Screen flicker on 16.04

[Piotr Wieczorek]

The computer running Ubuntu is being used as HTPC connected via HDMI to a screen projector.
After upgrading to 16.04, it's unusable under production kernel.
The screen starts flickering after a while (it's easily triggered by fast scrolling e.g. terminal's window). The whole screen get's filled with a noise, and then the projector gets disconnected for a while.

The computer runs fine on an older kernel (4.2.0-35), it's still broken on the mainline kernel 4.7.0.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: linux-image-4.4.0-31-generic 4.4.0-31.50
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-31.50-generic 4.4.13
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-31-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: pwiecz 3977 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1: pwiecz 3977 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Tue Aug 2 19:40:29 2016
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-02-02 (912 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Release amd64 (20131016.1)
MachineType: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. H87N-WIFI
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-31-generic root=UUID=98e2c9a3-1a1a-4d21-b370-79d0cde7b5f2 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-4.4.0-31-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-4.4.0-31-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.157.2
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2016-04-27 (97 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 08/18/2015
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: F9
dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: H87N-WIFI
dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.board.version: x.x
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrF9:bd08/18/2015:svnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnH87N-WIFI:pvrTobefilledbyO.E.M.:rvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnH87N-WIFI:rvrx.x:cvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: H87N-WIFI
dmi.product.version: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

This issue appears to be an upstream bug, since you tested the latest upstream kernel. Would it be possible for you to open an upstream bug report[0]? That will allow the upstream Developers to examine the issue, and may provide a quicker resolution to the bug.

Please follow the instructions on the wiki page[0]. The first step is to email the appropriate mailing list. If no response is received, then a bug may be opened on bugzilla.kernel.org.

Once this bug is reported upstream, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-reported-upstream'.

[0] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/kernel

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Piotr Wieczorek, could you please advise what the last working version of Ubuntu was that you upgraded from?

[Piotr Wieczorek (pwiecz-f)]

I've upgraded from 15.10 to 16.04.
I "think" it was working correctly there, but unfortunately I'm not sure.

I've submitted the bug upstream as https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=97208 but there is very little activity on it.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Piotr Wieczorek, can you confirm 100% it was working in a release prior to 15.10?

[Piotr Wieczorek (pwiecz-f)]

I'm fully convinced that back then (15.04) it was working properly.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Piotr Wieczorek, to keep this relevant to upstream, one would want to test the latest mainline kernel (now 4.8-rc4) as it is released.

Could you please advise?

[Piotr Wieczorek (pwiecz-f)]

I've just installed 4.8-rc4 from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.8-rc4/
It seems to be working almost perfectly.

There _may_ be some small glitches but much less frequent, and maybe of a different character.

Thank you.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Piotr Wieczorek, to see if this is addressed upstream, could you please test http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/drm-intel-nightly/current/ and advise to the results?

[Piotr Wieczorek (pwiecz-f)]

Hi,
Apparently I was too optimistic about the issue.
I've tested both the kernel from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/
mainline/drm-intel-nightly/current/
 and the latest mainstream 4.8.1 and unfortunately the issue is still
present in both of them

2016-09-01 18:17 GMT+02:00 Christopher M. Penalver <
<email address hidden>>:

> Piotr Wieczorek, to see if this is addressed upstream, could you please
> test http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/drm-intel-
> nightly/current/ and advise to the results?
>
> ** Tags removed: kernel-bug-exists-upstream-4.7 needs-upstream-testing
> ** Tags added: kernel-bug-exists-upstream kernel-bug-exists-upstream-4.
> 8-rc4
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1609074
>
> Title:
> Screen flicker on 16.04
>
> Status in linux package in Ubuntu:
> Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> The computer running Ubuntu is being used as HTPC connected via HDMI to
> a screen projector.
> After upgrading to 16.04, it's unusable under production kernel.
> The screen starts flickering after a while (it's easily triggered by
> fast scrolling e.g. terminal's window). The whole screen get's filled with
> a noise, and then the projector gets disconnected for a while.
>
> The computer runs fine on an older kernel (4.2.0-35), it's still
> broken on the mainline kernel 4.7.0.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
> Package: linux-image-4.4.0-31-generic 4.4.0-31.50
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-31.50-generic 4.4.13
> Uname: Linux 4.4.0-31-generic x86_64
> ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1
> Architecture: amd64
> AudioDevicesInUse:
> USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
> /dev/snd/controlC0: pwiecz 3977 F.... pulseaudio
> /dev/snd/controlC1: pwiecz 3977 F.... pulseaudio
> CurrentDesktop: Unity
> Date: Tue Aug 2 19:40:29 2016
> InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-02-02 (912 days ago)
> InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Release amd64
> (20131016.1)
> MachineType: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. H87N-WIFI
> ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
> ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-31-generic
> root=UUID=98e2c9a3-1a1a-4d21-b370-79d0cde7b5f2 ro quiet splash
> vt.handoff=7
> RelatedPackageVersions:
> linux-restricted-modules-4.4.0-31-generic N/A
> linux-backports-modules-4.4.0-31-generic N/A
> linux-firmware 1.157.2
> SourcePackage: linux
> UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2016-04-27 (97 days ago)
> dmi.bios.date: 08/18/2015
> dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
> dmi.bios.version: F9
> dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
> dmi.board.name: H87N-WIFI
> dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
> dmi.board.version: x.x
> dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
> dmi.chassis.type: 3
> dmi.chassis.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
> dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
> dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrF9:bd08/18/2015:
> svnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnH87N-WIFI:pvrTobefilledbyO.
> E.M.:rvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnH87N-WIFI:r...