8086:2a42 [gm45] Screen shows corruption that blink once and for a fraction of second and then disappear (Needs i915.powersave=0)

[Tiago]

Binary package hint: xorg

I couldn't take a snapshot of this "phenomenum" because it's unpredictable.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: xorg 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sat May 22 15:33:00 2010
DkmsStatus: blcr, 0.8.2, 2.6.32-22-generic, x86_64: installed
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Inspiron 1545
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=UUID=2d5f491a-ca2d-4684-9507-a3407301f049 ro
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=pt_BR:pt:pt_PT
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=pt_BR.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
dmi.bios.date: 12/07/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A14
dmi.board.name: 0W299R
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA14:bd12/07/2009:svnDellInc.:pnInspiron1545:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0W299R:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Inspiron 1545
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: x86_64
 kernel: 2.6.32-22-generic

[ooze (zoe-gauthier)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Is what you are seeing looking like horizontal lines that flash near the bottom of the screen or something similar? There is a bug report for this particular problem and a solution in being tested. Otherwise, can you please detail what kind of corruption this looks like? Thanks!

[Tiago (toazz)]

Yep, I forgot mentioning that it always appears in bottom of screen. It often look like horizontal lines, but sometimes it looks like a stripe of randomly colored pixels. Furthermore, it seems to not occur while running a fullscreen app. I apologize if the bug were already reported.

[Stenten (stenten)]

Please try booting with "i915.powersave=0".

Hold down Shift while booting. Hit 'e' and add "i915.powersave=0" after "quiet splash". Ctrl+x to boot.

Does this solve the problem? Note that it doesn't save when you reboot, so you have to redo it if you want to reboot and continue testing.

[Tiago (toazz)]

Yep, this solved the problem, thanx a lot. I've added this to kernel command line at /etc/default/grub.

[Stenten (stenten)]

Good. Can you now please test the kernel stack here [1]? Install the _all headers, the amd64 headers, and the amd64 image. Then remove i915.powersave=0 and boot into the new kernel (hold down Shift while booting and select it).

This patched kernel is from Bug #538648 (specifically comment #88). It has the same graphics card and the same workaround, so it might help.

[1]: http://people.canonical.com/~apw/lp538648-lucid/

[Tiago (toazz)]

This kernel seems to work well with my gm45, even with normal command line. Is this kernel stable? Is there any plan to provide a repository with GM45-compatible kernels like this one?

[Stenten (stenten)]

It's milestoned for lucid-updates, so it should go through as a kernel update once it's finished testing.