[Intel Braswell/Cherryview] Cursor gets stuck on left side of the screen

[will9183]

When moving the cursor to the left side of the screen, it stops close to the edge. The cursor still moves over in the area but invisible until I move it out of the area. When it doesn't do this, glitching occurs on the screen where the cursor is until I log out. And on screen cast it shows the cursor going to the side of the screen and moving.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+19ubuntu7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-20.21-generic 4.15.17
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-20-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
BootLog: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/boot.log'
CompositorRunning: None
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sat Apr 28 09:49:51 2018
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: bionic
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, including running git bisection searches
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:22b1] (rev 21) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2060]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-04-27 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20180426)
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8087:0a2a Intel Corp.
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. 4-port hub
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:c534 Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: \\boot\vmlinuz-4.15.0-20-generic root=UUID=c6f92850-287a-4747-ac0d-3af593994183 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=1 initrd=boot\initrd.img-4.15.0-20-generic
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 03/08/2017
dmi.bios.vendor: Intel Corp.
dmi.bios.version: PYBSWCEL.86A.0062.2017.0308.1328
dmi.board.name: NUC5CPYB
dmi.board.vendor: Intel Corporation
dmi.board.version: H61145-408
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnIntelCorp.:bvrPYBSWCEL.86A.0062.2017.0308.1328:bd03/08/2017:svn:pn:pvr:rvnIntelCorporation:rnNUC5CPYB:rvrH61145-408:cvn:ct3:cvr:
version.compiz: compiz N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.91-2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 18.0.0~rc5-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 18.0.0~rc5-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.19.6-1ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:18.0.1-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20171229-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.15-2

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

If you have any Gnome Shell extensions installed, please try disabling them and tell us if that fixes the problem.

[will9183 (will9183)]

Disabling Gnome Shell extensions does not fix the problem.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

OK. Can you please provide a video or screencast of the problem?

[will9183 (will9183)]

Here is my video. It is from my camera as a screen recording would not show the bug.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thanks. Next please try:

1. Logging into "Ubuntu on Wayland" and see if the problem persists.

2. Live booting Ubuntu 18.10 and see if the problem persists there too:
     http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/

[will9183 (will9183)]

Logging into "Ubuntu on Wayland" or live booting Ubuntu 18.10 does not fix the problem.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thanks.

I've just noticed that gnome-shell sometimes seems to place the cursor slightly offscreen by a couple of pixels. This works fine on my machine, but it's possible your graphics driver can't handle a negative cursor position, so you only see it in the last position that was positive (a few pixels away from the edge).

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

I will need to get hold of a machine with a similar CPU/GPU to test that theory.

[will9183 (will9183)]

There is also a few more issues that might relate to this issue.

1. On Wayland the mouse stutters a lot.
2. On other desktop environments this issue also happens (I tried LXDE)
3. Other Linux distros have simmilar graphical issues with the cursor too (I have tried Arch)

Hopefully this information will help you more determine the issue. It seems like this issue effects people running Intel Integrated Graphics on Brasswell CPUs.

[echoxxzz (echoxxzz)]

I had the exact same problem with my Intel NUC5CPYH which uses the Braswell chipset. After reading a lot of other articles I found this worked for me and now I can move my mouse anywhere on the desktop and my whole experience is a lot snappier:

1. Create a new xorg.conf file in your home directory:

 sudo X :1 -configure

2. Edit the new xorg.conf.new file and modify/uncomment the following lines in the "Device" section:

 Driver "intel"
 Option "AccelMethod" "sna"
 Option "TearFree" "true"
 Option "DRI" "3"

3. Copy the file to the /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d directory and name it 20-intel.conf:

 sudo cp xorg.conf.new /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

4. Either reboot or restart the gdm service.

If it doesn't work other posters suggested using "uxa" as the AccelMethod but apparently "sna" is faster.

[will9183 (will9183)]

Thanks for the suggestion. It does stop the cursor from getting stuck on the left side of the screen but it causes the cursor to have more problems including disappearing in Chrome when there is no movement, multiple cursors appearing, and other weird artifacts on the screen. Switching to "uxa"causes the mouse to get stuck on the left side of the screen again.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

If 'Driver "intel"' fixes the problem then that suggests this is a bug in the default driver "modesetting". So reassigning there.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Also, Xorg moves the cursor independently of gnome-shell/mutter. So any failure to move the cursor is likely to be in Xorg.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Oops. You already said Wayland is also affected.

[echoxxzz (echoxxzz)]

Remove/comment out the last two options should fix the problem.

#Option "TearFree" "true"
#Option "DRI" "3"

[will9183 (will9183)]

It does't fix the issue.

[echoxxzz (echoxxzz)]

It works for me using XFCE but I agree it doesn't work on KDE or Gnome.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Michelle van der Harst (harstmh)]

Hello, i have the same problem with my Gigabyte Brace N3150. After a lot of searching i found out that this also is related to HDMI (maybe other digital output as well, but i can't test that).

I've a HDMI and DSUB VGA and tried the VGA and saw that the problem does not occur with VGA. But of course i don't want to use VGA but HDMI.

I hope this helps.

---
OS installed: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Output lspci -v -s 00:00:
-------------
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 21) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
 Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics Controller
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 125
 Memory at 90000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
 Memory at 80000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
 I/O ports at f000 [size=64]
 [virtual] Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
 Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2
 Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
 Capabilities: [b0] Vendor Specific Information: Len=07 <?>
 Kernel driver in use: i915
 Kernel modules: i915

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Interesting. That's a Braswell too...

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/87258/intel-celeron-processor-n3150-2m-cache-up-to-2-08-ghz.html

[icon master (iconmaster)]

Exact same issue with a Gigabyte BRIX GB-BACE-3150 with a Celeron N3150 (Braswell). I've had this issue with Lubuntu and Debian (lxqt with xfwm4) with and without Compton as compositor.

I'm using a monitor plugged in with hdmi.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

If this bug is Braswell-only then it needs to be assigned to the kernel and/or Mesa.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Can someone experiencing this bug please try live booting Ubuntu 19.10 or 19.04, and tell us if the problem is fixed there?

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

19.10: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/

19.04: http://releases.ubuntu.com/19.04/

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

Or do a rough bisect using mainline builds of the kernel:

https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/

using 5.1, 5.2, 5.3rc first.

Install linux-image-unsigned-..-generic and linux-modules-...-generic and then select it from the boot menu

[RIchard Blakie (rbo8383)]

This has been tested with live ubuntu 19.10 as suggested by Daniel and the mouse problem persists for intel braswell. xdotool reveals that X reports a vertical position of zero, even when the mouse is painted with an offset to the right, which seems to indicate this is could be a compositor problem, a mouse driver problem (not providing proper movement info to the left), or a 915 driver problem

[mark bower (mjbower)]

The problem exists on my system:
     Ubuntu 18.04LTS with Gnome Classic Desktop
     ASUS N3050M-E M/B with the Intel N3050 (Braswell) CPU
     VGA video connector (not HDMI)

[Kai-Heng Feng (kaihengfeng)]

I can't reproduce this with Focal daily image. Can you guys please confirm?

[Salvatore (salvaju29ro)]

I confirm the bug
The bug applies to all the distros I have tried:
Ubuntu; Linux Mint; Manjaro; Fedora; Opensuse etc.
I also tried various DEs: Kde, Gnome, Cinnamon, Xfce, Mate etc.
It's a general problem, not just of mutter and Gnome
The bug exists only with Mesa and Modesetting, if you install xf86-video-intel (Arch and Manjaro), the mouse does not lock but the mouse flashes and multiplies
Also, when there is a lock, I noticed that the left side of the screen "unlocks", but the mouse starts flashing (with Mesa and Modesetting)
It happens especially when I watch videos in full screen or at 60fps on Youtube

Intel Celeron J3160, with Hdmi (I can't try with VGA)

Edit: yesterday I tried to download and boot through USB Ubuntu 14.04.6 unity 64 bit ... and surprise: the problem does not exist

[Kai-Heng Feng (kaihengfeng)]

Please file an upstream bug at intel graphics upstream:
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/intel/wikis/How-to-file-i915-bugs

[Salvatore (salvaju29ro)]

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/intel/issues/1377

This is the first time I open a report, so I don't know if I did it correctly

PS: in the initial part I reported the problem as it was written by the user who opened the bug here, I hope it is not a problem

[robert knox (robertselkirkknox)]

I see this as well. It seems to happen every 2 or 3 days as a result a some combination of random keystrokes. i reboot fixes the issue, but it is very annoying.

[Salvatore (salvaju29ro)]

If possible, try to participate in the bug report that I have opened on gitlab and to share your experiences
If I am the only one discussing the problem, it will hardly be considered soon

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/intel/issues/1377

[Anton Panduru (tonypanduru)]

I found a fix for the issues on kde, as I am running kubuntu 20.04, all credit goes to the original poster.

My contribution was only to change the DRI setting to 3 not "false" because this caused slowdown.

https://forum.manjaro.org/t/how-i-fixed-my-tearing-and-graphical-issues-completely-manjaro-kde/108390

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Note the original bug report here is not using the 'intel' driver, and in fact you probably shouldn't be using it either. The 'intel' driver is old, unsupported and buggy. The default 'modesetting' driver is what we recommend so if you have a file named '20-intel.conf' it should probably be deleted.

[Bob Lawrence (pilotbob42)]

I can confirm that the problem is present with both the intel and the modesetting driver on Braswell systems. The exact symptoms differ for each, but in both cases it is triggered when the mouse touches the left limit of the screen. With modesetting, it seems to "stick" until you move the mouse away from the left side. With intel, touching the left side starts a flickering that persists even after you move the mouse away. Mainly, just the mouse cursor flickers, but the whole screen will flicker when doing graphics intensive tasks like fullscreen video or gaming. Sometimes, the mouse flicker can be so bad it becomes nearly invisible.

I have made full report on the bug report thread opened by Salvatore.

The good news is I found a workaround, you can use xrandr to scale the display to 0.9999x0.9999 and this prevents the issues in both intel and modesetting. This can be done in your .xprofile in your home directory to take effect at login. It does come with a slight performance penalty, but it's preferable to the glitching that happens otherwise (at least until someone fixes the regression).

xrandr --output HDMI-3 --mode 1920x1080 --scale 0.9999x0.9999

Replace "HDMI-3" with the name of your display (can be found by running xrandr with no options).

[Anton Panduru (tonypanduru)]

@Bob Lawrence (pilotbob42) I don't have .xprofile but i created it my home folder like you suggested and added the text, mine was HDMI3. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to do anything.

I also observed that changing the DPI solves the issue on most distros I tried.
But i don't like any other DPI than 100%.

Also in regard to the workaround posted by me changing to DRI 2, mostly solves the issue on gnome on POP OS, still a few mouse trails but it is bearable.

[Anton Panduru (tonypanduru)]

@Bob Lawrence (pilotbob42)
So i'm back with a better workaround.

First I enabled the intel driver like I specified in my first point.(this removes the tearing)
Then I used your workaround, but this was causing the other inputs to error at startup so I on some forum that adding a command at startup applications is a better solution.
So i added:"xrandr --output HDMI-3 --mode 1920x1080 --scale 0.9999x0.9999" as a new command in Startup Applications.

[Bob Lawrence (pilotbob42)]

@tonypanduru

I'd like to share a slightly improved workaround on this for those still dealing with the issue. The core problem seems to be that the mouse cursor can go into a negative X position by one pixel when moved to the far left of the screen. With either the now obsolete intel proprietary driver or the current intel modesetting driver, this causes issues (exact symptoms are different for each, but seem to be from the same root cause).

My previous workaround got by this by scaling the entire desktop to 99.99% of its former size. This prevented the cursor from getting to the -1 X position, but came at a cost of lost performance and some screen tearing in videos and games. This was due to a bilinear filter being applied by xrandr to the whole desktop to accommodate the slight re-size.

The following command avoids this issue and instead merely shifts the entire desktop right one pixel. It still works around the issue, but seems to avoid the overhead of resizing the whole desktop (which preserves display integrity and performance).

xrandr --output HDMI-3 --transform 1,0,-1,0,1,0,0,0,1

It would be nice to get a root cause fix for this, but this workaround seems to do the trick with very little downside. As before, replace the "HDMI-3" with the name of your active display (found by running xrandr with no options) and place the command in your ~/.xprofile (or make a startup app entry in your desktop manager).

[Bob Lawrence (pilotbob42)]

I'll also add that this problem is still present in kernel 5.8 (no matter if you use "modesetting" or "intel" driver for the Braswell GPU.

My current setup:

System: Kernel: 5.4.0-58-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.6.7
           wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 20 Ulyana base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal
Machine: Type: Desktop System: ASUSTeK product: E410 v: 0703 serial: <filter>
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: E410 v: Rev 1.xx serial: <filter>
           UEFI: ASUSTeK (Licensed from AMI) v: 0703 date: 07/07/2017
CPU: Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Celeron N3150 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Airmont rev: 3
           L2 cache: 1024 KiB
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 12800
           Speed: 1008 MHz min/max: 480/2080 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 721 2: 1179 3: 2081 4: 2080
Graphics: Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics
           driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:22b1
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
           resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 400 (BSW)
           v: 4.6 Mesa 21.0.0-devel (git-7de1468 2021-01-01 focal-oibaf-ppa) compat-v: 3.0
           direct render: Yes

[Kenneth Ruby (kgem)]

On my system I found that the left-edge cursor malfunction began in Linux Mint 19.3. The malfunction remained the same when I tested with live-boot thumbsticks for Ubuntu, MX, and Manjaro. With the live-boot thumbstick for EndeavourOS, the left-edge problem was absent, but the cursor showed extreme flickering and multiple copies of itself.

I also noted in Linux Mint that at the moment when the mouse cursor started flickering, the left-edge cursor malfunction ceased entirely.

Computer: Gigabyte Brix GB-BACE-3160
Processor: Intel Celeron Braswell J3160 @ 1.60GHz × 4
System: Linux Mint 20.2 Cinnamon 5.0.7
Kernel: 5.13.0.21 generic x86_64 (64 bit)
Graphics: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics Controller
Graphics driver: Gigabyte i915

pilotbob42's suggested command (Thank you) fixes the left-edge cursor malfunction:
xrandr --output HDMI-3 --transform 1,0,-1,0,1,0,0,0,1