Corrupt screen, HP Brio, Matrox G100 (display: NEC LCD1860NX and others)

[JohnWashington]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-video-mga

Corrupt screen, HP Brio, Matrox G100 (display: NEC LCD1860NX and others)

HP Brio, Celeron 300MHz with 256Mb ram
On board Matrox G100 2Mb
NEC LCD1860NX flat screen (native resolution 1280x1024)

[update] When I filed this originally I reported 8Mb video (possibly as a result of
reading HP Brio reviews), but I now believe it to be 2Mb.

I have also tried a CRT display and had identical symptoms,
so I doubt this problem is specific for this screen.

The attached photo shows the display on first booting after
installing Ubuntu 9.04. It looks similar to a TV that's
lost the horizontal hold, and is also displaced a little to
the right and down. Although some features can be made out,
the content is shown as if 3 copies are overlaid in vertical
stripes.

The next attached photo shows this more clearly, taken after
logging in blind. Note how, in the top panel, the time is
visible in 3 places.

I found that Puppy and Mepix do not exhibit this problem.
The next experiment was to take the xorg.conf generated by
the Puppy wizard and reduce it to the following, replacing
the empty /etc/X11/xorg.conf with:

---- start ----
Section "ServerFlags"
    Option "RandR" "on"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier "X.org Configured"
 Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
 InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
 InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Keyboard0"
 Driver "kbd"
 Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
 Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
 Option "XkbLayout" "us" #xkeymap0
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Mouse0"
 Driver "mouse"
 Option "Protocol" "auto" #mouse0protocol
 Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
 #Option "Emulate3Buttons"
 #Option "Emulate3Timeout" "50"
 Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" #scrollwheel
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Monitor0"
 VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
 ModelName "Monitor Model"
 HorizSync 30-72
 VertRefresh 50-85
 #UseModes "Modes0" #monitor0usemodes
 Option "PreferredMode" "1024x768"
 EndSection

Section "Modes"
 Identifier "Modes0"
 #modes0modeline0
EndSection

Section "Device"
 ### Available Driver options are:-
 ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
 ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
 ### [arg]: arg optional
 #Option "ShadowFB" # [<bool>]
 #Option "DefaultRefresh" # [<bool>]
 #Option "ModeSetClearScreen" # [<bool>]
 Identifier "Card0"
 Driver "vesa" #card0driver
 VendorName "Matrox Graphics, Inc."
 BoardName "MGA G100 [Productiva] AGP"
 BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Screen0"
 Device "Card0"
 Monitor "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth 16
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 16
        Modes "1024x768"
    EndSubsection
EndSection
---- end of xorg.conf ----

This still did not fix the display. Neither did changing
/etc/gdm/gdm.conf GdmXserverTimeout=10 to 25 (following
advice in bug #319363). But making both changes gave a
good 1024x768 display.

I downloaded an iso of Karmic alpha2 and installed this.
The symptoms were identical. However, now the change of
GdmXserverTimeout=10 isn't needed, though the change of
xorg.conf still is.

The G100 2Mb should be able to produce 1280x1024 resolution
with 8-bit colour. Since this is the native resolution of the NEC
display, this is what I would prefer.

I'm happy to run any tests, and do complete reinstalls of any
distro. I also have various other displays available that I
could try.

Though due to other commitments it may take several days for
me to respond.

I have dumps of the /etc and /var/log trees from most of these
experiments; they're rather large, so you may prefer to ask for
specific files.

In case you're wondering, no, the Brio isn't my regular desktop.
But it's a nice compact little box to take along to LUG meets.
Such machines are often discarded these days, yet are adequate
for disadvantaged people wanting very basic facilities. This
is likely to be their first exposure to Linux, so it's important
that Ubuntu works for them without intervention.

[lspci]
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 440LX/EX - 82443LX/EX Host bridge [8086:7180] (rev 03)
     Subsystem: 3Com Corporation Device [10b7:1000]
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G100 [Productiva] AGP [102b:1001] (rev 02)
     Subsystem: Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G100 [Productiva] AGP [102b:1001]

[JohnWashington (ubuntu-johnwash)]

Screen after login, to show symptom more clearly

[JohnWashington (ubuntu-johnwash)]

Other distros:

Crunchbang 8.10 fails the same way as 9.04.

Mepis 8.0.06 comes up with 1024x768 absolutely no problem.

Ubuntu 7.04 comes up in 832x624, though subsequently
using the gui prefs to change to 800x600 made the monitor
position the display better. 1024 was not offered.

Ubuntu 8.04.1 had an error starting the Gnome settings
daemon (sorry, didn't capture full details, could if of
interest). Otherwise it was the same as 7.04.

Kubuntu 6.06 was same as 7.04 except that it was able
to power down (later versions of Ubuntu seem to have
lost that capability) (unrelated bug, but of minor
importance compared to the display problem, so I don't
plan to investigate it at this time).

[JohnWashington (ubuntu-johnwash)]

Output from lspci -vvnn attached. I assume this is the same output for all distros?

[JohnWashington (ubuntu-johnwash)]

I stated previously:
"I downloaded an iso of Karmic alpha2 and installed this.
The symptoms were identical. However, now the change of
GdmXserverTimeout=10 isn't needed, though the change of
xorg.conf still is."

However, without the timeout change it sometimes fails. So it still seems both changes are needed, as with 9.04.

[JohnWashington (ubuntu-johnwash)]

Today I've temporarily loaded Windows 2000 on this HP Brio.

Initially it came up in 1280x768, which looked rather naff, though readable. No updates needed, just Control Panel, Display, Settings and one of the choices was 1280x1024 8-bit colour. This worked. It worked very well indeed, it's beautiful and exceedingly enviable. Nobody who has seen this on Windows would settle for less on Ubuntu. :(

How do I gather info from this Windows installation so as to create good settings to try in Ubuntu?

Or, now that I know for certain that there is no hardware problem, what's the best way forward? The workaround I've given above gets it to 1024x768, but it could be so much better at the native resolution.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi ubuntu-johnwash,

Thanks for including an image to demonstrate the issue. Could you also please attach the output of `lspci -vvnn`, and attach your /var/log/Xorg.0.log or Xorg.0.log.old file from after reproducing this issue. If you've made any customizations to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf please attach that as well.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[JohnWashington (ubuntu-johnwash)]

Response to yr #7: Post #4 already gives lspci -vvnn. Attaching xorg.0.log here.

If you would like me to retest on karmic alpha4 instead (or later if available) I'd be happy to do so.

[JohnWashington (ubuntu-johnwash)]

Thanks for updating this. Just confirming that I still have the PC that exhibited this problem and can provide further reports on more recent versions if that's helpful.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

[This is an automatic notification.]

Hi JohnWashington,

This bug was reported against an earlier version of Ubuntu, can you
test if it still occurs on Lucid?

Please note we also provide technical support for older versions of
Ubuntu, but not in the bug tracker. Instead, to raise the issue through
normal support channels, please see:

    http://www.ubuntu.com/support

If you are the original reporter and can still reproduce the issue on
Lucid, please run the following command to refresh the report:

  apport-collect 393129

If you are not the original reporter, please file a new bug report, so
we can work with you as the original reporter instead (you can reference
bug 393129 in your report if you think it may be related):

  ubuntu-bug xorg

If by chance you can no longer reproduce the issue on Lucid or if you
feel it is no longer relevant, please mark the bug report 'Fix Released'
or 'Invalid' as appropriate, at the following URL:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/393129

[JohnWashington (ubuntu-johnwash)]

Thank you for your continuing interest. Yesterday I installed
from ubuntu-10.04-alternate-i386.iso and the symptoms are
still the same.

Please let me know if there is any further info I can provide, or
if you have recommendations on how fixing this can be
progressed.

Please review my comments in #3 and #6 and note that, over
the years, Ubuntu has regressed from having a less than optimal
display on this machine to being totally unusable by a new user,
a Very Bad First Impression of Ubuntu... whereas other distros
handle this machine quite well and Windows 2000 is excellent
(which is something I really loathe saying). I hate whining and I
would like to be part of the solution.

[JohnWashington (ubuntu-johnwash)]

Hi Bryce, thanks for reviewing this. Not sure why you've added 'hardy' tag at this time. Is that a request for further info on 8.04? I still have install media back to 6.06, so if you want additional info on 8.04 on this computer I can supply.

I also tried Puppy 5 on this machine this week. Bad news: in contrast with previous versions of Puppy, which performed rather well, 5 has a corrupt screen. Puppy 5 is based on Lucid, so this is not surprising. :(

I've not yet tested with Debian. Would you be interested in this? If so, which version(s)?

[JohnWashington (ubuntu-johnwash)]

No response from Bryce, so today I attempted installation of this week's build of Debian 'testing'. Had to abandon that, due to a partitioning problem (http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=583592), may retry when this is fixed. Instead installed Debian 'stable' (Lenny). No video corruption, but resolution is only 832x624, and this is the highest resolution offered in screen prefs dialog. File /etc/X11/xorg.conf exists but has little in it, i.e. device, monitor, and screen are all of the form "Configured [whatever]" (attached).

I'm disappointed nobody has got back to me with advice on how to provide more info.

[JohnWashington (ubuntu-johnwash)]

Why is this still marked 'incomplete' despite my report in May?

[JohnWashington (ubuntu-johnwash)]

Why is this still marked 'incomplete' despite my report in May (#11)? What, if anything, is still needed, to move this forward?

No offence intended, but is 'Bryce Harrington' actually a 'bot? All responses from him seem to me as though they may be automatically generated. Am I being suckered into having a conversation with thin air? I want to help the community, so please tell me if I'm wasting my time.

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Hi John,
Although Bryce is a very much real person, I am afraid that the above messages from him were all sent out by his automated scripts, and that your report has got little "human" attention. Unfortunately the Ubuntu X team is swamped in bug reports and the support for these very old cards is often not on the top of the list.

What is the current status of this bug with the latest Ubuntu release? Can you please run "apport-collect 393129" which will attach log files to this report? At the best, we would like to have your card working out of the box, which means without any xorg.conf, so if possible, run the command after deleting xorg.conf and restarting X (log out and in again). If you can try the development release "Natty" it would be even better.

If the original issue of corruption has gone, and we are left with a wrong resolution, an option would be to start from scratch with a new bug report, to have a clean report without old issues. You can do this by running "ubuntu-bug xserver-xorg-video-mga".

BTW, the Debian Lenny xorg.conf should be pretty much equivalent to not having one.

It seems like the X server does the wrong decisions when dealing with a card with little memory. It should maybe default to 16 or 8 bit colors in this case.

[JohnWashington (ubuntu-johnwash)]

Hi Tormod,
Thanks for your follow-up, I appreciate it very much. I'd be happy to blow the dust off
my HP Brio and try either or both 10.10 or Natty, if you feel it's likely to help others.
I've abandoned this PC (indeed I would have dismantled and scrapped it, except
that I felt I should hang onto it in case it helped).

I've become aware that focussing on this problem may be taking resources away
from other bug fixing. As you say, support for these very old cards can't be top
of the list. The question in my mind is whether there are still people out there
for whom support for this card is important. Realistically, I suspect their best
option is to add a cheap PCI video card and disable the onboard Matrox.

[Christopher Forster (christopherforster)]

I think that every Linux-based operating sytems should have a generic standard VGA driver working by default. I currently have the same problem with vertical stripes on the latest stable release of Debian, 6.0.1 (Squeeze).

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

I'd concur that a new bug report would be the most sensible next step with this bug.

However, like Tormod says, these older drivers like -mga are not at the top of the list as far as distro maintenance work goes. So bug reports probably ought to go directly upstream rather than here at the distro level.