screen is flickering

[Vitali Kuzmin]

Screen is flickering on my dell xps 15 running Ubuntu.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: xorg (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-35.39~16.04.1-generic 4.13.13
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-35-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm nvidia_modeset nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0000.01.00.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0000:01:00.0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 384.111 Tue Dec 19 23:51:45 PST 2017
 GCC version: gcc version 5.4.0 20160609 (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.9)
.tmp.unity_support_test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.15
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Thu Feb 15 10:12:15 2018
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: xenial
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 bbswitch, 0.8, 4.13.0-33-generic, x86_64: installed
 bbswitch, 0.8, 4.13.0-35-generic, x86_64: installed
 nvidia-384, 384.111, 4.13.0-33-generic, x86_64: installed
 nvidia-384, 384.111, 4.13.0-35-generic, x86_64: installed
ExtraDebuggingInterest: No
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Device [8086:591b] (rev 04) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:07be]
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:07be]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-09-27 (140 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170801)
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0cf3:e300 Atheros Communications, Inc.
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0c45:6713 Microdia
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: Dell Inc. XPS 15 9560
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.13.0-35-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=63cbf25f-ad34-40e1-af90-25ddd40ccb0d ro quiet splash acpi=force vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 03/29/2017
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.2.4
dmi.board.name: 05FFDN
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr1.2.4:bd03/29/2017:svnDellInc.:pnXPS159560:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn05FFDN:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct10:cvr:
dmi.product.family: XPS
dmi.product.name: XPS 15 9560
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12.3+16.04.20171116-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.83-1~16.04.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 17.2.8-0ubuntu0~16.04.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 17.2.8-0ubuntu0~16.04.1
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers-* N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.18.4-0ubuntu0.7
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20160325-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau N/A

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for your bug report. Reassigning to the kernel since it's probably a video driver issue. You might have better chance on improved support for modern hardware on 18.04 rather than 16.04 though