ATI graphics driver has trouble with 3D apps: Celestia, Google Earth, Stellarium

[dotancohen]

Kwin has many problems when using 3D applications such as Celestia, Google Earth, and Stellarium. I am not sure how related everything is, so if this should be broken into several report then please let me know.

1) When using these applications the display flickers terribly.
2) When another application is focused above one of these applications, the
offending application's main window (but not the window chrome or toolbar) is
shown above the focused window. (see screenshot below).
3) Main Menu items are drawn below the main window (see screenshot below)

Kubuntu 9.10, FOSS drivers, Kwin Composting enabled. The closed source drivers do not let me enable Composting.
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility X1400

[dotancohen (dotancohen)]

This seems to be related to this Xorg driver bug:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8732

Apparently, enabling dri2 and uxa is a workaround, but end users neither know that they must do this nor do they know how to. Ubuntu can work around this bug by enabling dri2 and uxa in the distro.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi dotancohen,

Thanks for including an image to demonstrate the issue. Also, please run the command 'apport-collect BUGNUMBER' which will attach additional files we need.

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

[dotancohen (dotancohen)]

Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
MachineType: Dell Inc. MM061
Package: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.99+git20090929.7968e1fb-0ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-20-generic root=UUID=471e903c-24c7-4c35-92f3-a127bd28ff1d ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=he_IL.utf8
 LANGUAGE=
 LC_TIME=en_DK.utf8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-20.58-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 xserver-xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu10
 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.6.0-1ubuntu4
 libdrm2 2.4.14-1ubuntu1
 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.9.0-1ubuntu2.1
 xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.99+git20090929.7968e1fb-0ubuntu1
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-20-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin netdev plugdev sambashare
XorgConf: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'
XsessionErrors:
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:6164): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (firefox:6294): GLib-WARNING **: g_set_prgname() called multiple times
 (firefox:6294): GLib-WARNING **: g_set_prgname() called multiple times
 (thunderbird-bin:17822): GLib-WARNING **: g_set_prgname() called multiple times
dmi.bios.date: 06/13/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A17
dmi.board.name: 0XD720
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA17:bd06/13/2007:svnDellInc.:pnMM061:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0XD720:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: MM061
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
fglrx: Not loaded
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 architecture: i686kernel: 2.6.31-20-generic

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

[This is an automatic notification.]

Hi dotancohen,

This bug was reported against an earlier version of Ubuntu, can you
test if it still occurs on Lucid?

Please note we also provide technical support for older versions of
Ubuntu, but not in the bug tracker. Instead, to raise the issue through
normal support channels, please see:

    http://www.ubuntu.com/support

If you are the original reporter and can still reproduce the issue on
Lucid, please run the following command to refresh the report:

  apport-collect 571771

If you are not the original reporter, please file a new bug report, so
we can work with you as the original reporter instead (you can reference
bug 571771 in your report if you think it may be related):

  ubuntu-bug xorg

If by chance you can no longer reproduce the issue on Lucid or if you
feel it is no longer relevant, please mark the bug report 'Fix Released'
or 'Invalid' as appropriate, at the following URL:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/571771

[dotancohen (dotancohen)]

Yes, the problem still exists on Lucid on the same hardware.

[Paweł (pawlerson)]

I'm using Kubuntu 11.04beta2 and I'm affected. Stellarium flickers badly when I open preferences and I'm asked to give a path to screenshots. When I exit the applications then entire desktop flickers too. I have to restart compositions to make it to behave normally.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

dotancohen, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p xserver-xorg-video-ati REPLACE-WITH-BUG-NUMBER

Please note, given that the information from the prior release is already available, doing this on a release prior to the development one would not be helpful.

Thank you for your understanding.

Helpful bug reporting tips:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs

[dotancohen (dotancohen)]

The last few versions have been fine. Thanks.