[RS690] widescreen blinks to black with virtualbox

[kmvzxuwi]

Binary package hint: xorg

I have a LG M227WD widescreen monitor and an integrated ati X1250-based graphics in my Gigabyte MA69GM-S2H motherboard; monitor and graphics are connected through an HDMI cable.

Whem I am in ubuntu (9.04, fully updated) my monitor blinks to black very often (usually every 3 seconds, but sometimes it blinks even 3-4 times in fast succession) and remains black for about 1 second (again, sometimes it stays black for way more seconds).

On the same machine I have a windows xp installation that works just fine.
Problem seems not to arise in gdm login screen.
I have no xorg.conf file.

Please, consider that this is rendering the ubuntu side of my machine nearly unusable.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
Package: xorg 1:7.4~5ubuntu18
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersion: Linux versusernamen 2.6.28-11-generic (buildd@palmer) (gcc versusernamen 4.3.3 (Ubuntu 4.3.3-5ubuntu4) ) #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17 01:57:59 UTC 2009
SourcePackage: xorg
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-11-generic i686

[lspci]
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 Host Bridge [1002:7910]
     Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device [1458:5000]
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 [Radeon X1200 Series] [1002:791e]
     Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device [1458:d001]

[Martin Olsson (mnemo)]

xrandr says:

  1920x1080 (0x4d) 138.5MHz +HSync -VSync +preferred
        h: width 1920 start 1968 end 2000 total 2080 skew 0 clock 66.6KHz
        v: height 1080 start 1083 end 1088 total 1111 clock 59.9Hz
  1680x1050 (0x4e) 146.2MHz -HSync +VSync *current
        h: width 1680 start 1784 end 1960 total 2240 skew 0 clock 65.3KHz
        v: height 1050 start 1053 end 1059 total 1089 clock 60.0Hz

And the amazon store webpage for this monitor says native resolution for this monitor 1920 x 1080.

[Martin Olsson (mnemo)]

@Gegio0, can you please answer these questions?
Is this a desktop machine or a laptop?
Is the "LG M227WD widescreen monitor" the only connected monitor?
Are you able to set the resolution to 1920 x 1080 using System::Preferences::Display dialog? If so does the bug remain?
What about other resolutions?

[kmvzxuwi (kmvzxuwi-deactivatedaccount)]

Sure:
* my machine is a desktop
* yes, it's the only connected monitor
* yes, but at 1920x1080 I am unable to see the two gnome bars
* yes, the bug remains event at 1920x1080
* the bug appears at every resolution that I have tested

[kmvzxuwi (kmvzxuwi-deactivatedaccount)]

I've tryed to connect monitor and graphics via a DVI cable and problem remains.

[kmvzxuwi (kmvzxuwi-deactivatedaccount)]

Problem doesn't occour with current xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd (1.2.4) and older xserver-xorg-video-radeon (6.8.0).

[kmvzxuwi (kmvzxuwi-deactivatedaccount)]

With karmic alpha3, problem is almost gone: flickering occours every two hours or so.

[kmvzxuwi (kmvzxuwi-deactivatedaccount)]

My previous comment was too optimistic.

Can this bug be a duplicate of #374413?

[kmvzxuwi (kmvzxuwi-deactivatedaccount)]

Errata corrige: can be a duplicate of #397839?

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

[This is an automatic notification.]

A new version of the -ati driver is now available in Karmic.

This is a significant update to -ati which brings in kernel mode-setting
(currently disabled) and scores of fixes for DRI2, EXA, etc.

I've posted the new version of this driver to the following PPA,
would you mind testing it and seeing if it resolves the bug you
reported?

  https://edge.launchpad.net/~bryceharrington/+archive/ppa/+sourcepub/709908/+listing-archive-extra

If you're not running this release of Ubuntu, you can try booting the Karmic
LiveCD and loading the PPA onto it, and then log out/in to restart X.
ISOs are available at http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/releases/

After testing Karmic, report back here whether it's still an issue or not,
and if it is please post a fresh Xorg.0.log and 'dmesg' output.

Note there could be new bugs... please file these as new reports using
the command 'ubuntu-bug xorg'.

[kmvzxuwi (kmvzxuwi-deactivatedaccount)]

I'm testing your packet right now: expect a report in a couple of days.

[kmvzxuwi (kmvzxuwi-deactivatedaccount)]

I've had a flicker just after upgrading and another after a restart.
I'll post another comment if other flickers will come.

[kmvzxuwi (kmvzxuwi-deactivatedaccount)]

I've tested your packet for a dozen of hours and I can now say that:
* flickering is almost gone (apart from those from the previous post, I've seen no other flickering) for classic usage;
but
* flickering is much worse now using virtualbox (I use a windows xp with virtualbox guest additions).

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Thanks for testing and indicating the original reported issue is resolved at least.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Forwarding this bug from Ubuntu reporter Gegio0:
http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/374413

[Problem]
In testing a recent git snapshot of -ati under virtualbox, it was found to cause very bad flickering. No flickering is seen when running with a regular install with no virtualbox.

[Original Description]
I have a LG M227WD widescreen monitor and an integrated ati X1250-based graphics in my Gigabyte MA69GM-S2H motherboard; monitor and graphics are connected through an HDMI cable.

When I am in ubuntu (9.04, fully updated) my monitor blinks to black very often (usually every 3 seconds, but sometimes it blinks even 3-4 times in fast succession) and remains black for about 1 second (again, sometimes it stays black for way more seconds).

On the same machine I have a windows xp installation that works just fine.
Problem seems not to arise in gdm login screen.
I have no xorg.conf file.

Please, consider that this is rendering the ubuntu side of my machine nearly unusable.

I've tested the 1:6.12.99+git20090825.fc74e119 packet for a dozen of hours and I can now say that:
* flickering is almost gone (apart from one flicker just after upgrading and another after a restart, I've seen no other flickering) for classic usage;
but
* flickering is much worse now using virtualbox (I use a windows xp with virtualbox guest additions).

Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
Package: xorg 1:7.4~5ubuntu18
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8ProcVersion: Linux versusernamen 2.6.28-11-generic (buildd@palmer) (gcc versusernamen 4.3.3 (Ubuntu 4.3.3-5ubuntu4) ) #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17 01:57:59 UTC 2009
SourcePackage: xorg
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-11-generic i686

[lspci]
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 Host Bridge [1002:7910]
     Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device [1458:5000]
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 [Radeon X1200 Series] [1002:791e]
     Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device [1458:d001]

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Created an attachment (id=29144)
Xorg.0.log

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Created an attachment (id=29145)
dmesg

[agd5f (agd5f)]

Is the driver being run as a host or guest when the flickering happens? If it's a guest, It sounds like it may be a virtualbox issue. With the latest driver bits from git master, the following option may help:
Option "DisplayPriority" "HIGH"
in the device section of your config.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Gegio0 - I've forwarded this bug upstream to https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23665 - please subscribe yourself to this bug, in case they need further information or wish you to test something. Thanks ahead of time!

[kmvzxuwi (kmvzxuwi-deactivatedaccount)]

(In reply to comment #3)
> Is the driver being run as a host or guest when the flickering happens?

The drive runs as a host: I have an ubuntu machine running a windows xp (32 bits) virtual machine (w/ virtualbox guest additions 3.0.4r50677).

> With the latest
> driver bits from git master, the following option may help:
> Option "DisplayPriority" "HIGH"
> in the device section of your config.

I'm going to try this today.

[kmvzxuwi (kmvzxuwi-deactivatedaccount)]

> > With the latest
> > driver bits from git master, the following option may help:
> > Option "DisplayPriority" "HIGH"
> > in the device section of your config.
>
> I'm going to try this today.
>

Sorry for the wait: I was really busy.
Setting that options hasn't helped.

I've tried to disable DPMS (sudo xset -dpms) and I've seen only a couple of blinks in the past three hours.

[Glisse (glisse)]

So without virtualbox no problem ?

I am not sure i understand the setup you said you were testing git snapshot under virtualbox ? So how is the computer setup:

-host windows/linux ? which version ? which driver ? which driver version ?
-guest windows/linux ? which version ? which driver ?

[kmvzxuwi (kmvzxuwi-deactivatedaccount)]

First of all: I've tested "xset -dpms" for a few days and I can say that isn't working.

> So without virtualbox no problem ?

I'm experiencing the same problem with and without virtualbox running.
With virtualbox running, the frequency of the problem is much higher.

> I am not sure i understand the setup you said you were testing git snapshot
> under virtualbox ? So how is the computer setup:
>
> -host windows/linux ? which version ? which driver ? which driver version ?
> -guest windows/linux ? which version ? which driver ?

I'm running a fully updated ubuntu karmic (virtualbox-ose 3.0.6, xserver-xorg-video-ati 6.12.99+git20090825.fc74e119) as the host with a windows xp guest (fully updated and with virtualbox-guest-additions 3.0.6).

Please note that the whole screen blinks, not only the guest.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Since the original issue with -radeon is gone, and you're seeing it just with virtualbox (which uses a different video driver), I'm moving this bug to that.

[agd5f (agd5f)]

can you try with ati from git master? Specifically commit 66b194a78c470cb3978f310828dd96c3f3e96944.

[Michael Thayer (michael-thayer)]

Assuming for now that this is still relevant, although the last comment by the reporter was a year and a half ago.

Bryce, I'm not quite sure if I understand your comment above. You mention that this is not an issue with -radeon, as it only occurs when VirtualBox is running, and VirtualBox uses a different video driver. If I read the reporter's comments correctly though, VirtualBox is running as an application under a host X server using the ATI video driver, and this is not a case of Ubuntu running inside VirtualBox using the VirtualBox driver - the reporter said that they are using Windows XP as a guest system. It may still be VirtualBox-related, but surely not to the VirtualBox video driver?