8086:29b2 [HP Compaq dc7800 Convertible Minitower PC] 82Q35 graphics acceleration performance worse than it could be

[Mark Jonas]

Summary: X performance is very bad on my HP Compaq dc7800p desktop computer. For example moving windows is jerky and glxgears in full screen only achieve 15 fps. The problem exists at least since 11.10. The problem still exists in 14.04 daily-live 2014-01-08.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+1ubuntu7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.12.0-7.15-generic 3.12.4
Uname: Linux 3.12.0-7-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.12.7-0ubuntu6
Architecture: amd64
CasperVersion: 1.336ubuntu1
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 Jan 9 08:51:29 2014
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: trusty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, if not too technical
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 82Q35 Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:29b2] (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:2819]
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Alpha amd64+mac (20140108)
MachineType: Hewlett-Packard HP Compaq dc7800p Convertible Minitower
ProcKernelCmdLine: file=/cdrom/preseed/username.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash -- maybe-ubiquity
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 03/18/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.bios.version: 786F1 v01.24
dmi.board.asset.tag: CZC8163N0C
dmi.board.name: 0AACh
dmi.board.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: CZC8163N0C
dmi.chassis.type: 6
dmi.chassis.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnHewlett-Packard:bvr786F1v01.24:bd03/18/2008:svnHewlett-Packard:pnHPCompaqdc7800pConvertibleMinitower:pvr:rvnHewlett-Packard:rn0AACh:rvr:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct6:cvr:
dmi.product.name: HP Compaq dc7800p Convertible Minitower
dmi.sys.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.10+13.10.20131011-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.50-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.0.1-1ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.0.1-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.14.5-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.8.2-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.2.0-0ubuntu10
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.907-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.10-1ubuntu1
xserver.bootTime: Thu Jan 9 08:51:02 2014
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 26507
 vendor NEC
xserver.version: 2:1.14.5-1ubuntu2

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Mark Jonas, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. As per your :
[ 0.144167] ACPI BIOS Error (bug): \_SB_.PCI0._OSC: Excess arguments - ASL declared 5, ACPI requires 4 (20130725/nsarguments-189)
[ 0.144206] ACPI Error: [CAPD] Namespace lookup failure, AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20130725/dsfield-211)
[ 0.144210] ACPI Error: Method parse/execution failed [\_SB_.PCI0._OSC] (Node ffff880115a44618), AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20130725/psparse-536)
[ 0.144216] ACPI: Marking method _OSC as Serialized because of AE_ALREADY_EXISTS error
[ 0.144223] ACPI BIOS Error (bug): \_SB_.PCI0._OSC: Excess arguments - ASL declared 5, ACPI requires 4 (20130725/nsarguments-189)

As well, as per http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdHome/?sp4ts.oid=3459243&spf_p.tpst=swdMain&spf_p.prp_swdMain=wsrp-navigationalState%3DswEnvOID%253D4060%257CswLang%253D%257Caction%253DlistDriver&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken#BIOS an update is available for your BIOS (1.32). If you update to this following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BiosUpdate , does it change anything? If it doesn't, could you please both specify what happened, and just provide the output of the following terminal command:
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date

Please note your current BIOS is already in the Bug Description, so posting this on the old BIOS would not be helpful.

For more on BIOS updates and linux, please see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette .

Thank you for your understanding.

[Mark Jonas (mark-jonas)]

Updating the BIOS did not help.

$ sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date
786F1 v01.32
07/21/2011

[Chris Wilson (ickle)]

X is fine. It is OpenGL that is slow. Solution stop using an OpenGL compositor that triggers software fallbacks in its most frequent operations. Compare with xfce4 for example.

[Mark Jonas (mark-jonas)]

Chris, your proposal is not a solution but a workaround. Alternative workarounds are to use an old version of Ubuntu or Windows 7 which shows good performance on its 3D enhanced desktop.

I am still interested in a solution regarding this regression that the Unity desktop does not perform any more.

[Maarten Lankhorst (mlankhorst)]

penalvch, please STOP suggesting people to update their bios. It doesn't help.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Maarten Lankhorst, if you are saying a BIOS update wouldn't help address a verified software bug (ex. bug in the xorg stack), this would go without saying. However, as well known and documented on Launchpad, BIOS bugs can cause various problems, including graphics ones. So, your prior statement would be misleading.

[Oibaf (oibaf)]

The used Ubuntu version is no longer supported, and updates were released in Ubuntu 14.04 (mesa 10.1.3 vs. 10.0.1 per the report), can you check if the problem is still reproducible with the updated mesa or on a newer Ubuntu?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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