lightdm session constantly switches screen appearance

[Simon Lambourn]

After installing regular software updates on 23 Sept, my screen session has become almost unusable. The screen "appearance" (font, button style, window menu bar location) alternates about twice a second between my usual settings and what I guess are the default un-decorated settings. This means that text, buttons, and input areas are often moving around on the screen as the font size changes or the window menu bar comes and goes.

In addition, keyboard input characters take a variable time to appear (up to a few seconds?) and can appear in the wrong order.
CPU utilisation is much higher when I am logged on. See TOP output below. I get the same problems with any one of Chromium, Firefox, Thunderbird, Ubuntu Software Centre, BASH terminal window.

When I first sign on, I get a message "system software problem detected" in a panel by itself, before the desktop is displayed, and again after the desktop is displayed. This is connected with the bug, but I can't find out the details of the error. I have selected "report the problem" repeatedly.

The software installed on 23 Sept included Dbus , libdbus-1-3, and dbus-x11 versions 1.6.18-0ubuntu4.2. I tried downgrading these 3 to -0ubuntu4 but the problem remained after a reboot. There were about 20-30 packages updated at the same time, including linux-image, but I can't spot which might be causing the problem. I'm using a clean install of ubuntu 14.04 but with my /home directory from an older ubuntu installation.

TOP output:
24974 simon 20 0 2357692 181696 65696 R 27.6 4.5 2:34.62 software-c+
 2253 root 20 0 279028 58104 19416 S 26.6 1.4 3:19.18 Xorg
11096 simon 20 0 1391072 186192 81872 R 22.9 4.6 5:02.98 chromium-b+
 3899 simon 20 0 719408 32324 17924 R 19.9 0.8 2:55.82 hud-service
17259 simon 20 0 1036360 203656 48764 R 17.9 5.0 2:47.82 thunderbird
 4291 simon 20 0 1591956 113836 41064 S 11.6 2.8 1:20.75 compiz
 5857 simon 20 0 860872 76324 14440 S 5.3 1.9 1:09.93 gnome-term+
 3915 simon 20 0 590728 71048 10796 S 2.7 1.8 0:41.92 ibus-ui-gt+
 3918 simon 20 0 769636 73648 11544 S 2.7 1.8 0:42.82 unity-pane+
 4402 simon 20 0 511960 71072 12024 S 2.7 1.8 0:41.36 nm-applet
 7212 simon 20 0 847244 67792 12680 S 2.7 1.7 0:37.13 update-not+
 3865 simon 20 0 666200 67632 7956 S 2.3 1.7 0:37.61 bamfdaemon
 3911 simon 20 0 906492 68264 7816 S 2.3 1.7 0:38.02 gnome-sess+
 4130 simon 20 0 776980 67892 8080 S 2.3 1.7 0:36.34 indicator-+
 4146 simon 20 0 499124 66596 8156 S 2.3 1.6 0:35.04 indicator-+
 4410 simon 20 0 405976 73952 9800 S 2.3 1.8 0:34.70 smart-noti+
 4194 simon 20 0 391836 65148 7236 S 2.0 1.6 0:35.79 notify-osd

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+1ubuntu8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-36.63-generic 3.13.11.6
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-36-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.4
Architecture: amd64
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: Mon Sep 29 10:06:59 2014
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: trusty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Cedar [Radeon HD 5000/6000/7350/8350 Series] [1002:68f9] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device [1462:2127]
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 004 Device 002: ID 093a:2510 Pixart Imaging, Inc. Optical Mouse
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType: System manufacturer System Product Name
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-36-generic root=/dev/mapper/vg1-rootfs ro nodmraid nomdmonddf nomdmonisw
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 07/02/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 0507
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: M3N78-VM
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev X.0x
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr0507:bd07/02/2008:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnM3N78-VM:rvrRevX.0x:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.11.2+14.04.20140714-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.52-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.1.3-0ubuntu0.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.1.3-0ubuntu0.1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2.1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.8.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.3.0-1ubuntu3.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.910-0ubuntu1.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.10-1ubuntu2
xserver.bootTime: Mon Sep 29 10:05:47 2014
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.devices:
 input Power Button KEYBOARD, id 6
 input Power Button KEYBOARD, id 7
 input PIXART USB OPTICAL MOUSE MOUSE, id 8
 input saa7134 IR (Leadtek Winfast DTV KEYBOARD, id 9
 input AT Translated Set 2 keyboard KEYBOARD, id 10
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.version: 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2.1
xserver.video_driver: radeon

[Simon Lambourn (simon-lambourn-o)]

Update: I have found a workaround by .config/compiz-1 and .config/dconf (I have a backup of the .config/dconf if this might help to debug this issue, but not the compiz one, sorry). This makes the screen behave normally again...

[Simon Lambourn (simon-lambourn-o)]

Edit to above comment: ... "workaround by DELETING .config/compiz-1"...

[Simon Lambourn (simon-lambourn-o)]

Dear Christopher,

Thank you for your suggestion to update the BIOS: I have done this and
dmidecode now shows BIOS version as 1801, dated 09/10/2010. I may need
to take my PC apart before testing the results, as I have installed a
new graphics card as a workaround, and I need to remove this before
testing, so please bear with me and I'll update the bug status when I
have done this.
Thanks again for your attention to this.
Simon Lambourn.
On 23/02/15 00:49, Christopher M. Penalver wrote:
> Simon Lambourn, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu
> better. As per
> http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M3N78VM/HelpDesk_Download/ an update to
> your computer's buggy and outdated BIOS is available (1801). 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 provide the output of the following terminal command:
> sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date
>
> For more on BIOS updates and linux, please see
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette
> .
>
> Please note your current BIOS is already in the Bug Description, so
> posting this on the old BIOS would not be helpful. As well, you don't
> have to create a new bug report.
>
> Once the BIOS is updated, and the information above is provided, then
> please mark this report Status New.
>
> Thank you for your understanding.
>
> ** Changed in: xorg (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Undecided => Low
>
> ** Changed in: xorg (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Simon Lambourn, just to clarify, when you switched graphics cards the problem stopped?