(

[herrin (hera8)]

I can confirm the same problems with blank window menus for Thunderbird a Seamonkey on Dell Latitude D600 (ATI radeon chipset), both are Ubuntu package.

[portokan (portokan)]

Same Problem to me If i use Compiz "Desktop Effects" .
Turning off Compiz "Desktop Effects" , everything is ok.

( IBM ThinkPad T40)

[rwmarch (rwmarch)]

I am also hitting this bug with Lucid. Thunderbird 3.0.4-nobinonly-0ubuntu4 installed via synaptic. Radeon Mobility 9200.

[OC (olivier-c)]

Confirm this with thunderbird 3.0.6+build2+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.10.04.1 on a fresh-install HP Compaq nc6000, 10.04 i386. I attach a screenshot of what I see.

Disabling desktop effects indeed resolves the problem.

I cannot reproduce this :
- either on a different machine (Compaq nx7400), 10.04
- or on the same machine, Maverick Alpha3 on a dual-boot, thunderbird 3.0.6+build2+nobinonly-0ubuntu1

[RobertL (robert-loehning)]

Me too: Fujitsu Siemens Amilo A, ATI IGP 320M
For me, it works if I provide kernel param "nomodeset" - unfortunately this causes other trouble.

[Tommy Trussell (tommy-trussell)]

I upgraded from Ubuntu 9.10 to 10.04 today, and ran into this. I assumed it was due to upgrading from my old Thunderbird data to the 3.1.x but blowing away my old .mozilla-thunderbird and the new link to .thunderbird didn't help.

This is a Dell desktop system with an ATI Radeon video card. Now that I have done some searches I found quite a few people have reported rendering issues with the Radeon X300 RV370 5B60 I have here.

$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ/P/PL Memory Controller Hub (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ/P/PL PCI Express Root Port (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 01)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV370 5B60 [Radeon X300 (PCIE)]
01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV370 [Radeon X300SE]
03:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family LAN Controller (rev 01)

My Xorg.0.log modules loaded are:

(II) LoadModule: "extmod"
(II) LoadModule: "dbe"
(II) LoadModule: "glx"
(II) LoadModule: "record"
(II) LoadModule: "dri"
(II) LoadModule: "dri2"
(II) LoadModule: "ati"
(II) LoadModule: "radeon"
(II) LoadModule: "vesa"
(II) LoadModule: "fbdev"
(II) LoadModule: "fbdevhw"
(II) LoadModule: "fb"
(II) LoadModule: "ramdac"
(II) LoadModule: "exa"
(II) LoadModule: "evdev"

[Paul White (paulw2u)]

Comments stopped over 8 years ago so the issue must have been fixed.