[sandybridge gt2+] Artifacting and other GUI weirdness in Unity env

[Jeff Lane ]

Binary package hint: xorg

System runs Unity just fine, other than the weird artifacting. Also, changing resolutions hoses the display, but that's a different bug already filed.

in this case, I just wanted to open one regarding the weird artifacting that seems to happen by default on this system.

See the screenshot for an example.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic-pae 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic-pae i686
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,mousepoll,vpswitch,regex,animation,snap,expo,move,compiztoolbox,place,grid,imgpng,gnomecompat,wall,ezoom,workarounds,staticswitcher,resize,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,scale,session,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
DRM.card0.LVDS.1:
 status: connected
 enabled: enabled
 dpms: On
 modes: 1920x1080 1920x1080
 edid-base64: AP///////wAwrrJAAAAAAAETAQOAIhN46iE1rVA3qiQRUFQAAAABAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBTDaAgnA4MkA8MKoAWMEQAAAYPy2AgnA4MkA8MKoAWMEQAAAYAAAADwDRCTLRCSgbGQAGr1Y0AAAA/gBCMTU2SFcwMSBWNCAKANY=
DRM.card0.VGA.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card1.DP.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: On
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card1.DP.2:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: On
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card1.DP.3:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: On
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card1.LVDS.2:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: On
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card1.VGA.2:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: On
 modes:
 edid-base64:
Date: Fri Apr 29 19:59:52 2011
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0126] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21d1]
 nVidia Corporation Device [10de:0dda] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21d1]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release i386 (20110427.1)
MachineType: LENOVO 427623U
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic-pae root=UUID=ba40e028-6afc-4e34-9b50-21cfa367edec ro quiet splash initcall_debug vt.handoff=7
Renderer: Unknown
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 02/23/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 8BET29WW (1.05 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 427623U
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr8BET29WW(1.05):bd02/23/2011:svnLENOVO:pn427623U:pvrThinkPadW520:rvnLENOVO:rn427623U:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 427623U
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad W520
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.23-1ubuntu6
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.0-0ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu7
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110107+b795ca6e-0ubuntu7

[Ara Pulido (ara)]

Is this a hybrid video card system? Does it work better using the nVidia drivers?

[Marc Legris (maaarc-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

From lspci this does look like an nvidia system. However, with the nVidia driver the 2d desktop is present, not unity.

[Ara Pulido (ara)]

Marking as confirmed again, as Marc replied to the question

[Ara Pulido (ara)]

Chris, could you have a look to this one, please?

[Chris Van Hoof (vanhoof)]

Robert -- Can you take a look at this one?

[Robert Hooker (sarvatt)]

For future refence, this is an optimus system and you are using the intel GPU even though both GPU's are on at the same time. Installing the nvidia binary drivers breaks 3D for the Intel leading to the 2D desktop after. The images shipped with these systems for lenovo worked around this by a kernel command line option (acpi_osi="!Windows 2009") that pretended to be windows XP so the bios autodetection wouldn't try to use optimus and instead default to just the nvidia GPU. They GPU to use can also be picked in the bios manually on lenovo.

[Robert Hooker (sarvatt)]

Do you know of anything that can reproduce this reliably? For example, does it happen every time you run checkbox-certification-gtk? I haven't seen this kind of corruption ever on the same GPU in a unity environment and am trying to track down checkbox-certification-gtk at the moment

[Ara Pulido (ara)]

Waiting on Marc's input

[Marc Legris (maaarc-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

Can't seem to reproduce this error, Jeff might have an idea.

[Marc Legris (maaarc-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

Talked to Jeff, looks like its not a readily reproducible error.