Netbook's screen flickers severely and Ubuntu crashes

[Michael Erwig]

Binary package hint: nautilus

Hardware: Samsung N130 Netbook with Intel 945GME Graphics and N270 CPU
Ubuntu: Natty Narwhal (11.04)

When using my Netbook, I sometimes get graphics issues:
The screen is toggling two brightness modes, appearing as flickering.
I can't interact there, only solution is Ctrl+Alt+Del

Apart from that, I upgraded my Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition to this one;
With the previous OS, I haven't had this problem.

Up to now, I only got this bug when using my Netbook in battery mode,
it never happened when charged.

And, finally, one hour ago, the screen showed some very strange, coloured artifacts running down from the upper part of the screen, inhibiting any action. After some time, my PC just shut down by itself and rebooted;
Of course, the data was lost.

I hope that you can help me with this bug; With it, I can't continue to work safely.

lspci -vv Output excerpt:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
 Subsystem: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Device c05d
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0
 Capabilities: <access denied>

lspci -vvn Output excerpt:

00:02.0 0300: 8086:27ae (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
 Subsystem: 144d:c05d
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
 Region 0: Memory at f0000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
 Region 1: I/O ports at 1800 [size=8]
 Region 2: Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
 Region 3: Memory at f0200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
 Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: i915
 Kernel modules: intelfb, i915

 Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
 Subsystem: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Device c05d
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
 Region 0: Memory at f0000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
 Region 1: I/O ports at 1800 [size=8]
 Region 2: Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
 Region 3: Memory at f0200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
 Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: i915
 Kernel modules: intelfb, i915

00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
 Subsystem: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Device c05d
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-

dmesg Output excerpt (strange, don't know if this is normal):

[ 18.657919] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[ 18.935883] samsung_laptop: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: nautilus 1:2.32.2.1-0ubuntu13
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue May 3 20:47:21 2011
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/nautilus
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Netbook 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=de_DE:en
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: nautilus
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-05-01 (2 days ago)
XsessionErrors:
 (awn-applet:1352): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_dir_read_name: assertion `dir != NULL' failed
 (awn-applet:1352): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_dir_close: assertion `dir != NULL' failed
 (nm-applet:1213): libappindicator-WARNING **: Unable to connect to the Notification Watcher: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name :1.99 was not provided by any .service files
 (<unknown>:1201): librsvg-WARNING **: Error setting CSS SAC handler

[neferty (roman-semko)]

Happens on my N130 as well. Few points not mentioned by the reporter:

- It only happens on battery mode IF the screen brightness is set to anything brighter than the MINIMAL BRIGHTNESS. Then the screen starts to flicker between the minimal and the set brightness.
- If it starts flickering there is not much you can do (apart of ctrl+alt+delete). Fn + Brightness Up/Down doesn't work.
I found that it is possible to stop flickering by pressing Fn+volume up/down as soon as the flickering starts.

Hope this helps!

[Patrik Wallström (pawal)]

I see the exact same thing on my N130. Fn + Brightness Up/Down, and Fn + Volume up/down stops the flickering. Very annoying, at best.

[Michael Erwig (haeppismile)]

For you two and everyone else who has got this problem, I found a solution (only tested on Samsung N130):

- System
   -> Properties
      -> Power Management
         -> Battery Operation
            -> Deactivate "Dim Screen Brightness in Idle-Mode"

I don't know if these are the exact names of the specific menu commands, but look for these or similar categories to get rid of the flickering. It's not the perfect solution, but at least this screen error won't appear anymore.

[jazzynico (jazzynico)]

Reproduced on Ubuntu 11.04, Samsung N150plus.
Same symptoms, exactly.

[Matthias Niess (mniess)]

This happens in oneiric, too.

[Matt Sturgeon (mattsturgeon)]

Bug #810093 duplicate?