Sometimes a window stopped refreshing its contents. Different applications affected: known examples include xterm, Firefox, CodeBlocks, KDE lock screen.
No way found to revive in-time refreshing except full window closing (or blind login, in case of KDE lock screen). Keyboard or mouse activity in a such window doesn't help.
A one-shot refresh can be easily caused by switching to another virtual desktop and then back. After such switching, a window refresh is active for approximately 0.5 seconds, then stops again.
No relation to host uptime or X session uptime is visible.
Observed on two different hosts, both carrying Kubuntu 16.04 and running XWindow+KDE as desktop environment. KDE is standard Kubuntu one. Multiple virtual desktops are used on both hosts.
The issue started to appear approximately 4-5 months ago but I can't specify exact package change that could have caused it. Both hosts are regularly updated (no more than 1 week delay).
The first host has:
video: 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Turks XT [Radeon HD 6670/7670] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Turks XT [Radeon HD 6670/7670]
Kernel driver in use: radeon
Kernel modules: radeon
CPU: AMD FX-8150
RAM: 16GB
Installed as Kubuntu 14.04, upgraded to 16.04 via do-release-upgrade.
current kernel: linux-image-4.4.0-112-generic
video packages: non-HWE series (e.g. xserver-xorg=1:7.7+13ubuntu3); active driver: radeon
Issue rate on this host is rather tiny (~1 per week).
The second one has:
video: 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 128b (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 8c93
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
Kernel modules: nvidiafb, nouveau, nvidia_384_drm, nvidia_384
(really this is GeForce GT 740)
CPU:Intel i3-4170
RAM: 16GB
Installed originally as Kubuntu 16.04
current kernel: linux-image-4.13.0-32-generic (depended on by linux-generic-hwe-16.04)
video packages: HWE series (e.g. xserver-xorg-hwe-16.04=1:7.7+16ubuntu3~16.04.1); active driver: nvidia (proprietary), but the same issue observed with VESA driver.
Issue rate on this host is 1-2 per day and was much higher with VESA driver in use.
No respective messages are found in Xorg.*.log or ~/.xsession-errors, but the latter has got stream of messages like:
at host with AMD and Radeon:
kscreen: Primary output changed from KScreen::Output(Id: 86 , Name: "HDMI-0" ) ( "HDMI-0" ) to KScreen::Output(Id: 86 , Name: "HDMI-0" ) ( "HDMI-0" )
kscreen: Primary output changed from KScreen::Output(Id: 86 , Name: "HDMI-0" ) ( "HDMI-0" ) to KScreen::Output(Id: 86 , Name: "HDMI-0" ) ( "HDMI-0" )
at host with Intel and Nvidia:
kscreen: Primary output changed from KScreen::Output(Id: 640 , Name: "DVI-D-0" ) ( "DVI-D-0" ) to KScreen::Output(Id: 640 , Name: "DVI-D-0" ) ( "DVI-D-0" )
kscreen: Primary output changed from KScreen::Output(Id: 640 , Name: "DVI-D-0" ) ( "DVI-D-0" ) to KScreen::Output(Id: 640 , Name: "DVI-D-0" ) ( "DVI-D-0" )
such messages started appearing approximately at the same time, plus-minus 1-2 months.
Additional info can be provided on demand.
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: xserver-xorg 1:7.7+13ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-112.135-generic 4.4.98
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-112-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.15
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Tue Feb 13 11:47:32 2018
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-12-16 (1154 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 14.04.1 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140722.2)
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2017-03-29 (321 days ago)
---
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0000.01.00.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: u'/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 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.5)
.proc.driver.nvidia.warnings.fbdev:
Your system is not currently configured to drive a VGA console
on the primary VGA device. The NVIDIA Linux graphics driver
requires the use of a text-mode VGA console. Use of other console
drivers including, but not limited to, vesafb, may result in
corruption and stability problems, and is not supported.
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.15
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: None
CurrentDesktop: KDE
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: xenial
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
DistroVariant: kubuntu
GraphicsCard:
NVIDIA Corporation Device [10de:128b] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device [1462:8c93]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-10-29 (107 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 16.04.3 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170801)
MachineType: To Be Filled By O.E.M. To Be Filled By O.E.M.
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm nvidia_modeset nvidia
Package: xorg 1:7.7+13ubuntu3
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.13.0-32-generic root=UUID=2618a695-bc73-4e0a-a71d-1b781d7ad850 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-32.35~16.04.1-generic 4.13.13
Tags: xenial kubuntu
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-32-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip disk lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo
_MarkForUpload: True
dmi.bios.date: 07/27/2015
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: P2.40
dmi.board.name: B85M Pro4
dmi.board.vendor: ASRock
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrP2.40:bd07/27/2015:svnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:rvnASRock:rnB85MPro4:rvr:cvnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.family: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.product.name: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.product.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
version.compiz: compiz N/A
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.83-1~16.04.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 17.2.4-0ubuntu1~16.04.4
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 17.2.4-0ubuntu1~16.04.4
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers-* N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core N/A
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 N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau N/A
Valentin Nechayev, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better.
Could you please run the following command once from a terminal by ensuring you have the package xdiagnose installed, and that you click the Yes button for attaching additional debugging information:
apport-collect 1749150
When reporting xorg related bugs in the future, please do so via the above method. You can learn more about this functionality at https:/