display freezes after recent apt update/upgrade

[Lionel Hampton]

After a recent upgrade (which includes linux,xorg-server,compiz,unity...see

below), the display periodically freezes and is completely unresponsive to

keyboard and mouse (other than pointer movement), after attempting to drag a

window across the workspace. This is a problem for both of two modes of window

dragging: <ALT>+<left mouse button>+drag and <super>+s then drag. Other than

when dragging windows, no other activity on the desktop/display appears to be a

problem. The system is otherwise quite stable.

But...

In addition (and this is also new since the upgrade and probably related), the

display and input goes dead after closing the lid on the laptop. This happens

whether displaying the desktop, or in a virtual terminal, or when logged out with

the login screen displayed. The display goes blank (per the usual), but does not

go active again when the lid is raised (bad). The system is configured to "never

suspend" and to "do nothing" when the lid is closed and to "never" turn the screen

off due to inactivity.

The noted behavior is now on exhibit with both the upgraded kernel and the "old"

kernel (4.4.0-38-generic and 4.4.0-36-generic, respectively). Prior to the

upgrade, this laptop was perfectly stable (booting 4.4.0-36), and (for what it's

worth) windows10 (ughhh) is still quite stable, suggesting that this is not a case

of hardware gone flaky.

I strongly suspect an interaction between the upgraded compiz package and the

upgraded xorg-server as the source of the problem, since the underlying system

continues to operate even though the display and input are dead (deduced by the

fact that scheduled cron jobs run to completion well after the display has gone

dead), and because the first problem only occurs when dragging a window. (It

would help if I were able to switch into a virtual terminal, but the keyboard is

totally deceased.)

There is no indication of a problem in the log files that I have been able to

discern. However, there is at least one instance of dumped core (so to speak) by

upstart in /var/crash since the upgrade.

I realize that this is not enough detail to be of much help, and not much of the

bug reporting docs seem to apply to this case, so please do let me know what more

I can do to assist in tracking down the problem.

Ubuntu release 16.04... all upgrades are current as of 2016-10-07
ideapad 100S laptop
Intel Atom CPU Z3735F @ 1.33GHz × 4
Graphics: Intel Bay Trail

uname -a
Linux khampton-Lenovo-ideapad-100S-11IBY 4.4.0-38-generic #57-Ubuntu SMP Tue Sep 6

15:42:33 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series SoC

Transaction Register (rev 0f)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx

Series Graphics & Display (rev 0f)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx, Celeron

N2000 Series USB xHCI (rev 0f)
00:1a.0 Encryption controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx

Series Trusted Execution Engine (rev 0f)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Power

Control Unit (rev 0f)

The upgrade included the following packages, as output by dpkg-log-summary, with

the obvious innocents stripped out:

u accountsservice 2016-10-07 11:32:34 0.6.40-

2ubuntu11.1 0.6.40-2ubuntu11.2
u accountsservice:amd64 2016-10-07 11:32:32 0.6.40-

2ubuntu11.1 0.6.40-2ubuntu11.2
u bamf 2016-10-07 11:33:27

0.5.3~bzr0+16.04.20160701-0ubuntu1 0.5.3~bzr0+16.04.20160824-0ubuntu1
u bind9 2016-10-07 11:28:56

1:9.10.3.dfsg.P4-8ubuntu1 1:9.10.3.dfsg.P4-8ubuntu1.1
u compiz:all 2016-10-07 11:33:33

1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160526-0ubuntu1 1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160823-0ubuntu1
u gdk-pixbuf 2016-10-07 11:33:05 2.32.2-1ubuntu1

              2.32.2-1ubuntu1.2
u gtk2-engines-murrine:amd64 2016-10-07 11:35:19 0.98.2-

0ubuntu2.1 0.98.2-0ubuntu2.2
u ifupdown:amd64 2016-10-07 11:27:23 0.8.10ubuntu1

              0.8.10ubuntu1.1
u initramfs-tools 2016-10-07 11:28:54 0.122ubuntu8.1

              0.122ubuntu8.3
u initramfs-tools:all 2016-10-07 11:28:53 0.122ubuntu8.1

              0.122ubuntu8.3
u isc-dhcp 2016-10-07 11:28:57 4.3.3-

5ubuntu12.1 4.3.3-5ubuntu12.3
u klibc 2016-10-07 11:28:52 2.0.4-

8ubuntu1.16.04.1 2.0.4-8ubuntu1.16.04.2
u libunity 2016-10-07 11:34:55

7.1.4+15.10.20151002-0ubuntu2 7.1.4+16.04.20160701-0ubuntu1
u linux 2016-10-07 11:36:17 4.4.0-36.55

              4.4.0-38.57
u linux-meta 2016-10-07 11:43:39 4.4.0.36.38

              4.4.0.38.40
u network-manager 2016-10-07 11:35:58 1.2.0-

0ubuntu0.16.04.3 1.2.2-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
u network-manager:amd64 2016-10-07 11:48:15 1.2.0-

0ubuntu0.16.04.3 1.2.2-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
u ntp:amd64 2016-10-07 11:31:53 1:4.2.8p4+dfsg-

3ubuntu5.1 1:4.2.8p4+dfsg-3ubuntu5.3
u snap-confine 2016-10-07 11:32:05 1.0.38-

0ubuntu0.16.04.8 1.0.38-0ubuntu0.16.04.10
u snap-confine:amd64 2016-10-07 11:31:55 1.0.38-

0ubuntu0.16.04.8 1.0.38-0ubuntu0.16.04.10
u snapd:amd64 2016-10-07 11:49:11 2.12+0.16.04

              2.15.2ubuntu1
u systemd 2016-10-07 11:27:08 229-4ubuntu7

              229-4ubuntu10
u systemd:amd64 2016-10-07 11:27:39 229-4ubuntu7

              229-4ubuntu10
u ubuntu-drivers-common:amd64 2016-10-07 11:32:06 1:0.4.17.1

              1:0.4.17.2
u unity 2016-10-07 11:36:14

7.4.0+16.04.20160801.2-0ubuntu1 7.4.0+16.04.20160906-0ubuntu1
u unity:amd64 2016-10-07 11:36:00

7.4.0+16.04.20160801.2-0ubuntu1 7.4.0+16.04.20160906-0ubuntu1
u xorg-server 2016-10-07 11:27:14 2:1.18.3-

1ubuntu2.3 2:1.18.4-0ubuntu0.1

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1632197/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

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

[Lionel Hampton (haydoooke)]

An update on the symptoms...

Two new manifestations of note:

1) After trying briefly to get the display to freeze by dragging windows on the desktop, and believing that I had failed, I tried switching to a virtual terminal, only to find them all dead (blank screen and unresponsive). When I tried to return to the desktop display, I found that it was frozen except for mouse pointer movement.

2) After working on the desktop for several hours with just one incidence of freezing/reboot, I again attempted to switch to a virtual terminal, to find the screen as I had left it earlier (logged in and grepping a log file), but unresponsive to the keyboard. I tried a number of obvious keyboard sequences and random pecking to no avail, then switched back to the desktop display to find that much of that keyboard input somehow made it to an xterm on the desktop. In other words, on switching to the vt, the keyboard input remained with the desktop. This is all looking very much like a problem with the xserver, but then...

Thinking that I would try dragging some windows between workspaces, I hit <alt>+s to bring up the workspace switcher, only to find to my amazement that the workspace grid had undergone a vertical rotation. Is this a bug or a feature? With all the random keyboard pecking that had been erroneously fed to the desktop, had I stumbled upon an undocumented "feature" which we shall call workspace grid rotation? If the answer is "no", then unity has a serious problem. If the answer is "yes", then I think there is probably enough evidence to blame the xserver for the other reported problems.

This is reaching the point that I am needing to back out of the xserver/compiz/unity upgrade to get back to a stable system. I'll back out one package (or meta-package) at a time, test for stability, and keep going until stability is achieved, and will let you know how it goes.

[Lionel Hampton (haydoooke)]

Just a quick correction...

With regard to the workspace switcher, <alt>+s should read <super>+s...

[Lionel Hampton (haydoooke)]

Don't know if this is very enlightening, but I booted up the recently released Ubuntu 16.10... downloaded the iso, copied to usb flash, booted live...
same problem.

[Lionel Hampton (haydoooke)]

First downgraded the following with negative results:
> xserver-xorg-core:amd64 (2:1.18.3-1ubuntu2.3, 2:1.18.4-0ubuntu0.1)

Then downgraded to the following with positive results:
> compiz 1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160526-0ubuntu1
> compiz-core 1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160526-0ubuntu1
> compiz-gnome 1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160526-0ubuntu1
> compiz-plugins-default:amd64 1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160526-0ubuntu1

The system is presently stable as it was prior to the upgrade.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Omadas (bsperger)]

I was going to open up a bug report of a similar nature, but it may be this same issue. If someone can confirm this to be the same bug, I would appreciate it. Otherwise, I will open a new bug report. If this is the same bug, then we will know it is not Unity specific as well, since I am running Mint XFCE w/compiz.

Whenever I plugin my hdmi and alter the display to use the new screen I lose both displays (But I retain keyboard control and can log back out to LightDM with ctrl+alt+backspace).

I tested and this bug will still happen w/no plugins enabled, and only happens with compiz. If I use xfwm4+composting, the display changes as it should (quickly and without errors).

Let me know any information you may need.

[Omadas (bsperger)]

I Fixxed it! I found that turning off Framebuffer Object in the OpenGL plugin returned compiz back to full functionallity... Can even run Emerald window decorator without stability issues! Lionel, can you check to see if this works for you? If it does then the bug may be plugin specific!