external monitor no longer works

[Steve Newcomb]

I updated my system, a Lenovo X220, this morning. Upon rebooting, the external monitor would not work. It flickers a lot of mainly-green gibberish, and it is unusable. The internal LCD screen in the notebook still works, but not when the external monitor is connected. The external monitor is a Samsung 1920x1600. I rebooted the machine again, this time selecting Linux 2.6.38-11. Now the external monitor works properly, just as it used to. Upgrading the Linux from -11 to -12 is clearly what broke the system.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-11.50-generic 2.6.38.8
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-11-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
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: None
Date: Wed Oct 26 14:55:53 2011
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 virtualbox-ose, 4.0.4, 2.6.38-12-generic, x86_64: installed
 virtualbox-ose, 4.0.4, 2.6.38-11-generic, x86_64: installed
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0126] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21da]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110426)
MachineType: LENOVO 4286CTO
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-2.6.38-11-generic root=/dev/mapper/sda6_crypt ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
Renderer: Unknown
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 07/07/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 8DET50WW (1.20 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 4286CTO
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:bvr8DET50WW(1.20):bd07/07/2011:svnLENOVO:pn4286CTO:pvrThinkPadX220:rvnLENOVO:rn4286CTO:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 4286CTO
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad X220
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110606-0ubuntu1~natty2
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs 20090808ubuntu13
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+4ubuntu3.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.0-0ubuntu4.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu7.2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110107+b795ca6e-0ubuntu7

[Steve Newcomb (srn-coolheads)]

I made a mistake in my report. The monitor is 1920x1200, not 1920x1600 as I reported.

[Julian Wiedmann (jwiedmann)]

Probably caused by http://kernel.ubuntu.com/git?p=ubuntu/ubuntu-natty.git;a=commit;h=a0be1b0f55a6127bdb291877f466dc8d22daded3 and previously reported in bug 791752.

[Steve Newcomb (srn-coolheads)]

I'm still unable to use a kernel newer than 38-11 if I'm using an external monitor with my X-220 machines.

An Ubuntu update for Intel graphics chips, which I received and installed last night, did not fix the problem on 38-12.

This bug affects both of the Lenovo X-220s in my household. Their external monitors are from different manufacturers, with different resolutions.

[Steve Newcomb (srn-coolheads)]

Something that may or may not be relevant:

Both of the Lenovo X-220 machines in my household freeze (hard crash) occasionally. I suspect a driver somewhere is the culprit. At least one of the machines, and maybe both of them, *sometimes* freezes in a very nasty way, taking our whole wired network down, I assume by jabbering. To restore the network to operation, I can either reboot (power-cycle) the frozen machine or disconnect it from the ethernet.

[Steve Newcomb (srn-coolheads)]

Attempted to upgrade to 38-13 this morning. It still doesn't work. Interestingly, it is broken in a slightly different way than 38-12 was broken. Instead of flickering, as it did under 38-12, the external monitor puts up a floating box that says something like: "Not optimum mode. Optimum mode is 1920x1200." That's all I can get out of it.

I uninstalled 38-13 and went back to 38-11, which still works. (Had to run update-grub. No problem.)

FYI, I installed Kubuntu on an external disk and ran it on the same Lenovo X-220-based workstation that's having all these problems with flickering external monitor since 38-12 came out. No problem! (Well, no problem except for the fragility of some of KDE4's tools. We can live with that.)

Go figure. I don't get it. Is all this flickering in versions after 38-11 really an old-Gnome problem?

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Steve Newcomb, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, could you please test the latest upstream kernel available following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds ? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Please do not test the daily folder, but the one all the way at the bottom. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested. If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

where VERSION-NUMBER is the version number of the kernel you tested. For example:
kernel-fixed-upstream-v3.11-rc5

This can be done by clicking on the yellow circle with a black pencil icon next to the word Tags located at the bottom of the bug description. As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug's Status as Confirmed. Please let us know your results. Thank you for your understanding.

[Steve Newcomb (srn-coolheads)]

I gave up on Kubuntu and on Ubuntu 11.04 quite a while ago. I'm having no such problems now with Ubuntu Server 12.04.2 and KDE. I'm not testing the latest development release, as you requested, because this bug is no longer an issue for us.

Notes:

(1) I can now log into Launchpad again, as you can see. I couldn't for a long time, which was frustrating. Thanks for the heads up, Christopher. (And congratulations to the Launchpad team for fixing it. One doesn't miss the water until the well runs dry.)

(2) For workstations I now use Ubuntu server 12.04.2 for original installs and I install KDE on top of it, afterwards. The Kubuntu installation disk just doesn't work for us; it's too rigid. The Debian-style non-graphic installer for Ubuntu Server works pretty well, and it is vitally important for us. I hope it's not going away; the loss of the "alternative installation" disks of yore has made me nervous about the possibility of losing the far-more-powerful Debian-style installer.

(3) I tried 13.04 and finally reverted to 12.04 because it created problems. I don't remember what they were, though. Sorry. That was during the time I couldn't contribute any comments to Launchpad, and I got discouraged about participating.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Steve Newcomb, this bug report is being closed due to your last comment regarding this being fixed with an update. For future reference you can manage the status of your own bugs by clicking on the current status in the yellow line and then choosing a new status in the revealed drop down box. You can learn more about bug statuses at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status. Thank you again for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please submit any future bugs you may find.