ubuntu-bug xorg_Strange White Lines

[William A Ellerbe]

Binary package hint: xorg

I'm running Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha on my Acer Aspire 5516 laptop with ATI Radeon Graphics, 4GB of RAM and the AMD Athlon 64-bit processor. I submitted a bug report before and related to some issues tied in with bug# 687445, yet I was encouraged to file a new bug report using "ubuntu-bug xorg." With this new bug report I am attaching an updated screenshot of my desktop which will show what my desktop looks like at present. As time allows, I will try to see what happens with the Classic Desktop and Compiz Fusion to determine whether it's a driver bug rather than unity.

I am hoping that this might be a driver problem instead of a Unity problem. I like what Ubuntu is attempting to do with the new Unity interface, and it would be nice to see it working on my laptop as intended by the Developers. Thanks in advance.

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.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: xorg 1:7.5+6ubuntu6
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.37-11.25-generic-pae 2.6.37-rc7
Uname: Linux 2.6.37-11-generic-pae i686
Architecture: i386
DRM.card0.LVDS.1:
 status: connected
 enabled: enabled
 dpms: On
 modes: 1366x768 1280x720 1152x768 1024x768 800x600 848x480 720x480 640x480
 edid-base64: AP///////wAGr+wQAAAAAAESAQOAIhN4Cua1o1dPlCYeUFQAAAABAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBIBxWeFAAJjAwIDQAWMEQAAAYAAAADwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgAAAA/gBBVU8KICAgICAgICAgAAAA/gBCMTU2WFcwMSBWMCAKACo=
DRM.card0.VGA.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: On
 modes:
 edid-base64:
Date: Sat Jan 8 18:49:24 2011
DistUpgraded: Yes, recently upgraded Log time: 2010-12-25 00:59:18.888796
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GraphicsCard: Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0213]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
Lsusb:
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: Acer Aspire 5516
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 LC_MESSAGES=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37-11-generic-pae root=UUID=264ab14b-82cb-4cb2-b16f-e6861eef130d ro vt.handoff=7 quiet splash
SourcePackage: xorg
UnitySupportTest:

dmi.bios.date: 04/21/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Acer
dmi.bios.version: V1.10
dmi.board.name: Aspire 5516
dmi.board.vendor: Acer
dmi.board.version: N/A
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAcer:bvrV1.10:bd04/21/2009:svnAcer:pnAspire5516:pvrV1.10:rvnAcer:rnAspire5516:rvrN/A:cvnAcer:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: Aspire 5516
dmi.product.version: V1.10
dmi.sys.vendor: Acer
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.22-2ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.9+repack-1ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.5+6ubuntu6
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.13.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.13.901-2ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20100805+b96170a-0ubuntu1

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

This does look a lot like a driver bug rather than unity. We'll be getting a new -ati driver along with lots of other new X bits within a week and a half or so, which might make the issue go away completely. If not, we can forward the issue upstream once it's confirmed on the newer versions.

Meanwhile, could you also collect register dumps before and after?

    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

[William A Ellerbe (waellerbe)]

@Bryce Harrington - Thank you for your message kind sir. I will mark my calendar with a reminder to look for the new ATI driver. After running the "sudo apt-get install radeontool" I got the following message:

radeontool is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libwildmidi0 geeqie-common libcdt4 linux-headers-2.6.35-22 geeqie
  linux-headers-2.6.35-22-generic libx264-98 ufraw-batch netpbm libgvc5
  exiftran libxdot4 libmagickcore3-extra ubuntu-netbook-default-settings
  libnetpbm10 imagemagick libgraph4 gqview libpathplan4
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 17 not upgraded.
william@william-Aspire-5516:~$

After running "avivotool regs all > regdump_good.txt" I got the following message:

mapping ctrl region
Segmentation fault

The when I ran "avivotool regs all > regdump_broke.txt" I got the same message:

mapping ctrl region
Segmentation fault

When I attempt to view both text files, I discovered that both files were empty. What would be the next step? Thanks in advance.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Oh, if you didn't run it as root, maybe that's why it's faulting.

sudo avivotool regs all > regdump_good.txt

sudo avivotool regs all > regdump_broke.txt

[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 - I just wanted to take another opportunity to thank you for your instructions that you provided regarding the new X stack for Ubuntu. I followed the steps you outlined for installing from PPA, and the "Strange White Lines" are gone. With that said kind sir, still I can't thank you enough for your assistance on this bug within Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha. Until then take care and make it a great day.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Thanks, closing as fixed