kubuntu unusable with desktop effects - xorg takes 100% cpu

[amichair]

System: kubuntu 9.04 Beta (dist-upgraded from 8.10), amd64, NVidia GeForce 9300 (integrated gpu).
Packages: all up to date, nvidia-glx-180 version 180.44-0ubuntu1, xorg-xserver version 1:7.4~5ubuntu18

After logging in, just when the kde desktop shows, the system becomes completely unusable: either it totally freezes (only a hard reboot helps), or big black rectangles appear in various places, or the mouse moves a tiny bit and then gets stuck for a few seconds before it can move a tiny bit more etc., or the mouse moves freely but doesn't interact with anything.

In one of the times when the mouse did respond but with very long lags, I've managed to eventually run top and saw xorg taking 100% cpu. A couple times I got a notification that compositing is taking up too much cpu and will be automatically disabled, after which the system was sort of usable but with display refresh problems. This gave me the idea of disabling desktop effects, after which the system is back to normal (but without the effects, of course).

I've come across various similar bug reports, but they are either specific to Intel chipsets, or closed as fixed, or relate to disabling direct rendering - all of which are not relevant to this problem which still occurs with a fully updated system.

Note that the previous configuration had the 177 nvidia drivers with Intrepid and there was no such problem. In jaunty I can't seem to revert to the 177 drivers - they don't appear to exist in the repositories.

[lspci]
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Host Bridge [10de:0a80] (rev b1)
     Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:8356]
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation GeForce 9300 / nForce 730i [10de:086c] (rev b1)
     Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:8356]

[mjm115 (mjm115)]

I can also confirm this problem. I have also reverted back to both the 173 drivers and the 177 drivers (current is 180). I can duplicate this problem using each of the drivers with the Jaunty. I did not have this problem in Intrepid. I am also having some onboard sound issues with the Asus M3N78-VM, issues I did not have in Intrepid. I will report this in another ticket.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi amichai2,

Please attach the output of `lspci -vvnn`, and attach your /var/log/Xorg.0.log (and maybe Xorg.0.log.old) file from after reproducing this issue. If you've made any customizations to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf please attach that as well.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[amichair (amichai2)]

I recreated the problem several times (each time I enable desktop effects), but all times resulted in a completely nonresponsive system - the mouse cursor moves, but neither keyboard nor mouse actions do anything. so I couldn't get to Xorg.0.log from within the problem state, but I've attached one from the next boot in case there's something useful about the system configuration there. I haven't modified xorg.conf manually, but I've used nvidia-settings which modifies it, I'll attach it as well.

If I manage to get to the 100% cpu scenario again in which I can ever so slowly get to a console, I'll try to grab the logs - but I don't know how to recreate it specifically - as before, each time I turned on desktop effects resulted in one of the 3 different corrupt/stuck states in the original report.

for the benefit of others having the problem and reading this report, the way to get back to a usable system:

1. reboot
2. do not log in to KDE, rather press ctrl-alt-F1 and log in at the console
3. edit the configuration file ~/.kde/share/config/kwinrc (e.g. using vi)
4. under the [compositing] header, find the line reading "Enabled=true" and change it to "Enabled=false"
5. save the file
6. reboot (from the console, type "sudo reboot" and enter your password)
7. now u can log in normally (with desktop effects disabled)

[amichair (amichai2)]

Update: Today I tried installing the latest nvidia driver, ver. 185.18.14, straight from nvidia's site (http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html) using the simple guide at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=990978, since the 185 version is not available in the Jaunty repositories. The problem seems to be solved - desktop effects work fine now. Note that the system is fully up to date, and iirc there have been some xorg related updates since the original post, so I can't isolate the effects of each update at the moment. But all together, a fully updated Jaunty with the latest nvidia drivers fixes the problem.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

I've posted a new version of the -nvidia driver to our xorg-edgers PPA,
would you mind testing it either on Jaunty or Karmic and see if it
resolves this bug?

Get nvidia-graphics-drivers-180 - 185.18.14 here:

  https://edge.launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa

[amichair (amichai2)]

The PPA link points to another PPA which is considered more stable (https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/x-updates), and seems to contain a package with the same driver version but a different name - are they the same? I'd rather try something stable if possible :-)

[bugbot (bugbot)]

This bug report was filed against an old version of Ubuntu.
Can you confirm whether this is still an issue in natty?

If you don't mind, it would be very helpful if you could update the bug
report in launchpad to 'Fix Released' if it is no longer an issue for
you, or if it is still occurring under natty, please tag the bug 'natty'
so it's easier for us to track.

[bugbot (bugbot)]

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.

[amichair (amichai2)]

I can't say anything about whether this was fixed or not in 9.04, but I'm currently using Natty on the same hardware, and I don't have this issue.

Unfortunately, in Natty I'm suffering from bug #760632 (on same hardware) and bug #774207 (on netbook) - so while individual bugs eventually get fixed (or waited out until they become obsolete), the overall stability and quality of the desktop environment is still not quite there :-(

[Mats Kindahl (mkindahl)]

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