Flickering Screen - X Display Problem Nouveau DRM [12.04 Beta2]

[Kristof S.]

Running the current Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Beta2 as a live test from dvd (x64) - default boot settings, nothing changed, I encountered the following graphics problem:

In X-Window-Mode on the Unity Desktop my screen starts to flicker continuous at intervals of about 10 seconds!

There are a lot of error messages from drm/nouveau, so it's obviously a problem with the free graphics driver for nvidia cards, in my case it's a 'GTX 560 Ti 448 Limited'. See debug output and hardware details below...

System settings => Displays says my Monitor is unknown and configuration is set to 1024x768 (4:3).
My LCD Screen (an older Medion 19") normally wants to work at 1280x1024 - unfortunately I cannot set a higher resolution in that menu... I tried Detect Display but that does not find or change anything.

My Hardware:

CPU: AMD FX-4100 4x3.60 Ghz
Mainboard: ASRock Extreme3 R2.0, AMD 870, AM3+, Dual Channel DDR3 ATX
RAM: DDR3-1333 8 GB G.Skill DIMM 2x4096
Graphics Adapter PCI-Express: Gainward Nvidia Geforce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores Limited Edition, 1280 MB

DEBUG Details:

'dmesg' and syslog spam these error messages:

[ 1549.031468] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 56
[ 1549.076283] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 55
[ 1549.076314] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 55
[ 1549.076329] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 54
[ 1549.076341] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 54
[ 1558.912113] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 48
[ 1558.912121] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 48
[ 1558.912131] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 56
[ 1558.912139] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 56
[ 1558.912162] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 55
[ 1558.912171] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 54
[ 1558.916417] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 48
[ 1558.916426] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 48
[ 1558.974140] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 55
[ 1558.974200] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 56
[ 1558.974211] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 56
[ 1559.018880] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 56
[ 1559.018886] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 56
[ 1559.063585] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 55
[ 1559.063606] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 55
[ 1559.063614] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 54
[ 1559.063628] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 54
[ 1559.063648] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 48
[ 1559.063656] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 48
...

lsmod:

Module Size Used by
parport_pc 32866 0
ppdev 17113 0
dm_crypt 23125 0
lp 17799 0
parport 46562 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 32474 4
snd_hda_codec_realtek 223867 1
snd_hda_intel 33773 5
snd_seq_midi 13324 0
snd_hda_codec 127706 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 13668 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_rawmidi 30748 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_pcm 97188 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_midi_event 14899 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 61896 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
sp5100_tco 13791 0
snd_timer 29990 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 14540 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
joydev 17693 0
edac_core 53746 0
k10temp 13166 0
bnep 18281 2
i2c_piix4 13301 0
edac_mce_amd 23709 0
rfcomm 47604 0
snd 78855 20 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_rawmidi,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
fam15h_power 13032 0
dm_multipath 23230 0
mac_hid 13253 0
bluetooth 180104 10 bnep,rfcomm
soundcore 15091 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 18529 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
squashfs 36799 1
overlayfs 28305 1
nls_utf8 12557 1
isofs 40257 1
nls_iso8859_1 12713 0
nls_cp437 16991 0
vfat 17585 0
fat 61512 1 vfat
dm_raid45 78155 0
xor 12894 1 dm_raid45
dm_mirror 22203 0
dm_region_hash 20918 1 dm_mirror
dm_log 18564 3 dm_raid45,dm_mirror,dm_region_hash
btrfs 652957 0
zlib_deflate 27139 1 btrfs
libcrc32c 12644 1 btrfs
firewire_ohci 41000 0
firewire_core 63558 1 firewire_ohci
usbhid 47199 0
crc_itu_t 12707 1 firewire_core
hid 99559 1 usbhid
nouveau 774586 3
pata_atiixp 13204 0
ttm 76949 1 nouveau
atl1c 41717 0
drm_kms_helper 42489 1 nouveau
drm 241873 5 nouveau,ttm,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit 13423 1 nouveau
mxm_wmi 12979 1 nouveau
wmi 19256 1 mxm_wmi
video 19411 1 nouveau

some more syslog-output:

Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 3.117940] vgaarb: device added: PCI:0000:01:00.0,decodes=io+mem,owns=io+mem,locks=none
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 3.117940] vgaarb: loaded
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 3.117940] vgaarb: bridge control possible 0000:01:00.0
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 3.117940] i2c-core: driver [aat2870] using legacy suspend method
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 3.117940] i2c-core: driver [aat2870] using legacy resume method

Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.737737] VGA switcheroo: detected Optimus DSM method \ handle
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.737762] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.737767] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.739525] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Detected an NVc0 generation card (0x0c8380a1)
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.746117] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Attempting to load BIOS image from PRAMIN

Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861375] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: ... appears to be valid
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861378] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: BIT BIOS found
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861381] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Bios version 70.10.61.00
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861384] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: TMDS table version 2.0
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861386] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Found Display Configuration Block version 4.0
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861389] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Raw DCB entry 0: 02000300 00000000
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861392] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Raw DCB entry 1: 01000302 00020030
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861393] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Raw DCB entry 2: 04011380 00000000
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861395] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Raw DCB entry 3: 08011382 00020030
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861397] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Raw DCB entry 4: 040223b6 0f220010
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861399] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Raw DCB entry 5: 04022372 0f220010
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861401] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Raw DCB entry 6: 02033362 00020010
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861404] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DCB connector table: VHER 0x40 5 16 4
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861406] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: 0: 0x00001030: type 0x30 idx 0 tag 0x07
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861408] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: 1: 0x00010130: type 0x30 idx 1 tag 0x51
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861411] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: 2: 0x00220246: type 0x46 idx 2 tag 0x52
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861413] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: 3: 0x00002361: type 0x61 idx 3 tag 0x08
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.861417] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Parsing VBIOS init table 0 at offset 0x6C74
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.872551] atl1c 0000:03:00.0: version 1.0.1.0-NAPI
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.881430] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Parsing VBIOS init table 1 at offset 0x7336
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.885685] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 51
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.885688] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: 0x85F3: Failed parsing init table opcode: INIT_I2C_LONG_IF -19
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.885690] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Parsing VBIOS init table 2 at offset 0x882C
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.885692] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Parsing VBIOS init table 3 at offset 0x8836
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.885772] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Parsing VBIOS init table 4 at offset 0x8AAA
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.885774] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Parsing VBIOS init table at offset 0x8B0F
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.905622] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: 0x8B1C: Condition still not met after 20ms, skipping following opcodes
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.905745] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 51
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.905748] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: 0 available performance level(s)
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.905849] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: c: core 50MHz shader 101MHz memory 135MHz voltage 913mV
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.908155] [TTM] Zone kernel: Available graphics memory: 4078994 kiB.
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.908157] [TTM] Zone dma32: Available graphics memory: 2097152 kiB.
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.908159] [TTM] Initializing pool allocator.
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.908170] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Detected 1280MiB VRAM
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.908176] mtrr: type mismatch for f0000000,8000000 old: write-back new: write-combining
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.908191] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: 512 MiB GART (aperture)
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.916760] firewire_ohci 0000:05:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.916767] firewire_ohci 0000:05:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 5.984062] firewire_ohci: Added fw-ohci device 0000:05:00.0, OHCI v1.10, 4 IR + 8 IT contexts, quirks 0x11
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.060957] [drm] Supports vblank timestamp caching Rev 1 (10.10.2010).
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.060960] [drm] No driver support for vblank timestamp query.
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.060970] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 48
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.060972] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 48
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.117915] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 56
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.117921] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 56
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.162648] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 55
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.162655] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknown i2c port 54
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.163358] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: allocated 1024x768 fb: 0x1e0000, bo ffff88020fbbf800
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.163407] fbcon: nouveaufb (fb0) is primary device
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.165639] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: No native mode, forcing panel scaling

Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.207370] Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 128x48
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.211810] fb0: nouveaufb frame buffer device
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.211812] drm: registered panic notifier
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 6.211816] [drm] Initialized nouveau 0.0.16 20090420 for 0000:01:00.0 on minor 0

Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 16.224106] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknow
n i2c port 48
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 16.224112] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknow
n i2c port 48
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 16.224123] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknow
n i2c port 56
Apr 4 17:51:27 ubuntu kernel: [ 16.224131] [drm] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: unknow
n i2c port 56
...

[Lisa Nelson (lisa50469)]

i915 video device.

I see a flicker occasionally also. I run the game Vendetta-Online in full screen mode, and see a flicker occasionally. This never happened before 12.04.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[[e-mail] (damianatorrpm)]

drm_kms_helper.poll=0
to the kernel line in /boot/grub/menu.lst does the trick unfortunately this is only a workaround so the screen does not flicker

[[e-mail] (damianatorrpm)]

see also
http://lists.debian.org/debian-x/2011/05/msg00522.html

[puchuu (aladjev-andrew)]

my msi 560 ti hawk gentoo confirmed this

[Istimsak (saqman2060)]

I am having the same problem with my 12.04.2 install. I am using a G84 Geforce 8400 GS.

I don't have a menu.lst in my grub dir, the work around did not work.

[Istimsak (saqman2060)]

I found a way to disable the nouveau driver. Go to /etc/modprobe.d directory and open blacklist.conf in a text editor. Type:

#nouveau
blacklist nouveau

This will stop thd kernel from loading the module. You will not get the resolution ability but is stops the flickering.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Kristof S., 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 xserver-xorg-video-nouveau REPLACE-WITH-BUG-NUMBER

Please note, given that the information from the prior release is already available, doing this on a release prior to the development one would not be helpful.

Thank you for your understanding.

Helpful bug reporting tips:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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