One pixel column that belongs in one monitor shows up in the other instead

[shankao]

I have configured the laptop screen in the left and a external monitor in the right. On the left most part of the monitor, I can see 1 column of pixels that belong to the content that is in the right most part of the laptop.

Strangely, it does not show up when I try to do a screenshot, but is quite evident when watching a fullscreen movie in the monitor, for example.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+1ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.7.0-4.12-generic 3.7.0-rc7
Uname: Linux 3.7.0-4-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.6.3-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,vpswitch,snap,mousepoll,resize,place,move,wall,grid,regex,imgpng,session,gnomecompat,animation,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,workarounds,scale,expo,ezoom,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Sat Dec 1 12:42:13 2012
DistUpgraded: 2012-11-25 13:52:25,604 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: raring
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 virtualbox, 4.1.22, 3.7.0-3-generic, x86_64: installed
 virtualbox, 4.1.22, 3.7.0-4-generic, x86_64: installed
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Wrestler [Radeon HD 6310] [1002:9802] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:9082]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-11-25 (6 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Alpha amd64 (20120627)
MachineType: Sony Corporation VPCYB16KG
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_SG:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_SG.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.7.0-4-generic root=UUID=c5e8db97-be79-41c7-a2d8-be5fa7b409a8 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to raring on 2012-11-25 (5 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 12/22/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: Insyde Corp.
dmi.bios.version: R0160Z7
dmi.board.asset.tag: N/A
dmi.board.name: VAIO
dmi.board.vendor: Sony Corporation
dmi.board.version: N/A
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: N/A
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Sony Corporation
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnInsydeCorp.:bvrR0160Z7:bd12/22/2010:svnSonyCorporation:pnVPCYB16KG:pvrC900K9AU:rvnSonyCorporation:rnVAIO:rvrN/A:cvnSonyCorporation:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: VPCYB16KG
dmi.product.version: C900K9AU
dmi.sys.vendor: Sony Corporation
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.8.4+bzr3412-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.40-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 9.0.1-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 9.0.1-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.13.0-0ubuntu8
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.3-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.0.0-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.20.14-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.4-0ubuntu1
xserver.bootTime: Fri Nov 30 13:03:50 2012
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.version: 2:1.13.0-0ubuntu8
xserver.video_driver: radeon

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Is this a new behavior? Did you see this on quantal? (Or, can you try booting into a quantal livecd image, set up the external monitor, and see if it happens then as well.) If you didn't see it in quantal, did it occur as soon as you upgraded or installed, or did it occur only later?

I notice you have virtualbox installed, but I am gathering you're seeing this behavior unrelated to any VM sessions?

[shankao (shankao)]

Actually, I have seen these problem since the time of oneiric (around the time when I bought this laptop), but it's only evident on fullscreen -like while watching a movie- and so, I always ended forgetting to do the bug report.
Anyway, the effect happens all the time, and yes, it happens unrelated of any VM being running or not.

[Dave Gilbert (ubuntu-treblig)]

Have you got a different resolution monitor that you could borrow to try it with?
I notice the monitors you are using are 1366x768 and I've seen other problems with that res because it's not divisible by 8
exactly, and various things sometimes get upset.

(Only a hunch, may be wrong).

[shankao (shankao)]

Just trying now with a 1920x1200 monitor (HP Compaq LA2405x) and I'm still seeing the same problem.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

I'm not able to reproduce on a 1920x1200 Dell monitor running -ati on precise on a PC, although not with an HD 6310 (I don't have that card).

If you can suggest other information that would help us reproduce the bug, I'm willing to try. But since you've ruled out it being a recent regression, and ruled out that it's the laptop, then next guess would be it's some irregularity in the Sony laptop itself or the video card. Did you test against xorg-edgers and mainline kernels? Doublecheck for bios options relating to display? You might try contacting the manufacturer, although I don't know whether Sony supports Linux at all (afaik they don't have an OEM contract with Ubuntu; if they did we could try working with them on our end). If that's not feasible, then I'd suggest forwarding the issue upstream to X.org; perhaps the problem will be more evident to them.

[shankao (shankao)]

Nope, it's not a recent regression. It's being happening since oneiric at least, or that's when I noticed it.
I have not tried with anything newer than the latest development raring that I use currently.
I think that it makes sense to contact X.org next and link them to this bug report

[shankao (shankao)]

I have configured the laptop screen in the left and a external monitor in the right. On the left most part of the monitor, I can see 1 column of pixels that belong to the content that is in the right most part of the laptop.

Strangely, it does not show up when I try to do a screenshot, but is quite evident when watching a fullscreen movie in the monitor, for example.

Original bug report at Ubuntu's launchpad: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/1085338

[agd5f (agd5f)]

This is a limitation due to the way xrandr works. It uses a single surface for all enabled displays rather than one surface per display. The display hardware has alignment requirements that can cause this situation since we align the start address down. The per-crtc pixmaps work should fix the issue when it finally goes into the xserver.

[shankao (shankao)]

I just got an answer in there:

"This is a limitation due to the way xrandr works. It uses a single surface for all enabled displays rather than one surface per display. The display hardware has alignment requirements that can cause this situation since we align the start address down. The per-crtc pixmaps work should fix the issue when it finally goes into the xserver."

Now I have a doubt on what's the best procedure to deal with this.
Should we leave this bug report open until xrandx 1.4 is in ubuntu and the problem is actually fixed, or it's declared as closed? In my opinion, the bug should be kept open until the moment it's actually fixed, even if waiting for upstream.

[shankao (shankao)]

Ok thanks. Any idea when that's planned for? :)

[penalvch (penalvch)]

shankao, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p xserver-xorg-video-ati REPLACE-WITH-BUG-NUMBER

Please note, given that the information from the prior release is already available, doing this on a release prior to the development one would not be helpful.

Thank you for your understanding.

Helpful bug reporting tips:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs

[shankao (shankao)]

This is still an existing problem since a couple of years in my setup, so I'll try to move it a bit to get it solved:

I wonder if there's any way on which this alignment could be off-by-one in the xrandr code for this specific case. Is there any way or place where I could have a look and try?

Thanks.

[shankao (shankao)]

The problem seems to be an upstream one as seen in the comments

[agd5f (agd5f)]

(In reply to comment #3)
> This is still an existing problem since a couple of years in my setup, so
> I'll try to move it a bit to get it solved:
>
> I wonder if there's any way on which this alignment could be off-by-one in
> the xrandr code for this specific case. Is there any way or place where I
> could have a look and try?

It's a radeon display hardware alignment requirement.

[agd5f (agd5f)]

*** Bug 63900 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Martin-peres-n (martin-peres-n)]

-- GitLab Migration Automatic Message --

This bug has been migrated to freedesktop.org's GitLab instance and has been closed from further activity.

You can subscribe and participate further through the new bug through this link to our GitLab instance: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/issues/315.