In 3840x2160 high resolution mode, display would blink with Chrome / Chromium browser opened, or with certain page in Firefox

[Po-Hsu Lin]

CID: 201410-15952 Dell Inspiron 7548

I'm not sure which package to blame with, I guess maybe it has something to do with X, thing is:
when the system is running in 3840*2160 resolution, the display will blink with these browsers under certain conditions.

Steps:
1. Install 14.04.1 + update + Chromium + Chrome
2. Make sure it's running with the highest resolution and open Chrome (39.0.2171.95-1)
3. Make sure it's running with the highest resolution and open Chromium (39.0.2171.65-0ubuntu0.14.04.1.1064)
4. Make sure it's running with the highest resolution and open Firefox (34.0+build2-0ubuntu0.14.04.1)
5. Switch to the second-highest resolution mode and repeat 2-4

Expected result:
* Every browser should not intefere the display on this system.

Actual result:
* On step 2, display blinks right after Chrome opened, back to normal when you close the browser
* On step 3, display blinks right after Chromium opened, back to normal when you close the browser
* On step 4, it won't blink, but if you visit https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1118140 with 100% zoom scale in Firefox, it will blink. If you zoom in or out with ctrl +/- or close it, the display will back to normal.
* On step 5, non of them will make the display blink
Note that when it's blinking, you can switch to console with Ctrl + Alt + F1 without any problem. And this happen to Firefox on some other pages as well.

Verified with:
3.16.0-28 + open source video driver
the latest mainline kernel 3.19.0-rc3 + open source video driver
3.13.0-43 + open source video driver
3.13.0-43 + the latest AMD video driver (14.501.1003) in both power-saving and performance mode
they all have the same behaviour.

Please find the attachment for screencast from step 2 to 4.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: linux-image-3.13.0-43-generic 3.13.0-43.72
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-43.72-generic 3.13.11.11
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-43-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.6
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: ubuntu 1766 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ubuntu 1766 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA:
 country TW:
  (2402 - 2472 @ 40), (3, 27)
  (5270 - 5330 @ 40), (3, 17), DFS
  (5735 - 5815 @ 40), (3, 30)
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Tue Jan 6 03:43:19 2015
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=3121f09d-4ad7-4946-b905-ee8e56a6d914
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-01-05 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140722.2)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Inspiron 7548
ProcFB:
 0 inteldrmfb
 1 radeondrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-43-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=57666a30-96f3-478b-b3c1-3879ce81c53f ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.13.0-43-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.13.0-43-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.127.11
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 11/19/2014
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A00
dmi.board.name: BBE4C1
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: Not Specified
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA00:bd11/19/2014:svnDellInc.:pnInspiron7548:pvrA00:rvnDellInc.:rnBBE4C1:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvrNotSpecified:
dmi.product.name: Inspiron 7548
dmi.product.version: A00
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Some error message could be found in dmesg output, but they won't be generated when this happens

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

For the error message in dmesg, I think it's the external webcam, it could be reproduced when removing the external USB webcam. Therefore I think they are not related.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Anthony Wong (anthonywong)]

Looks like the same issue as https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=83497, "Pipe A FIFO underrun" can be seen from dmesg.

@PHLin, our bug is https://bugs.launchpad.net/somerville/+bug/1352820, can you grab the kernel in comment #72 and give it a try?

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Hello Anthony,

Yes, the 3.17 kernel provided in comment #72 works, display won't be flickering with these steps.

[Anthony Wong (anthonywong)]

Thanks for the testing. I think nothing HWE can do right now. Pending on upstream fix.

[Didier Conchaudron (dcn)]

The link https://bugs.launchpad.net/somerville/+bug/1352820 leads to an missing error page.

While waiting for upstream to fix the bug (btw, https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=83497 seem to be inconclusive regarding that), is there a temporary solution meanwhile?

[James Calfee (l-james-s)]

 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=83497 had a fix patch in Sept 2014... I just ran updates on Ubuntu 14.04 to no avail. Is this released, I'm sorry I don't know how to check my release. Maybe I need to do get a repository and make a cherry-pick or apply the patch myself? Any recommendations are appreciated.