The strange white lines appeared on the top of screen

[Rosca Stefan]

Binary package hint: unity

After an update at the each loading of the desktop, the strange white lines will appear on the top of screen. The running of Window Manager executable will take off this lines.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: unity 3.2.2-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.37-8.21-generic 2.6.37-rc4
Uname: Linux 2.6.37-8-generic i686
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,ccp,move,resize,place,decoration,dbus,mousepoll,gnomecompat,png,svg,imgjpeg,text,commands,neg,wall,snap,animation,scale,scaleaddon,expo,staticswitcher,regex,resizeinfo,workarounds,ezoom,vpswitch,fade,session]
Date: Wed Dec 8 19:55:14 2010
ExecutablePath: /usr/lib/unity/unity-panel-service
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
InstallationMedia_: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
MachineType: Acer Extensa 7620
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
PciDisplay: 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon HD 2400 XT [1002:94c8] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37-8-generic root=UUID=607e8a78-d543-4d6c-8a8f-7f64af2a8c2a ro quiet splash
ProcVersionSignature_: Ubuntu 2.6.37-8.21-generic 2.6.37-rc4
RelatedPackageVersions:
 xserver-xorg 1:7.5+6ubuntu3b1
 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.9+repack-1ubuntu3
 libdrm2 2.4.22-2ubuntu1
 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.13.901-2ubuntu1
 xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.13.2-1ubuntu2
SourcePackage: unity
XorgConf: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'
dmi.bios.date: 10/22/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies LTD
dmi.bios.version: V1.22
dmi.board.name: Tangiz
dmi.board.vendor: Acer
dmi.board.version: Rev
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: None
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologiesLTD:bvrV1.22:bd10/22/2007:svnAcer:pnExtensa7620:pvr0100:rvnAcer:rnTangiz:rvrRev:cvnAcer:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: Extensa 7620
dmi.product.version: 0100
dmi.sys.vendor: Acer
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system: distro = Ubuntu, architecture = i686, kernel = 2.6.37-8-generic

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

thanks for your bug report. could you get a screenshot/video of the problem with a camera?

[Rosca Stefan (sarvigalava)]

After several reboots the problem seems to be fixed. sorry for inconvenients. But alt +tab in crashing windows manager

[William A Ellerbe (waellerbe)]

I have a similar situation with bug # 687445, yet it deals more with Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha edition. While Ubuntu 10.10 would not work on my Acer Aspire 5516 laptop, 11.04 would at least allow me to install and make sure of the Default Ubuntu and Classic Desktop environments. As the screen capture will show, my install shows weird white lines at the top left and right hand side of mine screen. Not sure what's causing this error. If there's a solution to fix this, please let us know.

[David Barth (dbarth)]

Looks lilke a rendering artifact due to the ATI driver. The ALT+tab crashing the window manager is also tracked as #691653

[David Barth (dbarth)]

Most probably a driver issue. Assigning Jay to make sure the problem is on his radar, if something needs to be done at the unity level.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

@William, your screenshot is different from the original reporters and should be handled as a separate bug report. Please file a new bug report using 'ubuntu-bug xorg' (while the screen is corrupted) and attach your screenshot. It would be helpful if you could try seeing if you can reproduce the behavior with the classic desktop + compiz, to make it more clear that it's a driver bug rather than unity.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi Rosca Stefan, are you still experiencing this bug? You mentioned a few reboots cleared it, but is it a recurring problem that just shows itself once and a while?

avivotool can be used to assist in debugging this issue. avivotool is provided with the radeontool package, so to install it run:

    sudo apt-get install radeontool

After installing it, you run it like this:

    avivotool regs all > regdump_good.txt
    avivotool regs all > regdump_broke.txt

Run it two times. Once when you have a working screen (for any driver), and once in the broken case (either from the tty console or logged into the sick box remotely). Attach both of those to this bug report, and we can then forward this issue upstream. Thanks ahead of time!

[William A Ellerbe (waellerbe)]

@Bryce Harrington - Thank you for your suggestion. I filed a new bug using ubuntu-bug xorg, and I will attempt to see what happens with the Classic Desktop and Compiz Fusion. I like what the Developers are attempting to do with Unity, and I would like to experience this new interface working on my laptop in due time.

[William A Ellerbe (waellerbe)]

@Bryce Harrington - As of 12:50pm here on 01/09/10 I'm still using Unity on the Default Desktop for Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha, and I'm using Compiz Fusion on the Classic Desktop. As of this writing, I'm still seeing the strange white lines at the top left and right hand sides of my screen. If this is a driver problem, I'm confident that a solution will come forth between today and April of this year. With the except of some applets that need to be reloaded under the Default Desktop, all of my settings for Compiz Fusion run very well.

I take it that my lesson to learn is to set up my options for Compiz Fusion under the "Classic Desktop" and not under Unity. For some reason, the Unity interface will lock up and stop working if I set up an option for Compiz Fusion. In closing I would like to say that I like how the "Ubuntu Unity Plugin" can be activated through Compiz Fusion to LAUNCH the Unity environment. As we speak, Autohide Launcher, and Float Launcher are the only two options that exist for this plugin.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Alright, well we're due to get new X bits including a new -ati driver and mesa within about a week and a half. If it's a driver or mesa issue (as I suspect at this point), it may magically go away after we update natty. If not, we can take the bug report upstream at that point.

So, stay tuned for the moment, and please make a note to update and re-test in a week or two.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

We're going to be moving natty to its new X stack within the next week
or so. Currently this stack is available in xorg-edgers, and our
testing is showing it to be quite stable.

I'd like to have you attempt to reproduce your issue with this new
stack. If it still occurs with that stack, we can then take the the bug
upstream, or approach the kernel team or other appropriate groups about
it.

The PPA is available at:
https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa

Here's a simple way to install:
  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get upgrade

Then reboot your system to get to the new bits.

If you want to go back to stock Ubuntu, there is a corresponding
ppa-purge tool:
  sudo ppa-purge xorg-edgers
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get upgrade

[William A Ellerbe (waellerbe)]

@Bryce Harrington - Thank you so much for your suggestion kind sir. As
of 2:38pm I will attempt to bump up my installation of Ubuntu 11.04 to
the new X stack per the instructions you have laid out for me. When I
reboot my system to "get to the new bits," I will follow up with you
to let you know how the upgrade. If I may offer some APPRECIATION, I
wanted to point out that the Ubuntu logo on the splash screen looks
MUCH better than before. It's very clean and has the beautiful
graphical glow that I remember from previews installations of Ubuntu.
Until then take care and make it a great day.

On 01/18/2011, Bryce Harrington <email address hidden> wrote:
> We're going to be moving natty to its new X stack within the next week
> or so. Currently this stack is available in xorg-edgers, and our
> testing is showing it to be quite stable.
>
> I'd like to have you attempt to reproduce your issue with this new
> stack. If it still occurs with that stack, we can then take the the bug
> upstream, or approach the kernel team or other appropriate groups about
> it.
>
> The PPA is available at:
> https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa
>
> Here's a simple way to install:
> sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
> sudo apt-get update
> sudo apt-get upgrade
>
> Then reboot your system to get to the new bits.
>
> If you want to go back to stock Ubuntu, there is a corresponding
> ppa-purge tool:
> sudo ppa-purge xorg-edgers
> sudo apt-get update
> sudo apt-get upgrade
>
> ** Changed in: xserver-xorg-video-ati (Ubuntu)
> Status: Incomplete => New
>
> ** Changed in: xserver-xorg-video-ati (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/687445
>
> Title:
> The strange white lines appeared on the top of screen
>
> Status in Unity:
> Invalid
> Status in “unity” package in Ubuntu:
> New
> Status in “xserver-xorg-video-ati” package in Ubuntu:
> Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: unity
>
> After an update at the each loading of the desktop, the strange white
> lines will appear on the top of screen. The running of Window Manager
> executable will take off this lines.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
> Package: unity 3.2.2-0ubuntu2
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.37-8.21-generic 2.6.37-rc4
> Uname: Linux 2.6.37-8-generic i686
> Architecture: i386
> CompizPlugins:
> [core,ccp,move,resize,place,decoration,dbus,mousepoll,gnomecompat,png,svg,imgjpeg,text,commands,neg,wall,snap,animation,scale,scaleaddon,expo,staticswitcher,regex,resizeinfo,workarounds,ezoom,vpswitch,fade,session]
> Date: Wed Dec 8 19:55:14 2010
> ExecutablePath: /usr/lib/unity/unity-panel-service
> InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386
> (20101007)
> InstallationMedia_: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386
> (20101007)
> MachineType: Acer Extensa 7620
> PccardctlIdent:
> Socket 0:
> no product info available
> PccardctlStatus:
> Socket 0:
> no card
> PciDisplay: 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI...

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Thanks, I'll assume this bug is permanently gone now.

Fwiw, it is likely it was the kernel where the fix was done, but hard to verify.

We have new -ati bits going in today so would be worth retesting, but if this or other issues occur it's best to file a new bug with 'ubuntu-bug xorg'