[nvidia-glx] Window content is black after opening 5/6 windows when using compiz

[iceseyes]

I've got a big problem with nvidia driver with my Geforce go 7200: when i enable desktop-effects, if I open more than 5/6 windows, the new windows that I open are black! (I can see the border, but content is black) I enable 3d-accel with Restricted-Manager. Someone tells that with nvidia installer all works fine.

[Rodrigo Pinheiro (ametade)]

Hi there,

I'm having exactly the same problem with a NVIDIA GeForce™ Go 7200 at my hp dv2173ea laptop.

[Rodrigo Pinheiro (ametade)]

Iceseyes, thanks for your hint [1] at ubuntuforum: it solved my problem :)

[1] http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=394299&highlight=black+windows+compiz

[manzano (manzano-vocamen)]

I had the same problem for months with a GeForce 6100 embedded on a K8N-VM motherboard until I change shared memory in BIOS settings.
It was stupidly restricted to 64Mb. Updating to 128 Mb made me happy ;-)

[zeddock (zeddock)]

Same problem here on nVidia GeForce Go 4200 iT AGP8 on a Dell Latitude D800.
I doubt I have a BIOS setting for 128 in memory. I think max is 64MB. Any suggestions?

Thanx,
zeddock

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

iceeyes' tip was the following:
Edit the /usr/bin/compiz script and change
COMPIZ_OPTIONS="--no-fbo --ignore-desktop-hints"
to
COMPIZ_OPTIONS="--indirect-rendering --strict-binding"

[zeddock (zeddock)]

Not helping me.
:(

zeddock

On 5/19/07, Sitsofe Wheeler <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> iceeyes' tip was the following:
> Edit the /usr/bin/compiz script and change
> COMPIZ_OPTIONS="--no-fbo --ignore-desktop-hints"
> to
> COMPIZ_OPTIONS="--indirect-rendering --strict-binding"
>
> --
> [nvidia-glx] Window content is black after opening 5/6 windows when using
> compiz
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/96473
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

Most of the beryl options like --strict-binding do not exist in the current compiz however there is a nice summary of the problem on http://wiki.beryl-project.org/wiki/Troubleshooting_nVidia#Opening_too_many_windows_leaves_some_of_them_black .

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

For the curious, this issue occurs due to an in NVIDIA's binary driver implementation of GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap extension - see http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=77248#edit1003304 :
"This is a shortcoming of the current implementation of GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap in the drivers. When video RAM has been exhausted, the driver does not behave well (you get blank windows). TurboCache memory is currently cannot be used with GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, so these problems will be especially noticeable on these parts. We're working on improving these cases."

[zeddock (zeddock)]

Any progress? This was an issue for feisty. Is there anything else that can be done?

Thanx for the attempts!

zeddock

[Travis Watkins (amaranth)]

Bug nvidia, only they can fix it.

[SebastienBarthelemy (barthelemy)]

This happen with Gutsy (up to date, around tribe 5) on my Latitude D620 with Quadro NVS 110M / GeForce Go 7300 (rev a1)

[Nic (ntetreau)]

Using this in /usr/bin/compiz fixed my black window problems.

COMPIZ_OPTIONS="--indirect-rendering --strict-binding"

I also have these options in my xorg.conf in the Screen section:

        Option "DamageEvents" "True"
        Option "UseEvents" "True"
        Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
        Option "BackingStore" "True"

And at the end of my xorg.conf:
Section "Extensions"
        Option "DAMAGE" "Enable"
        Option "Composite" "Enable"
        Option "RENDER" "Enable"
EndSection

[SebastienBarthelemy (barthelemy)]

Le vendredi 31 août 2007 à 10:39 +0000, Nic a écrit :
> Using this in /usr/bin/compiz fixed my black window problems.
>
> COMPIZ_OPTIONS="--indirect-rendering --strict-binding"

I put

COMPIZ_OPTIONS="--ignore-desktop-hints --indirect-rendering
--strict-binding"

in mine and it works. Thanks a lot Nic.

Maybe this should be the default for those with nvidia cards ?

[Travis Watkins (amaranth)]

The --indirect-rendering option only helps helps a small number of people and completely breaks (system hard locks) with the nvidia-glx-new driver.

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

Travis:
Wow. I didn't know that...

[Khaine (khaine-deactivatedaccount)]

This happens to me also, with my nvidia GeForce 5200 FX2Go, except I only need to launch firefox and have it maximized and it goes black, same with Banshee.

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

(Also see Bug #139325 which might act as a reasonable warning in the short term)

[Christian Schürer-Waldheim (quincunx)]

I can confirm Bug #125566 (which is marked as duplicate of this bug) - when I tried compiz on my gutsy system about one month ago, I was happy not seeing the black windows any more. I could open more than 20 konqueror windows without any problems. Now, after the recent updates in gutsy, the problem is back again. I tested compiz yesterday, and had black windows already after opening just 3 windows. In bug #139325, 256MB of video RAM are recommended - but my laptops graphics card, an NVIDIA quadro NVS 110M _has_ 256MB of video RAM.

[Mlt (mlt)]

I am not sure that https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/125566 and this one are not the same for the reasons outlined in that bug. There is a recent problem with the way that video memory is being dealt with which has changed for the gutsy release.

I, and others, would be grateful if you took this seriously and did not just put it in the "it's all Nvidia's fault pile" (which I know it is really...)

[zeddock (zeddock)]

Yes. Please? Also, I am seeing a lot lf "Triaged" settings for this issue.
Don't Triage it. Is there a way to put a bounty on this solution?

zeddock

On 9/16/07, Mlt <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> I am not sure that https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/125566 and this one
> are not the same for the reasons outlined in that bug. There is a
> recent problem with the way that video memory is being dealt with which
> has changed for the gutsy release.
>
> I, and others, would be grateful if you took this seriously and did not
> just put it in the "it's all Nvidia's fault pile" (which I know it is
> really...)
>
> --
> [nvidia-glx] Window content is black after opening 5/6 windows when using
> compiz
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/96473
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Rodrigo Pinheiro (ametade)]

With last compiz update (Gutsy 1:0.5.2+git20070918-ubuntu1) the COMPIZ_PLUGINS hack stopped working. Now, I get black windows every time I start compiz...

[Nic (ntetreau)]

It looks like the latest drivers may have fixed the black window bug:

100.14.19 for Linux x86/x86-64 released
Improved GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap out-of-memory handling.

[zeddock (zeddock)]

May have fixed it for some, but not on my nVidia GeForce4 4200 Go Ti 8xAGP

zeddock

On 9/19/07, Nic <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> It looks like the latest drivers may have fixed the black window bug:
>
> 100.14.19 for Linux x86/x86-64 released
> Improved GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap out-of-memory handling.
>
> --
> [nvidia-glx] Window content is black after opening 5/6 windows when using
> compiz
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/96473
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Rodrigo Pinheiro (ametade)]

Latest Nvidia drivers (100.14.19) solved all my black windows problem!

Latest drivers are already at Ubuntu repositories so you can install and test them:
sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx-new

[Rodrigo Pinheiro (ametade)]

BTW, I forgot to tell that everything is now working fine without the COMPIZ_OPTIONS hack.

[SebastienBarthelemy (barthelemy)]

Thank you Rodrigo

This is not working for me (nVidia Corporation G72M [Quadro NVS 110M/GeForce Go 7300] (rev a1)).

By the way, I cannot find version 100.14.19 of the nvdia drivers

sudo aptitude show nvidia-glx-new
Package: nvidia-glx-new
State: installed
Automatically installed: yes
Version: 100.14.11+2.6.22.3-12.5

[Christian Schürer-Waldheim (quincunx)]

Version 100.14.19 should be in the archive by now, just installed it. Hope that it will fix my black windows problem too.

[SebastienBarthelemy (barthelemy)]

It's working for me now, I have the 100.14.19 version. I think the repository was no synced yesterday.

Thanks

[Khaine (khaine-deactivatedaccount)]

I'm using version 100.14.19 on gusty with a nvidia 5200 FX and before this version one firefox window and it would be black, with the new verision it takes 10-20 firefox windows before new windows turn black.

[SebastienBarthelemy (barthelemy)]

I'm using version 100.14.19 on gusty, it works fine, but at the 35iest firefox window, my display is puzzled (cfr. attached screenshot), close one window and it come back.

[zeddock (zeddock)]

I am on Dell Latitude D800 with GeForce4 Go 4200 Ti 8x AGP.

I am able to open a lot more windows before Blacks occur.
Please give me more commands to post info you want.

zeddock

[zeddock (zeddock)]

I want to post my current version, settings, configs. Please post how I can get that information from my system?

Thanx, in advance,

zeddock

[sancheztavo (sancheztavo)]

I'm running Ubuntu Gutsy Beta with drivers 100.14.19 from the repositories and a Geforce 6600 AGP with 128MB.

I get the black window bug after opening many more windows at the same time ( I could open 18 fullscreen firefox windows at 1440x900) before this bug appears. With the old drivers I managed to get half that amount.

I think this is a serious problem that cannot make it to final Gutsy, given that it's probably bound to happen to any nvidia card.

[thikrat (thikrat)]

Hey guys,

I installed gutsy 4 days ago and did not have the black screen issue, then today, after downloading some x and compiz updates (at least thats what i remeber seeing in the update manager) i started to get these black screens. I used tonget this on feisty, but i figured with the amount of hacking i did on the beryl/compiz stuff that i probably messed something up on the configs but i guess not.

One thing i noticed that nobody else seems to have mentioned... if re-size the screen that went black to a smaller size, then the window contents show up,.... if i make it large again, it goes black... it happens EVERY time.

let me know if i can be of more help.

thanks

[amicitas (mir-amicitas)]

This bug affects me as well. I am using an Nvidia 6600.

[J.M. Hardin (jmhardin)]

I'm also getting it on my Nvidia GeForce 2 MX200 card (64 MB of video RAM) using the nvidia-glx driver version 1:1.0.9639+2.3.22.4-14.8, and especially when I am running SecondLife.

[Daniel Hahler (blueyed)]

The black window bug has been improved (to the better) in the latest nvidia drivers (100.14.19), which are available as nvidia-glx-new.
You should try that one, if your card is supported (my 6600GT is and I can confirm that it's a lot better).

[zeddock (zeddock)]

That won't work for me on a 4200 Go, right?

zeddock

On 10/10/07, dAniel hAhler <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> The black window bug has been improved (to the better) in the latest
> nvidia drivers (100.14.19), which are available as nvidia-glx-new.
> You should try that one, if your card is supported (my 6600GT is and I can
> confirm that it's a lot better).
>
> --
> [nvidia-glx] Window content is black after opening 5/6 windows when using
> compiz
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/96473
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

According to an nvnews forum post ( http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=99463 ) NVIDIA are trying to gauge the amount of working fixing it in the legacy cards will be and whether they will do it or not.

[thikrat (thikrat)]

i had this issue officially in the Gutsy final release, not just the betas

On 10/20/07, Sitsofe Wheeler <email address hidden> wrote:
> According to an nvnews forum post (
> http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=99463 ) NVIDIA are
> trying to gauge the amount of working fixing it in the legacy cards will
> be and whether they will do it or not.
>
> --
> [nvidia-glx] Window content is black after opening 5/6 windows when using compiz
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/96473
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[zeddock (zeddock)]

How long will it take to gauge?

zeddock

[zeddock (zeddock)]

And now, based on many posts around the September 25th timeframe, it appears that this may not entirely be an nVidia problem. Is that right? I mean, on the 25th I had to open a BUNCH of windows before they turned black. Now, with 7.10 release, the black window problems are as bad as they have ever been.

Anyone know how I can go back to whatever was working on the 25th?

Thanx!

zeddock

[Travis Watkins (amaranth)]

They're able to opem more windows because they use nvidia-glx-new. Something that might have been helping you before was --indirect-rendering which completely broken on nvidia-glx-new and caused problems otherwise so we stopped using it by default.

[Tom Haddon (mthaddon)]

Can we just add a section to the /usr/bin/compiz wrapper script so that if you're running nvidia-glx-new it leaves as is, and if you're running nvidia-glx it uses --indirect-rendering for the COMPIZ_OPTIONS variable?

[Travis Watkins (amaranth)]

Well, the problems with --indirect-rendering were no mipmap and no vsync but since we don't enable vsync by default anymore and --indirect-rendering works with the nvidia-glx-new we have now it might be worth it to use it again.

[zeddock (zeddock)]

Is there a GUI way to tell which one I am using?
Restricted Driver manager does not show which one it is.

Thanx,

zeddock

On 10/24/07, Tom Haddon <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> Can we just add a section to the /usr/bin/compiz wrapper script so that
> if you're running nvidia-glx-new it leaves as is, and if you're running
> nvidia-glx it uses --indirect-rendering for the COMPIZ_OPTIONS variable?
>
> --
> [nvidia-glx] Window content is black after opening 5/6 windows when using
> compiz
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/96473
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[zeddock (zeddock)]

I would be happy to test or report anything that would help you with this
bug.

Thanx!
zeddock

On 10/24/07, Zeddock Miller <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> Is there a GUI way to tell which one I am using?
> Restricted Driver manager does not show which one it is.
>
> Thanx,
>
> zeddock
>
> On 10/24/07, Tom Haddon <email address hidden> wrote:
> >
> > Can we just add a section to the /usr/bin/compiz wrapper script so that
> > if you're running nvidia-glx-new it leaves as is, and if you're running
> > nvidia-glx it uses --indirect-rendering for the COMPIZ_OPTIONS variable?
> >
> >
> > --
> > [nvidia-glx] Window content is black after opening 5/6 windows when
> > using compiz
> > https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/96473
> > You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> > of the bug.
> >
>
>

[jharker (harker)]

I confirm this bug as well, with the official Gutsy release. I'm using an IBM Thinkpad G41 with an NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 with 64 MB of RAM. I've made no modifications to the compiz options. I have one Firefox window open with 6 tabs. When I open a second fullscreen Firefox window, or any window bigger than a certain size, it's all black except for the decorations. I just enabled the compiz stuff today and thought it was awesome, but now I'm not going to use it until this issue is sorted out; it's too frustrating.

If you want any testing done, or more details, I'd be happy to help!

[MichalR (rehak-michal)]

I have old NV18 [GeForce4 MX 440 AGP 8x] with 64 MB of RAM.

I have fixed my black window bug (appearing after 10 windows opened) by switching to Xgl Xserver:

 sudo apt-get install xserver-xgl

After logout and login I no longer have black window problem (50 windows opened).

[Cameron Braid (cameron-braid)]

One issue with xserver-xgl is that it doesn't work when using dual
screens with xinerama

On Nov 7, 2007 4:46 AM, Michal <email address hidden> wrote:
> I have old NV18 [GeForce4 MX 440 AGP 8x] with 64 MB of RAM.
>
> I have fixed my black window bug (appearing after 10 windows opened) by
> switching to Xgl Xserver:
>
> sudo apt-get install xserver-xgl
>
> After logout and login I no longer have black window problem (50 windows
> opened).
>
>
> --
> [nvidia-glx] Window content is black after opening 5/6 windows when using compiz
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/96473
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Michael Truscott (mltruscott)]

I fixed it very recently by moving from nvidia-glx to nvidia-glx-new.

I haven't tried 50+ but have managed 20+ without problems.

Should nvidia-glx-new be installed by default?

On Wednesday 07 November 2007 02:34:29 Cameron Braid wrote:
> One issue with xserver-xgl is that it doesn't work when using dual
> screens with xinerama
>
> On Nov 7, 2007 4:46 AM, Michal <email address hidden> wrote:
> > I have old NV18 [GeForce4 MX 440 AGP 8x] with 64 MB of RAM.
> >
> > I have fixed my black window bug (appearing after 10 windows opened) by
> > switching to Xgl Xserver:
> >
> > sudo apt-get install xserver-xgl
> >
> > After logout and login I no longer have black window problem (50 windows
> > opened).
> >
> >
> > --
> > [nvidia-glx] Window content is black after opening 5/6 windows when using
> > compiz https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/96473
> > You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> > of the bug.

[zeddock (zeddock)]

Not really a fix, right?
I do not think that my GeForce 4200 Go Ti AGP8x will work with "-new"

zeddock

On Nov 7, 2007 2:10 AM, Michael Truscott <email address hidden> wrote:

> I fixed it very recently by moving from nvidia-glx to nvidia-glx-new.
>
> I haven't tried 50+ but have managed 20+ without problems.
>
> Should nvidia-glx-new be installed by default?
>
> On Wednesday 07 November 2007 02:34:29 Cameron Braid wrote:
> > One issue with xserver-xgl is that it doesn't work when using dual
> > screens with xinerama
> >
> > On Nov 7, 2007 4:46 AM, Michal <email address hidden> wrote:
> > > I have old NV18 [GeForce4 MX 440 AGP 8x] with 64 MB of RAM.
> > >
> > > I have fixed my black window bug (appearing after 10 windows opened)
> by
> > > switching to Xgl Xserver:
> > >
> > > sudo apt-get install xserver-xgl
> > >
> > > After logout and login I no longer have black window problem (50
> windows
> > > opened).
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > [nvidia-glx] Window content is black after opening 5/6 windows when
> using
> > > compiz https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/96473
> > > You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> > > of the bug.
>
> --
> [nvidia-glx] Window content is black after opening 5/6 windows when using
> compiz
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/96473
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Robert North (russetrob)]

I have recently upgraded to nvdida-glx-new in an attempt to fix this problem, and still see black windows after ~ 5-6 apps open.

My graphics card is identified as:

03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV43 [GeForce 6600 GT] (rev a2)

[Paul Natsuo Kishimoto (khaeru)]

I'm also experiencing 'black windows' in 7.10 after a variable number of opened windows. A reliable way to cause it:
1. Open several applications (Evolution, Firefox with several tabs).
2. Open a very large image in GIMP.
3. Maximize the GIMP window.

From lspci:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200] (rev a1)

The card has 128 MB memory, IIRC.
I have nvidia-glx-new 100.14.19+2.6.22.4-14.10 installed.
I use TwinView for two 1280x1024 displays.
Desktop effects are enabled.
Xorg video driver is 'nvidia'.

[Henrik Nilsen Omma (henrik)]

This bug was nominated for Gutsy but does currently not qualify for a 7.10 stable release update (SRU) and the nomination is therefore declined.
According the the SRU policy, the fix should already be deployed and tested in the current development version before an update to the stable releases will be considered. With 7.10 now released, that policy applies to this bug. See: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates .
The bug is not being closed as work will continue on fixing it for the next release, Hardy Heron (8.04). If the state of this bug should change such that it qualifies for the SRU process, please contact the person who originally declined it and ask them to re-evaluate it. To help improve the state of this bug see: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/HowToTriage .

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

Fixed in Hardy, should cover all the driver versions according to upstream release notes.

[joehill (joseph-hill)]

This is still a problem for me in a fresh Hardy install.

I had this bug in Gusty, but it was fixed when I updated to the new driver. I freshly installed Hardy today and the black windows are back. In Hardy, I can have usually 7 windows open at a time before I start getting black ones.

[joehill (joseph-hill)]

I should add that in Hardy, the desktop occasionally turns black as well, and I have to log out and back in to get my desktop back.

[joehill (joseph-hill)]

Just installed the driver directly from nvidia's web site, and everything seems to be working. Could it be that Hardy is using an old version?

[Daniel Hahler (blueyed)]

joehill, Ubuntu appears to have 169.12.
I can confirm that the bug still appears when using the server kernel image (linux-server), but not when using the generic one (linux-generic).
What kernel are you using? (See the output of "uname -a").

[Endolith (endolith)]

Still a problem in Hardy. How do I troubleshoot this?

[Paulo Pereira (pjpereira)]

try to start compiz with indirect-rendering option. it works for me.

On Dom, 2008-04-27 at 03:29 +0000, Endolith wrote:
> Still a problem in Hardy. How do I troubleshoot this?
>

[Endolith (endolith)]

> try to start compiz with indirect-rendering option. it works for me.

Doesn't work for me. Still a problem in Intrepid. What's the correct way to do this?

[mercutio22 (macabro22)]

A computer with two 256mb of dedicated video memory still displays black windows when a certain threshold of open windows is reached. The threshold varies with the kind of window, i.e. evince with large PDF articles lowers it).

output of lcpci | grep nvidia:

03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8700M GT (rev a1)
04:00.0 3D controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8700M GT (rev a1)

[mercutio22 (macabro22)]

ops.

Sorry about the editing confusion.

[Russel Winder (russel)]

I am getting this "black screen" problem with Epiphany using compiz (but not metacity) on Intrepid.

Intrepid has linux-restricted-modules-generic version 2.6.28-11.15 is it right that this bug remains associated directly with version 2.6.20? Is it actually a bug in this module or one in compiz?

[aidave (aidave)]

Still experience this. After a day or so of running, eventually windows start opening black. They can be revived by shrinking smaller and smaller, but eventually that method runs out as the window gets too small to be usable. Have tried many solutions including indirect-rendering, nothing works yet.

Am using latest Hardy 8.04.2 patched, and latest NVIDIA driver 173.14.18 on GeForce FX 5500.

Very frustrating having to reboot Ubuntu every day due to this bug.

[Jelle Foks (jellefoks)]

I encountered this with a 256MB nvidia 6600GT AGP card when the 'AGP Aperture size' in the BIOS was set to a value lower than the amount of memory on the video card. After upping the value in the BIOS, the problem went away.