old framebuffer contents show momentarily on reboot

[Delan Azabani]

When I boot my computer, between plymouth and gdm, there is a momentary display of the contents of the framebuffer of the end of the last session. This generally won't happen if the last shutdown was normal, as it's probably a blank screen or something. There are a few conditions for this to happen:

- using nouveau driver with KMS
- it helps if the VTs are using the same resolution as X (using vga=) so that resolution change doesn't hide it
- happens the most on hard reboots like SysRq+B

So basically, what I mean is that, say I had, a picture open, and I hard reboot my computer, I will see the contents of my screen, with that picture, between plymouth and gdm.
---
AlsaDevices: Error: command ['ls', '-l', '/dev/snd/'] failed with exit code 2: ls: cannot access /dev/snd/: No such file or directory
AplayDevices: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
MachineType: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. EP45T-UD3P
Package: linux (not installed)
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-24-server root=UUID=d2103eed-3671-4068-a195-db5714fcca74 ro
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_AU.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-24.42-server 2.6.35.8
Regression: No
Reproducible: Yes
Tags: maverick kernel-graphics needs-upstream-testing
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-24-server x86_64
UserGroups:

dmi.bios.date: 09/03/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Award Software International, Inc.
dmi.bios.version: F8c
dmi.board.name: EP45T-UD3P
dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAwardSoftwareInternational,Inc.:bvrF8c:bd09/03/2009:svnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnEP45T-UD3P:pvr:rvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnEP45T-UD3P:rvr:cvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: EP45T-UD3P
dmi.sys.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Hello Delan
As usual, please reproduce the bug then run
apport-collect -p linux 667625
Thanks for your support
fabio

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Delan Azabani (azabani)]

apport information

[Delan Azabani (azabani)]

apport information

[Delan Azabani (azabani)]

apport information

[Delan Azabani (azabani)]

apport information

[Delan Azabani (azabani)]

apport information

[Delan Azabani (azabani)]

apport information

[Delan Azabani (azabani)]

apport information

[Delan Azabani (azabani)]

apport information

[Delan Azabani (azabani)]

apport information

[Delan Azabani (azabani)]

apport information

[Delan Azabani (azabani)]

As the problem only occurs when rebooting of any kind, but not on a cold start, this may be because the X server starts before any information has been fed to it, and it is showing the contents of the framebuffer in the graphics card's RAM until that time.

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Hello Delan
I cannot reproduce on a 2800GHz sigle core 64bit, video onboard
It seems to me like an electrolitic capacitor that is descharing keeping alive ram content of video card for the fraction of power off.
IMHO and it can be also a stupid idea.
Fabio

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Hello Delan,
I was able to reproduce this, but just with a fast tap on the reset button.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Original Reporter nobody -> https://launchpad.net/~nobody-1033-deactivatedaccount

[Chris Wayne (cwayne)]

I have reproduced this on the Nexus 7, and a reporter deleting their account does not make a bug invalid. Marking back as confirmed.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Chris Wayne, thank you for your comments. Regarding them https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/667725/comments/17 :
>"I have reproduced this on the Nexus 7, and a reporter deleting their account does not make a bug invalid."

As with many linux (Ubuntu) bugs, they are dependent with the hardware originally reported with. If the original reporter is unable to provide information, as in this case, this bug report is Invalid. For more on this, please see the Ubuntu Bug Control and Ubuntu Bug Squad article:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/BestPractices#X.2BAC8-Reporting.Focus_on_One_Issue

and Ubuntu Community article:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette

If you have a bug in Ubuntu, could you please file a new report by executing the following in a terminal:
ubuntu-bug linux

When opening up the new report, please feel free to subscribe me to it.

Please note, not filing a new report may delay your problem being addressed as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your understanding.

[C de-Avillez (hggdh2)]

reopening the Ubuntu/linux task.

[C de-Avillez (hggdh2)]

penalvch is correct, better to open a new bug if it is kernel-related. Re-closing.