[Dell XPS 13 9380] screen jitter after long idle

[Alex Tu]

It's 1st time happens on my xps13 9380 with bionic + oem kernel 4.15.0-1056-oem.
I have updated to 1056 from 1050 for several days, this issue not happens for these days and not experienced it on 1050 as well. So, looks it's just randomly happens or I can not find a static way to reproduce it.

I also not sure if unattended upgrade bring in some regression.

So, my plan would be
1. do apt full-upgrade, and if it still can be reproduce then.
2. try mainline kernel

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+19ubuntu7.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-1056.65-oem 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-1056-oem x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.7
Architecture: amd64
BootLog: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/boot.log'
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: None
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Mon Sep 23 00:14:35 2019
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: bionic
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Device [8086:3ea0] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:08af]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-08-11 (42 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20180426)
MachineType: Dell Inc. XPS 13 9380
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-1056-oem root=UUID=d6c42edb-0a08-49cc-89e9-fe4df2d0c5e1 ro
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 02/14/2019
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.2.1
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr1.2.1:bd02/14/2019:svnDellInc.:pnXPS139380:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct10:cvr:
dmi.product.family: XPS
dmi.product.name: XPS 13 9380
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.97-1ubuntu1~18.04.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 19.0.8-0ubuntu0~18.04.1
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 19.0.8-0ubuntu0~18.04.1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.19.6-1ubuntu4.3
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:18.0.1-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20171229-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.15-2

[Alex Tu (alextu)]

from journalctl , it keep print error message

[Alex Tu (alextu)]

the video when issue happens

[Alex Tu (alextu)]

past the packages list here as record before I doing apt full-upgrade.

[Alex Tu (alextu)]

from the apt history log, it looks not something fishy as well.

BTW, the only package I installed these 2 days is multipass snap package.
I use it to run a bionc VM to test TLP behavior.

[Alex Tu (alextu)]

btw, as record. After reboot of this issue. I also updated BIOS by fwupd to make sure every thing is updated to date for following debugging.

$ fwupdmgr get-updates
No upgrades for XPS 13 9380 System Firmware, current is 0.1.7.0: 0.1.7.0=same, 0.1.6.0=older, 0.1.5.0=older, 0.1.4.0=older, 0.1.3.2=older

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

This looks like another atomic mode setting problem. To test this theory, please try 'Ubuntu on Wayland' and tell us if it avoids the jitter.

If so, then this Xorg fix from Intel is probably what we want to keep an eye on:
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver/merge_requests/180

I keep seeing bug reports like this from time to time. Not too often, and I think Xorg's buggy atomic modesetting implementation could be the cause.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Or it could be the framebuffer compression or other power saving things. Since the last relevant kernel message is:

[180893.945295] [drm] Reducing the compressed framebuffer size. This may lead to less power savings than a non-reduced-size. Try to increase stolen memory size if available in BIOS.

Does TLP tweak anything in that area? And does the bug occur without TLP?

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Actually, the XorgLog.txt shows more definite problems:

[181434.889] (WW) modeset(0): flip queue failed: Device or resource busy
[181434.889] (WW) modeset(0): Page flip failed: Device or resource busy
[181434.889] (EE) modeset(0): present flip failed
[181434.989] (WW) modeset(0): flip queue failed: Device or resource busy
[181434.989] (WW) modeset(0): Page flip failed: Device or resource busy
[181434.989] (EE) modeset(0): present flip failed
[181435.105] (WW) modeset(0): flip queue failed: Device or resource busy
[181435.105] (WW) modeset(0): Page flip failed: Device or resource busy
[181435.106] (EE) modeset(0): present flip failed
[181435.205] (WW) modeset(0): flip queue failed: Device or resource busy
[181435.205] (WW) modeset(0): Page flip failed: Device or resource busy
[181435.205] (EE) modeset(0): present flip failed

That might be Xorg's fault (comment #8) or it might be the kernel's fault.

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

atomic modesetting is disabled in eoan, btw

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

If the problem is still happening then please try disabling PSR:

  i915.enable_psr=0

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

See also bug 1939211

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for xorg-server (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]