Desktop (screen) corrupted after upgrade to 17.10

[riban]

I upgraded my NC10 netbook from Ubuntu Mate 16.04 to 17.04 (which worked okay) and then to 17.10. When starting up and automatically logging in I can see the right hand quarter of the screen but the left three quarters are mostly black with multicolour icons repeated across the top 3mm, a light grey bar below this 8mm high with a darker grey interruption just over half way across and two small horizontal white lines directly below this. The mouse pointer is displayed where ever it is positioned and the right hand menus work as expected. The computer is unusable in this condition.
Dropping to a terminal with Ctrl+Alt+F1 has the same screen corruption and the prompt is spread across multiple lines as a series of dots and dashes - completely unreadable. It seems the video driver is not working for this machine in this release. The previous release showed it was using the standard Intel open source drivers. Issue persists when PC rebooted. Power up shows Samsung boot screen then light grey screen with small dark grey border then the corruption described above grey background and green pattern (probably the boot image corrupted then clearing to corruption over black background then to the state described, i.e. mostly black with a bit of desk top and some corrupted stuff at top.

I can probably ssh in to this machine to grab logs as required so please let me know what I can do to help debug and get my laptop back working.

Computer is a Samsung NP-NC10 with 1GB RAM and Intel Atom CPU.
(Sorry I didn't find time to test the beta!!!)
---
ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu3.4
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: brian 2834 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: MATE
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=cf3c8f13-558d-4354-9a47-39b9837475b8
JournalErrors:
 Error: command ['journalctl', '-b', '--priority=warning', '--lines=1000'] failed with exit code 1: Hint: You are currently not seeing messages from other users and the system.
       Users in the 'systemd-journal' group can see all messages. Pass -q to
       turn off this notice.
 No journal files were opened due to insufficient permissions.
MachineType: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. NC10
Package: linux (not installed)
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.13.0-16-generic root=UUID=5a407644-80ca-4e5e-9d15-2fac5a1ad8d4 ro splash quiet vt.handoff=7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-16.19-generic 4.13.4
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-4.13.0-16-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-4.13.0-16-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.169
Tags: artful
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-16-generic i686
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to artful on 2017-10-30 (19 days ago)
UserGroups: audio dialout sudo
WifiSyslog:

_MarkForUpload: True
dmi.bios.date: 09/08/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
dmi.bios.version: 11CA.M015.20090908.RHU
dmi.board.name: NC10
dmi.board.vendor: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
dmi.board.version: Not Applicable
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: None
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
dmi.chassis.version: No Asset Tag
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologiesLtd.:bvr11CA.M015.20090908.RHU:bd09/08/2009:svnSAMSUNGELECTRONICSCO.,LTD.:pnNC10:pvrNotApplicable:rvnSAMSUNGELECTRONICSCO.,LTD.:rnNC10:rvrNotApplicable:cvnSAMSUNGELECTRONICSCO.,LTD.:ct10:cvrNoAssetTag:
dmi.product.name: NC10
dmi.product.version: Not Applicable
dmi.sys.vendor: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

[riban (brian-riban)]

I have found that putting the computer into sleep and waking up allows normal use, i.e. the display is normal and I can use it. The corruption returns when I power down the netbook or perform a reboot.

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. While running an Ubuntu kernel (not a mainline or third-party kernel) please enter the following command in a terminal window:

apport-collect 1728565

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

[riban (brian-riban)]

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[riban (brian-riban)]

Requested logs uploaded. Note: This was done after suspend / resume cycle with the fault cleared because apport-collect requires web browser confirmation, hence I needed to gain desktop access. I could re-run apport-collect (now that permission has been granted to launchpad) from ssh session if required. Previous comment instructed to set status to confirmed but I don't think I have rights to do that.

[Kai-Heng Feng (kaihengfeng)]

Same on as LP: #1724639?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[riban (brian-riban)]

This issue persists. I have provided requested logs but it has been marked as expired. How do we keep this issue active?

[Nick Reynolds (ncmreynolds)]

I believe I have a workaround to this. I had exactly the same on 17.10 on an Acer Aspire One, reinstalled 16.04 and still had it. I also had it clear up if the machine suspended and resumed.

It looked to me like it was related to the grub splash screen, just based on it messing up before the GUI starts and the portion of the screen that got corrupted.

I changed the grub config in /etc/default/grub to the following...

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="" <- edit the existing line
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text <- add this line

Then updated grub with sudo update-grub and rebooted.

Now it has a 100% text boot and no corruption of the screen.

[riban (brian-riban)]

I confirm that the work-around provided by ncmreynolds does stop this issue occurring which hopefully gives clues as to where the root problem is.

[Martin Lees (muddibootz)]

I had this problem with 17.10 and reverted to 16.04 which has been working fine until I have just done a software update and now have the same issue with 16.04. The work around using the Suspend option still works but I still have the problem after booting.