Screen corruption with Radeon 6670

[x]

Unfortunately I have no reliable way of reproducing this issue, but it seems that after some time of using Ubuntu (especially when browsing websites with firefox) the graphics are getting corrupted.

It starts with some small artifacts (single lines and pixels) and all of the sudden the entire screen is full of artifacts and the OS is basically unusable at this state.

Coincidentally, I've had this problem with Arch Linux before. I was able to fix it, by setting the power profile of the GPU to "mid" or "high" as described here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ATI#Profile-based_frequency_switching
So to me it seems like this might be related to power management.

Doing some more testing with Ubuntu, I was able to fix the corruption when switching the profile to mid and then logging out and in again. Leaving the profile at default did not fix the issue after re-login.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.3.0-1ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3
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
CurrentDmesg:
 [ 16.420258] init: plymouth-upstart-bridge main process ended, respawning
 [ 42.046534] audit_printk_skb: 123 callbacks suppressed
 [ 42.046536] type=1400 audit(1398637834.876:68): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf" pid=2158 comm="apparmor_parser"
 [ 42.046541] type=1400 audit(1398637834.876:69): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/sbin/cupsd" pid=2158 comm="apparmor_parser"
 [ 42.046831] type=1400 audit(1398637834.876:70): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/sbin/cupsd" pid=2158 comm="apparmor_parser"
Date: Mon Apr 28 00:32:39 2014
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: trusty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, including running git bisection searches
GraphicsCard:
 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Turks XT [Radeon HD 6670/7670] [1002:6758] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: PC Partner Limited / Sapphire Technology Device [174b:e198]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-04-27 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
MachineType: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. To be filled by O.E.M.
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=71941913-ad5f-4bba-8378-81cbf78bd8d2 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-video-ati
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 07/24/2013
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: FA
dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: Z77-D3H
dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.board.version: x.x
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrFA:bd07/24/2013:svnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnTobefilledbyO.E.M.:pvrTobefilledbyO.E.M.:rvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnZ77-D3H:rvrx.x:cvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.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: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.11+14.04.20140409-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.52-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.1.0-4ubuntu5
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.1.0-4ubuntu5
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2
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
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.910-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.10-1ubuntu2
xserver.bootTime: Mon Apr 28 00:30:08 2014
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.devices:
 input Power Button KEYBOARD, id 6
 input Power Button KEYBOARD, id 7
 input Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse MOUSE, id 8
 input AT Translated Set 2 keyboard KEYBOARD, id 9
xserver.errors:

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

[x (xyzx-deactivatedaccount)]

I did some more testing today.
It seems one simple way to reproduce this is to just move the mouse pointer around on the login screen. At one point this even lead to a kernel panic (see attachement).

Again, setting the power profile to something other than "default" seems to get rid of the problem.

[madbiologist (me-again)]

Is this still occurring with recent updates?

[x (xyzx-deactivatedaccount)]

Just did a dist-upgrade (and rebooted the computer).
Unfortunately, yes, this still occurs which makes Ubuntu unusable on this machine.

[madbiologist (me-again)]

Confirmed as per screenshot attached in comment #1.

[madbiologist (me-again)]

Full dynamic power management for AMD Radeon graphics hardware was added in Ubuntu 14.04 "Trusty Tahr"'s 3.13-based kernel. It was disabled in the upstream 3.14 kernel for AMD "Cayman", "Barts", "Turks" and "Caicos" hardware due to stability issues and re-enabled in the upstream 3.17 kernel after several fixes and improvements were made.

Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" is based on the upstream 3.19 kernel. Can you please test on Vivid and let us know if you are still having this issue?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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