Ubuntu release: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
Edition: Desktop
Architecture: i386
Expected behaviour: Steady desktop with no flickering during entire session.
Actual behaviour: -
On the platform mentioned above, I experience random flickers on the desktop. The flickering does not occur frequently (time interval of several minutes or sometimes hours between two consecutive occurrences). The flickering has not caused any problems till now apart from the visual interference and it occurs at any time, not just when any particular windowed application is running. I could not find any means of forcing a flicker to reproduce the problem manually and since a flicker lasts only for a fraction of a second and is random, I cannot get a screenshot. From what glimpses I have been able to catch on one or two occasions, the flickers actually appear to be highly distorted snapshots of parts of currently or previously open windows stretching across the whole desktop for a fraction of a second and a few pixels high. However, because of the instantaneous disappearance, I am not sure that they are actually ghosts of windows. Sometimes it is so quick that all I can see is a line or a bar. Also, because of the nature of the problem, I cannot determine its source. It might be xorg, kernel (maybe KMS), GNOME, Metacity, Compiz, Nautilus or something else altogether. My hardware and relevant software specifications are provided below. I am booting with KMS enabled.
Notes: -
1. Searching the bug database, I only found bug #493707 somewhat similar but the two do not appear to be the same and there are no blue dots in my case.
2. I have come back to Ubuntu with GNOME after skipping version 9.10 so I do not know whether this problem exists in 9.10.
3. I have applied all updates that were available in lucid-security and lucid-updates in Software Sources, Updates.
Computer: Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 @ 2.0 GHz.
RAM: 3 GB DDR2
Hard disk: 320 GB 5400 RPM SATA
Graphics subsystem: Integrated Intel GM45 Graphics
Kernel: 2.6.32-21-generic (32-bit)
Video driver: intel
Swap space: 4.5 GB
Desktop environment: GNOME with Compiz enabled (System, Preferences, Appearance, Visual Effects: Normal)
---
Architecture: i386
CurrentDmesg:
[ 20.727072] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
[ 21.689126] sky2 eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex, flow control both
[ 21.689324] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[ 31.756049] eth0: no IPv6 routers present
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
DkmsStatus:
bcmwl, 5.60.48.36+bdcom, 2.6.32-22-generic, i686: installed
bcmwl, 5.60.48.36+bdcom, 2.6.32-21-generic, i686: installed
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Inspiron 1545
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
Package: xorg 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=UUID=42eac28e-5846-43c5-aaf2-9737d30fe1ed ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
LANG=en_IN
SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Tags: lucid lucid
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 02/25/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A05
dmi.board.name: 0J037P
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA05:bd02/25/2009:svnDellInc.:pnInspiron1545:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0J037P:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Inspiron 1545
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system:
distro: Ubuntu
codename: lucid
architecture: i686
kernel: 2.6.32-22-generic
[lspci]
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a42] (rev 07)
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:02aa]
I can confirm that I am seeing the same effect on identical hardware. The problem did not exist in karmic (9.10). I have installed the 64 bit version of Lucid.
Keith Weddell